Is technology changing love? Why do you fall in love with one person rather than another? Why is the rejected brain primed for psychotherapy? How can you use neuroscience to keep love alive? And where are we headed in our digital age? Anthropologist and neuroscientist Dr. Helen Fisher uses her brain scanning work (fMRI) to discuss three basic brain systems that evolved for mating and reproduction--the sex drive, romantic love, and attachment; each plays a pivotal role in human health and happiness. And she uses her data on 50,000 single Americans to explain a new (and positive) trend in courtship, what she calls “slow love.” She then discusses her data on the biological foundations of human personality—specifically four basic styles of thinking and behaving that impact love relationships and all other social interactions. Last, using her fMRI data, she explores why we are naturally drawn to “him” or “her,” the brain circuitry of love addiction, the neural anatomy of long-term partnership happiness, and how to use neuroscience to keep love alive.
Learning Objectives
Helen E. Fisher, PhD, is a biological anthropologist and a Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. She has written five books on the evolution and future of human sexuality, monogamy, adultery and divorce, gender differences in the brain, the chemistry of romantic love, and most recently, human personality types and why we fall in love with one person rather than another.