Evolution of love

Definition of Love

Evincing the subtle difference between attraction, lust and attachment.

Neurologists tend to divide the experience of love into three distinct categories:

attraction, lust and attachment.

The combination of all these three can make an intoxicating and lasting bond, but they are not always experienced together.

Often, for instance, we lust after those with whom we have no desire of having a long-term relationship; at the other

time we feel attached to people in the sense to being drawn to them emotionally or spiritually, but not drawn to them physically.

It is accurate to describe these as stages of love – lust tend to come first, then attraction, which lasts for months and years

and finally attachment, which can keep people together for decades. These are separate chemical substrates,

so they can overlap. However, evidence suggests that attraction has a limited lifespan.