Full photo report of the event
The lecture by Dr Anna Machin, delivered this spring at the University of Lodz, resonates particularly strongly today – between Mother’s Day and Children’s Day. It is a good moment to remind ourselves that love is not limited to a single relationship or a single experience:
“In reality, all forms of love are equally valuable. What is essential in life is that there is some form of love in it.”
Parental love, care for children, friendship, a sense of community or the everyday presence of another person contribute to our sense of security and well-being just as strongly as romantic relationships. Together, they create a network of bonds without which it is difficult to speak of a fulfilling life.
Love has many faces
In her lecture “The Neuroscience of Love”, Dr Anna Machin emphasised that love is a far more complex phenomenon than we usually assume. It cannot be reduced to a single definition or confined solely to romantic relationships.
“We cannot say exactly what love is. If I have 300 people, I will get 300 different answers.”
The British anthropologist explained that the way we love is shaped by both biology and culture. Genetics, neurochemistry, upbringing, family experiences, religion, social norms, and representations of relationships in culture all contribute to our understanding of intimacy.
“We are a biocultural species. Our behaviour is influenced by biology but also by culture.”
This is precisely why love can take so many forms. Love for a partner, a child, God, friends, community, animals or values – all these experiences are equally important.
Why did humans have to learn to love?
One of the most fascinating parts of the lecture concerned the evolutionary origins of love. Dr Machin argued that love had developed primarily because humans had to learn to cooperate.
The speaker pointed out that shared child-rearing was of particular importance for the human species. Human infants are born exceptionally helpless and require care from many individuals for a long time. It was the necessity of caring for children that led humans to form lasting social and family bonds.
“We had to cooperate in order to raise our children and ensure the survival of our species.”
In this context, love appears not only as an emotion, but also as a mechanism that builds relationships and strengthens bonds between people.
Love as the foundation of relationships
Dr Anna Machin also emphasises that life among others is never easy. Cooperation requires trust, reciprocity, and a willingness to make sacrifices. Humans constantly evaluate others, build relationships, and seek security and closeness.
From an evolutionary perspective, love has thus become something more than an emotion – it is a way of sustaining relationships essential for survival.
“Love, at its most basic level, is a biological form of bribery.”
Although such a scientific explanation may sound surprising, the researcher stressed that it was precisely this mechanism that enabled humans to form deep bonds and cooperate despite conflicts, competition, or differences.
Love that enables survival
The reflections of Dr Anna Machin demonstrate that while love can be described in the language of neuroscience, biology or anthropology, its significance remains deeply human. It is thanks to love that we create families, communities and relationships that help us through the most difficult moments.
A similar perspective is shared by dr hab. Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, Associate Professor at the University of Lodz, an ethicist and a philosopher who studies happiness and human well-being:
“We are a unique species that needs one another not only to survive, but to truly live.”
Perhaps this is why the question “why do we love?” has remained, for thousands of years, one of the most important questions about the human condition. And although science is now increasingly capable of explaining the mechanisms of love, it still does not take away what is most important – the uniqueness of the experience, which each person lives through in their own way.
Dr Anna Machin is a British evolutionary anthropologist from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford in England who has been researching love for years. In her publications, including the book "Why We Love," she attempts to answer the question of where love comes from and why it is so fundamental to us. In her work, Machin demonstrates that love is not an "emotional luxury," is not simply a matter of brain chemistry, and is not solely a cultural construct. Dr Machin is also the author of a book on fatherhood, "The Life of Dad: The Making of a Modern Father," published in 2018. She is currently researching the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of human relationships.
Edit: Honorata Ogieniewska, Centre for External Relations and Social Responsibility of the University of Lodz
Photos: Maciej Andrzejewski, Centre for Brand Communications, University of Lodz
