Love, actually and in theory: Towards a robust science of love
Theo Murphy meeting organised by Professor S Craig Roberts, Dr Marta Kowal, Professor Agnieszka Sorokowska, Professor Jan Havlíček, Professor Piotr Sorokowski.
This meeting will bring together an international group of psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and zoologists to present and discuss approaches to understanding the evolution of love in human relationships. It will clarify existing approaches, facilitate discussion, and help to shape a road map for future work, including (we hope) a new conceptual framework.
Programme
The programme, including speaker biographies and abstracts, is available below but please note the programme may be subject to change.
Poster session
There will be a poster session on Tuesday 5 May at 5pm. Registered attendees will be invited to submit a proposed poster title and abstract (up to 200 words). Acceptances may be made on a rolling basis so we recommend submitting as soon as possible in case the session becomes full. Submissions made within one month of the meeting may not be included in the programme booklet.
Attending this event
- Free to attend and in-person only
- When requesting an invitation, please briefly state your expertise and reasons for attending
- Requests are reviewed by the meeting organisers on a rolling basis. You will receive a link to register if your request has been successful
- Catering options will be available to purchase upon registering. Participants are responsible for booking their own accommodation. Please do not book accommodation until you have been invited to attend the meeting by the meeting organisers
Please note that scientific meetings hosted by the Royal Society do not necessarily represent a Royal Society position or signify an endorsement of the speakers or content presented.
Enquiries: contact the Scientific Programmes team.
Organisers
Schedule
Chair
Professor Piotr Sorokowski
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Professor Piotr Sorokowski
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Piotr Sorokowski is a professor at the University of Wrocław, Poland specialising in cultural, cross-cultural, evolutionary, and environmental psychology. His interdisciplinary work, published in journals including Nature and Nature Human Behaviour, has received international recognition (among the top 2% of scientists globally according to Ioannidis/Stanford University). A central focus of his research is love, mate choice, and human relationships across cultures. He conducts field studies in traditional societies such as the Hadza and Datoga in Tanzania and the Yali and Dani in Papua, exploring how cultural and evolutionary factors shape romantic preferences, pair bonding, and reproductive behaviour. His projects bring together linguists, philosophers, anthropologists, artists, biologists, and medical researchers. His findings have attracted wide media attention, including coverage by BBC, CNN, and The New York Times.
| 09:00-09:10 |
Welcome by the Royal Society and organiser
Professor S Craig RobertsUniversity of Stirling, UK
Professor S Craig RobertsUniversity of Stirling, UK Craig’s initial training was in zoology, and his PhD at University College London examined communication in a pair-bonding African antelope. During postdoctoral research at the Institute of Zoology, he studied olfaction and mate choice in mice, including work on trade-offs between markers of genetic quality and compatibility. He became interested in such processes in humans and has pursued this line of research for more than 20 years, particularly in the context of status signalling and partner choice. This work includes studies of the genetic underpinnings of partner preferences and how modern cultural practices, such as the use of hormonal contraception and artificial fragrances, potentially disrupt cues of biological relevance and may influence downstream relationship dynamics. He held posts in Newcastle and Liverpool, and has been at the University of Stirling since 2010. He is a former President and currently a Trustee of the International Society for Human Ethology, the oldest learned society for evolutionary approaches to understanding human behaviour. |
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| 09:10-09:35 |
BFFs: Social bonds across the life span
Mammalian females play a critical role in the lives of their offspring, nurturing them during pregnancy, feeding and protecting them after birth. In nonhuman primate species with female philopatry, females are embedded in extended matrilineal kinship networks, and maternal kinship structures the patterning of affiliative and cooperative interactions among them. Adult female yellow, olive, and chacma baboons form exceptionally strong, stable, supportive, peaceful, and relaxed relationships with their own mothers and daughters. These relationships seem to have adaptive value as females that form the strongest and most stable social bonds live longer than others. Females’ age may influence the quality of their social bonds in two different ways. First, social engagement generally declines with age. Second, females’ reproductive value peaks in early adulthood and then declines. Here we draw on long-term studies of olive and chacma baboons to evaluate how mother-daughter bonds change as females age and their reproductive value declines. 
Professor Joan SilkArizona State University, US
Professor Joan SilkArizona State University, US Joan Silk is an evolutionary anthropologist/ behavioural ecologist. Her research has focused on the evolutionary forces that shape the patterns of behaviour in nonhuman primates. She has participated in long-term behavioural studies of wild chacma, yellow, and olive baboons and described the form and adaptive value of social bonds among females in these species. Silk has also studied the phylogenetic origins of prosocial behaviour in chimpanzees and conducted cross-cultural research on the ontogeny of prosocial behaviour and norm adherence in human children. |
| 09:35-09:50 |
Discussion
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| 09:50-10:15 |
Deacon’s Dilemma and the origins of pairbonding
Humans have an unusual mating system: pairbonds nested within very large social groups. We share this arrangement with a very small number of other mammals (notably hamadryas and gelada baboons), although this arrangement is common in colonially nesting bird species. The proximity of rivals creates immense problems for pairbonded males and females, and raises questions as to why this social arrangement evolved and how it is maintained. I shall argue that this mating system is a response by females to the stresses (the ‘infertility trap’) created by living in very large social groups when these are necessitated by high predation risk. I shall suggest that these arrangements require the evolution of specialised cognition (self-control and triadic differentiation) if they are to be evolutionary stable, a process that necessarily involves multilevel selection and the trade off between different cointributions to fitness. 
Professor Robin DunbarUniversity of Oxford, UK
Professor Robin DunbarUniversity of Oxford, UK Robin Dunbar is Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Magdalen College, and an elected Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Finnish Academy of Science & Letters and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His principal research interests focus on the evolution of sociality (with particular reference to primates and humans). He is best known for the social brain hypothesis, the gossip theory of language evolution and Dunbar’s Number (the limit on the number of manageable relationships we can have). His publications include 34 authored and edited books and more than 600 journal articles and book chapters. |
| 10:15-10:30 |
Discussion
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| 10:30-10:50 |
Break
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| 10:50-11:15 |
RELIC: Uniting the Triangles, Stories, and Contexts of Love
RELIC (REal Love In Context) is an integrative attempt at a comprehensive theory of love that takes into account three elements. These elements are the components of love, the stories of love that generate these components, and the ecological contexts that interact with the components and stories. The three components of love (the “triangle of love”) are intimacy, passion, and commitment (Sternberg, 1986). Different combinations of the components yield different types of love. Relationships tend to be more successful as a function of whether people have both larger and more closely matching love triangles. This theory has been validated cross-culturally in 25 countries and 34 languages. Partners not only have actual triangles for their relationship, but also ideal triangles and action triangles. Relationships succeed or fail not only because of matching triangles, but also, matching stories. From their earliest days, people form stories (e.g., fairy-tale story, business story, horror story) of what they ideally would like love to be. They then seek out someone whose conception of what it means to love matches, to the extent possible, their own. People have a hierarchy of stories, ranging from more to less preferred. Relationships are more successful when people have matching profiles of stories. This theory has been construct-validated. Love also occurs in ecological contexts, such as of the microsystem (family, work), mesosystem (interaction of microsystems), exosystem (societal institutions), macrosystem (cultural institutions), and chronosystem (secular time of relationship). These systems can either facilitate, impede, or destroy love. 
Professor Robert J SternbergCornell University, US
Professor Robert J SternbergCornell University, US Robert J Sternberg is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University, USA, and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Previously, he was IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University. His PhD is from Stanford, and he holds 13 honorary doctorates. He is a past winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology and the William James and James McKeen Cattell Awards of the Association for Psychological Science. His work has been cited about 265,000 times with an h index of 247. He is past-president of the American Psychological Association and the Federation of Associations in Brain and Behavioral Sciences. He is the author of many books, including Adaptive Intelligence, Cupid’s Arrow, and Love Is a Story. His main research interests are in intelligence, creativity, wisdom, love, and hate. He is married to Dr Karin Sternberg and is the father of five children—Seth, Sara, Samuel, Brittany, and Melody. |
| 11:15-11:30 |
Discussion
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| 11:30-11:55 |
The fall of romantic love: a signalling paradox
Expressions of romantic love have been shown to increase with societal development. In this article, we show that this relationship is not monotonic: romantic expression peaks and then declines at the highest levels of development. This rise-and-fall pattern emerges both cross-nationally, in a reanalysis of survey data from 9,474 participants across 45 countries, and diachronically, in large-scale automatic annotations of romantic content in 13,409 US movies released between 1970 and 2023. This poses a puzzle: why would a mechanism designed to sustain commitment decline in contexts where commitment arguably pays off most? We resolve this paradox by proposing that what declines is not love itself, but the need to signal it. Using a formal model, we show that when long-term commitment becomes common, overt romantic signalling becomes unnecessary and even counterproductive: the most committed individuals benefit from not signalling, a pattern known as countersignalling. Consistent with this account, we show that socio-economic development predicts lower infidelity in a cross-national survey of 83,522 participants from 160 countries, and selectively reduces endorsement of idealising expressions of love. Together, these findings suggest that in affluent societies, love becomes quieter not because bonds are weaker, but because they are more secure. 
Professor Nicolas BaumardEcole Normale Supérieure – PSL University, Paris
Professor Nicolas BaumardEcole Normale Supérieure – PSL University, Paris Nicolas Baumard is Research Director at the CNRS and Professor at the École Normale Supérieure – PSL University in Paris, where he leads the Computational Cultural Sciences team. An evolutionary and computational social scientist, his work sits at the crossroads of evolutionary biology, experimental psychology, economic history, and the humanities. He uses a wide range of methods — evolutionary modelling, experiments, surveys, and large-scale digital datasets — to investigate why cultures take the forms they do: why romantic love has grown increasingly central to human societies, why people are drawn to imaginary worlds, why moralising religions emerge only at certain historical moments, and why puritanical norms persist across cultures. His research has appeared in leading journals including Nature Human Behaviour, PNAS, Nature Communications, and Behavioural and Brain Sciences. He supervises the Social Sciences track in the Master and PhD programmes in Cognitive Sciences at ENS and is affiliated with the Institut Jean Nicod and the PRAIRIE AI institute. |
| 11:55-12:10 |
Discussion
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| 12:10-12:35 |
Love across the lifespan
While we know a great deal about how relationships are formed and maintained, research to date has focused almost exclusively on young adults; we know relatively little about the psychology of partner choice and romantic relationships in later life. Today, however, more older adults (eg aged 50+) are seeking romantic partners than at any point in human history; this is driven by demographic shifts such as an ageing population, higher divorce rates, and increasing societal acceptance regarding re-partnering after bereavement or relationship breakdown. Current theories of partner choice are inappropriate for understanding such later-life relationships because they are based on the needs and desires of young adults. Thus, advancing knowledge on partner choice and attraction among older adults will require new methodological tools and a reassessment of theoretical frameworks. In this talk, we will present these issues in light of existing data and introduce insights from a scientifically informed dating advice programme specifically designed for older adults.
Professor S Craig RobertsUniversity of Stirling, UK
Professor S Craig RobertsUniversity of Stirling, UK Craig’s initial training was in zoology, and his PhD at University College London examined communication in a pair-bonding African antelope. During postdoctoral research at the Institute of Zoology, he studied olfaction and mate choice in mice, including work on trade-offs between markers of genetic quality and compatibility. He became interested in such processes in humans and has pursued this line of research for more than 20 years, particularly in the context of status signalling and partner choice. This work includes studies of the genetic underpinnings of partner preferences and how modern cultural practices, such as the use of hormonal contraception and artificial fragrances, potentially disrupt cues of biological relevance and may influence downstream relationship dynamics. He held posts in Newcastle and Liverpool, and has been at the University of Stirling since 2010. He is a former President and currently a Trustee of the International Society for Human Ethology, the oldest learned society for evolutionary approaches to understanding human behaviour. 
Dr Mairi Macleod
Dr Mairi MacleodSince earning an MSc degree (with distinction) on Human Evolution & Behaviour from University College London and a PhD on "The Reproductive Strategies of Samango Monkeys" at the University of Roehampton, Mairi has spent the last 20 years as a science journalist writing about animal and human behaviour topics for New Scientist, various national newspapers and online publications. She also has extensive experience translating behavioural science research into practical applications, for the workplace, for families, and for relationships, and she has spoken widely on her work for corporates, conferences, and public events. Her main focus over the last five years has been as the founder and director of Dating Evolved (https://www.datingevolved.com/), a scientifically informed dating advice & support program for women over 50. She holds an Honorary Research Fellowship at the University of Stirling and is collaborating with research on mate choice and acquisition in older adults. |
| 12:35-12:50 |
Discussion
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Chair
Professor Jan Havlíček
Charles University, Czech Republic
Professor Jan Havlíček
Charles University, Czech Republic
His main research interest lies in the evolutionary aspects of social perception. His group studies how odours, faces, and voices influence the formation of romantic relationships, primarily within the theoretical frameworks of signalling theory, sexual selection and dual inheritance theory. His interests further include the interaction between biological and cultural evolution.
He has a background in biology and anthropology and received his PhD (2004) from Charles University, Prague. He is currently a Full Professor at the Faculty of Science, Charles University. He has participated in several long-term field studies (eg Cameroon, Namibia, Papua New Guinea) and has published over 150 academic papers. He has also contributed to several edited volumes, including Chemical Signals in Vertebrates, The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Romantic Relationships and The Routledge International Handbook of Comparative Psychology and co-edited the monograph Culture Evolving: Bridging Life Sciences and Humanities and the textbook (in Czech) Ethology – Mechanisms, Ontogeny, Function, and Evolution of Animal Behaviour.
| 14:00-14:25 |
The pair bond and the difficulties of sustaining a plural love
Humans exhibit considerable sexual flexibility; emotionally exclusive pair bonding constitutes a human universal. Drawing on evolutionary theory, cross-cultural ethnography, and contemporary research on polyamory, I argue that plural love systems consistently reproduce dyadic emotional hierarchies. Even in explicitly non-monogamous arrangements, individuals tend to organise their emotional lives around a primary attachment, suggesting that the pair bond reflects an evolved psychological disposition rather than a contingent cultural arrangement. Comparative research on cooperative breeding systems further reveals a strong association between monogamous mating and heightened social cooperation, suggesting that human monogamous mating similarly fosters preferences for cooperative social relations and emotionally exclusive bonds (Dyble 2025). 
Professor William JankowiakUniversity of Nevada, US
Professor William JankowiakUniversity of Nevada, US William Jankowiak, professor of anthropology, University of Nevada Las Vegas. He is the author of 126 articles/book chapters and 8 books (5 edited). His first book, Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City (1993), is now in its fifth printing, and his most recent book is Illicit Monogamy: How Romantic Love Undermined Plural Love in an American Polygamous Community (Columbia University Press, 2023). |
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| 14:25-14:40 |
Discussion
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| 14:40-15:05 |
How sociality strengthens pair-bonds among Himba pastoralists
Unlike any other species, human pair-bonds are adapted to exist within a multi-layered social world. Pair-bonds form the glue that binds us into the complex societies we live in today, but in turn, our societies shape, buffer, and transform our relationships. Often science ignores this context, with a kind of Darwinian tunnel vision that reduces the study of mating to individual preferences and strategies. In this paper, relying on 15 years of ethnographic fieldwork with Himba pastoralists, I will demonstrate how integrating the social scaffolding that surrounds our pair-bonds provides a clearer picture of how relationships actually work. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, this paper will cover three examples of how broadening out from the dyad affects relationship quality: (1) reliance on natal kin for post-marital support, (2) the integration of lovers to meet needs and distribute resources, and (3) use of community networks to mitigate conflict. The data will show that the strong, enduring relationships that Himba maintain outside of marriage help them to navigate their romantic relationships and buffer them during difficult times. 
Professor Brooke ScelzaUniversity of California, US
Professor Brooke ScelzaUniversity of California, US Brooke Scelza is an evolutionary anthropologist whose research integrates ethnographic fieldwork with evolutionary theory to examine the adaptive and cultural dimensions of human social behavior. Her work focuses on kinship, marriage, and parental investment, with particular emphasis on understanding how ecological and social conditions shape patterns of cooperation and reproductive decision-making. She has conducted long-term fieldwork with Himba pastoralists in northwestern Namibia and serves as Co-Director of the Kunene Rural Health and Demography Project. Scelza is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and published in leading journals including Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biology Letters, and Nature Human Behaviour. |
| 15:05-15:20 |
Discussion
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| 15:20-15:40 |
Break
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| 15:40-16:00 |
Higher individualism predicts lower intensity of experienced love: Data from 91 countries
Romantic love is a near-universal human experience. However, while it transcends cultural boundaries, its intensity varies significantly across individuals and societies. We hypothesize that this variability is partly driven by socio-cultural factors, particularly individualism—a cultural orientation prioritizing personal goals over group interests. As individualism continues to rise globally, its implications for romantic relationships remain underexplored. Here, we address this by examining the link between individualism and romantic love in two large-scale cross-cultural studies. In Study 1, we collected data from a convenience sample of 61,067 partnered individuals from 81 countries. In Study 2, we selected nationally representative samples from 50 countries, with controlled distributions of gender, age, and residential area (N = 6,620). The results were consistent across both studies—as individualism increased, both men and women reported lower levels of experienced love. In Study 2, individualism was additionally linked to a lower expressed desire for love, suggesting that individualism may erode the perceived importance of love. As people become increasingly individualistic, our findings provoke questions about the future of romantic love. They also carry implications for societal challenges such as rising divorce rates, fertility issues, and depression—all of which have been linked to unfulfilled or unhappy love. 
Dr Marta KowalUniversity of Wroclaw, Poland
Dr Marta KowalUniversity of Wroclaw, Poland Marta Kowal is a psychological researcher at the University of Wrocław. Her work primarily focuses on romantic love, mate attraction, and physical attractiveness, with a particular emphasis on cross-cultural perspectives. |
| 16:00-16:20 |
Paternal care in Chinese families: Transitions, dilemmas, and privileges
Chinese fathers have been traditionally described as unmotivated or incapable of expressing love and care towards their children, although recent studies revealed that Chinese fathers – at least the relatively privileged urban middle-class ones – are willing to build emotional bond with their children by expressing warmth and affection (albeit often in culturally appropriate covert ways) (Li, 2020). The intensive parenting discourse and rising feminist sentiment also call for fathers’ active participation in childcare. At the same time, Chinese fathers are increasingly constrained by workplace demands and (a lack of) policy support, resulting in limited time investment in child-rearing and inadequate childcare skills. In such sociocultural contexts, Chinese fathers need to navigate the gap between fatherhood culture and conditions as they make sense of their own parental role. The present study explores Chinese fathers’ understanding of good care. Fourteen self-nominated and other-recommended active fathers and seven of their partners from various regions in China participated in semi-structured interviews, during which they described their daily routines, caregiving tasks, support received and expected as caregivers, and elaborated on their understanding of good care. Their narratives revealed that, whereas fathers resemble mothers in their shared emphasis on sincere devotion to child development and the importance of empathy, fathers also expressed a need for social recognition of their caregiving roles and a critique towards the intensive parenting culture. Chinese fathers’ imagined good care is a field where they both enjoy gender privilege and suffer from patriarchal norms. 
Dr Xuan LiUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark
Dr Xuan LiUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark Xuan Li is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Copenhagen Prior to joining the University of Copenhagen, she was assistant professor of psychology at New York University Shanghai, and research associate at German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut), Munich, Germany. She holds a PhD and a MPhil in Social and Developmental Psychology from University of Cambridge, and undergraduate degrees in Germanistik and Psychology from Peking University. Xuan Li’s research focuses on fatherhood, parent-child interactions and relationships, and children and adolescents’ gender and socioemotional development in Chinese contexts. She is also interested in general issues pertaining to human development, family research, and gender studies. She has authored several book chapters on family and parent-child relations in China, and her work has appeared in journals such as Developmental Psychology, Child Development, and Child Development Perspectives. |
| 16:20-16:40 |
Love across cultures: insights from indigenous societies for evolutionary theories
Love is a universal human experience, yet its expression and function are shaped by both biological and cultural contexts. Our research, conducted in traditional societies across Africa, Amazonia, Pacific Islands and the Himalayas, shows that intimacy, passion, and commitment—the core components of love—are recognized and valued across diverse populations. These studies reveal that love not only guides partner choice and relationship dynamics but can also influence reproductive outcomes, suggesting an evolutionary function by enhancing fitness. At the same time, cultural practices, such as arranged versus free-choice marriages, shape how love is experienced and expressed, without altering its fundamental presence. By examining both cross-cultural patterns and fieldwork in small-scale societies, our findings address long-standing questions about the universality and adaptiveness of romantic love, highlighting the interplay between human nature, culture, and evolution in shaping how love is experienced worldwide.
Professor Piotr SorokowskiUniversity of Wroclaw, Poland
Professor Piotr SorokowskiUniversity of Wroclaw, Poland Piotr Sorokowski is a professor at the University of Wrocław, Poland specialising in cultural, cross-cultural, evolutionary, and environmental psychology. His interdisciplinary work, published in journals including Nature and Nature Human Behaviour, has received international recognition (among the top 2% of scientists globally according to Ioannidis/Stanford University). A central focus of his research is love, mate choice, and human relationships across cultures. He conducts field studies in traditional societies such as the Hadza and Datoga in Tanzania and the Yali and Dani in Papua, exploring how cultural and evolutionary factors shape romantic preferences, pair bonding, and reproductive behaviour. His projects bring together linguists, philosophers, anthropologists, artists, biologists, and medical researchers. His findings have attracted wide media attention, including coverage by BBC, CNN, and The New York Times. |
| 16:40-17:00 |
Discussion
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| 17:00-18:30 |
Poster session and drinks reception
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| 18:30-00:00 |
Close
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Chair
Professor Agnieszka Sorokowska
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Professor Agnieszka Sorokowska
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Agnieszka Sorokowska PhD is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, where she leads the Smell and Taste Research Lab. She is the author or co-author of more than 140 publications in leading international journals. Her multidisciplinary research program explores sensory perception, cross-cultural psychology, and cognitive processes, often bridging fields such as anthropology and neuroscience. Dr Sorokowska has conducted field studies in diverse and remote regions, including West Papua, the Bolivian Amazon, and the Pacific Islands, where she investigated the interplay between culture, environment, and human sensory experience. She is also a co-leader of the Cross-Cultural Research Group, an international network of over 100 scientists collaborating worldwide.
| 09:00-09:25 |
Neural Reward Systems as a mechanism in human love
What is love? Why do fools fall in love? We all know that early-stage, intense romantic love is usually associated with euphoria. Also, later stages of love, called “attachment,” are associated with positive feelings of happiness and comfort. One idea is that these positive associations are part of the human reproductive strategy as humans pursue, and stick with, preferred mates; it is part of the human species survival strategy; thus, we evolved to fall in love and the brain’s reward system is an essential part of evolution’s design. For groups and individuals who are in love, brain imaging studies have identified the dopamine and opioid-rich ventral tegmental area (VTA) reward system in the brainstem as an area involved in romantic feelings. The VTA activation was replicated in New York, London and Beijing, suggesting that it is cross-cultural, as is romantic love. The activation of the brainstem drive and reward system that appeared early in evolution supports the idea that love is a developed form of a mammalian drive to pursue preferred mates. Furthermore, heartbreak is a time when love is more passionate than ever, and brain imaging studies show an extensive involvement of the VTA and forebrain reward systems like the nucleus accumbens. Other studies see these same systems activated in cocaine addiction. Love may be a necessary natural addiction for survival of our species that, indeed, induces euphoria as a reward that keeps love going, and also keeps individuals safe with the protection of another. 
Professor Lucy BrownAlbert Einstein College of Medicine, US
Professor Lucy BrownAlbert Einstein College of Medicine, US Lucy L. Brown PhD is a neuroscientist and Clinical Professor in Neurology at Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She received her PhD in Experimental/Physiological Psychology from NYU in 1973. During a post-doctoral fellowship at Einstein, she worked on visualizing dopamine neurons and testing their plasticity in reward systems. She also learned about functional brain mapping techniques during the fellowship, and continued at Einstein as a grant-funded investigator. She was Director of the Laboratory for Functional Neuroanatomy and Movement Disorders for over 20 years. Her area of expertise is the neuroanatomy of the somatosensory, reward and motor systems. Together with Art Aron and Helen Fisher she pioneered studies of the neuroscience of romantic love. These studies have had clinical relevance as we begin to better understand drug addictions, and depression after heartbreak. |
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| 09:25-09:40 |
Discussion
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| 09:40-10:05 |
Biological synchrony in relationships
As relationships mature, partners share common goals, improve their ability to work together, and experience coordinated emotions. In my talk, I will highlight work in monogamous prairie voles that reveals complex biological alignment between partners using monogamous prairie voles. Specifically, we find evidence of matching neural activity in interacting voles, which is stronger between bonded individuals than with an unknown vole. Using single cell sequencing, we also observe transcriptional concordance between partners, providing a gene expression signature associated with pair-specific behaviors. Together, this work delineates how social relationships change the brain to facilitate connectedness and help pairs effectively navigate the world together. 
Dr Zoe DonaldsonUniversity of Colorado Boulder, US
Dr Zoe DonaldsonUniversity of Colorado Boulder, US Dr Donaldson’s research studies close social bonds, such as those that mediate friendships and romantic love. Her lab uses monogamous prairie voles which form lifelong bonds between mates. By examining the neurobiology underlying these bonds and what happens when they are lost, she hopes to identify novel treatments and interventions to help those struggling with loss. Her work is supported by awards from NIH, NSF, and private foundations, and has been highlighted in the Economist and the Washington Post. |
| 10:05-10:20 |
Discussion
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| 10:20-10:40 |
Break
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| 10:40-11:05 |
Examining the neural and genetic correlates of romantic love
In recent decades, scientists have made significant advances in clarifying some of the neural and genetic mechanisms that underly pair-bonding and attachment processes in humans. Access to relatively novel techniques—such as fMRI, EEG, and virtual reality—as well as animal studies have provided a platform for identifying the physiological correlates underlying pair-bonding. Also, innovations have promoted the investigation of culturally relevant contexts in the study pair-bonding, such as online dating. Unique to humans, and sometimes coinciding with pair-bonding, is the complex phenomenon of romantic love: a basic human motivation involving an intense desire to be united physically, cognitively, and emotionally with a beloved partner. In this talk, I will provide an overview of my research on the neural and genetic basis of romantic love. Also, I will highlight some recent and important discoveries in the science of love and pair-bonding, highlighting the neural and genetic factors that scientists have found to play a critical role in the formation and maintenance of pair-bonds and other attachment relationships. Finally, this talk will discuss possible future directions for the science of love. 
Dr Bianca AcevedoUniversity of California, US
Dr Bianca AcevedoUniversity of California, US Bianca P Acevedo is a Researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and she works at Northwell Health in NYC. She has a BA in Psychology from NYU and a PhD in Social/Health Psychology from Stony Brook University. She has done extensive research on the neural basis of romantic love, pair-bonding, high sensitivity, and interventions for healthy aging. She has taught courses including positive psychology, social neuroscience, and close relationships. Dr Acevedo’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, and the Alzheimer’s Association. She was the recipient of the 2012 International Women in Science Award, and her book “The Highly Sensitive Brain,” was nominated for the 2021 PROSE Award in Neuroscience. |
| 11:05-11:20 |
Discussion
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| 11:20-11:45 |
Sexual orientation, relationship diversity, and the experience of love
A substantial body of research on sexual minorities has focused on ideal partner preferences, however, far less attention has been paid to the dynamics of actual relationships of sexual minority individuals: how relationships are experienced, maintained, and negotiated over time, alongside related processes such as love, attachment, jealousy, and conflict. This talk addresses this gap by first providing a brief theoretical overview of what we know - and do not know - about relationship quality in same-sex partnerships. I then present recent data from two studies. The first, a large-scale sample of over 5,000 individuals, examines patterns of romantic attachment across sexual orientations while also accounting for relationship structure - specifically, the high prevalence of consensual non-monogamy (CNM) among non-heterosexual populations. The second study offers preliminary findings comparing heterosexual and non-heterosexual individuals in both monogamous and CNM relationships, analysing how different aspects of relationship maintenance, including passion and love, vary across these groups. Together, these data begin to map the diverse architectures of love beyond the heterosexual monogamous majority. 
Professor Jaroslava Varella ValentovaUniversity of São Paulo, Brazil
Professor Jaroslava Varella ValentovaUniversity of São Paulo, Brazil Jaroslava Varella Valentova is an Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of São Paulo, specialising in the evolutionary and cross-cultural study of human relationships and sexuality. With a PhD in Anthropology and Human Ethology from Charles University in Prague, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Theoretical Study in Prague, her research program examines the ultimate and proximate correlates of human mating strategies. Her work spans topics including sexual orientation, mate choice, and long-term relationship dynamics. Currently, her cross-cultural investigations are expanding to explore the structures, maintenance, and quality of love within diverse relationships, challenging and refining foundational theories in relationship science. |
| 11:45-12:00 |
Discussion
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| 12:00-12:25 |
Odour and the chemistry of human attraction
Previous research on the involvement of body odours in romantic relationships has focused primarily on mate preferences, including studies investigating odour-mediated genetic compatibility. Furthermore, odours are involved in sexual activity, having both excitatory and inhibitory potential depending on the context and the quality of the odour. Individuals also frequently seek odours associated with their partners such as worn garments during period of separation as these provides a sense of security. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that body odours play an integral role in various aspects of romantic relationship functioning. Nevertheless, it remains less clear how love dynamics affects perception of a partner’s and other individuals’ body odours. Here, I propose a conceptual framework that employs Triangular Theory of Love to incorporate body odour perception into the model. In particular, I focus on how the passion component modulate learning processes related the body odours of other individuals. Second, I propose that sexual arousal elicited by a partner’s odours facilitates intimacy component. Finally, I examine how a partner’s odours may be involved in the formation of the commitment component of love. This conceptual framework provides a set of specific predictions that may navigate future empirical research into the chemistry of the romantic relationships.
Professor Jan HavlíčekCharles University, Czech Republic
Professor Jan HavlíčekCharles University, Czech Republic His main research interest lies in the evolutionary aspects of social perception. His group studies how odours, faces, and voices influence the formation of romantic relationships, primarily within the theoretical frameworks of signalling theory, sexual selection and dual inheritance theory. His interests further include the interaction between biological and cultural evolution. He has a background in biology and anthropology and received his PhD (2004) from Charles University, Prague. He is currently a Full Professor at the Faculty of Science, Charles University. He has participated in several long-term field studies (eg Cameroon, Namibia, Papua New Guinea) and has published over 150 academic papers. He has also contributed to several edited volumes, including Chemical Signals in Vertebrates, The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Romantic Relationships and The Routledge International Handbook of Comparative Psychology and co-edited the monograph Culture Evolving: Bridging Life Sciences and Humanities and the textbook (in Czech) Ethology – Mechanisms, Ontogeny, Function, and Evolution of Animal Behaviour. |
| 12:25-12:40 |
Discussion
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Chair
Dr Marta Kowal
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Dr Marta Kowal
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Marta Kowal is a psychological researcher at the University of Wrocław. Her work primarily focuses on romantic love, mate attraction, and physical attractiveness, with a particular emphasis on cross-cultural perspectives.
| 13:40-14:05 |
In sync or out of step: Gender differences in the co-regulation of daily closeness in couples
Romantic relationships function as dynamic interpersonal systems where partners' behaviors and emotions influence one another over time (Butler & Randall, 2013). Previous research has shown that such dynamics, including physiological linkage (Kuelz & Butler, 2020) and emotional coregulation (Sels et al., 2020), are associated with relationship outcomes. This pre-registered study examined how daily closeness co-regulation patterns predict relationship satisfaction among couples. Using a 14-day daily diary study across four waves (N=997 couples), we employed the coupled oscillator model using the rties package (Butler & Barnard, 2019). Latent profile analysis identified two distinct co-regulatory profiles across all waves. Profile membership predicted relationship satisfaction in waves 1 and 4, with Profile 2 showing higher satisfaction than Profile 1 (Wave 1: b = 0.255, p < .001; Wave 4: b = 0.173, p = .005). Significant profile-by-gender interactions emerged in waves 3 and 4 (Wave 3: b = -0.083, p < .001; Wave 4: b = -0.115, p < .001), indicating that profile effects differed by gender. Closeness levels strongly predicted satisfaction across all waves (b = 0.047-0.049, p < .001) regardless of profile or gender. These results indicate that while absolute closeness consistently predicts relationship satisfaction, dynamic co-regulation patterns may have gender-specific effects that vary over time. This highlights the importance of considering gender differences when studying relationship processes and suggests that interventions might benefit from acknowledging that men and women may respond differently to various patterns of emotional coordination. 
Dr Maximiliane UhlichUniversity of Basel, Switzerland
Dr Maximiliane UhlichUniversity of Basel, Switzerland Dr Maximiliane Uhlich is a Researcher at the University of Basel specializing in relationship processes and sexual health across culturally diverse and underrepresented populations, with a focus on relationship maintenance, intimacy, and co-regulation. She has received the 2024 DEI Research Contribution Award from the International Association of Relationship Research, the 2025 Sexual Health Innovation Award from the International Academy of Sexuality Research, and secured over $1.3 million in research funding, including a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione Grant. Dr Uhlich is committed to open science practices, regularly pre-registering studies and sharing data publicly. Her current research examines relationship satisfaction trajectories in arranged and love marriages in India, and testing a partner support intervention in chronic illness. She earned her PhD from the University of Fribourg. |
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| 14:05-14:20 |
Discussion
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| 14:20-14:45 |
Thinking through a robust science of love in sexual and gender minorities
A wider inclusion of love experiences – specifically those involving sexual and gender diversity (eg people who resist the notion that love is expressed to one person, of a different sex, in a long-term manner) – is necessary to produce a truly robust science of love in the modern era. This is because sexual and gender diversity is inextricably linked with experiences of love relationships. In fact, sexual and gender diversity disrupts our usual understanding of gendered and sexual scripts in love relationships, given the unique burdens and sociocultural differences that this population experiences. Although important work has been conducted with regard to race, nationality, culture, and family structure (among others), sexual and gender diversity is uniquely definitional to our pursuit of a robust science of love. I have three goals for this talk. First, I will argue that we – as relationship scientists – have been woefully neglectful that sexual and gender diversity is critical for a robust science, and greater attention needs to be paid. Second, I will demonstrate the scope of the issue by contrasting “mainstream” and “diverse” relationship science, presenting population values, and examining key associations that love relationships have with health disparities (eg HIV, mental health). Third and finally, I will provide several examples of how sexual and gender diversity define structural and functional differences in love relationships at multiple levels (eg biological, interpersonal, affective), and caution against cursory handling of sexual and gender diversity by “mainstream” relationship scientists. 
Dr Madison Shea SmithNorthwestern University, US
Dr Madison Shea SmithNorthwestern University, US Madison Shea Smith is a clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Social Sciences and Impact Institute at Northwestern University. Dr Smith's research focuses on the bidirectional association of romantic relationships and health, with an emphasis on SGM communities and advanced quantitative methods. In addition to her own research activities, Dr Smith is Lead of the Longitudinal Methodology Core and faculty project director for RADAR, a multilevel longitudinal cohort study. She is also clinical director for all2GETHER, an innovative HIV prevention and relationship education program for SGM couples. Dr Smith also co-coordinates FAB400, a longitudinal cohort of SGM people assigned female at birth. |
| 14:45-15:00 |
Discussion
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| 15:00-15:20 |
Break
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| 15:20-15:40 |
Love and the sociological imagination: understanding generational shifts in intimate relationships
Our approach is informed by C. Wright Mills’s assertion that the task of sociology is to connect public issues and the personal experience of social life. This means we start from a recognition that love and intimate relationships are personal and psychological phenomena, which are concurrently structured, formed, shaped, and conditioned by larger sociocultural forces. Thus, we argue that while passionate and romantic love may have been identified across multiple temporal and geographical locations, how it is experienced and practiced will differ, sometimes dramatically. We start the paper with an overview of how love has been theorised and studied by sociologists, outlining some of the major key contributions of a sociological perspective on love. In particular we highlight the evidence around generational shifts in relationship practices and how these link with changes in local and global socio-political structures. We then draw on data from the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles – Natsal – to examine the ways in which reported relationship status has changed over the last two generations. Natsal takes place every ten years, using a probability sampling method to randomly select people from across Britain to take part, resulting in a broadly representative sample of the British general population. The analysis will compare data from young people in the most recent survey (Generation Z) with those generated in the previous survey (Millennials). We will outline in what ways and for whom these intimate relational shifts are occurring and how this relates more broadly to contemporary experiences of love. 
Professor Katherine TwamleyUniversity College London, UK
Professor Katherine TwamleyUniversity College London, UK Katherine Twamley is Professor of Sociology at UCL. She leads the Thomas Coram Research Unit research cluster on Gender, Work and Diverse Families and is a member of the UK 2029 REF (Research Excellence Framework) sub-panel for Sociology. She is a co-investigator on the Parental Night Shift project, exploring parents' experiences of night time care in the UK, Finland and Spain, and PI on a qualitative pilot project embedded with the longitudinal Generation New Era cohort study. Between 2024 and 2026 she is on a part-time secondment at the Department for Work and Pensions. Katherine’s research focuses on gender, love and intimacy, social policy, and families, in which she primarily draws on longitudinal, comparative qualitative methods. She is author of 'Caring is Sharing? Couples navigating parental leave at the transition to parenthood' (UCL Press, 2024) and 'Love, marriage and intimacy among Gujarati Indians: A Suitable Match' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) which was shortlisted for the British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Award. To hear more about Katherine’s research on the sociology of intimacy, you can listen to a podcast as part of the Sociological Review Uncommon Sense Podcast series (https://thesociologicalreview.org/podcasts/uncommon-sense/intimacy-with-katherine-twamley/). |
| 15:40-16:00 |
Dynamics of love across the transition to parenthood: a longitudinal study of psychological changes in couples
The transition to parenthood represents a pivotal life stage, accompanied by profound psychological, biological, and social transformations. Parenthood entails new responsibilities that reshape daily routines, social networks, and relationship dynamics. The present study aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of changes in romantic love during the transition to parenthood. Our longitudinal design included both male and female participants, as well as childless controls, allowing for a nuanced understanding of the psychological processes associated with this life transition. The study sample at T1 testing comprised 312 nulliparous couples, with women aged 20–30 years at baseline. Participants were assessed eight times at approximately six-month intervals, enabling the evaluation of temporal patterns in love across different phases of pregnancy and early parenthood. We examined the trajectories of love intensity over time, with particular attention to couples who conceived during the project. Results are discussed in light of existing research on the transition to parenthood, highlighting both normative emotional shifts and individual differences. Our findings have implications for psychological interventions tailored to the emotional challenges of pregnancy and early parenthood. They may also contribute to understanding the psychological characteristics of individuals who postpone or forgo parenthood, offering broader insights into contemporary family and relationship dynamics.
Professor Agnieszka SorokowskaUniversity of Wroclaw, Poland
Professor Agnieszka SorokowskaUniversity of Wroclaw, Poland Agnieszka Sorokowska PhD is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, where she leads the Smell and Taste Research Lab. She is the author or co-author of more than 140 publications in leading international journals. Her multidisciplinary research program explores sensory perception, cross-cultural psychology, and cognitive processes, often bridging fields such as anthropology and neuroscience. Dr Sorokowska has conducted field studies in diverse and remote regions, including West Papua, the Bolivian Amazon, and the Pacific Islands, where she investigated the interplay between culture, environment, and human sensory experience. She is also a co-leader of the Cross-Cultural Research Group, an international network of over 100 scientists collaborating worldwide. |
| 16:00-16:20 |
Obsessive thinking about a loved one in romantic love: eight perspectives
Obsessive thinking about a loved one is a core component of romantic love. This article provides the first review of obsessive thinking using an "eight perspectives" framework integrating ethology, ecology, psychology, and behavioural science. The only evolutionary history theory suggests obsessive thinking emerged by co-opting mother-infant bonding and cross-cultural data indicate it is likely universal. The evolutionary functions in romantic love remain uncertain. Obsessive thinking appears present in juveniles and expresses fully following puberty. The once-dominant serotonin hypothesis linking its mechanisms to obsessive-compulsive disorder now appears wrong. Ecological evidence suggests gender equality may reduce its expression. Cognitively, people in love report thinking about their loved one approximately 50% of waking hours, and this is associated with romantic love rather than companionate love. Emotionally, obsessive thinking can be bothersome but is also enjoyed, particularly when love is reciprocated. Behaviourally, it is associated with distraction from tasks and proximity-seeking behaviour. We conclude by outlining priorities for future research. 
Dr Adam BodeAustralian National University, Australia
Dr Adam BodeAustralian National University, Australia Adam is an interdisciplinary romantic love and human mating researcher who employs an ethological framework in his theory and analysis. He has a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) and a Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University. He is currently enrolled in a PhD in Biological Anthropology at the Australian National University’s School of Archaeology and Anthropology and holds a position as a Sessional Academic at Federation University Australia in the Institute of Health and Wellbeing. Adam’s research investigates romantic love using methods and approaches from biological anthropology, human ethology, and psychology. Adam is a proponent of a new approach to the science of romantic love which takes a narrow definition of romantic love, uses an ethological framework, and suggests it evolved by co-opting mother-infant bonding. |
| 16:20-16:55 |
General discussion
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| 16:55-17:00 |
Closing remarks
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