Perception Of Love In Barbara Lee Fredrickson's Love 2.0

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Barbara Lee Fredrickson, a psychologist, introduces a new conception of love to the readers. She tries to simplify the perception of love most people have known for their entire life. The special bonds and magical bond that continues the love for eternity are all myths and lies. Something that poisons our minds to be committed to one another. The definition of Fredrickson’s conception of “love” is more scientific than emotional. When defining love, it is more dependent on the activity of the brain, “positivity resonance”, and love hormones. The claim that Fredrickson makes in Love 2.0 does give a critical point of love, that it is simpler than you think. However, not every conception of love does Fredrickson explain it to be biological. The …show more content…

An essential question of mine while reading Love 2.0 by Barbara Fredrickson. After understanding Fredrickson’s point of view, it came to a certain point where I became convinced that “love" is not something that is quite special. The conception of Love 2.0 is not to diminish the meaning of love but to simplify the definition, to downgrade the specialty. Many micro-changes in the brain can indicate that love is growing because love is simply a “positivity resonance”. “Positivity resonance”, according to Fredrickson, is a term that is defined as it is shown. Positivity is being optimistic or showing positive actions and attitude. And “Resonance” is to be in sync with the sound and waves nearby. Fredrickson essentially replaces the word “love” with “positivity resonance” indicating that love is simply defined as a wave of positive emotion that is shared between two people. Fredrickson briefly sums up that “Love is a momentary upwelling of three tightly interwoven events: first, a sharing of one or more positive emotions between you and another; second, a synchrony between your and the other person’s biochemistry and behaviors; and third, a reflected motive to invest in each other’s well-being that brings mutual care”. It supports the concept that love is no more than a simple harmony between two people. The topic, idea, or pain they both share forms the conceptual and imaginative object called love inside the …show more content…

In the first few pages of the essay Love 2.0, Fredrickson gives a brief summary of how there have been multiple misunderstanding of the definition of love. Fredrickson states that “Love is not sexual desire or the blood-ties of kinship. Nor is it a special bond or commitment” (Fredrickson 108). However, how is the word “special” defined when she utilizes to break the ice of the “fake love”? This is where the explanation of Love 2.0 is controversial and ambiguous to the readers. Thus, to what extent is anything “special”? Fredrickson forces the reader to ask another question such stated in the previous sentence. Throughout the essay, Fredrickson contradicts herself by stating her claim as love being a biological process, then explaining such concepts that love is created through the “special bonds” that Fredrickson stated as a false definition of love. At times, Fredrickson’s explanation of love portrays a simple biological connection, or “neural coupling”, between two strangers. She elaborately gives the reader the experiment in which was tested at a Princeton University Lab. However, later in the essay, Fredrickson explains how love can be defined when an infant and the parent interact with each other. Essentially, Fredrickson is stating that the love formed between an infant and his or her parents is identically created as two strangers empathizing with each other. Wouldn’t the

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