Episode
#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
1:04:49
Published: Sat Jan 15 2022
Description
Joe Henrich is Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and an author. Humans like to think that we're sovereign individuals with agency over our preferences and actions. But we are also a part of our social environment and Joe has teased apart some fascinating trends which explain how our location and culture have huge impacts on the way we behave, our preferences on everything from dating to work and family life to religion. Expect to learn why the things we consider to be human nature could just be cultural conditioning, the dangerous future if there's lots of sexless men, how the choice between growing rice and wheat impacts family life, what having diplomatic immunity from parking tickets can teach us about human nature, how Joe's lab can use language to archaeologically tell us about social trends from history and much more... Sponsors: Join the Modern Wisdom Community to connect with me & other listeners - https://modernwisdom.locals.com/ Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 20% discount on the highest quality CBD Products from Pure Sport at https://bit.ly/cbdwisdom (use code: MW20) Extra Stuff: Buy The Weirdest People In The World - https://amzn.to/3F3wUY7 Follow Joe on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JoHenrich Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/
Chapters
Joe discusses how our location and culture impact our preferences, from dating to entertainment options, and even offers a hack for accessing more content on Netflix.
00:00 - 04:12 (04:12)
Summary
Joe discusses how our location and culture impact our preferences, from dating to entertainment options, and even offers a hack for accessing more content on Netflix.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
The way we think and behave is heavily influenced by our cultural conditioning, which can be traced back to our kin base institution.
04:12 - 11:19 (07:07)
Summary
The way we think and behave is heavily influenced by our cultural conditioning, which can be traced back to our kin base institution. It explains why different regions of the world and even within the same country have varying attitudes and beliefs.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
The podcast discusses how family breakups when children are young can lead to reunions in later adulthood and how polygamy is prevalent in the vast majority of hunter-gatherer societies.
11:19 - 15:58 (04:38)
Summary
The podcast discusses how family breakups when children are young can lead to reunions in later adulthood and how polygamy is prevalent in the vast majority of hunter-gatherer societies.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
With increasing female choice and participation in the labor market, women are opting out of the marriage market if they can't find a high-status man they are attracted to, creating a pool of men who cannot get a date.
15:58 - 22:17 (06:19)
Summary
With increasing female choice and participation in the labor market, women are opting out of the marriage market if they can't find a high-status man they are attracted to, creating a pool of men who cannot get a date. This causes a group of young men to become the warrior caste, with the possibility of becoming polygynous as they age.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
The Pope criticized people who choose to have pets instead of children for not fulfilling their duty as human beings.
22:17 - 26:17 (04:00)
Summary
The Pope criticized people who choose to have pets instead of children for not fulfilling their duty as human beings. Meanwhile, the rise of women in the workforce has made it easier for them to find a suitable partner, but has also led to a push to remasculinize men in countries like China.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
The level of individualism in a society is often correlated with location, with places like Silicon Valley and New York City being more nonconformist, while cross-nationally, countries like Australia and the US have higher levels of individualism.
26:18 - 32:20 (06:02)
Summary
The level of individualism in a society is often correlated with location, with places like Silicon Valley and New York City being more nonconformist, while cross-nationally, countries like Australia and the US have higher levels of individualism.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
In a non-zero sum world, people can be successful without being in competition with each other.
32:20 - 36:39 (04:18)
Summary
In a non-zero sum world, people can be successful without being in competition with each other. This kind of thinking can help individuals be less bothered by the success of others.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
European urbanization in the 10th and 12th century led to cities with diverse jobs changing people's personalities through social interaction.
36:39 - 48:09 (11:30)
Summary
European urbanization in the 10th and 12th century led to cities with diverse jobs changing people's personalities through social interaction. Personality traits are an adaptation to socio-ecological environments, and this reciprocates with society and culture.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
The advent of literacy brought about transformation in European families from clans to nuclear families and helped in the spread of European institutions across the world, as explained by the author.
48:10 - 55:21 (07:10)
Summary
The advent of literacy brought about transformation in European families from clans to nuclear families and helped in the spread of European institutions across the world, as explained by the author.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
In this episode, the speaker raises concerns over Universal Basic Income (UBI) and how it could lead to the individualization and atomization of people in society, which would trigger and increase social safety nets and reliance upon kin links.
55:21 - 1:02:21 (07:00)
Summary
In this episode, the speaker raises concerns over Universal Basic Income (UBI) and how it could lead to the individualization and atomization of people in society, which would trigger and increase social safety nets and reliance upon kin links.
Episode#422 - Dr Joe Henrich - Evolution, Psychology, Monogamy & Culture
PodcastModern Wisdom
Researchers are trying to extract psychology from texts by analyzing data on gross domestic product and religious belief through time or by using language from history to infer the psychology of the people that lived at that time.
1:02:21 - 1:04:47 (02:25)
Summary
Researchers are trying to extract psychology from texts by analyzing data on gross domestic product and religious belief through time or by using language from history to infer the psychology of the people that lived at that time.