ArticleFrontiers in psychology2023
Romantic love evolved by co-opting mother-infant bonding.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Hormonal contraceptive use is associated with love intensity across 51 countries.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Romantic love as regulatory co-option of maternal-bonding circuitry: a testable genetic account.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Use of the term "romantic love" in the evolutionary social and behavioral sciences.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The science of love is not quite there….mSystems · 2025Article
- Sex differences in romantic love: an evolutionary perspective.Biology of sex differences · 2025Article
- What Is the Link of Closeness and Jealousy in Romantic Relationships?Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- We know more and less about love: a comment on Babková and Repiská (2025).Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Love as a Commitment Device : Evidence from a Cross-Cultural Study across 90 Countries.Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Romantic Love and Behavioral Activation System Sensitivity to a Loved One.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
For 25 years, the predominant evolutionary theory of romantic love has been Fisher's theory of independent emotion systems. That theory suggests that sex drive, romantic attraction (romantic love), and attachment are associated with distinct neurobiological and endocrinological systems which evolved independently of each other. Psychological and neurobiological evidence, however, suggest that a competing theory requires attention. A theory of co-opting mother-infant bonding sometime in the recent evolutionary history of humans may partially account for the evolution of romantic love. I present a case for this theory and a new approach to the science of romantic love drawing on human psychological, neurobiological, and (neuro)endocrinological studies as well as animal studies. The hope is that this theoretical review, along with other publications, will generate debate in the literature about the merits of the theory of co-opting mother-infant bonding and a new evolutionary approach to the science of romantic love.
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