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Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Assessment of Sexual Behavior of Male Mice
Published on: March 5, 2020
What does sexual orientation orient? A biobehavioral model distinguishing romantic love and sexual desire
1Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0251, USA. diamond@psych.utah.edu
Abstract:
Although it is typically presumed that heterosexual individuals only fall in love with other-gender partners and gay-lesbian individuals only fall in love with same-gender partners, this is not always so. The author develops a biobehavioral model of love and desire to explain why. The model specifies that (a) the evolved processes underlying sexual desire and affectional bonding are functionally independent; (b) the processes underlying affectional bonding are not intrinsically oriented toward other-gender or same-gender partners: (c) the biobehavioral links between love and desire are bidirectional, particularly among women. These claims are supported by social-psychological, historical, and cross-cultural research on human love and sexuality as well as by evidence regarding the evolved biobehavioral mechanisms underlying mammalian mating and social bonding.
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