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Barbara Fredrickson's View Of Close Personal Relationships In Close Relationships

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In Love 2.0, Barbara Fredrickson stands by the belief that her improved definition love does not have to happen in close relationships, and can happen anywhere, between anyone. This essay will seek to explore the extent to which close personal relationships influence positivity resonance - a better measure of love - by analyzing the documented experiments and research found in the selection.

Fredrickson describes love as “true positivity-charged connection with other living beings” (107). With this definition in mind, it becomes plain at the outset that love need not take place within close relationships. Any “positivity-charged” (107) interaction and connection with anyone, including strangers, can be love. While “cultural heritage” …show more content…

When presented with the facts of the experiment, the fact that the participants in the study were strangers becomes a point of interest. There needed not be a close connection fostered over the years in order to for two brains to sync up. If neural coupling is “the means by which we understand each other” (108) - and as such, the means by which positivity resonance comes to be - and can happen between almost any two people depending on the interest, body language, and attentiveness between the two of them as Fredrickson is suggesting, close relationships do not influence her definition of positivity resonance to a large extent.

Brain synchronicity is a scientific measure of positivity resonance, and as such, love. The nature of good communication goes further than just “a single act performed by two brains” (112) in the context of love, because the understanding that comes with neural coupling extends further when the same emotion is being experienced by two people (113). Neural coupling of this kind gives way to what Fredrickson calls “micro-moments of love” (113). These are experienced more frequently when positive emotions are shared and two brains act as one (113). These moments require merely a connection rather than

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