[Audio] CC12 Keynote 06 – Why Him? Why Her? The Chemistry of Mate Choice – Helen Fisher, PhD

Description:

Anthropologist Helen Fisher uses her brain scanning studies (fMRI) of people happily in love, rejected in love and in love long-term to discuss the traits of romantic love, love-at-first-sight, and addiction to love. She focuses on her current research on 40,000 men and women to propose that four broad cognitive/behavioral personality trait constellations have evolved associated with the neural systems for dopamine, serotonin, testosterone and estrogen. Then she discusses her data on mate choice among 28,000 individuals to pro-pose why we are chemically drawn to one person rather than another.

Educational Objectives:

1. Describe the three basic brain systems for mating and reproduction (the sex drive, romantic attraction, and deep feelings of attachment, and how they interact to create our myriad feelings of love.
2. Describe four primary neural systems that contribute to basic personality styles, and how this basic brain chemistry draws us naturally to one person rather than another.

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*