Name: Why we love, why we cheat
Uploaded: 2006-09-06T00:11:00Z
Duration: 23 min 14 s
Description: Anthropologist Helen Fisher takes on a tricky topic – love – and explains its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its social importance. She closes with a warning about the potential disaster inherent in antidepressant abuse.

Helen Fisher: Why we love, why we cheat

Why we love, why we cheat

Anthropologist Helen Fisher takes on a tricky topic – love – and explains its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its social importance. She closes with a warning about the potential disaster inherent in antidepressant abuse.

Romantic love is not just an emotion but a primal drive, rooted deep in the human brain and even visible through MRI scans. People in love show brain activity similar to those on cocaine, and this craving can inspire both great joy and deep despair. Social shifts, especially women re-entering the workforce in record numbers and the rise of marriage between equals, are transforming how love and relationships unfold. Meanwhile, the growing use of antidepressants may threaten the brain systems that fuel love and attachment.