Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast)

What is love? What is regret? What are we missing in our understanding of mating? In this episode we talk to Cari Goetz (Cal State San Bernardino) about the (still largely unexplored) emotions surrounding romance, sex, commitment, and parenting. Topics include: the field's current overemphasis on the early stages of mating, the cultural propaganda surrounding love and related emotions, deliberate ignorance about infidelity, the rehearsal of the social consequences of dating earlier in development, mate ejection strategies, and what love might be at a functional/software level.  More about Cari Goetz: https://www.csusb.edu/profile/cgoetz https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BIKau3cAAAAJ&hl=en

What is exploitation? Why does it happen? And how can we better understand what makes it more or less likely? In this episode, we talk to Hannes Rusch (Max Planck Crime, Security, & Law) about all things exploitation and group-y. Other topics include jobs, mopping, scapegoating, bravery, and how much people care about their group identities.    More about Hannes Rusch:  https://hrusch.de/ https://csl.mpg.de/en/hannes-rusch   Shownotes: Metallica "Man Unkind": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUVr2xnGIEo Exploitation: Theory and Practice https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_3655768_1/component/file_3655769/content  

Are humans designed to be monogamous? Polygamous? In this episode, we talk to Brooke Scelza (UCLA) about her work with the Himba and the complex web of social norms at play in that society and what it can teach us about our evolved psychology. Other topics include parental investment, the state of cross-talk between evolutionary anthropology and psychology, and the sometimes perverse incentives in science and the resulting replication crisis. If you think you do (or do not) understand mating markets and social norms, then this episode is for you.    More about Brooke Schelza: https://bscelza.weebly.com/ https://anthro.ucla.edu/person/brooke-scelza/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v8E5934AAAAJ&hl=en  

Are mothers the evolutionary crucible of leadership psychology? And is leadership more misunderstood and cryptic than we might think? In this episode, we talk to Zach Garfield (UM6P, Morocco) about all things lead-y and follow-y, and the new and amazing Omo Valley Research Project.  More about Zach Garfield: https://zhgarfield.github.io/ The Omo Valley Research Project (with Luke Glowacki) https://www.omovalleyresearchproject.org/  

What is cultural diffusion, why do need models of cultural change and distance, and what is on Bret's whiteboard? In this episode, we do a deep on how cultural change and distance are measured and studied with Bret Beheim (Max Planck for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig). Other topics include the local norms surrounding red lights and the evergreen game of "go".    More about Bret Beheim: https://babeheim.com/ https://www.eva.mpg.de/ecology/staff/bret-beheim/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V6Ea-MkAAAAJ&hl=en  

Are group boundaries solid, impermeable, and red in tooth-and-claw? Is animosity between groups inevitable? In this episode, we talk to Anne Pisor ( Penn State) about all things inter-group from an evolutionary perspective, including the forging of relationships across group boundaries as a way to deal with uncertainty and risk, and the circumstances that increase or decrease inter-group antagonism.  More about Anne Pisor: https://www.socialitylab.org/ https://anth.la.psu.edu/people/anne-pisor/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Qav4JJ4AAAAJ&hl=en

Why do we feel shame? Is it a useless emotion? Our guest, Daniel Sznycer (Oklahoma State) has been studying "self-conscious" emotions from a functional/evolutionary perspective. If you're curious about why we feel things like shame, pride, guilt, or how an evolutionary approach can she light on understanding our emotions, this episode is for you.   More about Daniel Sznycer:  https://sites.google.com/view/sznycerlab/sznycer-lab https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AKHl_vwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Other links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate_the_Positive#:~:text=For%20other%20uses%2C%20see%20Accentuate,film%20Here%20Come%20the%20Waves.  

Motive? Intent? Case closed! In this episode, Keelah Williams (JD, PhD, Hamilton) runs us through our bar exam prelims, explaining how our evolved psychology influences legal decision-making, and what consequences this may have on truth, justice, and much else... If you are interested in how evolutionary approaches inform legal issues, this episode is for you. Bonus: Keelah also discusses her ground-breaking work on ecology stereotypes.  More about Keelah Williams: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=42lmiPwAAAAJ https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/evolution-and-human-behavior/vol/44/issue/3  

Grab some candy (or brains): Halloween is here! This week, we talk to Coltan Scrivner about why we can't look away from the macabre, what exactly the "horror" genre is, and why a self-dose of fear and horror may be good for anxiety. If you are curious about horror, true crime, cobwebs, zombies, great white sharks, Jurassic Park, or whether its good for kids to experience gross or scary things, this episode is for you!  Also, today, Coltan's book, Morbidly Curious, comes out: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/705578/morbidly-curious-by-coltan-scrivner-phd/ More about Coltan Scrivner: https://www.coltanscrivner.com/ https://www.morbidlycuriousthoughts.com/  

How are humans able to sustain large families? What is our "true" reproductive strategy as a species? Are kids designed to raise younger children? And is it unnatural for us to live in such strongly age-segregated societies? In this episode, we talk to Karen Kramer (U of Utah) where we discuss our (possibly unique) ability to live with and raise one another.    More about Karen Kramer: https://www.sapiens.org/authors/karen-l-kramer/ https://profiles.faculty.utah.edu/u0839608/about https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2tP1330AAAAJ&hl=en

Why do we believe what we believe? And our we aware of why we believe what we believe? And what is a belief anyway? And what should we think of people like Jordan Peterson? We tackle these questions and more in this episode with Dan Williams (Sussex): our first guest representing evolutionary approaches to philosophy.    More about Dan Williams: https://danwilliamsphilosophy.com/ https://www.conspicuouscognition.com/  

Did we evolve to live long lives? Is heart disease a human universal? In this episode, we talk to Mike Gurven (UCSB), who has run a number of large-scale studies on the life and health of non-Western populations (among much, much more). And now, he has a new book out (Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer) summarizing the big picture of what we've learned so far!    More about Mike Gurven: https://www.anth.ucsb.edu/people/michael-gurven https://gurven.anth.ucsb.edu/   More about the book (Mike is the real deal, so we are happy to plug his book!): https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691231990/seven-decades Enter code (PUP30 for a discount) https://www.target.com/p/seven-decades-by-michael-d-gurven-hardcover/-/A-94306245 https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Decades-Evolved-Live-Longer/dp/0691231990/ref=sr_1_1  

What do the lindy hop, ostensive communication, and the evolution of language all have in common? Thom Scott-Phillips! In this episode, we discuss if language is an adaptation, why art museums have that certain vibe, the theory crisis in the behavioral sciences, the state of scientific publishing, and why Thom loves the lindy hop.    More about Thom Scott-Phillips: https://www.thomscottphillips.com/  

Humor is one of the great puzzles of evolutionary psychology. Co-host David Pinsof (UCLA) presents the coordinating “mix-up” hypothesis of humor, in which….well, you’ll have to listen to find out. By Dave’s account, it is one of the best accounts of the psychology of humor out there (but what do we know?) Content warning: this episode does contain humor (or at least attempts at it).   More about David Pinsof:  https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/ https://www.kremslab.com/people   More about Dave Pietraszewski:  https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski

Plants are mini chemical weapon factories! Learning and evolution are not opposed! This week, Annie Wertz (UCSB) joins us to describe her groundbreaking world on the evolutionary psychology of what babies know about plants, and how infants selectively use social information to guide their interactions with them. A lovely example of how adopting an evolutionary perspective inspires new areas of research, and a good example of how evolution builds learning mechanisms.    More about Annie Wertz:  https://psych.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/annie-e-wertz https://lilac.psych.ucsb.edu/

Pat Barclay (Guelph) joins us to discuss his work solving the mysteries of the evolution of cooperation. Pat is a wonderful human being and an exceptional scientist, whose work is at the forefront of understanding how and why we solve the problem of cooperation as a species.  More about Pat Barclay:  http://patbarclay.com/  More about David Pinsof:  https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/ https://www.kremslab.com/people   More about Dave Pietraszewski:  https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski  

Why would a mind ever be delusional or depressed, and can we understand these as functional or maladaptive outcomes? Why do humans take drugs, and why do plants make them in the first place? (And why might the answer to the second question also answer the first?) Join us on a fun, wide-ranging conversation with guest Ed Hagen (Washington State, Vancouver) one of evolutionary psychology’s most encyclopedic minds.    More about Ed Hagen: https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/hagen/ https://blog.edhagen.net/   Evolutionary Psychology FAQ: https://grasshoppermouse.github.io/evpsychfaq/   More about David Pinsof:  https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/ https://www.kremslab.com/people   More about Dave Pietraszewski:  https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski

Guest Cristina Moya (UC Davis) is one of our favorite evolutionary behavioral scientists. In this episode, we discuss her work in Peru on ethnolinguistic group boundaries, why we all believe crazy things, and what the lay of the land is in the evolutionary behavioral sciences.    More about Cristina Moya: https://sites.google.com/site/cristinasolermoya/pubs?authuser=0 https://anthropology.ucdavis.edu/people/cristina-moya   More about David Pinsof:  https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/ https://www.kremslab.com/people   More about Dave Pietraszewski:  https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski

Guest Brenda Bowser (CalState Fullerton) recounts a life spent studying conflict and politics in Canambo, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, with her late husband and colleague John Q. Patton. Brenda shares first and second hand accounts of incredible events (including death by phantasm), and how she thinks about status, violence, and conflict, and how these relate to our connections with others. One of our most memorable episodes!    More about Brenda Bowser: https://anthro.fullerton.edu/People/BrendaBowser.aspx https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-amazonian-house/   More about John Q. Patton: https://news.fullerton.edu/2024/11/anthropology-scholars-students-host-symposium-to-honor-late-professor/ https://anthro.fullerton.edu/People/JohnPatton.aspx https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NkJttDkP2ZID-a7HSgUNzIfSOlMnQ51I/view?usp=drive_link   John Q. Patton Memorial Symposium: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KRRcx00RJmWI6VKcwGs8ms29lRNnP-5oY6VIPqeEkNg/edit?tab=t.0    

Egalitarianism is not what you think it is! Guest Chris Von Rueden (URichmond) has wrapped his head around what egalitarianism is and shares his insights and what he’s learned living with and studying the Tsimane, hunter horticulturists in the Bolivian rainforest. TL;DR: How to make a more just society requires respecting the complexity of our evolved psychology.  More about Chris Von Rueden: https://sites.google.com/site/chrisvonrueden/home Tsimane Health and Life History Project: https://tsimane.anth.ucsb.edu/ More about David Pinsof:  https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/ https://www.kremslab.com/people More about Dave Pietraszewski:  https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski