Why You're A Sucker For A Good Love Story

Introduction to the Science of Love

With a savory flush of sensual, dewy-skinned lust, a scantily clad brunette ambles onto the stage. She exhales audibly, brushes one caramel leg across the other, and locks the audience’s eyes in a visual embrace. A hush blankets the theater. Every spectator’s breath comes more quickly than the last. Hearts pump with growing vigor. Faces flush and every body suddenly becomes desperately aware of the body next to it. 

In her usual carnal timbre, Cher purrs, “The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing . . . and then marry him.” The audience lets out a collective chortle, but not without feeling the residual biological effects of the scene that had just played out in front of them—as well as the places to which each individual mind had wandered. Men wanted what they had seen. Women wanted to feel the way she looked. 

Although said in jest, all jokes contain an element of truth. The truth here is that the road to genuine romantic love is exciting, but it is also fraught with pitfalls and hazards—lusty let-downs like the one experienced by the audience after Cher’s punch line, but on a much larger scale. One wrong turn and a woman just might find her chassis hitched to the very thing Cher warned about: nothing. Maybe that’s why on February 16, 2010, the New York Times reported that nearly one in three people are using the Internet to surf for love. Now factor in that some report that one-third of the world’s population in now on the Internet and that’s presumably a lot of people looking for love . . . billions in fact. 

With so many people searching for Mr. or Ms. Right, why aren’t more successful love matches taking place? Why isn’t the Census reporting an abundance of newly married, happy couples? Aside from the fact that the government doesn’t concern itself with intangible things like love, the answer is that most people simply don’t realize that their efforts in finding a truly loving relationship are being sabotaged. That’s right, I said it: sabotaged.

This saboteur is not some evil six-horned corporate dating service trying to keep its customers chained to the matchmaking websites, where they click on profile after profile, hoping that the next image will send them into a love-at-first-screen froth. No, this scoundrel is much closer than one might think; in fact, we take it with us wherever we go. This insidious relationship scallywag is the human brain.

For the past several years, award-winning author, coach, and biology professor Dawn Maslar has successfully worked with women of all ages who have become frustrated in their search for love. Thanks to her diverse background, Maslar has come to learn that many of the problems singles face today are rooted in basic biology. Daters are caught in an evolutionary quandary: Although romantic love generally begins with sexual desire, not all sexual desire evolves into real love. Oftentimes, basing a relationship solely on the pituitary gland’s loin-boiling abilities will only lead to shards of hearts left lying between sets of heavily worn sheets. So, the question becomes this: How can a woman traverse the path to real love while avoiding the potential biohazards? Fortunately, an understanding of science—or more specifically, biology—can illuminate the road ahead by shedding a bright light into the potholes and pitfalls of both lust and love.

Won’t you join me on this fascinating journey of discovery as we explore the science of love?