Love

This one's for you my friend. Some excerpts from the journal articles that ferris passed to me for the lit review. Basically the article i was talking about is about the Self-expansion Model of Love which is based on 3 principles:

1. People seek to expand the self.
   
2. One way they seek to do so is by attempting to include others in the self through close relationships.
   
3. People seek situations and experiences that have become associated with experiences of expansion of self. 

And people fall in love because of:

1. Desirability: Perceived degree of potential expansion of self that is possible thru a close relationship with that particular other.
2. Probability: Perceived probability of actually obtaining that expansion with other (probability that one could actually form and maintain a close relationship with this particular other)

-----> Edit on 17/11: And the above points make alot of sense. For instance, some distant eye-candy crush would be high on desirability, low on probability. And your platonic friend would be low on desirability, high on probability. Makes a bit of sense, no? So when you find someone who scores high on desirability AND probability, then BINGO! You're one lucky dude.

When one initially falls in love, the perceived opportunity for expansion is very great. 

But once established, the rate of expansion inevitably slows down.

The self-expansion model imples that a possible way that couple might avoid the typical decline in satisfaction and love over time would be by associating the partner or the relationship with experiences of expanding. 

Once relationship partners can no longer gain substantial expansion from the development of the relationship (they know each other well), by engaging in expanding activities togehter, they may give the relationship an aura of expansion. Activities that are self-expanding are those that are novel or arousing.

So in the bridge study, male subjects found a woman more attractive when she was met on a scary suspension bridge than when the same woman was met on a safe foot bridge. Meaning that the woman encountered on the suspension bridge may seem to offer more self-expansion, or feelings of arousal.

I would like to elaborate more but there's this kancheong senior who's bugging me to send out a mass email. Next time.