Analysis Of Helen Fisher's Chemistry Of Love

Love is an intense attraction one has over another person. Finding love is often a long extensive journey which most humans crave. Once someone falls in love, their decision making is often altered as well how their brain reacts to certain situations. The chapter “Chemistry of Love: Scanning the Brain in Love” by Helen Fisher goes in detail about which specific chemicals in a human’s brain are triggered when an individual has fallen in romantic love. A project that was started in 1996 by Fisher, was used to gather enough data to connect patterns between what is going on in the brain when someone is falling in love. Fisher focused her investigation on three chemicals: dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. While Fisher found many compelling discoveries in her experiment, I was most fascinated by the effect that simply looking at a picture of the person you love has on a person. Fisher wanted to test if viewing the picture evoked a great

The objects included “a photo of the person they love, a love letter from their partner, a scent to remind them of their beloved, a song associated with their loved one, a future event with that person, as well as asking the subject to think about a memorable moment with the person they love” (Chemistry of Love, Fisher, page 59).

Fisher’s hypothesis was that romantic love was connected to an increased amount of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a chemical in the brain where a large amount of it can produce a great level of attention towards someone (Fisher, Page 52). I believe the connection between looking at a picture of someone being related to an increased level of dopamine in your brain to be very interesting. The idea to compare the reactions between viewing a picture, reading a love letter and thinking about good