The Course:
SRS480: Love: Scientific and Theological Expressions
Your lights are on, but you're not home
Your mind is not your own
Your heart sweats, your body shakes
Another kiss is what it takes
You can't sleep, you can't eat
There's no doubt, you're in deep
Your throat is tight, you can't breathe
Another kiss is all you need
Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah
It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough
You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love
Robert Palmer, the late British rock singer, was really on to something when he wrote these lyrics for his 1986 hit “Addicted to Love.”
So concluded students enrolled in Dr. Drew Crain’s senior seminar course SRS480: Love: Scientific and Theological Expressions last semester. Examining the neurobiology of love, students learned that adoration isn’t all hearts and flowers.
“We looked at how specific regions of the brain show increased metabolic activity and release of neurotransmitters when individuals think of their mate or see a photograph of their beloved,” explained Crain, associate professor of biology. “Indeed, some of the neural responses to the beloved are identical to the responses of illegal drug use.”
The “addicted to love” revelation was just one of several made by students in the senior capstone course.
Thematic in nature and drawing on global perspectives, senior seminar courses are designed to provide students with the skills and opportunity to integrate across at least two of the three modes of inquiry: scientific, artistic and humanistic. Crain accomplished this by breaking the semester’s classes into three sections, grouped by three Greek terms for love: eros (physical attraction and/or romantic love), philia (familial or brotherly love) and agape (unconditional love/God’s love). Multiple readings and assignments were incorporated to show students how “love” is defined by the natural sciences, the fine arts and the humanities and how love is viewed by different cultures.
A reproductive biologist who has researched and published extensively on environmental factors that can alter reproduction in vertebrates, Crain explained that eros seemed a logical – and comfortable – place to begin the study.
“All vertebrate animals, including humans, express some form of eros,” Crain explained. “After beginning the course with the evolutionary origins of animal reproduction, I shifted to contemporary views on human romantic love and examined the unique situation of humans when compared to other animals – the fact that in humans, sex is decoupled from reproduction. The use of sex for power, for money (sustenance), for coercion is unique among animals and is strongly influenced by culture. Indeed, the evolution of human consciousness perhaps has led to reproduction being only one ‘use’ of sex. For many students, the idea that ‘humans are an animal, but not just another animal’ was eye-opening.
The breadth of ideas and theories explaining love and romance was also an eye-opener. Crain said Why We Love – The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love, a book written by anthropologist Helen Fisher, stirred a lot of debate because of the author’s proposal that divorce is a normal evolutionary response to increase the variation in offspring.
Students also read Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene and debated his contention that there is no real philia. The writings of Aristotle, Freud and C.S. Lewis launched deeper discussions about fondness for family members, friends and even country. Lewis’s The Four Loves was referenced again when talk turned to agape.
“We examined the presence of agape as a tenant in all major world religions, and focused on agape in Christianity,” Crain said.
Although the course ends with love’s religious origins, it was his earlier senior seminar course, SRS480: Science and Religion, that inspired Crain to develop this new class.
“For many students, the idea that ‘humans are an animal, but not just another animal’ was eye-opening."
- Dr. Drew Crain
“The only frustration that I ever had about the Science and Religion course is that the topic is too broad to allow detailed examination of the numerous topics. Topics such as ‘creation’ and ‘evolution’ need far more than one week of class,” he said. “Thus, I picked one topic – love – and examined the ways that scientists, artists, writers and theologians view love.”
Leading the class of seniors, of course, he also came to examine how young adults view love.
Despite the fact that some distinct differences in students’ attitudes toward love were apparent in the classroom, Crain said an online “love survey” he asked students to complete at the beginning of the semester revealed the universality of emotions associated with human romantic love. Previously administered to students at Rutgers University and the University of Tokyo, the test asked students to think about their object of affection and answer 18 questions such as “I have more energy when I am with him/her” and “Being sexually faithful is important when you are in love.”
“All three populations (MC students and students at the other universities) had very similar responses, and males and females responded similarly to most questions,” Crain said. “This showed me just how similar humans are, not just in physiology or anatomy, but also emotionally.”
