Falling in love gives you a euphoric feeling. It is one of the strongest emotions that pumps your heart, holds your gaze, and makes your senses yearn something special. Love is magical too—it pulls you towards the special person, making you wonder why. It can even drive you to extreme lengths to win over that person.

Two further factors that can help explain why people fall in love involve mate selection.

Social influences: A potential union that satisfies general social norms, as well as acceptance of the potential union within one’s social network, can contribute to people falling in love. By contrast, a union that does not satisfy general social norms or is not accepted by one’s social network, can result in people falling out of love.

Filling needs: If a person can fulfill needs for companionship, love, sex or mating, there is a greater chance that the other person will fall in love with him or her.

Another five factors seem to be required for the love to be truly passionate as opposed to being a kind of friendship love

Arousal/unusualness: Being in an unusual or arousing environment can spark passion, even if the environment is perceived as dangerous or spooky (Dutton & Aron, 1974).

Specific Cues: A particular feature of the other may spark particularly strong attraction (e.g., parts of their body or facial features).

Readiness: The more you want to be in a relationship, the lower your self-esteem and the more likely you are to fall in love.

Isolation: Spending time alone with another person can also contribute to a development of passion.

Mystery: If there is some mystery surrounding the other person and uncertainty about what the other person thinks or feels, wondering when he or she will initiate contact can also contribute to passion.

A question that receives quite a bit of attention in the psychological literature is why people fall in love. One promising answer is that romantic love occurs when the attributes that generate general attraction and the social factors and circumstances that produce passion are particularly strong.

Similarity: This includes similarity of people’s beliefs and, to a lesser extent, similarity of personality traits and ways of thinking.

Propinquity: This includes familiarity with the other, which can be caused by spending time together, living near each other, thinking about the other, or anticipating interaction with the other.

Desirable characteristics: This general attraction attribute is particularly focused on an outer physical appearance that is found desirable and, to a lesser extent, on desirable personality traits.

Reciprocal liking: When the other person is attracted to you or likes you, that can increase your own liking.

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