Chris Watkins – Cupid’s Magnet: Scientific approaches to intimacy and closeness

Dr Christopher D. Watkins (Division of Psychology, Abertay University, Dundee, Scotland) nám představí výsledky několika svých studií zaměřených na partnerské vztahy – tématy budou například význam líbání či vliv moderních technologií.

Social attributions and acts of romantic expression underpin relationships, and how we push toward, or pull ourselves away from others, in various romantic contexts over time. This talk will present the results of recent research from my lab (four experiments and two cross-cultural studies). Drawing on various perspectives from evolutionary and social psychology, the talk will examine the extent to which modern technology (online dating and pornography) produces ‘Coolidge-like’ effects and orient users toward novelty versus familiarity in faces. I will summarise the findings of my cross-cultural research on the use and appreciation of kissing, and introduce a new study examining Wlodarski & Dunbar’s ‘arousal hypothesis’ of mouth-to-mouth kissing. The final study will present findings of a cross-cultural project attempting to replicate the ‘male confession bias’, observed previously within an American sample.