Falling in love is a wonderful thing. It is a connection with another person, which is on such a deep level that we literally melt next to the person. But by now most of us have already realized that there is a difference between male and female infatuation. How long it takes for a woman to fall in love depends on several variables—the particular person she's seeing and her personal timeline of when she feels the time is right to let go completely.
Before we can talk about how long the process itself takes, it is important to understand how women are biologically 'programmed', to fall in love. Sasha Aurand, an expert in social psychology and attractiveness, and Irene Fehr, relationship expert, try to explain how long it takes a woman to really feel it all.
Sasha believes that the basic principle of falling in love can be broken down in part to the idea that feelings are more likely to develop if we have more often good experiences with the person – assuming the first interaction with the person was positive. And assuming that person meets the standards, which we have made an ideal partner, is again more likely to jump the sparka.
"We create lists based on our own criteria, usually related to beliefs, past experiences, background and previous relationships," Sasha told Elite Daily. "The person we fall in love with must fit the list or we 'disqualify' them as a potential partner and possibly put them in the 'friends only' category."
And even though it seems like a process that takes a lot of time and requires a lot of thought, Sasha and Irene find that falling in love is something that can be in fact, it happens at any time, even at the first meeting.
"Love at first sight is still very possible," says Sasha. But if the ladies have to go through the whole list, how can they know that this person meets all the criteria at the first interaction?
"While falling in love can happen quickly, those down-to-earth women often take more time to act," said Irene. Thanks to biology, women can in some cases they judge a man's suitability quite quickly. "It's all subconscious. So if we observe how they interact - how they stand, how they walk, how they talk, what they look like, and whether they remind us of someone we trust - it's pretty simple to tick all those criteria," explains Sasha.
Long story short – Sasha discovers that love is “a combination of personal history, preference and chemistry”. Irene agrees that personal history can play an important role in how quickly we fall in love, if at all. "Women whose trust has been betrayed will spend more time falling in love. Or they will never meet again," says Irene.
Although science is helping us discover how we fall in love (both men and women), both Sahsa and Irene agree that there is no specific time frame to cover all women, because the set of circumstances is different for everyone. Irene adds that there is a single thing that can provoke infatuation. And that is confidence. "It's the feeling that the other person understands you and will be your support," explains Irene. "Often trust is enough to fall in love."
