How Love Really Works
Psychologist Paul Eastwick reveals why stated romantic preferences and 'mate value' models fail to predict real-world attraction, explaining that compatibility is constructed over time through shared history and rituals rather than found on paper. Shankar Vedantam also speaks with psychologist Edward Lemay on how social projection bias leads individuals to project their own insecurities, values, and worldviews onto romantic partners, along with actionable communication tools to correct these distortions.
- Stated preferences on paper fail to predict who you will actually fall for or build a lasting connection with in real life. Read →
- Strangers agree on physical attractiveness when rating photos in isolation, but that consensus vanishes once individuals interact and build personal history. Read →
- Social projection bias causes individuals to use their own current mental state as an anchor that pulls their evaluation of others toward themselves. Read →
- Algorithms trained on self-reported dating preferences predict exactly zero percent of mutual attraction between two people. Read →