Samantha Joel

Samantha Joel Assistant Professor, Social Psychology

Dr. Joel's research involves studying how people make decisions about their romantic relationships. Using the field of judgment and decision making to better understand ways in which relationship decisions are similar to other types of decisions, as well as how they might be unique.

NPR	September 6, 2017

Samantha Joel NPR

When It Comes To Romantic Attraction, Real Life Beats Questionnaires

Read story https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/09/06/548645037/when-it-comes-to-romantic-attraction-real-life-beats-questionnaires

TEDx Salt Lake

September 9, 2017

Samantha Joel Tedx

Are Romantic Matching Algorithms Possible? Samantha Joel at TEDxSaltLakeCity

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Savage Love Show

August 14, 2017

Samantha on Savage Love Show

On the Magnum Podcast, Dan Savage interviews Dr. Samantha Joel, in a "What You Got?" about the psychology of what make someone finally decide to end a relationship. https://vimeo.com/230310388

Joel, S., Eastwick, P. W., & Finkel, E. J. (2017). Is Romantic Desire Predictable? Machine Learning Applied to Initial Romantic Attraction.Psychological Science, 28(10) 1478-1489.

Eastwick, P. W., Harden, K. P., Shukusky, J. A., Morgan, T. A., & Joel, S. (2017). Consistency and Inconsistency Among Romantic Partners Over Time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 112(6), 838-359.

Joel, S., MacDonald, G., & Page-Gould, E. (2017). Wanting to Stay and Wanting to Go: Unpacking the Content and Structure of Relationship Stay/Leave Decision Processes.Social Psychology and Personality Science. Published online.

Newsletter

August 14, 2017

Should I Stay Or Go?

https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/should-i-stay-or-go/

In a study published in Social Psychology and Personality Science, Dr. Joel offers insights into what people are deliberating about and what makes the decision so difficult when it comes to relationships.

Science Blog

August 17, 2017

Leaving A Relationship: Why Science Says It's So Hard

https://scienceblog.com/495823/leaving-relationship-science-says-hard/

According to Dr. Joel, it might be easier to get into relationships than to get back out of them. She focused on understanding the decision process of a relationship in her Social Psychology and Personality Science article.

August 18, 2017

The top 50 reasons people stay (and leave) romantic relationships

https://www.mensfitness.com/women/dating-advice/top-50-reasons-people-stay-and-leave-romantic-relationships

Dr. Joel's research with men and women in relationships provided 27 reasons that support staying in the relationship and 23 reasons people want to end the relationship. The results showed that couples who were dating wanted to say for positive reasons and married couples thought about the constraints of the relationship.

Well and Good

Oct. 16, 2017

There's A Scientific Reason Why Dating Algorithsm Don't Always Work

https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/why-dating-algorithms-can-fail/

August 20, 2017

Why do couples split up? And why do they stay together?

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319053.php

Dr. Joel's study, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, finds that the reasons for leaving were the same for those dating and those who were married. Their were differences between the two groups when it came to reasons for staying. But one thing everyone experienced was ambivalence about their relationship.

April 30, 2017

Past romantic partners may have more than one thing in common

https://theaggie.org/2017/04/30/past-romantic-partners-may-have-more-than-one-thing-in-common/

In a study published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Dr. Joel found a person's dating history can reveal physical and personality based similarities between past romantic partners.

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