Where do we feel love? Scientists have mapped where in our bodies and how strongly we experience different kinds of love.
Researchers at Aalto University have made a detailed map of where in the body different types of love are felt and how strongly they are experienced.
The types of love form a gradient in intensity and in how widely they’re felt throughout the body. Image: Philosophical Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2023.2252464.
‘It was noteworthy, though not very surprising, that the types of love associated with close relationships are similar and are the most strongly experienced,’ says philosopher Pärttyli Rinne, who coordinated the study. Doctoral researcher Mikke Tavast analyzed the data, while researcher Enrico Glerean developed the research methods. The project was jointly initiated by Rinne and Professor Emeritus Mikko Sams.
The team surveyed participants about how they experienced 27 different types of love, such as romantic love, sexual love, parental love, and love for friends, strangers, nature, God, or themself. The team asked participants where they felt the different types of love in their bodies and how intense the feeling was physically and mentally.
Their findings were published in Philosophical Psychology.
source Aalto University
