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Admit it: You're curious.
By Christine Schoenwald — Written on Jan 25, 2022
How do people fall in love? Does it happen because they're hit by Cupid's arrow, or is it something predestined? Are love potions or spells involved? How can we explain something that nobody has been able to for thousands of years?
What do you actually need to fall into that crazy, wonderful, horrible thing called love? What do you do when you find yourself in it? Even worse if the other person doesn't share the same feelings.
Elizabeth Phillips, a Ph.D. student in applied experimental and human factors psychology at the University of Central Florida, believes she's identified (with the help of David Levy's book, Love + Sex with Robots) factors explaining why and how people fall in love.
Interestingly enough, one of Phillips' interests is human-robot love and intimacy. As if the love between just humans isn't complicated enough.
She says, "I have an interest in how robots and other technologies are changing the way we interact with the world and one another, including the future of human relationships."
According to her, these are the 10 things you need to fall in love:
Photo: Business Insider
It looks like we need similarity. It's good to have someone similar to you, I'm my favorite person to be around.
Next is someone who reciprocates our feelings. That should be easy enough, I'm finally over Jeremy from 2019.
We have to actually like the person we want to be with, this is actually easier said than done.
Not only do we have to like them, but there has to be some kind of attraction there. They have to have something that keeps us coming back and thinking about them.
We don't want to know everything about our person right away. We like a good chase. Make them work for it. It'll leave them wanting more.
While group dates to Dave and Buster where you can drink and play arcade games with all your couple friends are fun, you have to learn about your person in private. Spend some alone time together. It'll spice up the connection.
The person you want to be in a relationship with should actually want a relationship as well. Make sure of this before you fall too deep too quickly.
Did you know that they say people bond in perilous situations? Well, now you did. Take your date on a dangerous hike, or to an amusement park. Get their adrenaline pumping, and they'll be yours in no time.
Now that you know what you need to fall in love with, actually doing it should be easy. So get out there and find your flame.
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Christine Schoenwald has been a writer with YourTango since 2014. You can contact her on Twitter.