When you love someone, they take up major real estate in your thoughts. They might occupy a prominent place in your fantasies, your recurring daydreams or even your conversations. You might reread their texts, view their photos or fantasize about your future together in the middle of work meetings. This is all a good thing! Love, as a feeling that can make us feel euphoric, happy and hopeful, is one of the most important and complex human emotions.

In fact, it’s so important that some scholars and researchers are exploring it scientifically. They’re trying to understand the factors that influence how people fall in and out of love.

They’re studying what influences how close or far apart people are likely to become, the chemistry involved when you fall in love and what makes some couples more likely to stay in love longer than others. They’re also investigating how different types of love—like maternal and romantic—can impact the health of relationships.

The science of love hasn’t been completely settled yet, but some researchers have identified a few key influences on the likelihood of two people falling in and out of love. Some of these include:

Proximity: When you’re in close proximity to a person, it’s easier for you to start liking them and then loving them. This is often influenced by things like how often you interact with the person, whether they live in your same neighborhood or how much time you spend together.

Desirability: When you think about someone, it’s more likely that you will consider them desirable if you find them attractive and/or you have similar values and preferences. This is often influenced by things like personality traits, appearance and your social circle.

Evolution: Some scientists believe that love is a natural human emotion that has evolved to promote pair bonding and parental investment. This is based on research showing that people are more likely to invest in their offspring and be kinder to them when they feel loving emotions.

Whether you’re in or out of love, everyone deserves to feel loved. This is why it’s important to surround yourself with loving people—including friends, family and pets.

If you’re looking for unique essay topic ideas, consider the many different kinds of love. You can write about your first love, how you’ve viewed your own relationship with your partner or how you’ve experienced love in the workplace or at school. Then, explore how writers such as Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde have captured these themes in their works. They offer a wide range of perspectives and can be adapted to various essay types, including personal narratives and analytical essays. These essay topics can help you write a meaningful and memorable paper. Best of all, they’re sure to help you express your passion for the subject matter!