The Science of Love (Episode 3)
The Science of Happiness
PRX and Greater Good Science Center
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Guest host Geena Davis guides us through the research on love that stretches beyond romance and friendship, showing up in our bonds with objects, nature, grief, and the collective moments that connect us to something larger than ourselves.
Summary: In this final episode of our 3-part series on The Science of Love, researchers reveal how love expands our sense of self and strengthens our bond to humanity. We also explore why objects can feel meaningful, how love of nature can motivate care for the planet, he ways grief reshapes our capacity for connection, and our love of humanity.
Related The Science of Happiness episodes:
The Science of Love Series: https://bit.ly/TheScienceofLove
The Science of Love, with Geena Davis (Episode 1): https://tinyurl.com/bfave5wd
How 7 Days Can Transform Your Relationship: https://tinyurl.com/bdh2ezhr
Related Happiness Breaks:
Visualizing Your Best Self in Relationships: https://tinyurl.com/4797z2vf
A Guided Meditation on Embodied Love: https://tinyurl.com/3dmpfam6
A Meditation on Love and Interconnectedness: https://tinyurl.com/ye6baxv3
Today’s Guests:
AARON AHUVIA is the most widely published and cited academic expert on non-interpersonal love.
Learn more about Aaron Ahuvia here: https://thethingswelove.com/about-aaron/
JESSICA EISE is a social and environmental scientist and is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health with Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington.
Learn more about Jessica Eise here: https://jessicaeise.com/
YURIA CELIDWEN is an indigenous scholar of contemplative studies, and author of the new book, Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Foundations For Collective Well-Being.
Learn more about Yuria Celidwen here: https://www.yuriacelidwen.com/
MARY-FRANCES O'CONNOR is a psychologist and professor at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Grief, Loss, and Social Stress Lab.
Learn more about Mary-Frances O’connor here: https://maryfrancesoconnor.org/
SHIRA GABRIEL is a Professor of Psychology at SUNY, University at Buffalo.
Learn more about Shira Gabriel here: https://tinyurl.com/2vvav8xj
Message us or leave a comment on Instagram @scienceofhappinesspod. E-mail us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
Help us share The Science of Happiness! Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap
Funding for this special was provided by the John Templeton Foundation, as part of the Greater Good Science Center's Spreading Love Through the Media initiative.
Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/22d5nuyr
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Dacher Keltner, and welcome to the third and final episode of The Science of Love, a series from the Science of Happiness. |
| 0:08.3 | Hosted by Gina Davis, we explore the science of how love moves outward, from the things we cherish to the natural world and the love that unites communities. |
| 0:35.8 | I want to be love for you're listening to The Science of Love, a special series by the Science of Happiness podcast. |
| 0:43.7 | This is our third and final episode in the series. |
| 0:46.9 | I encourage you to go back and listen to the first two if you haven't yet. |
| 0:51.1 | We talked about love in its endless forms between family to friends, romance, |
| 0:56.8 | and even our love for our pets. Today, we're talking about the type of love that only takes |
| 1:02.9 | one heart to experience, like our love of stuff. Most of the things people love are things that |
| 1:09.9 | connect them to other people. |
| 1:12.5 | Our love of nature. |
| 1:14.0 | Caring for the earth is caring for ourselves. |
| 1:16.8 | Love that endures through grief and beyond our inner circles to our greater communities and even humanity. |
| 1:24.4 | If we're not thinking about the collective, if we're not thinking about how we all make |
| 1:30.2 | things better for each other, then we've missed an opportunity. More science of love after this break. |
| 1:51.0 | Welcome back to the Science of Love, a special by the Science of Happiness podcast. I'm Gina Davis. |
| 1:53.0 | So far, on our Science of Love special, we've been talking about love of sentient beings. |
| 1:59.0 | But what about inanimate objects? People say they love |
| 2:03.1 | their stuff, but do we really love it? |
| 2:06.1 | Most of the things people love are things that connect them to other people. |
| 2:11.1 | Aaron Ahuvia is a marketing professor at the University of Michigan. He studies how and why we love objects and activities. |
| 2:20.3 | So maybe you love a photograph of another person, or a souvenir of some experience you had with another person, |
| 2:26.3 | or maybe you love the dishes that you use at dinner cartons because of the way they connect you to other people. |
... |
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