watertank | (no subject)

Drawing on recent claims in the study of relationships, attachment, and emotion, the authors hypothesized that romantic love serves a commitment-related function and sexual desire a reproduction-related function.
...we define romantic love as a motivational state associated with feelings of attachment and the inclination to seek commitment with one partner, and we define sexual desire as a motivational state that leads the individual to seek opportunities for sexual activity.

Is there evidence that differentiates brief occurrences of romantic love from those of sexual desire? To our knowledge, the answer is no.
Romantic Love and Sexual Desire in Close Relationships. Gian C.Gonzaga, et al. Emotion. Vol 6. No. 2, 163–179.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We selected couples to participate if they had been
monogamous for at least 3 months and both members of the couple were
Asian (24 couples), Caucasian (25 couples), or Latino (14 couples). We
determined ethnicity by self-reported ethnic categorization and open-ended
ethnic identification. On average, women were 20.4 years old, men were 21.3 years old and the couples had been dating 17.6 months, with a range of 3 to 60 months.