Introduction
Mark first meets Susan while hanging out at her favorite coffee shop. Even though Susan has not recently been in a social situation, she gladly accepts Mark’s friendly offer to his party. Susan had a good time during the party, but she also started to sense something. She realizes that Mark could have a soft spot for her and that he might be misreading her veiled compliments as such. Susan would like to express her gratitude for the invitation, but she also does not want Mark to think something inappropriate. After the party, Susan tells her appreciation to Mark by saying, “Thanks for a great time,” and she accepts his friend request on Facebook.
Susan’s life slows down as the days pass by, just long enough for her to get into Facebook. She is shocked to learn that Mark has publicly proclaimed his love and adoration to all his Facebook friends. Susan now realizes that Mark misread her warmth at the party, which was formerly only a concept. Susan is aware that she needs to be truthful with Mark and explain their connection, even though she knows it may make him uncomfortable and hurt. Susan believes it is only proper to make amends publicly because Mark made the declarations of his love in public.
Susan responds to Mark’s article by being as compassionate and open-minded as possible. She starts by expressing how much pleasure it was to return to the social scene and even mentions how much she liked their amicable time together. However, she politely draws a line in the sand about the parameters of any potential future interactions they could have as she closes her piece. Susan creates and publishes this retort before unfriending Mark on Facebook. Mark is let down gently by Susan by explaining the truth from her viewpoint in a thoughtful reply post in which she tries to evaluate Mark’s perspective on their single date honestly. She recognizes that they had a good time at the party and enjoyed spending time together pleasantly. However, she ends by politely establishing clear boundaries for their future interactions and unfriending him on Facebook.
Research Support
Research Summary
When someone loves someone else, but the other person does not reciprocate, it creates an emotional impact. Bode & Kuula (2022) in their study sought descriptive information regarding the incidence of unrequited love. Researchers tested if the emotional impact of unrequited love was more or lesser than the emotional impact of equal love (Bode & Kuula, 2022). One hundred fifty-three high school pupils and 165 university students, both male and female, were required to participate in Study 1a (Bode & Kuula, 2022).
A questionnaire has to be filled out by each participant. Participants were asked to indicate any examples of their experiences by writing down the initials of the love object for each of the six types of love relationships included in the questionnaire. Participants also had to indicate the age of the relationship’s start and how long it lasted, in addition to their initials. Finally, participants were asked to rate the strength of their emotions on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 denoted no sensations and seven denoted great intensity. The study’s findings revealed that although unrequited love was more common and less intense than equal love, equal love did carry greater power.
Rebecca Bamford’s essay “Unrequited: Neurochemical Enhancement of Love” from 2015 used a somewhat different approach. Examining the Medicalization of Love Earp and Colleges was the focus of this piece (Earp, 2019). It was less concerned with the intense sensations and more interested in exploring the medicalization of unrequited love. Therefore, medicalization refers to the classification of certain conditions and actions as medical issues and their subsequent treatment Bamford (2015) emphasizes how unattractive medicalizing love is, and they continue by saying that love’s physical and social requirements are intertwined. Therefore, it is suggested that love-enhancing biotechnology is not only a theoretical possibility but may already be realistically attainable and is probably ethically acceptable in some situations.
Research Interpretation
Both texts offer distinctive viewpoints on the unrequited love hypothesis. The biological and social aspects of unrequited love are covered in Bamford’s (2015) article, while the severity of the experience is covered by Bode & Kuula (2022). To gauge the intensity, Bode and Kuula (2022) compared the sensation of unrequited love to real love. Both papers can concur that the unrequited love idea is supported.
Application of Social Psychology Concepts
Based on Susan’s case study, she demonstrates unrequited love for others. Due to her pleasant nature and Mark’s invitation to his party, Susan chose to express her gratitude for the offer. All this was done to be kind and express her thanks, even if she may have smiled or glanced at Mark. Mark did not think so when he heard this. He wondered if Susan might be the one. Susan started to notice this and had the impression that Mark could like her. After saying thanks to Mark and the other host, Susan left thinking everything was OK. Days later, though, when several Facebook posts by Mark declaring his love for her were found, it was evident. After expressing her gratitude to Mark and the other host, Susan returned home, figuring all was well. Mark’s example of unrequited love is illustrated by the fact that the sentiments were not returned.
Ethical Reasoning Application
Ethical Concept
Moral awareness is a behavioral ethics term that relates to the capacity to recognize and value the ethical components of the choices one is presented with and is required to make (Kim & Loewenstein, 2021). Even in our personal and professional life, according to the University of Texas at Austin, there are moral aspects to almost every issue we come into (Kim & Loewenstein, 2021). Unfortunately, not everybody exhibits moral awareness; therefore, being informed is one thing, but using the information to make better judgments is quite another. Those with this skill may understand the impact of their choices, even though others may not.
Supportive Evidence
Susan’s case study demonstrates moral awareness as individuals occasionally have to make difficult and unsettling choices. Susan had a challenging situation due to learning that Mark has affection for her. Fortunately, her moral consciousness helped her make decisions as Susan knows she is not ready for a relationship, especially with someone she has just met. Ultimately, she decided that it was best to correct this misunderstanding kindly. Susan understands that it is preferable to deal with Mark’s feelings now rather than later, even though doing so would cause Mark some discomfort.
Critical Thinking Application
Critical Thinking Issue / Fairmindedness Concept
A fair-minded person always attempts to be fair and reasonable and constantly listens to other people’s viewpoints. Additionally, individuals continue by defining qualities of fairmindedness as the capacity for objectivity, justice, and impartiality (Bamford, 2015). All these qualities refer to the capacity to view a problem from all pertinent sides without considering one’s viewpoint or emotions. One must maintain objectivity when performing one’s duties as a judge, for instance, when presiding over a professional debate, particularly on a subject about which one may have strong opinions.
Supportive Evidence
Susan demonstrated fairness via her deeds since she was shocked that Mark publicly declared his love for her on a social networking site for all to see. Susan experienced various emotions, including astonishment, surprise, and nearly humiliation. She had only ever met him and spent time with him once. Susan paused, took a step back, and thought about Mark’s perspective and thoughts before responding angrily and allowing her emotions to get better. Her first suspicion that Mark could have misunderstood her kindness as such was accurate. Susan acknowledges Mark’s points of view and creates a response post that acknowledges enjoying the party while establishing boundaries since any exist.
Conclusion
Finally, it is clear from Susan’s case study that the unrequited love theory, the behavioral ethical idea of moral awareness, and the critical thinking problem of fair mindedness are all present. Unrequited love is frequently unpleasant, but Susan handled the matter as gently as she could. Susan suspected Mark could have misinterpreted Susan’s warmth as flirtation at the party. She kept being nice since this was simply an emotion. Days later, though, Susan learns that Mark has affection for her and must decide what to do. Susan was able to analyze all of her alternatives and consider all factors of the circumstance before making her choice due to her moral awareness and fairmindedness attitude. Susan knew that even though Mark’s feelings could have been wounded, it was preferable to deal with the matter as quickly as possible.
References
Bamford, R. (2015). Unrequited: Neurochemical enhancement of love. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 24(3), 355–360. Web.
Bode, A., & Kuula, L. (2022). Why are depression symptoms score greater in adolescents experiencing romantic love? 60(2), 1-26. Web.
Earp, B. D. (2019). Love and enhancement technology. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Love, [online ahead of print] Oxford University Press. Web.
Kim, J., & Loewenstein, J. (2021). Analogical encoding fosters ethical decision-making because improved knowledge of ethical principles increases moral awareness. Journal of Business Ethics, 172(2), 307-324. Web.