Relationship science was Hatfield's first professional research focus, beginning at the foundation of her career in the 1960s with an emphasis on human attraction and the nature of
romantic love. In addition to Berscheid, she has conducted this research with a number of colleagues, including
Leon Festinger (her
dissertation advisor at
Stanford University),
Elliot Aronson,
William Walster,
Russell D. Clark, Due to Proxmire's campaign, the funding was rescinded. Undaunted, Hatfield went on to write or co-write many books and papers based on her research, among them
A New Look at Love, which won the
American Psychological Foundation's National Media Award, and the often-cited
Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality article "Gender Differences in Receptivity to Sexual Offers" (1989). This resulted in the book, with John Caccioppo, on
Emotional Contagion. (Cambridge University Press, 1994). In the 2000s, she presented alongside
Katherine Aumer on the psychology of hate. Hatfield is former chair and professor of psychology at the University of Hawai'i and past president and fellow of the
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS). In 2012, the
Association for Psychological Science gave Hatfield the William James award for a Lifetime of Scientific Achievement. In recent years, she has received Distinguished Scientist Awards (for a lifetime of scientific achievement) from the
Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), from the SSSS, and from the University of Hawai'i, and she has received the Alfred Kinsey Award from the Western Region of SSSS. Two of her books have won the American Psychological Association's National Media Award. In 2019, She received three more honors: 1) Methodological Innovator Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology; 2) Wall of Fame Award from the Heritage Foundation; and 3) the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Academy for Intercultural Research. In 2020, her book on the future of love and sex- ''What's Next in Love and Sex: Psychological and Cultural Perspectives'' was published by Oxford University Press. == Personal life ==