The Science of Relationships and Finding Your Ideal Mate
Taught by Marisa T. Cohen
Dr. Marisa T. Cohen is a relationship researcher, relationship coach, and teaches college-level psychology courses. She is the author of From First Kiss to Forever: A Scientific Approach to Love, a book that relates relationship science research to everyday experiences and real relationship issues confronted by couples.
Marisa is also the author of Finding Love: The Scientific Take, a Psychology Today blog and Love Lessons, a Long Island Weekly newspaper column. She has been quoted in publications such as Bustle, Cosmopolitan, The Cut, Man Repeller, Men’s Health, and Women’s Health. She is also the subject of a documentary focusing on her work, which aired on BRIC TV.
For information about her work, check out her personal website: www.marisatcohen.com
Now that the summer is almost over, we may be packing away our bathing suits and sunscreen, as well as facing some decisions about what will happen with our sizzling summer romances. Were they a fun distraction or based on something deeper? Will they last? Turning to relationships science may provide us with answers. Even if they were not meant to be, we can use research in the field to help us find and secure a great match.
Relationship science is a multidisciplinary field which draws from subject areas such as psychology, biology, sociology, and anthropology. A variety of perspectives all converge to help determine what leads some relationships to flourish, while others are doomed to fail. Relationship science has come a long way in the last half century, not only establishing itself as a science, but effectively generating several lines of research aimed to determine the underpinnings of universal human experiences such as attraction and love.
If you missed my talk earlier in the summer, join us for take two! This discussion will focus on the factors we consider most important when looking for a potential mate. We will examine why people need interpersonal relationships; how they form, and what sometimes leads to their demise. Beyond this, we will look at what may tip the scale to create fractures within a relationship and how to avoid many common pitfalls.
Research from the newly established lab at St. Francis College, the Self-Awareness and Bonding Lab (SABL), will briefly be discussed. Data from studies of factors for choosing mates, the importance of first date behavior, and alternative relationship configurations, will be presented and explored. Basically, we will cover topics that will assist us in becoming discerning consumers of this hot topic in popular psychology, and we will take home tips from relationship research to apply to our own love lives.
