Attraction explained: The science of how we form relationships

When it comes to relationships, there’s no shortage of advice from self-help ‘experts’, pick-up artists, and glossy magazines. But modern-day myths of attraction often have no basis in fact or – worse – are rooted in little more than misogyny. In this talk, Prof Viren Swami, one of the world’s leading experts in the psychology of romantic attraction, debunks these myths and draws on cutting-edge science to provide a ground-breaking and evidence-based account of relationship formation. He'll present a very simple idea: that there are no ‘laws of attraction’, no fool proof methods or strategies for getting someone to date you. But this isn’t to say that there’s nothing to be gained from studying attraction. Based on science rather than self-help clichés, Prof Swami looks at how factors such as geography, physical appearance, reciprocity, and similarity affect who we fall for and why.

Viren Swami is Professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University and Director of the Centre for Psychological Research at Perdana University. His research is focused on body image, physical attractiveness, and mental health. He is the author of over two hundred academic papers and three books, including Attraction Explained (now in its second edition) and The Psychology of Physical Attraction.