This evolutionary, attachment-related approach is best encapsulated in Diamond’s (2003, 2004) biobehavioral model of romantic love and sexual desire. Diamond argued that romantic love and sexual desire serve different functions, namely to promote pair bonding and sexual behavior, respectively. In support of these claims, Diamond reviewed evidence showing that the subjective experiences of romantic love and sexual desire are functionally independent: Individuals can feel romantic love but not sexual desire, or sexual desire but not romantic love, toward another person. Romantic love and sexual desire, Diamond claimed, also appear to be mediated by different physiological processes: oxytocin (OT) and endogenous opioids in the case of romantic love, and gonadal estrogens and androgens in the case of sexual desire.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-11-24 01:44 am (UTC)in Diamond’s (2003, 2004) biobehavioral model of romantic
love and sexual desire. Diamond argued that romantic love and
sexual desire serve different functions, namely to promote pair
bonding and sexual behavior, respectively. In support of these
claims, Diamond reviewed evidence showing that the subjective
experiences of romantic love and sexual desire are functionally
independent: Individuals can feel romantic love but not sexual
desire, or sexual desire but not romantic love, toward another
person. Romantic love and sexual desire, Diamond claimed, also
appear to be mediated by different physiological processes: oxytocin
(OT) and endogenous opioids in the case of romantic love,
and gonadal estrogens and androgens in the case of sexual desire.