8 Psychological Effects Of Having A Crush

Can you remember a special feeling you get as you catch a glimpse of your crush walking by? Perhaps you recall your heart racing at one-hundred miles per hour, feeling especially awake, or experiencing butterflies in your stomach. Those may be just a few of the feelings you are experiencing; there are so many more changes that you may not even be aware of! This article will discuss 8 psychological effects of having a crush.

You feel very awkward when they’re around

Imagine this scenario: you’re walking down the hallway and your crush waves to you as he walks by. You find yourself deciding what you should say, whether you should wave back, or whether you should crack a joke, so you try to do it all. You didn’t realize that you ended up mumbling or doing something that you thought was super embarrassing! Although this moment probably felt very awkward, don’t worry — own it! Laugh it off, act as if that was intentional. This shows confidence, which is a positive trait to have.

Your hobbies and interests change

Does your crush like football? All of a sudden, you may find yourself becoming more interested in learning this sport, even if it wasn’t something that you ever thought of! It’s natural to become more open-minded to explore new things because it can be a potential common interest between you and your crush. Interestingly, many people don’t even notice this, until someone else brings it up to them.

Your rational judgments go out of the window

According to Drs. Schwartz and Olds, the connection between the nucleus accumbens to the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex to the nucleus accumbens becomes less active when a person is engaged in romantic love. These are brain areas associated with making social judgement. Perhaps this could also be an explanation for the ancient wisdom, “love is blind”.

Your brain areas associated with reward are especially active

Have you ever wondered what happens on a biological level when you see your crush? Fischer, Aron, and Brown (2005) found that participants who viewed pictures of someone special, such as a crush, showed increased brain activity in areas rich with dopamine compared to participants who looked at pictures of acquaintances. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is thought to play an important role in our reward system.

You notice subtle things about your crush, such as their body language

Have you ever found yourself paying more attention to the things that your crush does? You may try extra hard to notice any subtle signs that our crush may give — whether they’re leaning in while talking to you, smiling, or mimicking your behaviour — to gauge his or her interest level in you!

You become invested in finding out if your crush likes you back

Expanding from the previous point, reciprocity makes it possible to heightening and strengthening relationships. No wonder that you’ve probably watched our video about 7 signs that your crush likes you! Some of these signs mentioned in our video include that they make time to see you or if they remember small details about you.

You compliment your crush

Your crush is probably a great person, and you probably want them to know! On one day, maybe you’re telling them how nice their sweater is, and on another day, you’re telling them about cool their glasses look. Do you find that you give your your crush a lot of compliments?

You excessively daydream about your crush

You’ve just sent your crush a text, and you’re probably daydreaming about all the possible responses he could send to you. In another scenario, you could be daydreaming about a perfect story of how great it would be to be with this person! While this can be a fun thing to imagine, it’s important to limit the time spent daydreaming about things that could happen, and instead, act on them! If you find yourself daydreaming too excessively, you may be interested to read my article about 5 signs of maladaptive daydreaming.

Here were 8 psychological effects of having A crush. Did you relate to any of these, and are there other things you do when having a crush? Let us know in the comments below!

References

Edwards, S. (n.d.). Love and the Brain. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain/love-and-brain

Fisher, H., Aron, A., & Brown, L. L. (2005). Romantic love: an fMRI study of a neural mechanism for mate choice. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 493(1), 58-62.

Ohara, K. (2016, January 20). 15 Things That Happen When You Have A Crush. Retrieved June 07, 2020, from https://www.thetalko.com/15-things-that-happen-when-you-have-a-crush/

Psych2Go (Producer). (2018, November 23). 7 Signs Your Crush Likes You [Video file]. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMa2spCLrjI