DESIRE ATTRACTION AND FALLING IN LOVE

Desire, attraction and falling in love and the affective processes that influence sexual behaviours. They all define forms of behaviour and attributions of meaning that are distinct from each other. Desire and attraction are based on object interest. The second is explicit, with an erotic valence, and falling in love implies interest in the person as such. 

Affection and sexuality are often intertwined, pushing people to seek and find each other. They provoke one or more affective processes that mediate and condition each other. While in desire the object has a secondary and interchangeable value, falling in love has a value that goes beyond one’s own interest and is unique.

AFFECTIVE, COGNITIVE AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN SEXUALITY

The internal processes that interact with each other and mediate the sexual behaviour of individuals in response to certain stimuli.Among the affective processes associated with sexual behaviour are desire, attraction and falling in love. Human beings are per-programmed for them and at the same time they significantly mediate sexual activity. The way sexuality is perceived and experienced depends very much on the affective meaning and dimension of sexual stimuli for each individual.

• The dimension has a bipolar character with extremes. One with a tendency to give positive responses, called erotophilia, and the other with a tendency to give negative emotional responses, called erotophobia.
• Cognitive mediation is also decisive in intellectual and language development affecting knowledge and interpretation of reality concerning sexual behaviour
• Another important factor acquired is the moral judgement of sexual behaviour. What is considered morally unacceptable to some may seem legitimate and desirable to others.
• Finally, biological processes play an indispensable role in mediating processes, facilitating or inhibiting sexual response. There are other factors such as the level of testosterone, the state of health or illness, fatigue or well-being, the maturity or responsiveness of the entire physiological sexual system. The affective processes that influence sexual behaviour are desire, attraction and infatuation. All of them define different forms of behaviour and different attributions of meaning. Desire and attraction are based on object interest. The second is explicit, with an erotic valence, and falling in love implies interest in the person as such. 

Affection and sexuality are often intertwined, pushing people to seek and find each other. They provoke one or more affective processes that mediate and condition each other. While in desire the object has a secondary and interchangeable value, falling in love has a value that goes beyond one’s own interest and is unique.