Why Self-Love Needs More Science?
Self-love is one of the most popular topics in psychology today — at least in popular culture. Scroll through Instagram, browse self-help books, or scan wellness blogs, and you’ll find endless tips about loving yourself. Yet here’s the surprising part: in academic psychology, self-love is still significantly under-researched.
A handful of scholars have explored the topic over the past few decades. Researchers like Patrick (1982), Freedman (1995), Orbanic (2001), Irvani (2007), Samiei (2015), Underwood Jr. (2020), and Henschke (2021) have studied self-love mostly from Western perspectives, while only a few, such as Li Ming Xue in China (2021) and Kelly Ziermen in Indonesia (2022), have added Eastern perspectives.
Together, these studies have done important work in defining what self-love might be. But most stop there — offering little about how self-love is actually expressed in behaviour or how it may look different across cultures.
This is where I am hoping my research comes in. I’m working to build a culturally sensitive behavioural framework for self-love. In simple terms, I want to:
Identify clear, observable behaviours that reflect self-love in different cultural contexts.
Study how these behaviours impact our mental health, relationships, and even work life.
Create practical tools and interventions that can help people nurture self-love in ways that feel authentic and culturally relevant.
A big part of this research is testing an idea that’s often repeated but rarely examined: that increasing self-love always improves wellbeing. It sounds nice, but does the science back it up? If it doesn’t, we may need to rethink what self-love means and how it actually supports a flourishing life.
By bringing together psychology, behavioral science, and cultural studies, this research aims to do two things:
Fill an important gap in our scientific understanding of self-love.
Offer a framework that is inclusive, practical, and globally relevant.
Self-love is more than a trending hashtag. It’s a complex, lived experience that deserves careful study. By grounding it in both science and culture, we can move from slogans to strategies — helping individuals and communities truly thrive.
Until next time remember…To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. (Oscar Wilde) so keep going.
Love,
SLS family
