About
More about Bella
Bella DePaulo, PhD, is the leading expert on single life and has been described by The Atlantic as “America’s foremost thinker and writer on the single experience.” Dr. DePaulo coined the term “single at heart.”
Her TEDx talk, “What no one ever told you about people who are single,” has been viewed more than 1.6 million times. She is the author of Singled Out and How We Live Now, among other titles; has written the “Living Single” blog for Psychology Today since 2008; and has been published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time magazine, The Atlantic, and many other outlets. She has appeared on shows including The Today Show, CNN American Morning, CBS This Morning, and Good Morning America. She has been interviewed on NPR many times, as well as on podcasts by CNN, The Atlantic, and many others.
Dr. DePaulo has a BA from Vassar College and a PhD from Harvard University. She has lectured nationally and internationally. After two decades as a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, Dr. DePaulo moved to the West Coast, where she is currently an academic affiliate in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She lives in Summerland, CA.
I write often for publications beyond academic ones, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Atlantic magazine, Time, the Guardian, CNN and NBC.
Here’s when I first started taking notes about single life: One Is a Whole Number
Some reflections on what I have and have not done and what I still want to do after 50 years of living single: It’s my Golden Anniversary!
For the anthology, Unattached: Essays on Singlehood, I wrote the chapter, “I always loved being single. The challenge was to realize I always would.”
Want to read something about Bella DePaulo that wasn’t written by her?
TED Ideas Blog
The price of being single: One researcher’s quest to end discrimination against single people
October 21, 2015
Prefer a podcast? Check out the ones at the bottom of this page.
Want some TV? Here I am on the Today Show and Sinclair TV
Slide show? Here’s one put together by Lucy Meggeson for her “Spinsterhood Reimagined” podcast.
Social Scientist (PhD, Harvard)
In my professional resume, you will find the typical background information about my educational and employment history, honors and awards, service, and so forth, plus sections listing
- Books and journals
- Articles
- Book chapters
- Book reviews and commentaries
- Singles lectures
- Workshops
- Beyond the academic
Author
My most recent book is Single at Heart: The Power, Freedom, and Heart-Filling Joy of Single Life. Drawing from personal stories and social science research, Single at Heart boldly defies the notion that single life is just something people settle for, and shows that for more people than we ever realized, single life is their most joyful, meaningful, fulfilling, authentic, and psychologically rich life. What’s more, Single at Heart reveals that people who embrace their single lives have unacknowledged strengths and great advantages.
My first book (of those written not just for fellow academics), Singled Out, is a myth-busting, consciousness-raising, totally unapologetic take on singles and their place in contemporary American society.
I’ve also authored other books and contributed to a number of other books and anthologies.
I’ve written op-ed pieces and other articles for publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Time magazine, Forbes, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday, Truthout, Quartz, Nautilus, Alternet, and the Conversation.
Blogger
- “Living Single” blog at Psychology Today
- My blog at Medium
- “All Things Single (and More)” here on this website
- Monthly column at Unmarried Equality
- Links to my guest blog posts are here. They include contributions to:
- “Solo-ish,” Washington Post
- “In Theory,” Washington Post
- “Room for Debate,” New York Times
- The Science of Us,” New York Magazine
Teacher
I have taught at Harvard University (as a grad student), the University of Virginia, the University of California at Santa Barbara (as a Visiting Professor), and Antioch University at Santa Barbara (as an Adjunct).
Speaker and Consultant
I gave a TEDx talk, “What no one ever told you about people who are single,” in Belgium in 2017.
I have also talked to many different audiences on topics related to single life. I can be hired to speak at your event. I have also consulted with academic, business, research, legal, and government groups and think tanks.
The audiences I’ve addressed include marketers, attorneys and judges, polygraphers, detectives, forensic scientists, physicists, mental health professionals, members of the medical community, high school teachers, parents and family of college students, political groups, Congressional committees, think tanks, newcomers groups, women’s groups, alumni groups, book clubs, and conferences for writers. I’ve lectured for many university groups, including the Office of the President at the University of California, and I’ve also given major addresses at professional societies, such as the American Psychological Association. Internationally, I’ve lectured in Finland, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Canada.
Gallery
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