PDF Version. Researchers and laypeople often view sex and sexual love as synonyms—but psychology depicts us a more complex picture. While sexual drive satisfies a biological need, sexual love transforms the experience by engaging the entire individuals. Let’s explore real … Continue reading
Category Archives: What is it?
How Culture Shapes Sexual Love and Its Lexicon
PDF Version. Is sexual desire a universal biological drive or merely a cultural construct? Although the evolutionary biology of human sexual desire is substantially similar, the linguistic and psychological frameworks people use to understand sexual attraction and desire vary significantly. … Continue reading
Conceptual and Linguistic Research on Love: Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Love Studies, 14-16 March 2025
Authors: Victor Karandashev, Bala Tsakuwa, Róbert Bohát, Hannah Vanden Broucke, Iryna Pinich, Nelly Tincheva. PDF Version. The conference aimed to advance diversity in love research across disciplines and cultures, highlighting the importance of international collaboration and the integration of ideas … Continue reading
Milk Jug Symbolizes Love among the Turkana People
PDF version A milk jug is an object with an evident utilitarian function—consumption. Yet, the nomadic pastoralist women of northwestern Kenya cherish their traditional milk jug, the akirum, as a profound aesthetic masterpiece. What is so special about milk and … Continue reading
How the Australian Bullroarer Invokes the Happiness of Sexual Love
PDF version Aboriginal Australians have long held the profound belief that the tjurunga—the bullroarer—brings happiness to both life and lovemaking. But how does a simple ritual object hold such immense power? This fascinating article explores how anthropologists uncovered the symbolic … Continue reading
How You Feel You Are Loved
How do you feel you are loved? Do you? Professor Mengya Xia and her colleagues from the University of Alabama recently conducted an interesting exploratory study on the core elements of love across family, romantic, and friend relationships. This research … Continue reading
How People Experience the Meaning of Gratitude
PDF Version. Reciprocal giving and receiving have the adaptive function of creating interpersonal obligations and maintaining personal bonding between people. In another place, I talked more about what gratitude is and why it is important in our lives. However, the … Continue reading
“Friends with Benefits”: Single Men and Women in Relationships
Throughout the last couple of centuries, traditional ideals of romantic love have suggested people find their soul mate, marry the loved one, have children, and live happily ever after. The cultural beliefs in love marriages have long shaped people’s dreams … Continue reading
Why Is Gratitude Important?
PDF Version. Gratitude is more than just saying “thank you.” It entails recognizing and appreciating the people and what they do for us. It is the appreciation for whatever our lives bring us. Gratitude makes us feel better and lifts … Continue reading
The Need to Belong and Love
Everyone has a “need for love” of some kind. For women and men who believe that love is bonding, the “need to belong” is basically the “need for love.” Those who have a strong desire to belong to a group … Continue reading