Welcome to the Social-Engineer Podcast: The Doctor Is In Series – where we will discuss understandings and developments in the field of psychology.

In today's episode, Chris and Abbie explore the complexities of attraction and the concept of love at first sight. They discuss the biochemical responses associated with attraction, the importance of understanding cognitive biases, and the role of familiarity in relationships. [Aug 4, 2025]

00:00 - Intro

00:35 - Dr. Abbie Maroño Intro

01:15 - Intro Links

- Social-Engineer.com - http://www.social-engineer.com/

- Managed Voice Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/vishing-service/

- Managed Email Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/se-phishing-service/

- Adversarial Simulations - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/social-engineering-penetration-test/

- Social-Engineer channel on SLACK - https://social-engineering-hq.slack.com/ssb

- CLUTCH - http://www.pro-rock.com/

- innocentlivesfoundation.org - http://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/

03:14 - The Topic of the Day: Love at First Sight

03:22 - Pulling Apart the Fairy Tale

04:26 - Knowledge is Power

05:49 - Why Can't This Be Love?

07:12 - More Than a Feeling

09:28 - May Impair Your Ability

10:59 - The Rickety Bridge Study

13:20 - Head or Heart?

15:04 - Cognitive Biases

16:16 - The Halo Effect

17:19 - Prototypical Matching

18:51 - I Want You to Want Me

21:54 - Retrospective Bias

23:34 - Feels Like Home

28:44 - Keep One Eye Open

30:32 - A Responsibility to Self-Awareness

32:53 - Wrap Up

33:11 - Next Month: Intuition

33:31 - Outro

- www.social-engineer.com

- www.innocentlivesfoundation.org

Find us online:

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-abbie-maroño-phd

- Instagram: @DoctorAbbieofficial

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christopherhadnagy

References:

Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 510–517.

Fisher, H. E., Aron, A., & Brown, L. L. (2006). Romantic love: A mammalian brain system for mate choice. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 361(1476), 2173–2186.

Fletcher, G. J. O., Simpson, J. A., & Thomas, G. (2000). The measurement of perceived relationship quality components: A confirmatory factor analytic approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(3), 340–354.

Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(3), 511–524.

Marazziti, D., & Canale, D. (2004). Hormonal changes when falling in love. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29(7), 931–936.

Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 250–256.

Sprecher, S., & Metts, S. (1989). Development of the "Romantic Beliefs Scale" and examination of the effects of gender and gender-role orientation. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 6(4), 387–411.

Sternberg, R. J. (1986). A triangular theory of love. Psychological Review, 93(2), 119–135.

Zeki, S. (2007). The neurobiology of love. FEBS Letters, 581(14), 2575–2579.

Zsok, F., Haucke, M., De Wit, C., & Barelds, D. P. (2017). What kind of love is love at first sight? An empirical investigation. Personal Relationships, 24(4), 869–885.