Nearly a million people watched.
CNN Health
February 10, 2023
Bloomberg.com
February 7, 2023
By Arianne Cohen
5 minutes with…
Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher. She’s the chief science adviser to Match.com and has spent the last two decades using neuroscience to help people choose optimal romantic partners. Now she’s applying her Fisher Temperament Inventory to the business world. She says that by identifying the personalities of coworkers and clients, you can adapt how you interact with them to boost success. I asked her to explain how it works. (Her answers have been edited and condensed.)
What don’t people understand about personality and the workplace? We talk about cultural diversity and ethnic diversity, but we’ve missed diversity of the mind — the basic styles of thinking and behaving. I’ve found four broad styles based on the brain systems of dopamine, serotonin, testosterone and estrogen, each linked to a constellation of personality traits. When you understand them, you can climb into people’s heads and reach them.
What mistake do people make in relating to coworkers and clients? They follow the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would do unto yourself.” I don’t believe in it. Figure out who your coworkers and clients are, and then tell them your content and data in a way that they can hear it, understand it and use it.
Can you give an example? Traits linked with the dopamine system are novelty seeking, curiosity and high creativity. They’re explorers: independent, self-reliant, energetic, impulsive and mentally flexible. In the office, their outstanding trait is idea generation.
How can one work best with them? They’re going to have a good eye for opportunities, a good sense of timing, and will end up being the troubleshooters. One of the problems with most personality tests is they tell you who people are, but it’s really important to know who people aren’t. Don’t smother explorers in details and don’t require rigid schedules. They find rules and regulations constraining. Give them varieties and possibilities, be spontaneous, be creative and speculate with them.
What are the other three types? The high serotonin people are the opposite: I call them builders. They enjoy the familiar, they respect social norms and authority, and are detail-oriented. They’re calm, controlled and modest, and a major feature is numeric and figural creativity. They might not invent it, but they’ll develop it and bring it to market. With them you don’t speculate or exaggerate or be unorganized. Discuss concrete topics, be orderly and calm, stick to schedules and emphasize the right way to do something. Know that they’ll resist change.
What are the other two? The high-testosterone type is direct, decisive, tough-minded, logical and good at rule-based systems like math and engineering. And they’re fair. They’ll take command, do strategic planning and they’ll invent. With them, you get right to the point. Give the big picture first and then the details. They’re very comfortable with disagreement and debate.
And tell me about the estrogen system. I call them negotiators. They’re empathetic, holistic long-term thinkers who can see many ways of doing something. They’re very good at reading office social cues, resolving conflicts, hiring, firing and teambuilding. With them I would emphasize moments of agreement and balance facts with feelings — it’s okay to reveal your feelings, but also give ancillary data. Don’t be competitive or confrontational.
Does everyone fall into one of the four? No. You’re not just in one bucket or another — but you’ve likely got more traits in some systems than others, which lends you to a certain style of thinking and behaving.
La antropóloga Helen Fisher lleva décadas investigando el amor. Desde hace casi 20 años también trabaja para entender la importancia de internet en las relaciones sentimentales
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Singletons say they are fed up with endlessly scrolling for potential partners. It could be because our brains are not built for bingeing
Irish Examiner
by Aine Kenny
January 27, 2023
Read more at The Irish Examiner (opens in a new window)
New AI-driven tools are meant to help singles cut the small talk and get on more dates. Will they change the game, or turn people off?
By Sara Ashley O’Brien
Originally published in the Wall St Journal
January 27, 2023
Last year, Anthony Riera, a 29-year-old software engineer, set up an AI model to converse with roughly 35 of his matches on Tinder.
Read the Article at WSJ.com (opens in new window and requires a WSJ subscription)
Let’s say this: the number one driver of happiness across time and culture is meaningful connection to others. So how do you get it and how do you keep it? Dr. Helen Fisher has been studying love for 5 decades. 5. That’s a lot of information. Share this conversation with the people you love. Tons of takeaways that you can integrate immediately.
Take Helen’s personality quiz and figure out who you are…and who you aren’t.
Funding for this episode was provided by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center as part of its “Expanding Awareness of the Science of Intellectual Humility” initiative, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
https://time.com/6234430/dating-after-roe-v-wade/
by Cady Lang
Time, November 22 2022
Politics and social issues have had a major impact on how singles across the U.S. are approaching dating in 2022, with the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision this June having an especially significant effect. According to the 2022 Match Singles in America report, released this week, two out of three single women say they will not date a partner who has opposing views on abortion, and 13% of active daters in the U.S.—about 9.8 million people—have said that the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has made them more hesitant to date. Even more people, 20% of respondents, said that the Supreme Court decision will make them more hesitant to have sex. Singles surveyed reported that the top three ways that Roe’s reversal has changed their dating lives have been more condom use, more hesitation around sex, and more fear of pregnancy.
Journalist Minna Höggren discusses dating in Sweden. “Love or Disaster — on Tinder, anything is possible.”
https://www.aftonbladet.se/kultur/a/Xqx747/minna-hoggren-om-tinder-10-ar
Couples,
There’s Hope for Your Stalled Sex Life
Passion often drops off in a relationship after a few years. Here’s how to bring sexy back.
Originally published in the Wall St Journal
May 31, 2022
Confidence is sexually appealing. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist who studies people in love, asked more than 5,000 people what trait they found most important in a sexual partner. The answer wasn’t good looks or charm or a sense of humor. It was self-confidence.
“It doesn’t matter if you are 75 and flabby,” says Dr. Fisher, a senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute. “If you are happy and self-confident, with a sense of independence and flair, you will be attractive.”
…
Many of us feel like we’ve lost a piece of ourselves during the pandemic. It’s time to get it back and regain our zest for life. This will help us reclaim our own sense of joy and confidence. And it will make us more interesting to our partners—we’ll have something to talk about other than the kids and work and what we just watched together on TV.
Read the Article at WSJ.com (opens in new window and requires a WSJ subscription)