When they abandon us, the lack of love makes us feel bad, very bad. I will try to explain what happens in our brain when there is a break and you will understand much better everything that happens to you.

You know that feeling that suddenly hits you. You’re traipsing about in town and notice someone who gives you a jolt. Or it could be your partner coming out of the shower, smelling irresistible. Or, all of a sudden your best friend feels… sexy?

I have always been fascinated by people, the way they think, talk, behave, their body language, history, culture and so many other aspects. This personal obsession has led me to acquire a ‘knack’ for talking to people, observing them, and I would like to think interpret them. I always knew I wanted to major in psychology. To me, psychology is not just my major, it is my personal life. It motivates, excites and impassions me. However, even though psychology addresses many and most of human behavior it is still just one of many perspectives. In order to understand something, you must be able to understand it as a whole, not just in pieces. This why I minored in sociology and have taken any and every class I can that pertains to this obsession, whether it be history, philosophy, communications, religion, minority studies and now anthropology (none of which go toward my major at all by the way). It is my ethical obligation to undo any stereotypes or ethnocentric ideologies that my culture and history has emplaced on me, not just for my patients but so I can objectively understand and empathize with the world around me. I do not want rose or any other colored glasses, nor do I want plain ones, I want one in every shape and color so that the mysterious of the world and people around me can be appreciated in their own beautifully unique ways. This is precisely what anthropology can and has helped me do, not only in my personal life but in my career.

I’m sure you know the deal. We’ve all been there. When you’ve started seeing someone and it’s going great and you want to take it to the next level, but he just will not commit. He may have told you he wants a relationship, or it may have never come up, yet he avoids the topic of being a couple like the plague. He treats you like a girlfriend but refuses to acknowledge you as such. Or you confess your feelings and he freaks out and backs off entirely. Leaving you wholly confused as you both were acting like you were together and you thought what difference would a label on this relationship make anyway? Which leads us to the confusion of WHY is he doing this? Why is he running from the relationship? Is this all just a game? Dating games are frustrating, but knowing the reason why it’s occurring means you can understand where they may be coming from without feeling like you’ve merely been taken along for a ride.

Before critically discussing the role of love in relationship satisfaction, it is firstly important to establish what love is. Zeki et al., 2012 stated that when someone is in love, multiple parts in the brain “light up” even though a large section of the brain becomes deactivated. He found that those in love have lower activity in their frontal cortex compared to those who are not in love. Deactivation in the frontal cortex means they have lesser ability to reason and make judgement as they are the roles of the frontal cortex, however due to the decreased ability to form judgments and reason can impact one’s relationship and cloud judgement which may cause relationship dissatisfaction.

The love for a pet is often boundless: the quadrupedal friend, with his constant presence and his priceless loyalty, frequently becomes the first confidant, as well as a full-fledged member of the family. New research, however, highlights how strong the bond between man and dog is: apparently, humans would show more empathy for wagging specimens than their fellow humans.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. You know the game (if you don't check out the Oracle of Bacon), and you know it came from an actual theory called Six Degrees of Separation. So my goal here isn't to dive into the scientific studies or even discuss the validity of them. However - I recently ran across an old article by The Guardian called "Poof! Just six degrees of separation between us." The article notes that Microsoft Messenger connections indicated that the theory was pretty accurate (Microsoft came up with 6.6 degrees, but close enough).

Have you ever wondered if our sexual orientation is nature or nurture? The debate over sexual orientation is far from being a settled issue for many people. It’s a topic of heated debate and a lot of scientific exploration. At this point, we cannot pinpoint the exact roots of influence on sexual attraction. There are a lot of different theories and some really compelling evidence but it’s not a closed case just yet.

Abstract Gender Identity is important for the functional progress of society, as some behaviours which belong to masculine or feminine norms can impede the progression of society, such as aggression or assertiveness. This observational research observes if gender conformity is still alive in modern society, and if subconsciously males and females tend to prefer to the colour associated with their own gender. Researchers hypothesized that there would be a significant correlation between the sex of the samples observed and whatever they would pick a blue coded or a pink coded cake. However, results show that there is no significant difference between the choices of gender-associated colour between the two groups. This might indicate that the conformity to gender norms and values are not as strong with age, or that perhaps the observational design allowed the samples to not be obstructed by the social desirability bias. Results might also suggest that individuals are not controlled by gender norms, but rather act following their free will.

Many social media apps and websites share information about whether a person is online with their network (e.g. friends list), which are known as online status indicators. Importantly, these online status indicators convey our availability to others. They inform them about whether we are online or offline, and often even indicate the last time we were logged on. Recently, my friend told me that he has to limit his use of WhatsApp because otherwise his ex will see that he is online and try to initiate a conversation. If you’ve ever suspected that you’re being ghosted after a second date after getting no reply to your several messages or impatiently waited for a response from your friend who is online but not replying to you amidst an argument, then you would be painfully aware of just how much anxiety that little online indicator is capable of causing.

Have you ever been caught up in a painfully awkward and lengthy stare with a stranger? Perhaps you were on a bus or train, or part of a museum tour, or attending a busy and colourful carnival, or perhaps even locking eyes with your oh-so-dreamy crush?

What is Monogamy? The Oxford Dictionary defines monogamy as “the practice of marrying or state of being married to one person at a time.” This concept can also be applied to purely sexual relationships where two people exclusively engage in sex with only each other, known as sexual monogamy. In zoology, the term can be interpreted as having only one mate at a time (Lexico, 2020).