[Zoom Service] Why Does Love Feel Magical? It’s an Evolutionary Advantage

Jonathan Schooler, Ph.D., American Psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California in Santa Barbara, will speak on the topic, Why Does Love Feel Magical?  It’s an Evolutionary Advantage.  Far from an invention of poets or reality TV producers, romantic love has been a part of human nature for many thousands of years.  Love letters written 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia are remarkably similar to those written today, and although cultures differ in their stories and expectations about romantic love, the phenomenon appears to be virtually universal.  Moreover, Schooler’s research suggests that magical notions of fated love and soulmates are very common and deeply felt.  But why is love a part of the human mind?  His research explores this question through the lens of evolutionary psychology.

Schooler researches various topics that intersect aspects of both cognitive psychology and philosophy such as: Belief in free will, Meta-awareness, Mindfulness, Mind-Wandering, Memory, Creativity, and Emotion.  He is a former holder of a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, a Fellow of a variety of scientific organizations such as the Association for Psychological Science, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and Osher Fellow at the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco.  His work has been supported by grants from the United States and Canadian Governments as well as the United States Office of Education, the Canadian Institute for Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health, the Unilever Corporation, the John Templeton Foundation, the Canada Foundation of Innovation, Canada’s Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council.