The reason you take antidepressants is to feel calm. And romantic love is not calm - it's elation, it's mood swings, and you're killing all that when you take the drug.
— Helen Fisher
Women are naturally prone to compete over their mates.
Natural beauty really entices men. They will tell you this time and time again, and studies consistently prove it.
In general, men are wired to notice obvious signs that convey interest in mating - a warm smile, for example - and ignore other subtleties, like if your lipstick is faded.
Why do we feel jealousy? Therapists often regard the demon as a scar of childhood trauma or a symptom of a psychological problem. And it's true that people who feel inadequate, insecure, or overly dependent tend to be more jealous than others.
As women in industrial societies join the paid workforce, they gain the economic means to depart unhappy marriages more easily.
The Great Depression of the 1930s saw more American unmarried women working from nine to five, mostly in repetitive, boring, subordinate, dead-end jobs. But the number of working women doubled between 1870 and 1940. During World War II it doubled once again.
I suspect privacy is a very new concept to humanity.
As societies continue to loosen their standards regarding what is appropriate female and male behavior, I think we are going to realize we have not only underestimated women, but also men.
There's biology in everything, even when you're feeling spiritual.
The brain was not built to walk into a bar, where you know nobody, and start a conversation. That's not the way humanity has courted.
Throughout evolution, ostracism was death indeed.
Men fall in love faster than, and just as often as, women.
Good-looking people are always looking for other good-looking people.
Men have a psychological need to show off their courage and strength. When he sees you talking to another guy, that instinct kicks in and he jumps to protect you and prove he's worthy of your love.
Barriers tend to intensify romance. It's called the 'Romeo and Juliet effect.' I call it 'frustration attraction.'
Whether you're married or not, relationships - and the satisfaction tied to them - are extremely important for increasing men's and women's quality of life.
I think you will find that with divorce will come happier remarriages.
Scientists know that women gravitate to men who have a different immune system from theirs.
Overdone lipstick is a deterrent to men. It rubs off easily onto their skin and the edges of their shirts, so it discourages them from kissing, touching, and coming closer to you, which is what they really want to do!
Most of us make up our minds in the first three minutes of meeting someone whether there's a potential for a relationship.
Neither gender is routinely more jealous - although women are more willing to work to win back a lover, while men tend to flaunt their money and status and are more likely to walk out to protect their self-esteem or save face.
Today, most women are surrounded by ingenious gadgets. They don't grow the peas or raise the chicken that they serve for dinner; instead they hunt and gather in the grocery store. They go through catalogs or department stores to buy clothes instead of shearing sheep, carding wool, and weaving cloth for skirts and coats and blankets.
It certainly would have been adaptive for ancestral man to have a chubby wife during stressful times of famine. Not only would she have had more calories to burn, and thus more energy and endurance, but since fat stores estrogen, she would have remained fertile for longer.
As social animals, we need to exchange juicy tales about someone - to connect with one another. For millions of years our forebears must have sat around the campfire, whispering about everyone they knew.
More and more of us live segmented, compartmentalized lives. This isn't natural. For millions of years, our forebears knew everyone around them and everyone knew them.
A lot of people have been romantically in love with somebody who they feel wasn't appropriate to marry.
Psychologists maintain that the dizzying feeling of intense romantic love lasts only about 18 months to - at best - three years.
We spend our lives trying to get along with people so we can keep our jobs, keep our marriages together, so that we can raise our kids properly.
Despite the myth that men are less committed, they are predisposed to desire marriage.
Hair that looks like it's been naturally sun-bleached makes you seem youthful, like you spend a lot of time outdoors. And that appeals to most people.
Games are the way we keep romance alive. They're based in human hardwiring. Playing hard-to-get or leaving a little to the imagination allows the woman to be wooed and appreciated and the man to be challenged and intrigued.
When you massage someone, the levels of oxytocin go up in the brain, and oxytocin is one of the chemicals that drives attachment.
People compose poetry, novels, sitcoms - for love.
At first I assumed hate was the opposite of love. But it isn't. The opposite of love is indifference.
As a group, anthropologists are not too fond of people who work in the business world.
Men couldn't care less if your strands are perfectly styled and neat. In fact, he might like you more with some wildness or bedhead, since it shows you're carefree and relaxed.
Jealousy can even be good for love. One partner may feel secretly flattered when the other is mildly jealous. And catching someone flirting with your beloved can spark the kind of lust and romance that reignites a relationship.
Your sweetheart calls you by another's name. His eyes linger too long on your best friend. He talks with excitement about a girl at work. And the fire catches. Jealousy - that sickening combination of possessiveness, suspicion, rage, and humiliation - can overtake your mind and threaten your very core as you contemplate your rival.
Today, American women bear an average of 2.2 children that live to adulthood. Across most of Europe, women bear even fewer young.
Along with our many human propensities, we evolved a huge cerebral cortex with which we make decisions.
The only people you and I are likely to know in common are people in the news - politicians, journalists and celebrities.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere; some say the poorest in the world.
When somebody leaves Match.com or Chemistry.com, they ask you why you left. One box you can check is, 'I found somebody.' Between 15 and 20 percent of people check that box.
Love is not an emotion; it is a drive.
Sometimes we fall in love with somebody who will probably never love us, for reasons having nothing to do with us but with their own mindset, their chemistry.
A hundred years ago, if you had a child out of marriage, you'd be a social disgrace. Today women feel comfortable enough economically and culturally to bring up a child without a recognized commitment from a man.
Blushing is thought to be linked to increased levels of norepinephrine in the brain, which may be associated with romantic feelings. It signals that we are interested and excited, which is attractive to men.
Research shows that couples who have a lot of similarities, including intellectual compatibility, end up staying together.
You don't come home from the office to spend time with another job. Hopefully you come home to someone you can have a good time with.
