From Metro...
A UNIVERSITY professor claims to have unlocked the formula for love.
Donn Byrne says his mathematical equation can tell if you have a
slight crush or have fallen head over heals for someone.
While social psychologists have long argued that love cannot be
quantified, the results of a series of questionnaires taken at
marriage ceremonies in America and Europe allowed researchers to
predict with 80 per cent accuracy which marriages would survive past
two years.
Professor Byrne, from the State University of New York, says love is a
mix of five factors: sexual attraction; psychological arousal; a
desire for intimacy; an intense need to be wanted; and a fear of
losing the loved one. 'If you have these emotions to differing degrees
higher than for a normal friend, then you are truly in the throes of
passionate love,' said Professor Byrne.
'It is clear that sexual attraction should be the most heavily
weighted factor on the scale, but by itself it would not mean love.
Fear of loss is the least significant factor, but is always there.'
The weighting of each factor is based on interviews carried out in
North America, Britain and Holland over 20 years.
'Last year I fell in love as passionately as anyone else - there is no
escaping it when those five factors come together,' added Professor
Byrne.
Dr Duncan Cramer, from Loughborough University, seemed to back the
professor's love equation.
'It is a very tricky area, but this formula does appear to cover all
the bases,' he said.
Professor Byrne says love may be a powerful form of self-delusion
genetically designed to bond people. He also claims that romantic love
did not exist in Europe until the Middle Ages and in China, where
marriages are traditionally arranged, until Hollywood arrived on
Oriental screens this century to promote it.
THE LOVE EQUATION
Love = (1.7xA) + (1.5xB) +
(1.5xC) + (1.5xD) + (1.3xE)
How to assign values to the letters:
A. Calculate the strength of your friendship on a scale of 1-10. A
friend who is not greatly missed when absent would score five.
B. Estimate how mentally stimulating you find your friend. Five means
you enjoy their conversation without longing for it.
C. Estimate your desire to be physically close to your friend. Five
means you are on hugging terms.
D. Calculate how much you care whether your friend wants your company.
One means you do not care at all.
E. Estimate how upset you would be if your friendship ended. Five
would mean you were fairly upset but not devastated.
How the equation works:
First calculate a love score for an average friend. Then do the same
calculation using figures for someone you suspect you love. If the
score for your lover is significantly greater than that of an average
friend, then it really is love.
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