The main character in The Bride Hunter, Becca, is a psychologist turned headhunter turned match-maker – and I wanted to incorporate real science and psychology in her ‘bride hunting process.’ That doesn’t mean that the book reads like an Open University textbook, but every now and then Becca explains why she’s doing certain things.
The research was astonishing. Did you know there were people out there who sniff your sweat under laboratory conditions? They monitor your pulse-rate when you’re ogling Becks or Brad. All around the world, scientists are putting our love lives under the microscope.
Now, I was definitely no scientist at school – I never could work out the difference between conduction and convection – so the precise science behind this isn’t completely clear. And I do apologise in advance if I haven’t quite got it right. But amongst the most fascinating stuff I found out was (with links to the research if you want to know more):
- love stimulates the same parts of the brain as snorting cocaine
- romantic love is only a whisker away from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- opposites really do not attract – instead, we’re much more likely to choose someone who looks – and thinks – like us.
- love really does make us blind to our partner’s worst faults.
The strangest stuff of all was about prairie voles. These little critters are among the 5 per cent of mammals that are actually monogamous – and apparently it’s all down to a gene which makes them receptive to a hormone, vasopressin, which makes animals (including humans) feel a warm bonding glow. After a while, they associate this glow with a partner, so keep coming back. Or something. So, if we can crack the same gene in humans, maybe we could turn playboys into stay-at-home guys who do the ironing just to make you happy, girls.
So there you are, much more useful than your mother’s advice about never dating a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle. Right, 4B, now for homework, I would like you to carry out some hands-on research with the opposite sex...
Lots of love,
Amy
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