The hazards of being in love with love
Think from KERA
KERA
4.7 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you know someone who falls in love at first sight over and over again, there’s a word for that: emophilia. Daniel N. Jones is professor of management in the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno and core faculty within the Interdisciplinary Social Psychology Program. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the red flags for people in love with falling in love, why they might be missing huge pitfalls of potential partners and ways to build healthy partnerships beyond the initial butterflies. His book is “Falling Fast: The Perils and Possibilities of Emophilia.”
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choicesTranscript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | If you happen to be super sexy or super wealthy, evolutionary psychology suggests you will have your pick of lovers and live happily ever after. |
| 0:18.9 | But if that's true, why are there so many spectacular breakups in Hollywood and Silicon Valley? |
| 0:23.6 | And if everyone's mate preferences are hardwired by evolution, |
| 0:27.6 | how is it even possible to find real happiness with someone who will never be a supermodel or a tech titan? |
| 0:34.6 | From KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm Chris Boyd. It may indeed be close to |
| 0:40.9 | impossible to find and woo the perfect partner. But a partner who is perfect for us or close enough |
| 0:47.5 | to do the job, that search is worth our time because it's much more likely to end well. Paul Eastwick |
| 0:53.6 | has studied this. He is professor |
| 0:55.2 | of psychology at the University of California Davis, where he serves as head of the social |
| 0:59.6 | personality psychology program and director of the attraction and relationships research laboratory. |
| 1:05.7 | His new book is called Bonded by Evolution, the New Science of Love and and connection. Paul, welcome to think. |
| 1:12.9 | Thanks so much for having me on. Before we talk about your sense that evolutionary biology |
| 1:18.1 | has led to a somewhat distorted understanding of how and why we form romantic relationships, |
| 1:24.1 | maybe you can start by reminding us of the stereotypical interpretation, this thing you have come to call the Evo script. |
| 1:31.1 | Yeah, I think the Evo script has a few components that started in the science in the 90s, but it's taken on a whole new life online. |
| 1:40.6 | And that includes things like everybody has a mate value, a certain set of traits and attributes that make them either desirable or not in the mating game. |
| 1:53.1 | Another idea is that men and women are these very different creatures who want very different things out of romantic relationships. And a third idea is that, |
| 2:03.9 | you know, some people are like good for a fling and some people are good for a long-term relationship, |
| 2:09.3 | but he kind of got to specialize in one or the other. Now, I won't get into all the nefarious ways |
| 2:15.9 | that these concepts have got interpreted online in recent years. |
| 2:20.0 | But suffice to say, the science behind these ideas has been shown to be weaker than we've thought |
| 2:28.0 | in the last, you know, 10 to 15 years or so. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KERA, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of KERA and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.