In short, yes. But it's not that simple.
Your eyes meet. You each look away. You both look back again and exchange shy smiles. Your hearts begin to flutter … and the rest is history.
Movies, novels, even the Modern Love column in The New York Times would have us all believe that love at first sight is not only real, but actually pretty common. But are we being conned into believing in something that doesn’t exist?
Not necessarily. One Psychology Today article reports that up to 60% of people say they have experienced love at first sight. What’s more, it reveals that researchers in the Netherlands who studied the phenomenon not only confirmed that it exists but also made several interesting discoveries.
For starters, it’s often not mutual. So while it may be possible to experience love at first sight, the chances of the object of your affection feeling the same way might not be as good. What’s more, men tend to report experiencing it more frequently than women, which correlates with other research that shows women are generally more selective than men anyway.
The researchers' key finding, however, was the fact that it may not actually be love that we’re feeling. Instead, it’s likely a really strong attraction to the person and the possibility of a relationship with them.
Call us romantics, but regardless of whether or not it’s really love (which, let’s face it, is hard to measure anyway), we’re all for believing in an instant connection.
