Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: cheryl j on 14/02/2014 15:01:37
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A frequent topic on shows like Dr. Phil or Catfish is people who fall in love with scammers or people with fake identities, on the Internet. And I'm always so struck by how relatively normal the victims are. At the very least, the do not seem disconnected from reality, or of extremely low IQ. And yet they believe all sorts of implausible stories, and form a strong attachment to someone they've never actually met, and sometimes never even spoken to. You wonder how they accumulate $100,000 to send some man in Nigeria in the first place.So in honor of Valentine's Day, my question is does love make people stupid?
Reduced cognitive control in passionate lovers]Reduced cognitive control in passionate lovers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131111091355.htm
Slutbot aces Turing Test http://www.roughtype.com/?p=994
Falling in love only takes about a fifth of a second, research reveals
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101022184957.htm
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It's operating at an instinctive emotional level which bypasses intellect.
like violent prisoners getting fan-mail from female admirers because they are alpha-males (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybristophilia#Causes),
but who in reality would not be ideal husband material ...
Avril and Rose, who left long-term "boring" marriages for men in prison ... a week after his release the thief bludgeoned Avril to death with a hammer. The other husband ended up back in prison after trying to cut Rose's ear off and pull out her teeth with pliers.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/13/gender.uk
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It's operating at an instinctive emotional level which bypasses intellect.
like violent prisoners getting fan-mail from female admirers because they are alpha-males (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybristophilia#Causes),
who in reality would not be ideal husband material ...
yeah, that's another bizarre example.
[ BTW the links in the first post aren't working ]
Thanks. I re-did them.
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In a recent New Scientist article they were discussing possible drugs for relief from heart break and continually compared love to an addiction, because of the obsession the lover grows for the partner and reliance on neurotransmitters that someone in love grows used to; such as oxytocin.
My point being, if they're correct, someone who's addicted to hard-core drugs- say heroin, wouldn't see how negative their dependence is and would rationalise and skip over the side effects; someone who's deeply in love with someone else would do the same and would ignore the implausibilities of their story.