Cognitive and Information Sciences' Mind, Technology, and Society (MTS) Speaker Series presents Daniel Conroy-Beam, Associate Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Conroy-Beam will present on "Mating in Mind: Human Mate Choice in Evolutionary and Computational Perspective".

Description:

Mating is at the center of our universe. With whom we fall in love affects every corner of our lives, from the mundane to the momentous. Moreover, over deep time, mate choice has been one of the most potent forces responsible for shaping who we are as a species. Yet, despite longstanding interest, our understanding of how we choose our mating partners is shockingly imprecise. In this talk, I will present a series of studies developing and testing a novel computational model of the psychology of human mate choice derived from models of reinforcement learning. Specifically, I will present evidence that this model can reconstruct existing relationships around the world, can identify happy relationships, can predict future partner choices, and can recommend successful dating partners. I argue these results underscore the importance of developing computational models of social psychology for both understanding critical social phenomena and helping people form happer social relationships.
 

Students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend!