Two psychologists who study love, relationships, and human mating behavior pick apart the movie “The Notebook” and tell us what it gets right and what it gets wrong when it comes to portraying how humans actually, truly think, feel, and behave. Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick are the cohosts of the Love Factually podcast, a show that discusses the romantic/scientific accuracy of movies, and on this episode we listen in as they examine one of the most popular romance movies of all time.
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On their podcast, these two scientists who study human romantic love and relationships watch movies, recap them, analyze the portrayal of the things upon which they are experts, tell you what the films get right, what they get wrong, what might be problematic based on the evidence, and what the movie depicts that the science has yet to address. Then they tell you if they liked it and why.
Love Factually is kind of like sitting in the room with two physicists who are watching a science fiction movie and talking back and forth about what the film is getting wrong about the science of space travel and space ships and space-time and so on, or sitting in the room with two historians watching Braveheart or Oppenheimer or Saving Private Ryan, and you listen as they point out the historical inaccuracies. Yet, they also talk about how much they love the movie, if they do, indeed, love the movie.
Paul Eastwick
PROFESSOR, UC DAVIS
Paul is a social psychologist who studies attraction and close relationships, and is the author of the forthcoming book Bonded by Evolution (2026). You can learn more about him here.
Eli Finkel
PROFESSOR, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Eli is a social psychologist who studies romantic relationships and American politics, and is the author of The All-Or-Nothing Marriage. You can learn more about him here.
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