love is in the...computer?

Right around this time of year (ahem *Valentine's day*), I am reminded of two things.
1. I am still very single (sigh).
2. I used to work in the "love lab" in college.
This blog post is about the latter.

I was a psychology major in college; it was a good fit.  The science aspect appealed to me because I tend to think in facts, rules, theories, hypotheses, but I didn't have to spend hour memorizing boring facts and sitting through dull lectures.  Psychology is about people, and people are interesting.  Why do we do the things we do?  By sheer luck (I was in the right place at the right time), I ended up getting a spot working in the love lab headed by Dr. Eli Finkel.  It was a gig many psych majors would kill for.  All of the research being conducted by undergrads, grad students, and the prof himself all had to do with love, romance, or relationships in some form or another.  At the time I was in college, our speed dating study was making headlines.  (When I wasn't cheating at playing charades as part of my primary project, I was doing grunt work.  And grunt work in the love lab is never boring.  I remember making fake Cosmo articles to present to students in Norris and rating the attractiveness of participants in other studies.)

Anyway, the research coming out of the Finkel lab tends to make popular news fodder around Valentine's day because it deals with all things romantical.  (Yes, I know that is not a real word.  It should be.)  I remember reading the Chicago Tribune magazine a year or two after graduating college.  I opened to the cover article to find a full page photo spread of my former professor and his graduate student dressed as cupids, complete with bows and arrows.  The article went on to highlight the latest conclusions from the speed dating study.  Things like this have continued throughout the year.  Every once and awhile, I'll be flipping through a magazine like Cosmo or Marie Claire and come across a quick Finkel quote.  (Although, as I am soon starting to realize, I just know "famous" people.  Just last week I was reading my latest issue of Women's Health and I came across a blurb written by a sorority sister.  Then, on the very next page, was an article written by a girl that lived in my dorm freshman year.  And cue the "It's a Small World" theme song.)  This year was no exception.  I found plenty of love lab news without even trying.  Yesterday I was reading some campus updates sent to the alumni from NU.  (No real surprise there, as they commonly highlight exciting new university sponsored research.)  But today, as I'm reading the news on CNN, I find this article.  I guess the ol' love lab has moved on from speed dating and is no investigating online dating.

Long story short, maybe I should go back to undergrad and spend some more time in the love lab, because the time I spent there hasn't quite helped me find the love of my life...yet.  Although, if I follow the advice of the latest love lab study, I shouldn't really spend much time looking for love online.