Significance is not enough: The biopsychological foundations of romantic love

Kruglanski et al.'s significance-based model overlooks fundamental biopsychological mechanisms driving romantic love. The Tie-Up Theory reveals how women's subconscious biological compatibility assessments through physical, chemical, and behavioral signals operate independently of conscious significance calculations. Their gender-neutral framework ignores how men's receptive emotional orientation differs from women's active emotional competence. By reducing love to significance enhancement, the model cannot explain irrational attractions, persistent relationships despite low "merit," or gendered dissolution patterns determined by reward cycle breakdowns.