Difference Between Infatuation vs Love
The difference between infatuation and love has been debated for hundreds of years with the lines still remaining blurred between the two even to this day.
So, how do we separate these two emotional states? They seem similar when we speak about the actions and feelings that are associated with them, but once we dive further into their definitions, you’ll see that they indicate two very different types of emotional investment.
Definition of Infatuation
The definition of infatuation is: “To be consumed by emotion while experiencing a total loss of logic and rational thought.”
It’s interesting when we summarize love vs infatuation to see that many of the same actions and feelings are likely to be experienced by a person who is in either state. The difference is mainly about the person’s intentions when they are experiencing these states.
When you’re in love with somebody, you experience a spectrum of very calculated and well-considered feelings and thoughts. These gathered thought processes then lead to you performing very thoughtful actions.
Even though infatuation revolves around you thinking intricately about another person, instead of performing actions logically and making well-informed decisions, most people experiencing infatuation instead act recklessly.
This doesn’t mean to say that they do anything to harm the other person, it’s just that they don’t think about any potential negative impact of what they’re doing for that person or saying to them might have on themselves or those around them.
Some people also call infatuation “blind” love. This is because the actions and feelings associated with love are often present with someone who is infatuated, but they’re simply unable to see or think beyond the present and the person that they are emotionally tied to.
Definition of Love
The definition of love is: “To feel intense and deep affection.”
Realistically, when you read the above summary, there isn’t much information here to separate infatuation vs love easily. Affection would almost definitely be felt by somebody who was either in love with someone, or someone who was infatuated with them, too.
It’s not the feeling of affection that serves as the contrasting area here rather it’s how a person acts when they are experiencing that affection. What’s more interesting is the fact that somebody could be infatuated with somebody without loving them.
The reason why is because infatuation is more of an obsession with an idea of who a person is. It’s about having an image in your head of who you think somebody is and deciding that it is fact without gathering evidence.
It’s almost like playing a game of make believe, but the person truly believes that the version of the person they have created is real and they act accordingly. This can prove foolish as their actions are based on assumptions, therefore they may have a negative impact as much as a positive one.
When somebody is truly in love, they make very specific and calculated decisions based around the true needs and wants of another person. There is no assumption, and instead, the person knows what is both good and bad for the person that they love.
As opposed to being reckless, love is instead carefully considered and focuses on the deep and intricate understanding of exactly who another person is. It’s the specificity of a person’s understanding that helps us to summarize love easily.
Main Differences Between Infatuation vs Love
We’ll now spell out the difference between love and infatuation in a quick reference table:
| Basis of Comparison | Love | Infatuation |
| Meaning | A deep feeling | A mental state |
| How does it make you feel? | Content, happy, confident | Euphoric |
| Lifespan | Long lasting and deepens with time | Usually short lived |
| Ultimately leads to | Contentment and security | A feeling of emptiness |
| Associated with | Genuine affection | Sexual attraction |
| Authenticity | Real and involuntary, not forced | A voluntary imitation of love |
Difference Between Infatuation and Love: Conclusion
Finally, you’ve got all of the effective information you need to summarize these two states of emotion. To provide the most effective summary possible, always remember that love is genuine and infatuation is often completely forced. This is how we can tell them apart.
