Love's a Beach: the psychology of Love Island

Two months have passed since the villa closed its doors for the last time. The girls discuss what the islanders have been up to since leaving - including the psychology behind cosmetic surgery, when is the right time to move in with a partner, and dealing with new found fame. Notes: Guardian Article about Cosmetic Procedures We'd love to hear from you. You can email us at lovesabeachpodcast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @lovesabeachpodcast, or on Twitter @lovesabeachpod Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

Love Island has come to an end and the winners have been crowned. The girls discuss how parenthood can affect us, the psychology behind meeting the parents, the five Love Languages, and how to keep the desire going in a long term relationship. Also, we always hear about Lauren's dating life- as Love Island comes to an end, does her love life have a happy ending?! Notes: Laura's Love Languages blogpost Take the Love Languages Quiz Esther Perel's TedTalk 'The Secret to Desire in a Long Term Relationship' Esther Perel's podcast We'd love to hear from you. You can email us at lovesabeachpodcast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @lovesabeachpodcast, or on Twitter @lovesabeachpod Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

Week 7 in the villa. The girls discuss the psychology behind arguments, why people want to be famous and the assumptions we make about someone's character. With guest co-host Fiona! (potentially Love Island's biggest fan) Notes: Laura's blog post on how to have difficult conversations We'd love to hear from you. You can email us at lovesabeachpodcast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @lovesabeachpodcast, or on Twitter @lovesabeachpod Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

This week the girls are joined by author and love coach Persia Lawson. They discuss why so many of us go back to our exes, what makes a holiday romance survive in the real world, how relationships can affect our friendships and what it really means to be authentic. Notes: Guardian article about losing friends when in a relationship Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton The Inner Fix, by Lawson and Joey Bradford How Do you Like Me Now, by Holly Bourne Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!) Special Guest: Persia Lawson.

Week 5 in the villa has been full of drama. Lauren and special co-host Jonny discuss make ups, break ups, grief, love, and showbiz. Notes: Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love Tim Lomas, 14 Flavours of Love Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

Week 4 has been and gone. The girls discuss how personalities traits affect relationships, what keeps a couple together and how best to let your partner in on a secret. With special guest Jonny May. Notes: National Autistic Society 37 Questions (it's actually 36) Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!) Special Guest: Jonny May.

The third week of Love Island is over. This week we're talking chimps, "the chat", and camouflage. The storm is here, the gloves have come off and things are getting steamy. Tune in to find out why... We'd love to hear from you. You can email us at lovesabeachpodcast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @lovesabeachpodcast, or on Twitter @lovesabeachpod Notes: The Chimp Paradox book Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

It's Week 2 in the Love Island villa. Do nice guys always finish last? What's the optimum age gap for a successful relationship? How could Love Island be affecting viewers' thoughts about body image? Listen in to find out... We'd love to hear from you. You can email us at lovesabeachpodcast@gmail.com, follow us on Instagram @lovesabeachpodcast, or on Twitter @lovesabeachpod Notes: 'Misophonia' - the hatred of sound. This is the word Laura was referring to when she talks about the condition which causes people to be annoyed at someone's breathing. The Independent article that Lauren mentions: "Kendall departs as Love Island becomes a hyper-extended funeral of everybody's hopes and dreams" Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

The first week of Love Island is over! Laura & Lauren talk about the week's events and discuss all the psychology behind it. Is there such a thing as a perfect face? Why do we get jealous? Does your attachment style determine the kind of partner you are? All will be revealed... Show notes: Just to clarify, when we said "capitivity" what we actually meant was "to be held captive"... ! The excerpt from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn describing "cool girl": “Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl. _Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)” _ ? Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

The girls are back... this week discussing feedback, freckles, and finding fame in post villa life for the Love Island 2017 finalists. Links to things we talked about: 'Humping the swing' clip (skip to 2:12s in!) Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)

New summer, new rules and new contestants - Laura and Lauren discuss the upcoming 2018 series of Love Island. Links to things we talked about: 40 Days of Dating Article about TV Therapy Disclaimer: this podcast is in no way affiliated with Love Island or ITV (we just love it!)