The psychology of kisses

On the analysis of a kiss, the science of kissing, the types of kisses and the social basis of kissing.

Kissing is one of the oldest human activities. It is the expression of affection, liking or love for another person. If you go back to the history of kissing, kissing in public may not have existed a few hundred years ago and was still not allowed in some cultures, but we can safely assume that kissing has been around for thousands of years, even if they did in private. it is a very natural form of human emotional expression.

Psychology students will generally attempt to analyze kissing from a psychoanalytic perspective. A kiss is an oral activity, like smoking or eating, it involves the mouth and dates back to the oral stage of psychological development. To some extent, the oral fixation theory may be true. This means that some people are addicted to activities of the mouth, they derive pleasure from the sensations in the mouth, and therefore they are also addicted to kissing or activities related to the mouth. Oral fixation describes certain personalities, but in this article I will focus mainly on the analysis of a kiss and the science involved.

Kissing involves neural and hormonal activity, and several recent researchers have indicated that dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and sex hormones are released during romantic kissing. Dopamine and serotonin are chemicals (neurotransmitters) and oxytocin is a hormone released by the pituitary gland. When emotions are involved, the amygdala and hypothalamus in the brain are activated, and the activation of the amygdala and hypothalamus, the release of chemicals, and the stimulation of the pituitary and sex glands during kissing create attachment and a feeling of euphoria in romantic relationships. In non-romantic relationships, kissing creates affection and emotional attachment and is often experienced between friends, family, social relationships, etc. A kiss on the cheek is a type of social greeting and is common in many cultures.

A kiss can be interpreted in many ways and the attributes of a kiss can be analyzed according to length or duration, depth, position or location, facial expression before and after a kiss, and these elements, when are analyzed, they will ultimately help to derive cover-up or overt motivations for kissing.

Since kissing takes place on the human body, we have limited spatial coordinates to begin with. Nobody will hopelessly or passionately kiss a tree or a wall, although that type of activity can also be analyzed.

Let’s start with the top of the head. A short, brief, fleeting kiss on the top of the head indicates affection. Parents kiss their children on the head or forehead. When bosses or colleagues kiss each other on the head, that can come across as patronizing and even weird. Forehead kisses are common among the family and older relatives often kiss children or young people on the forehead. Brief kisses on the cheek are accepted as a social custom in some cultures and are considered a sign of formality or formal friendliness and camaraderie. A brief kiss on the cheek is often a sign of rapport, affection between workers, and support or encouragement.

As soon as the kiss moves to other parts of the body, the analysis becomes more complex. Aside from head or cheek kisses, which are considered affectionate, kisses on the eyes, nose, ears, or chin would be considered romantic. Kissing on the nose has an element of affection involved, but kissing on the chin is more intimate.

The first principle is that the further the kiss descends, the more intimate it becomes. So a kiss on the leg is obviously much more intimate than a kiss on the hand. Lip kissing is of course very intimate and we are not considering it within this principle. Kiss on the hand is actually a more traditional and formal romantic expression. In ancient times, men proposed to women by kissing their hand. It is formal romance.

The second principle is that the longer it goes on, the more intimate it becomes. So intimacy through kissing has to do with space and time.

The third principle is that spatial and temporal aspects will determine the motivation for the kiss. This means that a kiss can indicate many expressions, including love, romance, sexual attraction, affection, formal support, and the type of kiss or motive will be largely determined by the spatial and temporal attributes of the kiss.

A long kiss on the front of the neck is bolder than a kiss on the back of the neck. The kiss on the inner surface of the skin, such as the palm of the hand, the inner part of the wrist or the elbow, is more intimate than the kiss on the outer surface, etc. Public kissing on the inner surface of the body can seem a bit desperate, so it should be done in private. What about the temporal aspects? A man sits next to you in the park, talks to you for a while, gives you a brief kiss on the fingers and walks away. It’s strange behavior but it happens. That is the uncertain kiss. Long term lovers will engage in longer kisses. Prolonged mouth-to-mouth kisses build attachment and even a level of trust. The mouth, tongue and lips have a large number of nerve endings and are extremely sensitive, which is why mouth-to-mouth kisses increase the pleasure. The romantic kiss is, of course, a prelude to sexual intercourse.

Let me move on to the third principle from which you derive the motivations for kissing. Why did a friend kiss you in a certain way? As long as the kiss is not too long and is on the cheek or face, that is an indication of support, encouragement and affection. Kissing may not have sexual meanings and connotations. Affection between two people is quite possible, even if they are not lovers. Whether of the same sex or the opposite sex, two people can feel great love, affection and support for each other and kiss on the head, cheek or face and such expressions are usually natural, especially in teamwork. Let’s say in a soccer team, players kiss and hug other teammates as expressions of encouragement and the same type of relationship can be seen in teammates working together on any field, and team members They can be men or women, it doesn’t matter. When people are excited about something, they may kiss and hug other people who are close to them, but it’s just an emotional expression and a release of energy, not exactly directed at other people. So suppose your colleague standing next to him was watching a game, he got excited about a soccer goal and started to hug him because he was so excited, it doesn’t mean he was bullying him, he was just expressing his enthusiasm and emotions. But if this kind of behavior becomes a habit, you need to be a little more cautious and make sure you don’t stand next to him. He obviously has other covert motivations.

Let’s finally get to the science. Research has shown that romantic kissing engages the endocrine glands and the release of dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and sex hormones like testosterone. Although most forms of kissing involve emotions and activities of the amygdala and hypothalamus in the brain, romantic kissing is triggered by intense chemical reactions in the body and the release of neurotransmitters and hormones. Hormones ultimately create social bonds, and kissing is one of the social tools that has helped humans bond, survive, and create families and societies for thousands of years. Without kissing, we would be a lonely race and would die out pretty quickly.