First Advisor

Lara Narcisi

College

Regis College

Degree Name

BS

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

64 pages

Abstract

Seventy-five percent of people in the Peace Corps fall in love. College students go on Semester at Sea and come back calling it “the love boat.” Mormon missionaries meet their soulmates. The list goes on and on. Why are people going on these excursions and forming such intense bonds? And what do all of them even have in common? Well, they all fall under the category of “extraordinary experiences,” according to the criterion of intensity, engagement, and temporality. During experiences such as these, dopamine levels in the brain spike significantly. After a while, our brains become hardwired by the mundane and repetitive nature of everyday life. Extraordinary experiences legitimately rewire our brains, and we love it. With dopamine flowing through our veins, relearning awe and wonder, and that rewiring, it is not hard to believe that we can often mistake all of this arousal in our bodies for attraction. I know this is true because there is science to corroborate it, yes, but I also know because I experienced it first-hand. My central argument came naturally because of this: people fall in love easier during extraordinary experiences.

Date of Award

Spring 2024

Location (Creation)

Denver, Colo.

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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