Social Psychology
Video and Multimedia
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Video 1: The Brain in Love
Description: In this TED Talk, we examine why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love--and people who had just been dumped.
Video 2: Rethinking Infidelity . . . a Talk for Anyone Who Has Ever Loved
Description: Infidelity is the ultimate betrayal. But does it have to be? In this TED Talk, relationship therapist Esther Perel examines why people cheat, and unpacks why affairs are so traumatic: because they threaten our emotional security. In infidelity, she sees something unexpected--an expression of longing and loss. A must-watch for anyone who has ever cheated or been cheated on, or who simply wants a new framework for understanding relationships.
Video 3: The Strange Situation Technique
Description: In this comedic attempt to depict attachment theory and behavior patterns using Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Technique, a grown man acts as a baby. Two women play the mother and stranger, respectively.
Audio 1: Choosing Wrong
Description: From This American Life, Host Ira Glass interviews author Alain de Botton about why so many of us choose the wrong spouses. A short, but unnerving conversation about how we may just make the biggest mistake of our lives.
Audio 2: Hookup Culture: The Unspoken Rules of Sex on College Campuses
Description: Few topics send the media into a panic like the idea of hookup culture on college campuses. But in today's hookup culture, developing an emotional attachment to a casual sex partner is one of the biggest breaches of social norms, as now there's a dichotomy between meaningless and meaningful sex, where students have to go out of their way to “perform meaninglessness.” In this episode of Hidden Brain, we see how one has to prove that they're not emotionally attached to their sex partners, and in fact that they care less than the other person. This leads to seemingly contradictory situations, such as people who only have sex with partners they're not interested in, and friends being meaner to each other after developing a sexual relationship.
Audio 3: Aziz Ansari: Talking Modern Love With the “Master of None”
Description: Some of you might know Aziz Ansari from his film and television roles. As you’ll quickly learn in this episode of Hidden Brain, what you might not know about Ansari is that he is also interested in human behavior. He recently co-wrote a book with sociologist Eric Klinenberg called Modern Romance about the changing state of love in the digital age. If you know anything about Aziz Ansari, we don't need to tell you that this episode gets racy. If this is your first time hearing him, well, consider yourself warned.