• Question: What makes us love, trust, hate or having any feelings towards other people?

    Asked by to Ben, James, Jen, Michael, Susanna on 13 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by giggles, amelia13.
    • Photo: Jen Todd Jones

      Jen Todd Jones answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Or feelings about people are often linked to our memories of them, or even memories of people that they remind us of. While we might not have a memory of someone being cruel to us that makes us dislike them, they might look a lot like someone was cruel to us and that can make us dislike someone even if they’ve done nothing wrong!

      Love can be a little trickier to define, but it actually happens around the same part of the brain as fear and dislike! The by core of the brain at the top of our spine contains structures like the amygdala, these process strong emotions and decide whether they mean we are in danger or having a good time.

      The reason we have feeling is mainly because back when we were cavemen we had to rely on basic instincts to survive sometimes. Or brain responded to situations very automatically and made us feel bad if we were in danger. These emotions were also useful for deciding if we liked someone and trusted them, so we could lie around them without being afraid all of the time.

      Hope this answers your question 🙂

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