[BONUS] The 36 Questions That Lead to Love

Arthur Aron's Famous Study

This is a bonus post for those who help keep this newsletter paywall free through upgrades and donations.

If you’d like total access, please consider a gift of $6 or more a month.

If you’re a paid subscriber but can’t access the material after the paywall, it’s because your subscription expired.

Please re-subscribe if you’re able, either by upgrading here, or donating at least $6/mo here, so I can continue to keep the weekly pieces unlocked and paywall-free. 🙏🏼

🔭 Newsletter SHOUT-OUT

This One is For People Who Care About the World and Science.

In 1997, psychologist Arthur Aron and his team published a study on 36 questions that can make people "fall in love." The questions were designed to foster interpersonal closeness when couples took turns asking and answering them over about an hour. Remarkably, two of the study participants ended up getting married to each other just six months later!

The 36 questions have since become a popular tool for creating intimacy between strangers or partners. The questions are broken up into three sets, with each set intended to be more probing than the previous one.

Below, find the questions, and the popular newspaper piece, that kicked off the popularity of these questions, and the study.

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?

UPGRADE or DONATE $6/mo TO READ THE REMAINING QUESTIONS

Join How to Live

Transformative concepts from a lifetime in therapy.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

  • • All articles the moment they're published
  • • Instant access to the entire archive of 150+ posts
  • • Occasional bonus posts
  • • Invitations to seasonal in-person events
  • • Direct email access: get personalized resource recommendations + advice (ANNUAL PLAN ONLY)
  • • 15% off all workshops

Reply

or to participate.