The scientific formula to falling in love: 36 questions

 Love, like most things in life, can be boiled down to a science, and now, we have the formula to do it. You can now find love with 36 questions and a staring contest. A study called “The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness” by Arthur Aron et al. paired up heterosexual strangers, paired them with the opposite sex and gave each couple the list of questions, which the answers were to be shared with their partner. Then, each couple were to stare into their partner’s eyes for four minutes. The study resulted overall feelings of closeness between the partners and even a pair who married within months after the experiment. Vancouver writer Mandy Len Catron tested this and recorded her results in “Modern Love,” an article in the New York Times. The first time she had one-on-one time with a coworker in a bar, they decided to google the questions and test out how easy it is to fall in love. Though they didn’t follow the guidelines of the study completely, as both knew each other before the experiment, Catron admits to falling in love with her partner. Of course, Catron doesn’t even really credit the study to being the true reason that they fell in love. However, that does not mean that it did not help. If you are alone and desperate this Valentine’s Day, why not experiment for yourself and give this list of questions a shot with someone equally alone and desperate. Who knows where things could go?

 Here are the questions you should ask your "love" partner:

Set I

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

Set II

13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?

14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

16. What do you value most in a friendship?

17. What is your most treasured memory?

18. What is your most terrible memory?

19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?

20. What does friendship mean to you?

21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?

22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.

23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?