Chapter 42 Further Reading: Open Questions and Future Directions

Sexual Orientation: Origins and Complexity

Ganna, A., et al. (2019). "Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior." Science, 365, eaat7693. The landmark genome-wide association study showing the highly polygenic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior. Open access.

Diamond, L. M. (2008). Sexual fluidity: Understanding women's love and desire. Harvard University Press. The definitive longitudinal study of how sexual attraction can shift across the lifespan in ways that do not fit static category-based models.

Bogaert, A. F. (2003). "Number of older brothers and sexual orientation: New tests and the attraction/behavior distinction in two national probability samples." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 644–652. Key paper on the fraternal birth order effect with national probability samples.

Chemistry, Dyadic Phenomena, and Prediction

Finkel, E. J., Eastwick, P. W., Karney, B. R., Reis, H. T., & Sprecher, S. (2012). "Online dating: A critical analysis from the perspective of psychological science." Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13, 3–66. The comprehensive review of compatibility matching that is extensively discussed in this chapter. Freely available.

Eastwick, P. W., Luchies, L. B., Finkel, E. J., & Hunt, L. L. (2014). "The predictive validity of ideal partner preferences: A review and meta-analysis." Psychological Bulletin, 140, 623–665. The meta-analysis demonstrating that stated type preferences fail to predict actual attraction in real encounters.

Aron, A., Melinat, E., Aron, E. N., Vallone, R. D., & Bator, R. J. (1997). "The experimental generation of interpersonal closeness." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 363–377. The "36 questions" paper — touching on the chemistry question from an experimental angle.

Consciousness and Philosophy of Mind

Chalmers, D. J. (1996). The conscious mind: In search of a fundamental theory. Oxford University Press. The foundational text on the hard problem. Chapter 1 provides the clearest accessible statement.

Long-Term Love

Acevedo, B. P., & Aron, A. (2009). "Does a long-term relationship kill romantic love?" Review of General Psychology, 13, 59–65. Neuroimaging evidence that intense romantic love can persist across decades — with important caveats about sample selection.

Philosophy of Love, Free Will, and the Self

Frankfurt, H. G. (2004). The reasons of love. Princeton University Press. Frankfurt's elegant defense of love as a "volitional necessity" — something that happens to the will rather than being chosen. Short and readable; directly relevant to Section 42.4.

Nussbaum, M. C. (2001). Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge University Press. Emotions — including love — as evaluative cognitions rather than mere feelings. Chapters on love and erotic desire are directly relevant to the phenomenology discussion.

AI, Technology, and Future Directions

Bailenson, J. N. (2018). Experience on demand: What virtual reality is, how it works, and what it can do. W. W. Norton. An accessible overview of VR research from Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab — including chapters on how virtual environments affect social perception and behavior.

Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Basic Books. A sociological and psychological analysis of how digital technology — including early AI companions — is reshaping human connection and expectation. More cautionary than celebratory; essential counterpoint to techno-optimism.

Levy, D. (2007). Love and sex with robots: The evolution of human-robot relationships. Harper Collins. The first major serious academic treatment of AI companionship and robotic intimacy. Provocative and speculative; its predictions have aged with varying degrees of accuracy, but the questions it raises are still the right ones.

Future of Attraction Science: Accessible Overviews

Finkel, E. J. (2017). The all-or-nothing marriage: How the best marriages work. Dutton. An accessible account of how American marriage expectations have shifted toward demanding that partnerships provide both practical security and personal self-actualization. Directly relevant to the long-term desire question.

Perel, E. (2006). Mating in captivity: Unlocking erotic intelligence. Harper. A clinically grounded exploration of the tension between security and desire in long-term relationships. Read critically, with attention to whose relational norms are being theorized.