You’ve probably felt that moment when sparks fly between you and someone special. It’s thrilling when you experience your first feelings of affection, even as strong as love. Perhaps you’re getting these feelings from an instant attraction you share when you meet someone’s eyes across a room. Sometimes the draw can be so strong that it confuses you.
You’re not alone if you’ve ever been confused about your feelings for someone. It can be hard to tell the difference when you’re feeling attracted to someone or you’re in the cupcake phase of a relationship. Luckily, this article contains information to help you sort out your feelings.
Is It Attraction or Attachment?
Lust is self-explanatory, and it’s not hard to figure out when you’re feeling that way, as some particular reactions happen to your body. The attraction is just that – being attracted to the person can quickly lead to lust. However, attachment is what people are referring to when they say love.
Attraction and attachment can feel the same, leaving you confused about your feelings. It’s a common confusion, and just about everyone experiences this at least once in their life.
Trying to figure out the difference between attraction and attachment was a subject of an article written by psychologist Theresa E. DiDonato Ph.D., assistant professor at Loyola University Maryland. She explored the idea that people sometimes have trouble telling the difference between true love and instant attraction. According to her, the two are both powerful emotions and can be intertwined in ways that can get confusing. However, some subtle differences can help you figure out your genuine emotion.
Goals Make the Difference
According to Dr. DiDonato, one of the most significant differences is the goal of your emotions. For example, when you need attachment, you aim to get close to the object of your affection. You’ll want to feel connected and possibly share your life with that person. You might feel true love if you desire to have someone around you often.
On the other hand, attraction can be more temporary. You desire to fill, and once it’s done, your desires are gone. Although the attraction may occur again, you won’t feel like sharing your life with the person.
While these two goals are specific and different, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between your emotions. Emotions can cause your thinking to be clouded so you need to look for other clues.
Other Differences Between Attraction and Attachment
Goals are not the only way to tell what you’re feeling. It’s not even the best way. You may need to consider multiple points to work out your emotions.
Dr. DiDonato pointed out other differences that can help you distinguish which emotion you truly feel. Here are some of the points she made.
- If you would be willing to sacrifice for the person, that’s attachment. It’s attraction if not.
- If this person fulfills your need for support (emotionally and mentally), there could be a desire for attachment involved. If not, it’s merely attraction.
- The desire for attachment gives you the confidence, to be honest and authentic. If you feel the need to deceive the person for any reason, you are feeling attraction.
- If intimacy has become something more important than lust satisfaction, that is a clear indicator that you may be attached to the person.
The last point is not always as clear-cut as the other points. Dr. DiDonato said that intimacy or intimate attraction sometimes could launch attachments or the desire for it. Therefore, even if you only feel an instant attraction, further exploration of that attraction can make you crave a close relationship with that person.
All the points that Dr. DiDonato wrote to make a lot of sense. Think about how relationships are started. It’s doubtful that people form relationships with someone they are not attracted to. However, people start relationships before they fall in love all the time. That is a clear indicator that instant attraction can lead to love.
Some wait a while before becoming intimate, while others may wait until marriage. Sure, they are attracted to each other but choose to develop an attachment before exploring close bonds. This is not to say that falling in love is always a choice. Sometimes, it just happens unexpectedly. However, it is easy to see the difference between love and instant attraction in this case.
Love: A Chemical Reaction?
For a long time, scientists have explored attachment and attraction on a chemical level. However, neither emotion comes from any reactions in your heart (although both may cause your heart to beat faster). It has been proven that these emotions either happen or are enhanced by chemical reactions in your brain.
Since both emotions can stem from reactions in your brain, this could be why people get the two confused. However, they occur from different chemical reactions in different brain areas. That is one reason you can experience both emotions at the same time.
According to researchers at Harvard University, the chemicals responsible for attraction are dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. The ones responsible for attachment are oxytocin and vasopressin. While there can be some slight overlap, these sets of chemicals cause different reactions in your body.
Behavior from Attraction Chemicals
It may surprise you that the chemicals responsible for your feelings of attraction are the same chemicals responsible for drug addiction sentiments. That may be scary, but it doesn’t mean you’ll be addicted to the person you’re dating. It merely means that dating an attractive person gives you the same euphoric feeling you’d get from being high (no matter how you phrase that, it sounds strange).
These chemicals can cause you to feel giddy and excited. They can also cause you to eat and sleep fewer hours. It seems that dating an attractive person keeps you alert and may help you lose weight! It seems like a win-win situation.
If you notice these feelings or behaviors happening to you, there is a good chance you’re feeling the pull of attraction. If you experience them enough, you could bounce over to attachment.
Behavior from Attachment Chemicals
The behavior you get from attachment chemicals may not be as exciting as the behavior you get from the attraction, but the actions could be more stable. These chemicals cause bonding behaviors. The researchers at Harvard said that these bonding behaviors could include activities like breastfeeding and childbirth.
Before you start thinking that your partner’s bond is the same as the bond with your baby, don’t forget that the difference is that you’ve had the attraction phase and likely the lust phase with your partner that you didn’t have with your baby. That’s what makes the attachment a romantic attachment. However, the bond is just as strong in both situations.
The Downside of Chemical Love
In general, being in love is a great thing. However, you’ve probably heard the saying, “love can make you do some crazy things.” This couldn’t be more accurate.
All those chemicals floating around your body can affect your hormones and cognitive functioning. You could make irrational decisions simply because the chemicals flood your judgment, especially if the relationship goes sour. Science has shown that these are the same behaviors that drug addicts exhibit.
Generally, this is nothing to worry about. Those irrational decisions are usually harmless ones. However, you may need to step back if you make decisions that can harm yourself, your livelihood, your partner, or someone else.
Does Instant Attraction = Love at First Sight?
Some people believe in love at first sight, while others don’t. However, attraction is a part of love, and instant attraction happens often. Therefore, in a sense, love at first sight happens a lot more than you think.
What doesn’t happen often is an attachment at first sight. This can be strange and possibly even alarming since attachments typically take time to develop. There may be some mental illness going n when this happens, but that’s a discussion for another article.
Final Thoughts on the Difference Between Love and Instant Attraction
After reading this article, you should be clear that attraction is simply one part of love. Therefore, there isn’t a difference between the two. You could say that attraction is simply beginner’s love or love without an emotional attachment. You could even go as far as saying that attraction is the idea of the possibility of love.
None of these definitions would be wrong. Attraction, even instant, is a version of love that hasn’t yet developed into a commitment. It can fizzle out as quickly as it develops. Love, it seems, is a fickle emotion.
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