According to a study lead by Arthur Aron, you can fall in love in only one hour after asking 36 questions. [1]https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0146167297234003 The 36 questions in the study are broken up into three sets, with each set intended to be more probing than the previous one. The idea is that mutual vulnerability fosters closeness. To quote the study’s authors, “One key pattern associated with the development of a close relationship among peers is sustained, escalating, reciprocal, personal self-disclosure.” Allowing oneself to be vulnerable with another person can be exceedingly difficult, so this exercise forces the issue. [2]https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/style/no-37-big-wedding-or-small.html
According to an fMRI imaging study, it takes only one-fifth of a second for the brain to begin firing neurochemicals that cause us to feel sensations associated with love. [3]https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.x
Another thing is how long does it take to say “I love you”. Are men or women more likely to confess love first in romantic relationships? And how do men and women feel when their partners say “I love you”? According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology [4]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21319910/, “saying and hearing ‘I love you’ has different meanings depending on who is doing the confessing and when the confession is being made.” They also found that men typically thinking about professing their love about 3 months into the relationship whereas women in the study started thinking about it closer to 5 months into the relationship.”
And of course, many of us heard stories about how a long-term friendship between a guy and a girl suddenly turns into a relationship. [5]https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/201512/is-how-friendship-turns-romance
So it seems that to falling in love can take from one second to years. What’s your thought on this? Share your personal experience below by submitting your time to the “How long does it take to fall in love?” question.