The Nature of Love

Abstract

Researchers have found that people in love enjoy many advantages: love is known to improve psychological, emotional, and physical health. When things go badly, however, lovers may suffer the pangs of rejection, jealousy, sadness, and anger. People can learn from both the joy of fulfilling relationships and the pain they suffer from the affairs that go wrong. This chapter discusses the joys of love and the troubles of love, as reflected in studies of the neuroscience of love and loss and of unrequited love. It also reports on the physiological and psychological effects of jealousy and vengeance.