Episode 25 - Lisa Nowak & Romantic Obsession
Love makes us do crazy things. But exactly how far should we let our crush get out of hand? Sending chocolates and flowers? Unsolicited genital pictures? Trenchcoat, wig, and duct-tape...?
The press called her the Astro-Nut, and late night talkshows made fun of her for taking diapers along on her 900-mile car trip to harass a romantic rival. But today we’re explaining why love and obsession could turn any one of us into Lisa Nowak, the NASA engineer who stalked and pepper-sprayed a rival lover...and rival astronaut. We’ll also discover what kind of man, exactly, would be a big enough catch for two of the most accomplished women in the world to go all Jerry Springer over.
To keep us from drifting toward the dark side of romance, we’ll also explore types of dangerous attractions, and what mechanisms in the human mind can kick our puppy love into high gear; right into stalker mode. We’ll also talk about an interesting study that reveals if it’s better to know how much a partner likes you, or if you should let them wonder. And we’ll look at online dating statistics to find out how often we, as humans, aim for partners out of our league. (Spoiler: It’s a lot!)
History Links:
https://www.biography.com/news/lisa-nowak-lucy-in-the-sky
https://time.com/5685017/lucy-in-the-sky-true-story-lisa-nowak
Science Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_liking
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21169522/
https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/26/attracted-authority-figures-9322172/