Couples dating wait for that special moment when one will whisper that highly desirable and long-waited-for statement, “I love you.” Their understanding of love may differ from the love we all will experience. Researchers are now digging deep into the entire issue of love and finding more than we ever knew.

How many types of love do you think there are? Most of us might say the love of children, parents, friends, lovers, and even our country, but would that encompass all the love researchers are finding? We need to understand the concept of love and how it affects us physically and, as a result, emotionally.

Different love affects different areas of the brain and different neural transmitters—those pesky little chemical messengers that make it all possible. If we can boil it all down to neurotransmitters, are we then predicting that there might be something as simple as the words in that song, “Love Potion Number Nine?” Do we need to find Madame Rue and her herbal concoctions? Or do we need to use more sophisticated means of stimulating love? As some researchers believe, are there six, seven, or ten different loves? Here’s where the complexity enters the stage.

Certain research also suggests the common belief that “love is blind” is true. According to research, the brain’s attachment and reward networks are activated when we experience maternal and romantic love. Similar to how these ancient brain areas are involved in parental caregiving and long-term bonding in other mammals, they are also involved in these processes in our species. When we love something, is it neurologically the same as loving nature or our child?

Six Types of Love

Researchers, using story simulations and MRI technology, have concluded that love objects stimulate multiple areas of the brain. This discovery reveals six different types of love based on the target of affection.

Feelings of love for six different objects asserted are: 1. romantic partners, 2. one’s children, 3. friends, 4. strangers (varieties of interpersonal love), 5. pets (interspecies love), and 6. nature (nonsocial love).

How does the brain decide which are to stimulate to provide the appropriate type of love specific to that object? Three partially overlapping brain networks make up the “global human connection system”: the reward-motivation system (i), the embodied simulation/empathy network (ii), and the mentalizing system (iii).

This system categorizes closer affiliative relationships (parent-child, romantic, and friend) according to three factors: salience, social cognition, and social reward.

There are subtle differences between close interpersonal relationships — especially romantic and parent-child love—and more remote kinds of love for strangers, pets, and the natural world, according to stories and recordings provided by MRI. Interpersonal love of all types stimulated brain parts linked to social cognition, or “theory of mind.” The domains of reward and social cognition, as well as those connected to compassion or altruism, seemed to be implicated in the love of strangers. Owners of pets exhibited brain activity comparable to that of interpersonal affection.

Pets, too, play an important, integral role in these love relationships. Research to date has shown this to be true. Strong social ties and love are well-known to act as buffers against adversity. Humans and animals frequently develop close relationships.

A dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship between people and animals is called the “human-animal link.” Whether pets are beneficial to people’s health and well-being has long been a source of debate in human-animal interaction (HAI). At present, inquiries focus on who, what, and why questions for certain situations and not for others.

What About Singles?

Many types of love exist, and, in fact, even those who are not romantically attached at the moment, i.e., single, can be segregated into distinct groups, where some are happier than others. So being single does not mean you are either lonely or unloved.

The 4,835 adults who were unattached at the time of the study ranged in age from 18 to 65. The poll found ten different subsets of singles, with some subsets reporting higher levels of happiness than others.

One in five adults who were single reported being overjoyed. Their level of happiness was identical to that of the happiest couples in previous research. The survey revealed that 40% of the singles were satisfied, 36% were somewhat satisfied, and 10% were very unhappy.

The majority of singles, contrary to common belief, reported high levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, being single can be just as fulfilling as being in a committed relationship, dispelling the myths that surround being single.

Is love complicated? Undoubtedly, it is more involved than we may have previously considered it to be. Depending on the type of love involved, it engages unique and interconnects networks sections of the brain. Some portions of our love are based on reward areas, while others are more involved in altruistic connections.

One area of love researched by many is that of pets and their place in our lives as not only objects of love but seemingly, aids in resilience and helping when adversity comes into our lives.