relationships

In today’s show, Dr. Lisle answers the following questions: 1. Are some people more susceptible to addiction than others? If so, why are some people more susceptible to addiction than others? 2. In my husbands family, several members are bullies. Even my husband will join the bully pack if there is any indication they might turn on him. I am highly agreeable and conscience and find I am often the target of their bullying. What is the best ‘tactic’ to use with adult bullies in families? 3. What attracts people to others from different ethnic backgrounds to themselves? I wish was drawn to women with dark features as there are so many more of these women in the world. 4. People get physically less attractive as they age. They also become less fertile to the point of being infertile. What happens when looks and the prospect of sex are no longer appealing due to age related decline? How does evolutionary psychology explain attraction at this point in life and beyond?

On today’s show, Dr. Lisle goes over these questions: 1.I have a brother-in-law who is mildly successful, makes decent money. he thinks he’s the most intelligent and successful person. He constantly finds ways to brag about how well off he is and how he is just better than everyone. How does one deal with a person like this? 2. I would like to understand this epidemic of anxiety that is happening these days. What is happening? I have 5 adult children and they are all thriving, successful, socially contributing adults ranging from 20 – 37. 4 of our children and 1 daughter in law are all suffering from high levels of anxiety. 2 of them are taking medication for it. I have taught meditation for several years now and I see it in the classrooms with children even as young as kindegarten. They suffer with being able to fall asleep and have trouble ‘letting go’ and just relaxing. Their anxieties are different among them. The girls seem to get anxious about general life situations and the boys are more anxious about every ache and pain in their bodies being some sign of a horrible disease. I’m so confused as to what’s going on in this world that so many people have anxiety and how as a parent can I help them.  3. If mild depression is an uncomfortable feeling that prompts us to evaluate our behavior, in some cases, which would be a positive move to make if we need to make adjustments, how would a more serious form – including suicide – be evolutionarily beneficial? Is this a helpful response gone awry due to more than tolerable social conditions? Do you think we have more depression today than in previous decades, centuries, or civilizations?    

In today’s episode, we go over these questions: 1. I understand from evolutionary psychology that certain market distortions, like a large number of females in college, or a small number of males in elderly age affect the quality of partners we’re willing to date. What I am not sure about is how this calibration changes subjective experience. Do people only change their behavior to attain a partner, or do they also feel more attracted to people of perhaps lesser gene quality? 2. When I was in my twenties, I used to go to bars and wait in line to get in during the winter. In Montreal, winters can be very cold but one would always see girls waiting in the cold with no proper clothing. These happened to be the sexiest girls. My buddy would be impressed with them, saying that they seemed to have a supernatural ability to beat the cold. My question is: do you think that exhibiting the capacity to sustain a noxious stimulus can be used as a gene quality signal? Do you think that smoking can also viewed in this way? It is obviously a pleasure trap, but smokers may want to send the signal: “Look how high quality my genes are, if I can get away with smoking with impunity” 3. I am an introverted married woman in my mid forties. I have a friend who is single and in her early 60s. She frequently asks me and a small covey of women (who all happen to have mates) to go out dancing, to dinner, etc. via group texts. As I refuse to go to nightclubs, I occasionally join them for dinners (maybe twice a year) but refuse to go to nightclubs. My question is, Does a woman increase her chances of finding a mate if she surrounds herself with other women? Is she attempting to create a lure of sorts? I don’t want to continue to be uncooperative about assembling with the group if this is something that could potentially increase her chances at finding someone.