 Hey Psych2Goers and welcome back to another video. Before we start, we'd like to give you a huge thanks for all of the love and support that you've given us. Psych2Go's mission is to make psychology more accessible to everyone, and you help us do that. Now, let's continue. Do you remember that special feeling you got when you caught a glimpse of your crush when they walked by? Did your heart race in your chest? Were you feeling wide awake? Did you get butterflies in your stomach? These are a few of the feelings you might happen to feel when having a crush. In this video, we'll discuss the eight psychological effects of having a crush. There's a lot more to it than just butterflies. 1. You feel very awkward when they're around. Imagine a scenario where you're walking down the hallway and your crush waves to you as they walk by. You find yourself thinking of what to say, whether you should wave back or whether you should crack a joke. Nervously, you go all in and do everything at once. You probably don't realize that you ended up mumbling and doing something super embarrassing. Although this moment probably felt very awkward. Don't worry. Own it instead. Laugh it off and try to act as if it was intentional. It shows confidence, and that's a very positive trait to have. 2. Your hobbies and interests change. Does your crush like football? Suddenly, you may find yourself more interested in learning the sport, even if it wasn't something that you really thought of before. It's natural for you to become more open-minded to explore new things because it can be a potential common interest between you and your crush. 3. Your sense of rational judgment fades away. According to a study done at Harvard Medical School, professors found that the neural pathway connection in our brain that is responsible for critically assessing people and other negative emotions like fear and social judgment tends to shut down when we're wrapped up in a crush. This can take away from your ability to make rational judgment calls. The phrase love is blind seems to hold true in these research findings, meaning you might overlook things about your crush that you normally wouldn't. 4. Your brain areas associated with reward are especially active. Have you ever wondered what happens on a biological level when you see your crush? Studies at Harvard Medical School found that participants who viewed pictures of someone special to them, such as a crush, showed increased brain activity in areas rich with dopamine compared to other groups of participants who looked at pictures of acquaintances. The other group reported less brain activity than the first group who were shown pictures of someone special to them. The regions of the brain that light up are the parts that are associated with our reward system, where dopamine, the feel-good hormone, comes into play. These regions of the brain involve pleasure, focused attention, and the motivation to pursue and require rewards. 5. You notice more subtle things about your crush. Do you find yourself paying close attention to the things that your crush does? Maybe you're trying extra hard to notice any subtle body language signs that your crush happens to display, whether they lean in while talking to you or smile at you more, or if they start to mimic your behavior. You're trying to figure out all the signs in order to gauge their interest level in you. 6. You're invested in finding out if your crush likes you back. When you're crushing on someone, it's natural to wonder if they might like you back in the same way. If they reciprocate your feelings, it's possible to strengthen that relationship and then start dating. That's always an exciting, wandering thought to have, and an investment you may just inevitably have when dealing with a crush. 7. You compliment your crush a lot. You find yourself giving your crush a lot of compliments. Maybe you compliment them on how nice their sweater is, or you just have to tell them how cool their glasses look. You want to be both earnest and pleasing to your crush, and you might gush over with compliments for them. 8. You excessively daydream about your crush. You've just sent your crush a text. And you're probably daydreaming about all the possible responses they could send back to you. In another scenario, you could be daydreaming about how it would feel to go on an actual date with your crush. While this can be a fun, starry eyed pastime, it's important to limit the time you spend daydreaming about things that only could happen, and instead, go and act on them. Did you relate to any of these facts of having a crush listed in this video? Are there other things you do when having a crush? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video, please like and share it with someone who might benefit from it. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button for more Side2Go content. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you in the next video.