Bella DePaulo

Bella DePaulo

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Bella DePaulo is the author of Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). You can read more about it at http://www.belladepaulo.com/singledout.htm.

In contributions to Alternet, and to the op-ed pages of Newsday and the New York Times, DePaulo has written about the place of singles in contemporary American society. She is a social psychologist (Ph.D., Harvard, 1979) who has published scientific papers on singlehood in professional journals.

Bella DePaulo is also an expert on the social psychology of deceiving and detecting deceit. She discussed her deception research on the Today show and on Anderson Cooper 360, and in previous years, on other programs such as NBC Nightly News, and the ABC and CBS morning shows.

DePaulo lives in Summerland, CA. For more information, visit her website at www.belladepaulo.com.

Blog Entries by Bella DePaulo

Paula Jones and Impeaching Bush: Equally Amusing Sideshows to CNN's Tom Foreman

3 Comments | Posted June 15, 2008 | 06:51 AM (EST)


Earlier this week, The Raw Story expressed exasperation at the MSM non-coverage of an impeachment story under the headline, "Mainstream Media Yawns as Kucinich Offers Impeachment." A yawn may look pretty good to Raw Story around now. On CNN's This Week in Politics, Tom Foreman demoted the news to...

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Single Boomers: Marketing Myths and Mistakes

4 Comments | Posted June 13, 2008 | 05:23 AM (EST)


One of the most significant demographic trends over the past half-century is the ascendence of people who are single. They have the power of numbers -- as a proportion of the adult population, they are closing in on people who are married. As householders, their place is dramatically different...

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Full-Page "Women Count" Ad for Hillary Excludes 28 Million Women

Posted May 24, 2008 | 05:29 AM (EST)


"We are the women of this nation," declared the ad that filled a full page of the New York Times and USA Today. "Hillary is OUR voice, and she is speaking for all of us."

I had heard about this ad, but I hadn't read it until sociologist

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Just in Time for Wedding Season: Love and Romance Break Free of their Contemporary Moorings

Posted May 11, 2008 | 09:37 PM (EST)


A few weeks ago, Ted Sorensen - husband, father, and renowned speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy - was interviewed by Deborah Solomon of the New York Times. Consider this excerpt:

NY Times: "Was your working relationship with J.F.K. the great love affair of your life?"

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Anyone Want a Few Million More Votes?

Posted May 5, 2008 | 02:56 PM (EST)


They are a Democratic candidate's demographic dream:

• Already, there are tens of millions of them, and each time the Census Bureau issues a new report, we learn that their numbers have swelled still again.

• Their voting potential is not fully tapped. Far from it. Millions among them...

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Marriage Does Not Lower Blood Pressure -- Reading Matrimaniacal Media Accounts Raises It

4 Comments | Posted March 22, 2008 | 05:44 PM (EST)


Feeling stressed? Worried that your blood pressure may be soaring? The media have a solution for you -- get married! You've seen the headlines:

"Marriage may lower blood pressure."
"Walk down the aisle for lower blood pressure, but be happy!"

What you haven't seen, if you...

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To the Author of "Marry Him!": An Apology and an Offer

Posted February 27, 2008 | 05:46 AM (EST)


To Lori Gottlieb, author of "Marry Him!":

Clearly, you were upset by my reaction to your Atlantic piece. I apologize for the distress I caused you. I'll offer an excuse or two, but not to detract from my apology. It stands.

[To readers other than Lori:...

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Divorce and the Environment: A View from the Year 2016

Posted February 25, 2008 | 03:55 PM (EST)


A global trend of soaring divorce rates has created more households with fewer people, that, in turn, take up more space and gobble up more energy and water.
-- National Science Foundation.

Mitt Romney lost his 2008 Presidential bid. He tried again in 2016 and fared a bit...

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"Marry Him!": Atlantic Magazine Back-of-the-Book Backlash Porn

Posted February 17, 2008 | 02:07 AM (EST)


Lori Gottlieb, writing in the Atlantic magazine, has one word for single women of any age: Settle!

Settle, she exhorts us, even for the guy who smells bad or who gives you "a cold shiver down your spine at the thought of embracing" him. Settle for the man who...

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Valentine's Day Advice - No, Not THAT Kind!

Posted February 4, 2008 | 01:12 AM (EST)


I don't see why there is so much advice offered to single people about Valentine's Day. They are not the ones having a hard time.

Recently, Yahoo surveyed users of their Personals page, and found that Valentine's Day is part of "-a0157252925">National Break-Up Season," -- a time...

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Contrary to AP Report, Single Parents Do Not Murder Their Children and Bury Them in Cement

Posted November 18, 2007 | 07:16 AM (EST)


Did you see the recent AP report with the ominous opening paragraph? Remember the 6-year old who was beaten to death then buried in cement? The 2-year old who was thrown across a room and died? It was a lengthy article, but the conclusion was up-front: "an ever-increasing share...

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Veterans Day: The Fairest of Them All?

Posted November 11, 2007 | 05:19 AM (EST)


On most days of the year, some members of the service seem to be chosen as media favorites; they garner more attention, gratitude, and concern than others. Watch the clips of warriors returning home and notice how often they are rushing into the outstretched arms of a spouse.

Listen...

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I'm a Values Voter, Too

Posted November 8, 2007 | 05:18 AM (EST)


The endorsement of Rudy Giuliani by Pat Robertson is cause for brow-furrowing. Who are these "values voters"?

Actually, I think I can answer that, because I'm a values voter, too.

• I value human lives. Not just American lives but Iraqi and Afghani and Iranian and Sudanese and Mexican...

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Oprah, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Jessica Lange...Faces of Fear?

Posted November 4, 2007 | 04:24 PM (EST)


A reporter called me recently and reeled off a list of celebrities. Oprah, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, and Jessica Lange were just the first few. Others in the category included Brad Pitt, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, David Letterman, John Malkovich, Tina Turner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins. You can...

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It's National Singles Week - Let's Revisit Those "Best Cities for Singles"

Posted September 17, 2007 | 03:20 PM (EST)


September 16-22 is Unmarried and Single Americans Week. Just in time for the celebration, the Census Bureau just released the latest figures showing a notable decrease in the percentage of married-with-children households. The report focused on the change since 2000, but the demographic revolution that is positioning people...

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Is This How Mark Penn is Going to Sell Hillary Clinton to Single Women Voters?

Posted September 15, 2007 | 05:59 AM (EST)


Remember "soccer moms"? Mark Penn coined that term during Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, and he's proud of it. I cringe at the condescension of some of these cutsie appellations, but hey, the man does have some considerable successes to his name. And now he is the chief strategist...

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Look Who Likes Hillary. Here's Why

Posted July 20, 2007 | 05:21 AM (EST)


Want to guess who has the most favorable opinions of Hillary Rodham Clinton? The New York Times unfurled the numbers in one easy-to-read graphic. Setting aside the obvious categories (Democrats and liberals are mostly favorable, Republicans and conservatives are mostly unfavorable), you are left with 20 choices, including independents...

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Is MSNBC Really Recommending Marriage as a Treatment for Depression?

Posted June 5, 2007 | 12:19 AM (EST)


The headline on MSNBC was catchy: "New treatment for depression - marriage." It was also irresponsible.

I spent years checking out claims like this while working on my book, Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After. At the...

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In Praise of Single Mothers: Here's What They Do Right

Posted May 13, 2007 | 07:16 AM (EST)


"Mom and Dad." In our cultural fantasies, that team will always be #1 when it comes to raising happy and healthy kids. As for single moms, well maybe some of them are trying hard, but they are up against it, forever trying to lure their children back from the...

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The Presidential Contenders: Who Is Responsive to People Without Lobbyists?

Posted May 8, 2007 | 05:34 PM (EST)


I predict a Marilyn Quayle moment. For anyone who missed or repressed the 1992 Republican convention, the moment arrived when Dan Quayle's wife took the podium and waved the family values flag. She disparaged working women. She expressed pity for the liberals who were (in her opinion) "disappointed...

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