The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles, M. A.
University of California, Santa Barbara, B. A.
Graduate Student Mailroom, Franz Hall
405 Hilgard Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Research Interest:
I am generally interested in why the mind takes the form that it does, especially as it pertains to the psychology of close relationships. For example, why do we feel so intensely for someone at the beginning of a romantic relationship when we know little about them, but feel less so as the relationship progresses? As form follows function we can discover the rationality for some of our most seemingly illogical behaviors by carefully hypothesizing about the various functions the mind serves. I examine functional hypotheses from a variety of perspectives including: social psychology, evolutionary psychology, affective neuroscience, and economics. Currently I am developing such a functional account for Passionate Love based on neurological models of reward systems and learning systems, economic models of emotions, and evolutionary reasoning.