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#128 Randy Thornhill: Parasite-Stress, Sociality, Values, Personality, and Politics
Dr. Randy Thornhill is an American entomologist and evolutionary biologist. He is a professor of biology at the University of New Mexico, and was president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society from 2011 to 2013. He is known for his evolutionary explanation of rape as well as his work on insect mating systems and the parasite-stress theory. He’s the author of several books, including A Natural History of Rape, and The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality.
Dr. Randy Thornhill is an American entomologist and evolutionary biologist. He is a professor of biology at the University of New Mexico, and was president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society from 2011 to 2013. He is known for his evolutionary explanation of rape as well as his work on insect mating systems and the parasite-stress theory. He’s the author of several books, including A Natural History of Rape, and The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality.
In this episode, we focus on the main topics of Dr. Thornhill’s book, The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality (https://tinyurl.com/ybuant6k). We explore the evolutionary bases of the behavioral immune system, and the strategies humans and other animals evolved, in terms of sociality, to avoid getting in contact with sources of infection and contamination. In the case of humans, these strategies involve politics, culture, society, personality, and other aspects. We also refer to the biological bases of culture; the emotions of disgust and fear; the cultural differences between the southern and the northern United States; religious content to do with purity and pathogen avoidance; how parasite-stress might have affected the development of the Inquisition, the Enlightenment, and the 60’s Cultural Revolution; and also how it is a factor that contributes to speciation.
https://youtu.be/6F56b8TYT_c
Link to podcast version (Anchor): http://bit.ly/2MBOfQc
