Love at first sight: what does the science say?

You finally summit the seemingly endless FAB stairs, breathless and dreading the two-hour seminar that awaits. You’re rummaging for a pen when you glance up, and there they are. They’re perfect. Your heart skips a beat, you lock eyes and suddenly you know – or at least you think you do. Is this love at first sight?

Admittedly, it is perhaps a touch more romantic than attempting to deduce the identity of your secret admirer from a, let’s say, ‘colourfully worded’ post on the Warwick Tea. The feature of many a rom com, we’d all like to believe in love at first sight. The science, however, isn’t as eager.

This alleged ‘love’, it found, had a highly predictive relationship with just physical attraction

A 2017 study from the University of Groningen finally sought to answer the perennial question. Conducting tests on almost 300 people, psychologists surveyed reactions to initial encounters with potential partners, assessing incidences of feelings of physical attraction, as well as intimacy and commitment. This alleged ‘love’, it found, had a highly predictive relationship, with just physical attraction leading researchers to conclude that the idea of love at first sight is rather an intense form of initial allure.

Eric Ryden, a clinical psychologist and couples’ therapist, echoes this sentiment: “A lot of what people perceive as love is a cocktail of hormones released to give their nervous system feelings of pleasure and security,” he told Live Science. The increased secretion of ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter dopamine – which is linked with reward and pleasure – gives people the impression they’re in love, when in fact, they’re experiencing an emotion more akin to drug addiction that is characteristic of the early stages of relationships. This can be significantly amplified by intense or surprising eye contact.

After all, isn’t all love just hormones?

Nevertheless, some may call it a disservice to the complexity of human relationships to reduce such a feeling to a chemical reaction. After all, isn’t all love just hormones? To some extent, yes. Feelings of lust are generally associated with the sex hormones, testosterone and oestrogen. When it comes to the attachment to a partner we associate with ‘love’, however, it’s predominantly vasopressin and oxytocin – sometimes called the ‘cuddle hormone’ – that are emitted. Thus, these are distinct neurobiological phenomena. Where lust may provide the initial spark (at first sight), it is deeper connection that fosters the production of hormones that create feelings of euphoria and bonding that we’d call ‘love’.

Yet there’s no shortage of anecdotes from those who attest to prove the concept with their own apparently unique tale. In fact, a survey by Specsavers indicated 59% of Brits claim their relationships began with love at first sight. Unfortunately, psychologists have an answer for this one too. Known as a form of memory bias, individuals often seek to create a romanticised version of meeting their partner in retrospect, thus only selectively recalling details of their first encounter.

So, for the romantics out there, the scepticism of psychologists to centuries of literature’s favourite trope may not offer the comforting narrative you long for. Alas, all is not lost; your indelible run-in with your FAB crush could be the first chapter in a beautiful love story. Just remember, whilst science may emphasise the role of hormones and initial attraction, true love often blossoms from unexpected beginnings and requires time, connection, and post-seminar pints to flourish.