Dating choice more about science, says anthropologist

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-15 15:38

CHICAGO -- Personality types directed by your brain's neurochemicals may unveil who you are and whom you love, said professor of anthropology Helen Fisher Saturday, the Valentines's Day.

Fisher, a Rutgers University anthropologist and author of Why We Love, presented her latest research results on human mating choice, at the American Academy or Arts and Sciences (AAAS) 2009 annual meeting.

Fisher has devoted 30 years of research and five books to the study of human attraction. She believes that DNA dictates the chemical makeup of brains and determines to whom people are most attracted.

After examining the personality type and dating choices of about 28,000 individuals by a questionnaire on the online dating site Chemistry.com, Fisher reported how one's primary neuro-driven personality type guided the initial dating choice.

She and her co-researchers identified four personality types: explorers, builders, directors and negotiators.

"Love is a complicated mechanism," she said. "Although today I only covered it as a biological mechanism, dating choice involves both cultural and biological reasons."

As for long-term relationships, she said "It's not been studied yet but I encourage all couples who have been in a long-term relationship to go to my website and take the survey ..."

AAAS is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people. Founded in 1848, it serves some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, and 10 million individuals.