Getting Together

How do we find The One? It’s a universal question, and a $4.2 billion dollar industry. UC Santa Barbara psychology professor Daniel Conroy-Beam will share his insights into the topic, along with his eye-opening exploration into this fundamentally human quest, to launch a new season of popular public lecture series Profs @ The Pub,  Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. The event will be held at M Special Brewing Company at 634 State Street in Santa Barbara. The event is free and open to the public; registration is encouraged.

Conroy-Beam is the 2022 recipient of UC Santa Barbara’s most prestigious faculty honor, the Harold J. Plous Award, given annually to those who have “demonstrated outstanding performance or promise of performance as measured by intellectual and creative contributions to the college community.”

As the head of the Computational Mate Choice Lab, he works to put a modern spin on the age-old pursuit of our happily-ever-after. Merging an evolutionary perspective and computational power, his research tackles what could be the single most important choice we make for our health, wealth and happiness. Do we look for the cutest girl or guy in the room? Do we swipe right if they meet our internal checklist of attributes? Do we “trade up” at the first opportunity? According to his work, which is based on simulations of a set of choices and decisions made by hundreds of happy couples, it’s a lot more nuanced than that.

For Profs @ The Pub, Conroy-Beam will discuss the psychology of romantic relationships, how computer simulations shed light on mate choice and how these models can help people form happier relationships. 

This event also signals the return of Profs @ the Pub from the virtual space of the last couple of years to a physical venue, where attendees can gather, enjoy a pint and some intellectually stimulating conversation and — who knows — maybe find The One.