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Why Love Has Wings and Sex Has Not: How Reminders of Love and Sex Influence Creative and Analytic Thinking

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.a.forster{at}uva.nl.

	Abstract

This article examines cognitive links between romantic love and creativity and between sexual desire and analytic thought based on construal level theory. It suggests that when in love, people typically focus on a long-term perspective, which should enhance holistic thinking and thereby creative thought, whereas when experiencing sexual encounters, they focus on the present and on concrete details enhancing analytic thinking. Because people automatically activate these processing styles when in love or when they experience sex, subtle or even unconscious reminders of love versus sex should suffice to change processing modes. Two studies explicitly or subtly reminded participants of situations of love or sex and found support for this hypothesis.

First published on August 18, 2009, doi:10.1177/0146167209342755

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009;35:1479.

A more recent version of this article appeared on November 1, 2009


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