Quotes from Helen Fisher


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Good-looking people are always looking for other good-looking people.


Women have a better sense of color and a better color memory. They're more likely to notice when something doesn't match; more likely to notice what you're wearing.


Women apparently are quite drawn to men who have differences rather than similarities in their histocompatibility system. They pick it up by smell, and they can pick it up from kissing.


Blushing is thought to be linked to increased levels of norepinephrine in the brain, which may be associated with romantic feelings. It signals that we are interested and excited, which is attractive to men.


Experiences shape the brain, but the brain shapes the way we view experiences, too.


There is more and more data indicating that there is a biological basis to your political views.


Barriers tend to intensify romance. It's called the 'Romeo and Juliet effect.' I call it 'frustration attraction.'


Jealousy can even be good for love. One partner may feel secretly flattered when the other is mildly jealous. And catching someone flirting with your beloved can spark the kind of lust and romance that reignites a relationship.


Today, most women are surrounded by ingenious gadgets. They don't grow the peas or raise the chicken that they serve for dinner; instead they hunt and gather in the grocery store. They go through catalogs or department stores to buy clothes instead of shearing sheep, carding wool, and weaving cloth for skirts and coats and blankets.


Games are the way we keep romance alive. They're based in human hardwiring. Playing hard-to-get or leaving a little to the imagination allows the woman to be wooed and appreciated and the man to be challenged and intrigued.


Research shows that couples who have a lot of similarities, including intellectual compatibility, end up staying together.


Kissing is not just kissing. It is a major escalation or de-escalation point in a powerful process of mate choice.


Any kind of novelty or excitement drives up dopamine in the brain, and dopamine is associated with romantic love.


Your sweetheart calls you by another's name. His eyes linger too long on your best friend. He talks with excitement about a girl at work. And the fire catches. Jealousy - that sickening combination of possessiveness, suspicion, rage, and humiliation - can overtake your mind and threaten your very core as you contemplate your rival.


There's biology in everything, even when you're feeling spiritual.


People have often asked me whether what I know about love has spoiled it for me. And I just simply say, 'Hardly.' You can know every single ingredient in a piece of chocolate cake, and then when you sit down and eat that cake, you can still feel that joy.


Why do we feel jealousy? Therapists often regard the demon as a scar of childhood trauma or a symptom of a psychological problem. And it's true that people who feel inadequate, insecure, or overly dependent tend to be more jealous than others.


Natural beauty really entices men. They will tell you this time and time again, and studies consistently prove it.


When you massage someone, the levels of oxytocin go up in the brain, and oxytocin is one of the chemicals that drives attachment.


Romantic love allows you to focus mating energy. Attachment sustains that relationship as long as necessary to raise your baby.