Author(s)

Enrique Burunat^*

School of Health Sciences, Psychobiology, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.

Romantic love—referred to as love—, is a physiological drive, but society has come to understand it as an emotion. Nevertheless, many researchers, mainly psychologists, have established its impulsive and motivational characteristics, which are even similar to those of addictive drug abuse. However, many professionals in the field of psychology and psychiatry still consider love to be a complex emotion or feeling. This article describes some of the causes and consequences of the extensive confusion between love and emotion. Some reasons to consider love as a physiological motivation, like hunger, thirst, sleep and sexuality are also summarized. A Love Withdrawal Syndrome is proposed. It concludes by highlighting the urgency to eliminate love from the catalogue of emotions in psychology, as an item or cluster in psychological tests, and also as an emotional mental function, by contributing to its dramatic consequences, mainly divorces, suicides and femicides.

Love, Emotion, Divorce, Suicide, Femicide, Motivation, Brain

Burunat, E. (2016) Love Is Not an Emotion. Psychology, 7, 1883-1910. doi: 10.4236/psych.2016.714173.