Some dream of it, others think they have experienced it: Does love at first sight really exist? Here’s what science has to say about the phenomenon…
One look is enough to get your heart pounding like crazy. Yikes, what’s that? Sometimes the body seems to know on its own that we like a person. Only with the throbbing and tingling does it become aware that something has just happened. Whether this something is love – that’s where opinions differ. One thing is certain: Almost everyone has experienced it at some point, the tension between two people who don’t actually know each other.
Where do these feelings come from? Not only have countless love stories dealt with this supposed love at first sight, scientists have also been studying it for decades. They have investigated what happens when two people meet for the first time – and whether love can actually develop in the process.
Is there love at first sight?
Researchers from Groningen have approached the phenomenon using speed dating, among other methods. They analyzed the feelings of people who met for the first time.
In Pennsylvania, too, an attempt was made to decipher love at first sight with the help of speed dating. More than 10,000 people took part in the study. The study focused on when and how we first become interested in a person. The result was that the first moment is indeed significant: Within the first three seconds, we decide for or against someone. During this time, we cannot act rationally at all – which in turn would speak in favor of love at first sight.
So science does not really agree either, again and again studies emerge that speak for or against the sudden feelings. Some researchers, by the way, are also of the opinion that love itself is nothing but a mix of hormones and scents that go well together in some people.
The belief in love at first sight persists
By the way, according to statistics, 76 percent of men and 73 percent of women believe in love at first sight. And that’s what really counts: Against or for every study are countless, non-scientific experiences of people who think they have experienced it: Love at first sight.
It’s like good fast food: Do you really want to know what’s in it when you’re biting into a burger with relish? No. So you should simply enjoy the tingling sensation at first glance instead of questioning it.
