NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE — Feb 15 — Helen Fisher is a respected anthropologist at Rutgers University who has published four books and given scientific credibility to the idea that brain chemistry undergirds love and romance. She has been recruited by Match.com and given the title of chief scientific adviser of Chemistry.com. "I’m going to be crucified," Fisher, 60, said, anticipating the reaction in the academic world when her association with Chemistry.com, which became nationally available last month, becomes better known. "I asked everyone I knew whether I should do it. Half said, `You’re going to be helping humanity.’ Half said, `You’re crazy."’ Fisher’s lifework has been to demonstrate that romantic attachments, far from being the result of unpredictable forces, have a biological and chemical basis. "I thought there was a chemistry to love and looked into it because it was the last frontier." Fisher identified four personality types she said are associated with chemicals in the body. "Scientists know that women gravitate to men who have a different immune system from theirs," she explained. "Both sexes also gravitate to individuals who have a somewhat different dopamine system, serotonin system and estrogen and testosterone system from their own." She named the four basic types: the Explorer, the Builder, the Negotiator and the Director. Explorers, for example, have an active dopamine system in the brain, Fisher said. "They tend to take risks and seek novelty," she said. They are good matches with Builders, who are noted for their serotonin system and who tend to be calm, managerial and to follow social norms. A questionnaire she created for Chemistry.com establishes which of the four personalities a dater has. Gary Marcus, a psychologist at New York University, said dividing people into four groups is grossly simplistic. Match.com has also partnered with Dr Phil McGraw, to create MindFindBind.com.
Mark Brooks: I’ve listed her latest book, "Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love" on OPW, bottom right.
“THE NEURAL MECHANISMS OF MATE CHOICE: A Hypothesis”, written by Helen Fisher et al, can be seen at
http://homepage.mac.com/helenfisher/matechoice.html
http://homepage.mac.com/helenfisher/News.htm
from A BIOLOGICAL/ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
it says:
“CONCLUSION
……..
Some of the neural circuits associated with the sex drive have been identified. It is hypothesized that the neural system for courtship attraction is distinct from but closely linked to some of these primary circuits associated with the sex drive and that these two neural systems, attraction and the sex drive, operate in tandem in most avian and mammalian species. This courtship attraction circuit must also operate in tandem with neural systems associated with the discrimination of colors, sizes, shapes, vocal tones, odors, postures, gestures and other brain systems associated with sensory perception, memory, reward assessment, planning and motor activities.
Last, it is hypothesized that this attraction circuit varies in duration and intensity according to each species’ reproductive strategy. Yet this neural motivation_emotion system plays a similar role in reproduction across species: It enables both males and females to distinguish among potential mating partners, prefer particular conspecifics, and focus their courtship attention on the pursuit of these favored individuals, thereby conserving mating time and energy by making a mate choice. In humans this motivation-emotion system has evolved into a brain network that has come to be called romantic love.”
and
the poster “EARLY STAGE INTENSE ROMANTIC LOVE ACTIVATES CORTICAL-BASAL-GANGLIA REWARD/MOTIVATION, EMOTION AND ATTENTION SYSTEMS: AN fMRI STUDY OF A DYNAMIC NETWORK THAT VARIES WITH RELATIONSHIP LENGTH, PASSION INTENSITY AND GENDER. (2003)”
http://homepage.mac.com/helenfisher/images/Poster.jpg
Kindest Regards,
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com
Here is a blog of science journalists trying out chemistry.com
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/02/staffers_try_out_chemistrycom.php
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we asked two of our colleaguesin the Seed office— one man and one woman—to give Chemistry.com a test drive.
Sounds good, but the question is, “how accurate are the results from the questionnaire?”