Difference Between Like and Crush

Be it for the budding adolescents or the more experienced young adults, people can often mix between their feelings of liking someone and having a crush on someone. Of course, feelings or emotions as a whole is subjective and it depends and varies from person to person. According to the American Psychological Association, human emotions have three elements which are experiential, based on experience and observation, behavioral and physiological elements. On the other hand, emotions can be grouped into three categories which are physiological, neurological, and cognitive. 

Like vs Crush

The main difference between a like and a crush is that a liking is more platonic and a broad term that is applicable to animate and inanimate objects alike while a crush on the other hand is more of a romantic feeling. 

Comparison Between Like and Crush

What is a Liking ?

Affection is one of the basic emotions of us humans, and it is almost like a reflex action to reciprocate it to others. The term “like” is pretty simple and easy to explain, we like objects, we like people, we like the weather or a certain sport, and so on. It is a blanket term used for our fancy of items to our admiration of other fellow human beings. 

A known psychology fact is that we like someone who likes us, if someone has positive feelings towards us we too more often than not reciprocate it. Though it may not be the case always, sometimes people do what is called “brown-nosing” and only pretend to like the other person back to get ulterior motives fulfilled. Similarly, people with low self-esteem do not reciprocate the feeling of their admirers. 

There is also the other aspect of liking objects, items, hobbies, weather, and a million other things. It is often linked together with the act of liking an art and the artist or when someone makes a friend who has similar hobbies as them. Liking someone thus leads to better and newer friendships and other platonic relations. It is not as intense as having a crush and neither is it as short-lived, it is more of a slow burn and is mostly based on what the person does and behaves more than what they look like. 

What is a Crush?

Crush is probably one of the first terms we learn in middle school, and it surely is as simple and innocent as one is back then. People have crushes and grow out of them phase effortlessly most times. Unlike just liking a person, having a crush is almost always romantic or sensual, it is often the next step of liking a person. These are basically short-lived, intense emotions and affections or attraction towards another person. 

These are also mostly superficial and the admirer is attracted to the looks, physical aspects, and sometimes the personality of the person. The reason behind liking a crush is also often linked to fantasy, it is often developed on people we don’t even know that well but fantasize about them and idealize how they might be. Having a crush involves a lot of daydreaming about them, stealing a glance or an opportunity to talk to them, but also being very shy or introverted around them.

Even though the biological reasoning behind liking is not known, having a crush is a bit more similar to love, oxytocin and dopamine both are released in both cases. Coming back to the fantasy aspect, this is why having a crush seems idyllic as compared to the person next to you, as you do not know them, and neither do you know their flaws and faults, and thus they look better than most others.  

Main Differences Between Like and Crush

Conclusion

 Having a crush has more of a biological basis than just liking someone. When we like someone we admire them as a person and respect them, while having a crush has similar effects, in the latter scenario we also yearn to be near them and like them more as a romantic partner than just a friend.  It is more intense but also short-lived.

References

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