New research suggests that virtual first dates could be a useful (and underappreciated) tool in screening potential romantic partners. Authors: Elina Moreno, Eli Finkel, Kellie Ammerman, and Paul Eastwick Read more in #SPPS: https://ow.ly/yhu950XWXgk

Thanks for having us on the show, Andy -- such a fun conversation!

Gathering with friends and family this week? Disagreements are normal. IPR’s @elijfinkel.bsky.social says they can even be healthy when handled with care. Click here to learn more about Finkel's work helping us lean into our disagreements: spr.ly/633257UqnU

(In a delightful twist, my new segment got stitched together with a rebroadcast of an older episode featuring the incomparable @elijfinkel.bsky.social, one of my grad school professors, whose work on marriage is captivating. I couldn’t ask for a better Hidden Brain buddy!)

Please apply to postdoc with us at Northwestern/Kellogg. This position in the Dispute Resolution Research Center is a terrific opportunity.

If you're interested in pedagogy surrounding the teaching of negotiation, I hope you'll join us for "Teaching Negotiations the Kellogg Way." See the repost for details.

📢POSTDOC POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT📢 @nourkteily.bsky.social & I are recruiting a postdoc in the #LitowitzCenter for Enlightened Disagreement. We seek research excellence regarding navigating conflict. Application deadline: Nov. 17. Salary: ~$80k. facultyrecruiting.northwestern.edu/apply/MjQzNw==

What kinds of conversations spark instant connection? Excited to share my first NYT Guest Essay, with @ericaboothby.bsky.social. We argue that playful riffing — creating a little world together — forges and deepens relationships through shared reality. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/o...

📢 MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT 📢 @nourkteily.bsky.social and I are delighted to introduce the Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement, supercharged by a $20M gift from Jennifer and Alec Litowitz. The #LitowitzCenter helps people harness the power of difference. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/03/n...

📢JOB POSTING: Senior Director for the Center for Enlightened Disagreement (CED).📢 @nourkteily.bsky.social and I seek a strategic leader to help us build the Center (see ensuing post for information about CED). Target salary range: $125,000-$155,000. 1/2 careers.northwestern.edu/psc/hrnu_er/...

A big THANK YOU to @davidmcraney.bsky.social for featuring the #LoveFactually podcast on #YouAreNotSoSmart! The episode delves into #TheNotebook, figuring out what the movie gets right -- and what it gets wrong -- about how relationships work. Enjoy! youarenotsosmart.com/2025/08/04/y...

Dive into the science behind your favorite rom-coms with @elijfinkel.bsky.social and Paul Eastwick’s "Love Factually" podcast. Discover what Hollywood gets right—and wrong—about love. ❤️ 🎥 Listen now: www.lovefactuallypod.com

🎉Life update🎉 After 6 wonderful years at Princeton, I am officially *Dr.* Oktar! Next: Postdoc at Meta FAIR w/ @asli-celikyilmaz.bsky.social; then, postdoc at Kellogg studying disagreement w/ @elijfinkel.bsky.social & @nourkteily.bsky.social! Thanks @tanialombrozo.bsky.social for the hood :)

Agree to disagree? That's the goal of Kellogg's Center for Enlightened Disagreement, led by @elijfinkel.bsky.social and Nour Kteily. Read more about how two leading scholars of conflict and polarization want to help us have more productive conversations. magazine.northwestern.edu/features/cen...

🎇NEW PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT🎇 “Love may be a many-splendored thing, but it’s also a battlefield.” So begins my "Romantic Relationships" chapter in the new, OPEN-ACCESS, Handbook of Social Psychology (6e). The chapter synthesizes what I've learned in my 28 years in the field. 🧵

Great chatting with @dkthomp.bsky.social about relationship science and what it can tell us about online dating, soul mates, and Julia Roberts movies! More on the science behind your favorite rom coms on the Love Factually Podcast with me and Eli at: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...

Since 1954, "The Handbook of Social Psychology" has been the field’s most authoritative reference work, and today is the launch of the 6th edition with 50 new chapters by 100 leading scholars. Best news? The HSP is now an open-access public resource—free to read, download, and share. the-hsp.com

When I was in grad school, this was THE resource...and it cost a ton. Now it's free. Amazing. #PsychSciSky

📣very thrilled to see the new, open access (!) edition of the Handbook of Social Psychology is now online! With 50 chapters, this is an amazing collective effort brought to everyone by @danielgilbert.bsky.social, Susan Fiske, @elijfinkel.bsky.social, and Wendy Mendes and Situational Press. 👏🎉🙏

🎇It's #PubDay for THE HANDBOOK OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (6e)!🎇 This is the latest edition of the most venerated institution in social psychology, dating back to 1954. Fifty definitive chapters, over 8,000 manuscript pages. (The TOC appears below.) And: IT'S 100% OPEN-ACCESS: www.the-HSP.com.🧵

What does the latest Bridget Jones film say about romantic attraction? In @spspnews.bsky.social, @elijfinkel.bsky.social & Paul Eastwick write that Jones' interest in younger men aligns with their recent study showing that on blind dates, women are attracted to youth. spsp.org/news/charact...

In the most recent Bridget Jones film, we find our heroine drawn to younger men. According to our recent PNAS article, this aspect of the movie is spot on: On average, women say they want an older partner, but they are initially attracted to younger ones. #PsychSciSky

I've been waiting years for this book! My friend and collaborator Greg Walton (professor at Stanford) has pioneered a new paradigm for achieving big change. As he explains in ORDINARY MAGIC, it starts with small acts. The book is powerful and a pleasure to read. Check it out!

🎞️ New short film just released about my research on what makes a mind susceptible to rigid and extreme ideologies by @uniofcam.bsky.social! 🧠 www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOBI...

How Weight-Loss Drugs Can Upend a Marriage www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/m...

Check out this profound visual essay from the brilliant @lianafinck.bsky.social. It's equally wise about equality and relationships, and especially about tensions therein. I Quit the Patriarchy and Rescued My Marriage www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/o...

Study: men who feel like they have lower desirability as a romantic/sexual partner compared to the their partner feel more motivated to sexually satisfy their female partners, and this motivation translates into increased cunnilingus frequency. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

If you're interested in political ideology -- and especially in similarities and differences between leftists and rightists -- I highly recommend this terrific open-access paper from Nour Kteily and Mark Brandt.

First time on Bluesky 👋☁️ 🟠 Delighted to share that my book The Ideological Brain will be out in March (and in >10 languages later this year)! 🔵 📘 It’s about what makes some brains susceptible to rigid worldviews, how ideologies infiltrate our minds and bodies, and what it means to break free 📙

In the mood for a bit of distraction? This fabulous new “Love Factually” podcast episode analyzes what the 90s classic movie Pretty Woman gets right and wrong about human nature. I joined the convo w/ @elijfinkel.bsky.social & @pauleastwick.bsky.social ❤️🎧 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...

I can’t recommend @jonathaneig.bsky.social’ bio of MLK highly enough. Here’s an essay by Eig on the mixed legacy of the holiday honoring him. And yes, about that quote. wapo.st/4h1KvTy

ok but what if your dad took you to WILD AT HEART when you were 12 because it was a sneak preview at the Commack Multiplex and you two haven't looked each other in the eye since? The theater is long gone, replaced by a Lowes, from what I understand, but the shame endures.

I spoke with my friends over at the Love Factually Podcast about the classic 2010 film Easy A starring Emma Stone. We talked about sexual double standards, virginity, sexual reputation, and more. Check it out! @elijfinkel.bsky.social @pauleastwick.bsky.social www.sexandpsychology.com/blog/podcast...

🎉New Episode of the #LoveFactuallyPod: "EASY A" 🎉 Sex Guru Justin Lehmiller (@justinlehmiller.bsky.social) joins Paul and me for a deep dive into this Emma Stone classic. This film is not as sex-positive as you remember.

Is this the most romantic #NewYearsEve scene ever depicted? "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." Check it out on the #LoveFactuallyPod open.spotify.com/episode/2RYJ...

Terrific article from the brilliant @kurtgraycon.bsky.social: We’ve Misunderstood Human Nature for 100 Years "The assumption that humans are predators by nature [is] wrong. ... humans evolved with a prey mind-set, living in fear and constantly seeking protection." Gift: nytimes.com/2024/12/22/opi

📢Now on the #LoveFactuallyPod📢 @pauleastwick.bsky.social & I talk with @npr.org's @petersagal.bsky.social about EYES WIDE SHUT, Kubrick's haunting masterpiece on sex and marriage What does jealousy do to us? What are the many forms of sex and desire? Check it out! open.spotify.com/episode/07Ch...

Holiday films suggest that Christmas is the most romantic time of year. Why are we so attracted to stories of love and romance around the holidays? Let's talk about it! @elijfinkel.bsky.social @pauleastwick.bsky.social www.sexandpsychology.com/blog/podcast...

Kudos to you, Everglades. I had no idea your gators posed for photos. #SayCheese

CHRISTMAS DAY is the 3-month anniversary of the #LoveFactuallyPod. As Paul Eastwick (@pauleastwick.bsky.social) and I debated which film represents the ideal holiday movie for the podcast, we realized that the clear winner is ... 🍿Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT🍿 🎵Baby did a bad bad thing🎵

Screenwriter of what, you may ask? Don’t. But listen to the pod.

🎉New on the #LoveFactuallyPod: EYES WIDE SHUT🎥 Our guest is the great PETER SAGAL (@petersagal.bsky.social), host of @npr.org's WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME. His expertise as a screenwriter is crucial in helping us unpack & assess the relationship messages in the film. open.spotify.com/episode/07Ch...

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Three research methodology books that influenced the heck out of me, and that I return to all the time. Have a look and share some of your own! 🧵👇

When considering all data gathered from the five cultures, free choice and arranged marriages did not differ significantly in average love scores...Our data also challenge the Western perception that arranged marriages lack love.

An interesting proposition for a path forward by @elijfinkel.bsky.social that respects freedom of expression with norms to guard against the heckler’s veto.

What happens when you mix Pride and Prejudice with some 90s-era assumptions about gender? You get...something very complicated. Check out our analysis of Bridget Jones's Diary, on this week's episode of the Love Factually podcast! #PsychSciSky

📢New episode of the #LoveFactuallyPod: BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY📢 Join @pauleastwick.bsky.social and me as we consider the nature of singlehood, whether playing-hard-to get is an effective dating strategy, & why it feels so good to be liked "just as we are." lovefactually.substack.com/p/episode-12...