The concept of "love blindness" has become a proverb. It is understood that the object of love can have any flaws and even vices, but they will not be obvious to the lover.
Medics of antiquity and the Middle Ages considered the state of falling in love as a disease requiring treatment with food abstinence, walks and … wine. One of the reasons for this approach was precisely the idealization of the beloved, which accompanies love.
Halo effect
One can argue about whether there is "love at first sight", but it cannot be denied that the first impression made by a person plays one of the key roles in the occurrence of falling in love. It is hardly possible to fall in love with a person who immediately did not like it. And here comes the phenomenon that psychologists call the halo effect.
The halo effect is not limited to the beloved. It implies that all actions and qualities of a person are perceived "through the prism" of the impression that he made at the first meeting. If the impression turned out to be favorable, as is the case with lovers, everything in a person will be liked, and even shortcomings will "turn" into advantages. A slacker will appear to a girl in love as "an unsatisfied creative person looking for herself", an ill-mannered young man - "a real man, devoid of female effeminacy." A man in love will see in a girl who is not distinguished by intelligence, "innocent innocence", and in a sloppy woman - "sweet negligence."
Physiological causes
Research by specialists from the University of London A. Bartelis and S. Zeki revealed the physiological foundations of the "blindness of love."
During the experiment, 17-year-old volunteers who subjectively rated their condition as "crazy love" were shown photographs of their lovers, friends and strangers. When looking at the photographs of their beloved, all subjects activated four areas of the brain, which did not react in any way to the demonstration of all other photographs.
It is noteworthy that two out of four areas are also activated when taking some narcotic drugs. In other words, falling in love turns out to be a phenomenon "related" to an altered state of consciousness, in which it is rather difficult to expect an adequate perception of reality.
The American researcher H. Fisher established which hormones play a leading role in the state of passionate love. One of these hormones turned out to be dopamine, which creates a sense of pleasure. There are especially many recipes for dopamine in the caudate nucleus and the shell - the subcortical regions of the brain that are responsible for emotions associated with positive reinforcement. At the same time, the excitation of the posterior cingulate gyrus associated with negative emotions is reduced. In such conditions, everything that is associated with positive emotions "grows" in the eyes of a person, and what can cause negative emotions - in particular, the beloved's shortcomings - is "discarded" by consciousness.
Similar changes in the functioning of the brain occur with drug use, and in this sense, falling in love can really be considered a "disorder of the mind", as did the ancient doctors.
