In one study of 500 individuals conducted in the mid-1960s by Dorothy Tennov, 61% of the women and 35% of the men agreed with the statement, “I have been in love without feeling any need for sex” and 53% of the women and 79% of the men agreed with the statement, “I have been sexually attracted without feeling the slightest trace of love”. Love and lust can exist in any combinations, with either, both or neither emotional state present to any degree ( Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2013). Love is not a prerequisite for sexual desire, and sexual desire does not necessarily lead to love. However, love and lust are not identical ( Diamond, 2004 Diamond & Dickenson, 2012 Hatfield & Rapson, 2005).
Specifically, these two phenomena share neural regions of activation within the cortical areas that are involved in self-representation, goal-directed actions, and body image (middle frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, temporo-parietal junction, and occipito-temporal cortices Cacioppo et al., 2012 Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2013) and within subcortical brain areas associated with positive emotions, euphoria, reward, motivation and addiction (e.g., striatum, thalamus, hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex, & ventral tegmental area). For instance, neuroimaging studies show that love and lust share common mechanisms. The disinterest in sexual desire has begun to change with a growing body of evidence demonstrating a tight correlation between the subjective feeling of romantic love and the subjective feeling of sexual desire. Love and lust have existed throughout human history ( Cacioppo & Hatfield, 2013 Hatfield & Rapson, 2002), but sexual desire has long been a neglected stepchild in scientific research on interpersonal attraction ( Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2013 Hatfield & Rapson, 1990). Based on the notion of a functional coupling of goal-directed actions/intentions and selective visual processing before action, we hypothesized that gaze-direction would differentiate love from lust. Moreover, decoding and understanding the language of the eyes is a skill that plays a major role in social cognition and interpersonal interaction ( Baron-Cohen, 1995 Emery, 2000).Īlthough a large body of studies has investigated the importance of eye-gaze in different settings, and has demonstrated that the gaze direction of an interlocutor likely influences a viewer’s construal through its effects on allocation of spatial attention ( Haxby, Hoffman, & Gobbini, 2000 Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000 Macrae et al., 2002), little is known about the pattern of gaze-based intentions when it comes to differentiating love from lust (i.e., sexual desire). For instance, prior research indicates that specific goals and intentions influences a person’s gaze direction and allocation of social attention ( Argyle & Cook, 1976 Baron-Cohen, 1995 Emery, 2000 Rupp & Wallen, 2007), and a growing number of studies support a functional coupling of goal-directed actions/intentions and selective visual processing before action (e.g., Land, & Lee, 1994 Land, Mennie, & Rusted, 1999). The current paper focuses on a different source of information regarding a person’s goals and intentions –eye gaze behavior.Įye gaze is a surprisingly rich source of information about one’s interest, intentions, and goals. How does your date know whether you aspire to be in a long-term or short-term relationship with them? What is being said regarding goals and intentions may not constitute a particularly trustworthy source of data because this can be controlled to hide true intentions in order to reach a goal. When you are on a date with a person who you barely know, how do you evaluate a person’s goals and intentions regarding a long-term relationship with you? This question is bidirectional.