Are humans hardwired for monogamy?

Evolution steered humans toward pair bonding to ensure the survival of genes. But humans tend to get restless.

  • Monogamy is natural, but adultery is, too, says biological anthropologist Helen Fisher.
  • Even though humans are animals that form pair bonds, some humans have a predisposition for restlessness. This might come from the evolutionary development of a dual human reproductive strategy.
  • This drive to fall in love and form a pair bond evolved for an ecological reason: to rear our children as a team.
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Is love an addiction?

Love triggers the same regions of your brain as cocaine addiction.

  • Studies have shown that romantic love, while often positive, activates basic brain regions that are also triggered by cocaine addiction.
  • Stalking, clinical depression, and even suicides have been attributed to love addictions.
  • For better or worse, everybody at some time in their life has been or will be addicted to love.
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love emotions depression brain mental health psychology neuroscience addiction

Brain in love: The science of attachment in relationships

What areas of the brain are activated when you feel a cosmic connection with someone?

  • With evolution came the brain circuitry for feelings of deep attachment to a partner.
  • This circuitry changes within the duration of a relationship, and feelings of attachment grow over time.
  • In a healthy relationship, that attachment system sustains itself even through hard times.
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brain emotions mind love neuroscience biology relationships sex human body

Why learning a new language is like an illicit love affair

Many renowned writers have revelled in the gifts of their non-native tongues.

Image source: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Learning a new language is a lot like entering a new relationship. Some will become fast friends.

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learning love personal growth literature memory language

Self-liberation and the watershed moment of coming out

Sally Susman explains how to use truth-telling moments to your future benefit.

  • The biggest decision of Pfizer executive Sally Susman's life was to come out as gay in 1984, when society was not as accepting as it is now.
  • She was told she would never have a spouse, a career, or children; those were the fears told to her by the people who loved her most.
  • Defying that prediction became her personal north star, and 31 years later she has done it. Susman used that truth-telling moment of coming out as a way to focus her ambitions and plant the seeds for her future.



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