#evolutionary psychology
Sex, dating, and relationships can do a lot of positive and wonderful things for us. But at the same time, there’s a very dark side to them as well when you think about issues like jealousy, lying, and abuse. So why do these things happen in the first place? And what can we do to prevent them?
For the latest episode of the Sex and Psychology Podcast, I interviewed Dr. David Buss, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is considered the world’s leading scientific expert on strategies of human mating and is one of the founders of the field of evolutionary psychology. His latest book is titled When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault.
We talk all about his new book, which explores the evolutionary roots of conflict between the sexes. Some of the topics we get into include why lying and deception are so common in online dating, why people in long-term committed relationships often cultivate back-up mates, why we’re often attracted to people with antisocial personality traits, as well as why jealousy is the most dangerous emotion.
We also discuss whether and how evolutionary theory can help us to prevent or reduce things like sexual harassment and violence.
Clickhere to listen to the full show!
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Credits:
Photo: David Buss
really good video ?
oh coming back to this sober- REALLY good video.
like a lot of the general public still doesnt know that these studies on non-human primates learning human language are bullshit, but even the corrections on it tend to leave out the fact that These Studies Were Fundamentally Fucked From The Start bc they werent treating sign language like a real language
like- koko ‘naming’ a painting with the words ‘pink stink drink’ and her handlers claiming it as evidence she knows how to rhyme, but uh those words rhyme in SPOKEN ENGLISH, and dont rhyme at all in ASL (which is the language koko is using words from).
I was hesitating on whether or not this was worth reblogging, but the end did it.
It’s a good lesson on how other animal species can be very complex, intelligent and sensitive in their own way - but they are NOT like us.
An animal being “very intelligent” is NOT the same thing as “being very human-like”.
That is a misunderstanding brought on, in part (and aside from the obvious point that we can only see things from the human perspective), by the common idea of evolution that nature “progressed” to humans, or that nature “wanted” us to become human, as if evolution is always a way “forward” to become “more advanced”.
While in fact, it is not a straight line, it is a very messy bush, and each species has its own way of interpreting and understanding the world.
I’m sure there are better videos and reads to understand this, but I would also add Dr. Kelly Jaakkola‘s IMATA presentation where she speaks about dolphin cognition, and actually this 1991 Christmas lecture - I watched it about ten years ago, and I still think back on it from time to time, striking me just how much of how we perceive the world is due to our specific senses, and our (as a species) subjective view.
It’s made for older children, so it’s not very advanced, but it makes it less dull to sit through if you don’t like long, dull presentations. And these both did add to my understanding of just how subjective and narrow the human experience of the world is.
