UCLA Newsroom

Bradbury, left, and Karney

See more: "Marijuana Can Help Prevent Suicide, Study Says."
See more: "Study: A Stoned Driver Is a Better Driver."

"If you're gonna make scientific claims, act like a scientist. Or don't make scientific claims," UCLA social psychology professor Benjamin Karney says, leaning forward in his chair in his office at UCLA's Franz Hall, his voice rising an octave. "Don't pretend!"

"It just so happens that they tread on your turf! And it pisses you off," Karney's longtime collaborator and colleague, clinical psychology professor Thomas Bradbury responds, laughing. "I get that!"

On Feb. 17, Karney and four co-authors published "Online Dating: A Critical Analysis From the Perspective of Psychological Science," a secondary study that looks at established relationship science to critique dating websites that claim to have a scientific basis for matching singles, including eHarmony, Chemistry (whose methods are "almost crazy," according to Bradbury) and PerfectMatch and GenePartner (whose methods are "basically adorable," according to Karney).

Bradbury and Karney do research, write books and run UCLA's Relationship Institute together, focusing on what makes intimate relationships last.

But Bradbury didn't contribute to Karney's latest project, because, oddly enough, Bradbury works for Santa Monica-based eHarmony as a consultant on the company's Scientific Advisory Panel, a source of some tension and debate between the friends.

More >>

See also:
UCLA Professors Say eHarmony Is Unscientific and Its Customers Are 'Duped.' Here's Why.

Remember that time in college you walked into your dorm room and found the weird guy from down the hall sitting on your bed smelling your shirts? This is just like that, but less creepy and more organized.

Last night Cinefamily and art gallery Mastodon Mesa co-presented a Pheromone Party, thrown by Pheromone Party creator, filmmaker, rapper and California native Judith Prays, for those hoping to find love using their sense of smell and faith in science.

The first Pheromone Party was thrown in New York City about a year and a half ago and was a private party, consisting of 40 guests, mostly ad industry folks. It received a great amount of positive feedback and was successful enough (12 people hooked up that night and some formed actual relationships) for Prays to continue the dating science experiment.

For her next party, she told me, she wanted to bring it back to her home state, "the way Snoop Dogg always brings it back to his home town of Long Beach." California love, y'all. Last night was the first Pheromone Party open to the public, with more than 100 attendees, ready to smell strangers' T-shirts in hopes of finding their perfect match. The typical nervous anticipation one finds at organized dating events was in the air, this one having the added weird idea of, "Your future husband or wife could potentially be ... in this plastic bag."

More >>

Nanette Gonzales

Lindabelle Montero, left, and Mayra Sossa

Here comes the bride, all dressed in cream satin, with a sparkly brooch on her hip. "They've been together for a very, very long time. Like, two years?" says Yesenia Villanueva, 22, the bride's classmate in nursing school.

Driving north on Normandie Avenue, just before the road crests and the Griffith Observatory comes into view, signs advertising the only business between Beverly and Melrose ask, "Why go to Vegas? Marriages -- $170.00 -- Matrimonios."

Why indeed? This is Mayra's Wedding Chapel, and officiating today, as on most days, is Lindabelle Montero, imperious in her burgundy minister's robe and black, high-heeled ankle boots. Montero, 40, lives with her sons in the back of the house, works at a desk in the foyer and performs weddings in between.

More >>

Women clearly have an ambivalent relationship with Disney characters. In question 12 of our sex survey, UCLA vs. USC: Who's Sluttier?, we asked about the worst date movies, and Disney films were named again and again by our female respondents: The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog and "anything Disney" were frequent answers.

More >>

Does this turn you off?

For the second year in a row, statisticians from LA Weekly have performed studies on a carefully selected representative group of local college students to answer questions of important social significance such as: What's the best movie to watch on a date, and what movie should I avoid like the plague if I want to get laid afterward?

Appearing on all four best/worst/male/female lists this year is Nick Cassavetes' 2004 tear-jerking romantic drama The Notebook, starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as not so much star-crossed lovers but mildly inconvenienced soulmates who meet, fall in love, break up, are kept apart by the machinations of her snobby parents and eventually find their way back to one another. Not the most original story, but a pretty surefire recipe for some hanky-panky after the credits roll.

Ah, but not so fast. If you haven't seen the film, be warned that spoilers follow.

More >>