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“The moment we saw each other, we knew it was meant to be.” Almost everybody has heard this phrase on TV or in the movies, but does this happen in real life? Because of this small sentence, lots of people ask how someone could fall in love with someone just by looking at them. Many people assume that people can choose who they fall in love with. However, brains are actually controlled because of the powerful force love has, so they can’t force themselves to love someone – it just happens.  

Looking at the science of it, there are many small components that make someone fall in love with their significant other. For instance, their face. An Australian scientist discovered that women prefer a man with a symmetrical face, which is often considered a sign of good health. In an interview, Dr. Grossman, a physiologist, said, “It’s a survival of the fittest thing. We subconsciously look at their face and say, ‘That’s a great face -- our kids are going to look awesome.” It is a form of judgment, which is a quick one. It takes even less than a second for their brains to make the decision when they first meet someone. This has turned into people calling it “love at first sight.” People, when they meet someone of the opposite sex, tend to visually fixate on the face to see if they will see any signs of any romantic love.

This basic concept of love at first sight has been used in many stories, such as Romeo and Juliet, and West Side Story. However, one of the most popular TV shows, The Big Bang Theory, began with this simple experience: In the pilot episode, two physicists return home from work when they notice a woman moving in across the hall from their apartment. The moment one of the physicists, Leonard Hofstadter, makes eye contact with the woman, Penny, he instantly becomes nervous and begins stuttering when he speaks. At the end of their conversation, he turns to his colleague and says, “Our babies will be smart and beautiful.” Love at first sight is always looked at in a curious manner by most teenagers and adults. They used this concept in the show to send the message. This is a general example of how it only takes within five seconds for someone’s brain to analyse the person they’re meeting and make a decision on whether or not they like them. It is like saying they only get one chance to make a good first impression of themselves.

But love at first sight is not the only example of how we could suddenly end up loving someone. People are most likely to fall in love with people they hang out with every day: Their friends. They can choose their friends, but they can’t choose which of them they are in love with. The love force always starts small, and then it slowly gets bigger, making it more clear to the person as time progresses. It usually takes a few months, but at some point, someone will begin to think of their friend (opposite sex) more often than they’re used to. Specifically, there is such a thing as two lovers with completely different personalities. A professor of physiology said that, "Based on what research evidence shows, similar people are more likely to get together in the first place -- and are also more likely to find satisfaction in their relationship." (Prof. William Ickes) It may be most likely that mismatched couples may not stay together for long, but it is how they loved each other in the first place that makes people curious. It’s like needing a positive charge and a negative charge to make a battery or needing peanut butter and also jelly to make a sandwich. Opposite people who fall in love have brains that somehow attract to each other. It is one of the ways that show how love can happen at any moment, without people knowing.

If people stopped to think about it, they would realize that love is not just about "love at first sight," but also opposites attracting as well. People assume that love is as simple as meeting someone, and then developing an affection towards them. Actually, the powerful force of love is running through their systems every day without them knowing.

Works Cited:

Scott, Jennifer A. "8 Secrets (From Science) For Falling In Love." The Huffington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/07/12/why-do-people-fall-in-love_n_1667527.html>.

DiLonardo, Mary Jo, and This Article Was Originally Published on Upwave.com. "Do Opposites Really Attract?" CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/07/living/opposites-attract-upwave-relate/>.