Why Love and Lust Can Be Found in Your Eyes
Eye patterns reveal whether people are in love or in lust
People have been confused about the nature of love and lust — and how to tell the difference between the two — since the beginning of time, and according to researcher Stephanie Cacioppo, even science cannot pin down the mysteries of love.
“Although little is currently known about the science of love at first sight or how people fall in love, these patterns of response provide the first clues regarding how automatic attentional processes, such as eye gaze, may differentiate feelings of love from feelings of desire toward strangers,” she explained.
In order to find out just what we can learn from gaze in terms of people having loving or lustful feelings for another person, Cacioppo, along with study co-author John Cacioppo, asked male and female students at the University of Geneva to view black and white photographs of couples who were looking at each other, as well as pictures of individuals looking directly at the camera. Each time, participants were shown isolated blocks of different parts of the picture and asked to disclose whether the photo made them have feelings of romantic love or sexual desire.
