The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad - Key Tenets of Evolutionary Psychology and the Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad

00:00:00.000 Can I get a thumbs up? Can you hear me? Yes, all right. Let me wait a minute or two for people to come in.

00:00:08.640 Today I'm very excited to be talking about, of course, my favorite area in academia, which is evolutionary psychology.

00:00:19.860 As many of you know, I pioneered the use of applying the evolutionary lens in consumer behavior.

00:00:31.080 This is why I'm housed in a business school.

00:00:33.680 And so what I thought I would do today, I mean, some of you may be familiar with some of my work, but many of you may not be.

00:00:39.980 And so I thought that I would just take, this is actually from a slide in my second lecture, typically in a semester.

00:00:49.080 Where I'm teaching, let's say, consumer behavior or psychology of decision making or understanding or consuming instinct.

00:00:55.960 I'll have a slide on the important tenets of evolutionary psychology.

00:01:01.900 And so what I thought I would do is just go through some of these important tenets, because it really doesn't make sense to study evolutionary psychology, well, study any psychology or study human behavior without recognizing where our cognitive system, our emotional system, our behavioral systems come from.

00:01:25.160 It doesn't just arise magically.

00:01:27.300 It arises via the exact same dual processes of natural and sexual selection that describe the evolution of all life forms.

00:01:36.940 And so what I'd like to do is, as I said, maybe spend, I would say about, probably take me about 20 minutes, 20 to 30 minutes to get through this.

00:01:45.740 And then that will be an intro.

00:01:48.360 One of the things I'm thinking of doing, by the way, is just doing these kind of short public lectures on X spaces.

00:01:54.540 So what I do is I just choose a topic in this case.

00:01:58.560 Okay.

00:01:58.980 Key tenets of evolutionary psychology.

00:02:01.180 And I lecture about this.

00:02:03.480 And then to my subscribers only, I then switch to another X spaces session.

00:02:10.680 And then you could ask me a Q&A for typically, I don't know, maybe 30 minutes.

00:02:14.780 Okay.

00:02:14.940 So that's what we'll probably do.

00:02:17.600 Again, the cost of the subscription, forgive me for diminishing the purity of the learning process, but it's akin to buying a latte or, you know, a coffee.

00:02:32.160 And so hopefully it's worth your while.

00:02:34.180 I try to put up all sorts of exclusive content, book recommendation, article recommendations, as I said, exclusive Q&A period with my subscribers.

00:02:45.000 Although about 50% of the fees that I, or the subscriptions that I levy, end up going to various fees.

00:02:55.820 I think 35% goes to Apple, which is insane.

00:02:59.100 So if I make $100 a month, $50 goes away.

00:03:02.140 But in any case, let's start with what evolutionary psychology is.

00:03:06.140 I see that there is a request, but I'm not, as I said, I'm not taking any, it's a one-way lecture.

00:03:12.960 And then if you do have requests to speak to me or to ask questions, then we can do so in the subscriber-only space.

00:03:21.760 All right.

00:03:22.080 So what is evolutionary psychology?

00:03:23.920 Well, before I maybe explain what evolutionary psychology is, let me explain some of the other disciplines in psychology.

00:03:33.600 Although evolutionary psychology is really not a discipline, rather it is the framework that should be used to explain all other areas of psychology.

00:03:41.960 So if you wanted to study perceptual psychology or motivational psychology or cultural psychology or clinical psychology or developmental psychology or social psychology,

00:03:51.940 each of those areas has to be informed via the evolutionary lens.

00:03:57.900 Because, again, as I said, your motivational system or your perceptual system or your decision-making abilities don't just arise out of magic.

00:04:06.700 They arise out of the exact same evolutionary processes that explains everything else in life.

00:04:14.160 All right.

00:04:14.580 So what is evolutionary psychology?

00:04:16.020 Before I do that, let me maybe briefly discuss what are some of the precursors.

00:04:23.300 I'm going to use the acronym EP for evolutionary psychology.

00:04:28.440 So when you hear me say EP, please remember it's evolutionary psychology.

00:04:31.920 So what are some of the disciplines that are precursors to EP?

00:04:35.680 Some of you may know that I held a, and you'll see in a second why I'm saying this,

00:04:41.240 some of you may know that I held a university-wide chaired professorship for 10 years.

00:04:46.280 The chair was called Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption.

00:04:51.540 The Darwinian Consumption part just means applying evolutionary psychology to consumer behavior.

00:04:57.260 The evolutionary behavioral sciences part is what I want to talk about next,

00:05:01.200 which is basically there's a whole bunch of different ways by which we can apply the evolutionary lens to study human behavior.

00:05:12.840 And some of these lenses serve as precursors to EP.

00:05:17.100 So for example, we have ethology.

00:05:20.800 So ethology is a field that actually the pioneers of ethology won the Nobel Prize.

00:05:29.260 I think it was in 1973.

00:05:31.200 It's basically studying the evolutionary roots of the instincts of animal behavior.

00:05:39.420 So when it's just animal behavior, you call it ethology.

00:05:42.600 If it's human behavior, you call it human ethology.

00:05:45.280 So let me give you an example of that.

00:05:46.740 By the way, the father of ethology is Conrad Lawrence,

00:05:53.000 who, as I said, won the Nobel Prize with Nico Timbergen,

00:05:56.920 and I can't remember, the third gentleman, Klaus something.

00:05:59.020 This was, I think, in 1973.

00:06:03.780 Lawrence is probably the guy that you might have seen in a National Geographic documentary

00:06:09.080 where you see this professorial-looking guy walking on a farm,

00:06:13.620 and there is a bunch of little ducklings following him.

00:06:18.160 Well, this is called imprinting.

00:06:20.420 It's the ethological principle of imprinting.

00:06:23.640 Well, what's imprinting?

00:06:25.460 It's an ontogenetic mechanism, which means basically it's developmentally released,

00:06:31.320 such that when a duckling hatches,

00:06:35.520 it has this built-in instinctual mechanism that says,

00:06:39.760 the first thing that I see moving must be mama.

00:06:43.360 And now, in 99.9% of the cases, when that fixed action pattern,

00:06:50.280 that's the official ethological term,

00:06:52.640 when that fixed action pattern is released, it is actually correct.

00:06:57.160 The animal that moved when the duckling hatched is typically the mama duck.

00:07:03.800 But if we take away the duckling, I mean the mama duck,

00:07:09.300 and we replace it by a Doberman or by Professor Lawrence,

00:07:16.180 then the chicks, the ducklings, will be imprinted on whatever it is that they saw first moving.

00:07:22.980 Hence, that's why you see the ducklings following Professor Lawrence.

00:07:28.580 So ethology was a precursor to EP, whereby you studied these fixed action patterns

00:07:36.520 and how they are behaviorally released or activated, if you like, or invoked.

00:07:43.900 Territoriality is another one.

00:07:45.320 Aggression is another one.

00:07:46.800 And so it hasn't really taken off as much as one would have hoped.

00:07:54.160 As I said, they won the Nobel Prize in 1973.

00:07:56.520 So there are some studies that I cite in my first book,

00:08:01.160 The Evolutionary Basis of Consumption,

00:08:02.860 where people have applied the ethological approach within the context of human behavior.

00:08:09.360 But at the very least, I want to give you a sense of these various disciplines

00:08:14.860 that constitute the evolutionary behavioral sciences.

00:08:18.040 So one is ethology.

00:08:19.460 Remember that.

00:08:21.340 By the way, I mean, look at this.

00:08:22.760 You're getting a full lecture on the evolutionary behavioral sciences

00:08:29.240 and evolutionary psychology for free, people.

00:08:34.640 For free.

00:08:35.900 All right.

00:08:37.060 So number two.

00:08:37.960 So ethology is one.

00:08:39.200 Number two, we have behavioral ecology.

00:08:42.680 Now, behavioral ecology is a different evolutionary discipline.

00:08:47.700 And in that field, what you're studying are cross-cultural differences in behavior

00:08:55.540 and how these are rooted in an evolutionary mechanism.

00:09:00.400 You follow?

00:09:01.560 Forgive me if it's a lot of mouthful, but I'll try to break it down.

00:09:05.500 So for example, the most beautiful example I like to use in explaining what behavioral ecology is,

00:09:13.520 let's suppose I told you I'd like to study why cross-cultural differences in spice use exists, right?

00:09:23.980 So, you know, Mexican food is spicier than Swedish food.

00:09:28.400 Now, if you were a cultural psychologist, you would simply revel at having come up with that difference.

00:09:35.200 You know, you just publish a paper that says,

00:09:37.200 voila, Mexican food is spicier than Swedish food.

00:09:42.240 What you don't do in cultural psychology is typically explain the ultimate Darwinian why.

00:09:50.360 Why is it that some cultures have evolved the cultural tradition of having spicy foods whilst others don't?

00:10:01.220 And so again, if you restrict your explanations to simply saying it's due to culture,

00:10:06.720 it actually has zero explanatory power.

00:10:09.380 That's like just saying it's due to magic, it's due to X.

00:10:12.800 The fundamental question that you have to ask is why are cultural forms in the way that they are?

00:10:19.920 Why do they express themselves in the way that they are?

00:10:21.940 And of course, the answer here is, well, maybe it's not of course.

00:10:25.140 Maybe some people have a sense of what the explanation might be, others may not.

00:10:30.060 But it turns out that the hotter the climate of a particular culture, meaning the ambient temperature,

00:10:38.920 the more likely you are to have spicy, the use of spices.

00:10:44.920 Now, why is that?

00:10:45.900 Because in hot climates, you're more likely to have a greater density of foodborne pathogens,

00:10:52.500 and these foodborne pathogens are more likely to quickly proliferate.

00:10:57.860 And therefore, the use of spices becomes a cultural adaptation to a biological problem.

00:11:06.500 This is some deep stuff, people.

00:11:08.060 Hope you're taking notes.

00:11:09.700 Okay, so basically, to simply say that something is due to culture,

00:11:13.580 culture A does it this way and culture B does it that way, explains absolutely nothing.

00:11:17.720 But here you come with a beautifully elegant explanation, which basically says,

00:11:23.480 I can explain to you the distribution of spices across global cuisines

00:11:30.080 using the explanation of what's called the antimicrobial hypothesis.

00:11:35.080 And so you can get what it is.

00:11:36.880 Now, why is that behavioral ecology?

00:11:38.780 Because what you've done here is you've taken cross-cultural differences,

00:11:43.500 and you've argued that those cross-cultural differences are due to biological reasons.

00:11:50.480 They are adaptations to a biological problem.

00:11:55.180 So it's not that it's either culture or biology.

00:11:58.960 Culture exists in this form because of biology.

00:12:02.480 So now imagine how powerful that is in the context of the work that I do,

00:12:07.340 where you're studying, say, cross-cultural similarities in consumer behavior

00:12:11.740 and cross-cultural differences in consumer behavior.

00:12:15.520 Well, now, using the evolutionary lens, if I am an international marketer,

00:12:20.460 I can very quickly understand why certain cross-cultural differences arise

00:12:24.740 and why certain human universals exist in the way that they exist.

00:12:29.080 So to recap so far, we've got ethology, we've got behavioral ecology,

00:12:34.760 and now let's move on to, maybe I'll do one or two others.

00:12:39.480 There are about five or six different, you know, disciplines that are evolutionary-minded.

00:12:47.640 Sociobiology is also a beauty.

00:12:49.800 I mean, the term has gone, is now a bit in disuse,

00:12:54.840 but it became famous through E.O. Wilson.

00:12:58.480 E.O. Wilson is the Harvard entomologist who recently passed away.

00:13:03.560 By the way, I'm currently reading his autobiography, which I highly, highly recommend.

00:13:08.440 I'm almost finished with it.

00:13:09.800 It's called Naturalist by E.O. Wilson.

00:13:12.640 One of my great regrets, certainly since starting my show, The Sad Truth,

00:13:17.860 is that I wasn't able to, you know, I'd never invited him on the show,

00:13:22.080 but I'd always, you know, you sometimes think that these intellectual giants are somehow immortal.

00:13:26.500 Well, their ideas are immortal, but their physical bodies are not.

00:13:29.300 And so, regrettably, he passed away before I got the chance to invite him on the show.

00:13:34.360 I got a chance to not meet him, but listen to him give a plenary address

00:13:39.560 at the American Psychological Association meetings many years ago,

00:13:43.640 and he just had such a genteel, scholarly way about it,

00:13:47.240 like a truly classy gentleman scholar.

00:13:50.120 It would have been great to meet him.

00:13:51.260 In any case, in 1975, E.O. Wilson published a book called Sociobiology,

00:13:58.320 which, it's a bit of a technical book, so it's, you know,

00:14:01.120 it's not the type of book that you just kind of take to the beach and read

00:14:04.240 unless you're really motivated, although it's certainly, you know, one that you can read.

00:14:08.880 In the book, what he basically did is he took all of these evolutionary principles

00:14:16.020 from evolutionary biology and basically demonstrated how you could apply the biological lens

00:14:22.880 to explain social behavior.

00:14:26.140 So, for example, kin-based altruism.

00:14:30.180 Why is it that animals exhibit kin altruism towards their kin more so than towards their non-kin?

00:14:35.840 Well, of course, there are clear evolutionary explanations of this type of social dynamics.

00:14:40.840 And so, sociobiology is the application of biology,

00:14:45.960 more specifically, you know, evolutionary mechanisms,

00:14:49.100 to understand social behavior.

00:14:51.480 Now, I could use that to study the social behavior of ants,

00:14:54.540 or I could use it to study the dynamics of what happens to a pride of lions

00:14:59.920 when new dominant lions come to take over the pride.

00:15:03.240 So, there are all sorts of social behaviors that happen

00:15:06.880 that, of course, don't exist outside of biology.

00:15:10.100 They exist in their form because of biology.

00:15:12.440 So, so far, we've talked about ethology.

00:15:15.100 We've talked about behavioral ecology.

00:15:17.220 We've talked about sociobiology.

00:15:20.060 You could also talk about Darwinian anthropology.

00:15:24.200 So, anthropology, of course, is the study of man.

00:15:26.320 It's typically broken up into completely isolated subdivisions of anthropology.

00:15:35.340 So, you have the physical anthropologists are the ones.

00:15:38.780 So, for example, when you have a physical anthropologist that at a crime scene

00:15:42.860 establishes that a particular skeleton is male or female.

00:15:47.160 Of course, we can't do that today because, you know, transgender.

00:15:49.640 But if we forget for a moment that the transgender craze exists,

00:15:58.980 then physical anthropologists are able to tell with complete accuracy

00:16:03.120 whether a skeleton is male or female,

00:16:07.300 but using all sorts of various, you know, sexual dimorphisms.

00:16:12.420 So, physical anthropology is one field.

00:16:14.340 Cultural anthropology completely abdicates biology.

00:16:17.600 It says that every, you know, culture has to be studied idiosyncratically

00:16:23.280 within its own history.

00:16:24.760 There are no human universals.

00:16:26.860 So, cultural relativism, which is an idea pathogen

00:16:30.580 that I discuss in The Parasitic Mind,

00:16:32.380 exactly stems from the cultural anthropologists.

00:16:36.180 The grand guru of cultural anthropology would have been Franz Boas,

00:16:40.060 and then he trained a whole line of descendants of future cultural anthropologists,

00:16:47.360 most famously Margaret Mead.

00:16:51.360 So, now, Darwinian anthropology is basically studying man or studying cultures

00:16:58.360 using the evolutionary lens.

00:17:00.780 So, you could study whether there are certain human universals across cultures

00:17:06.720 when it comes to, you know, parenting styles,

00:17:12.220 and you may do observational fieldwork across cultures to study that.

00:17:17.620 And if you identify certain human universals,

00:17:19.940 say women are more likely to, you know, hold their babies longer than men,

00:17:25.400 and that holds true across every culture,

00:17:27.380 well, you might come and offer an evolutionary explanation

00:17:30.080 for why that cross-cultural human universal exists.

00:17:34.140 So, Darwinian anthropology is simply using the evolutionary lens,

00:17:39.540 evolutionary mechanisms, evolutionary biology

00:17:42.040 to study anthropological issues.

00:17:45.800 You also have something called, excuse me,

00:17:50.300 gene culture co-evolution modeling.

00:17:52.860 Gene culture co-evolution, I mean,

00:17:56.840 it's an approach that can fit within anthropology,

00:18:00.760 or it could fit within behavioral ecology,

00:18:02.760 or it could be even within evolutionary psychology.

00:18:05.060 It basically argues that many mechanisms

00:18:07.460 are really a feedback loop between genes and culture.

00:18:12.200 And that's why it's called dual inheritance modeling,

00:18:15.160 or gene culture co-evolution modeling.

00:18:17.800 So, for example, the fact that we can predict

00:18:21.160 with very clear accuracy

00:18:23.200 why some cultures have a much greater incidence

00:18:27.340 of the genes that cause lactose intolerance or not,

00:18:31.700 it turns out that that's due to

00:18:34.400 whether the particular culture has a history of pastoral living,

00:18:38.420 meaning raising of cows and sheep and lambs and so on.

00:18:43.420 Because cultures that have pastoral tradition

00:18:47.000 will then use milk as part of their dietary intake,

00:18:53.180 and then that builds resistance.

00:18:57.260 You know, it's less likely to make you lactose intolerance.

00:19:00.480 Now, so why is that called gene culture co-evolution?

00:19:02.880 Because you have a feedback between the cultural tradition

00:19:07.420 serves as the mechanism by which there are selection pressures

00:19:13.280 within the environment for certain traits to be adaptive or not.

00:19:17.480 And so something like the gene that synthesizes lactose or not,

00:19:23.600 it doesn't take many generations for it to be selective.

00:19:26.780 And so gene culture co-evolution modeling is exactly that approach.

00:19:30.120 It basically says that there is this constant feedback loop

00:19:34.500 between genes and culture.

00:19:36.820 And to understand that mechanism,

00:19:39.020 you're using certain evolutionary principles.

00:19:40.720 And finally, the last one that I will mention

00:19:42.640 before I move on to the key tenets of EP

00:19:45.580 is mimetic theory.

00:19:49.600 Now, meme, the term meme is now something

00:19:52.200 that is very well known.

00:19:54.760 You know, you talk about an internet meme.

00:19:56.340 But the term meme was originally popularized

00:19:59.520 by Richard Dawkins, the zoologist

00:20:03.220 and popularizer of, well, evolutionary thinking

00:20:08.900 to the masses.

00:20:12.020 He's still alive.

00:20:12.980 I still wish to hopefully convince him to come on my show.

00:20:17.460 Haven't been able to.

00:20:18.600 I reached out to him on a couple of occasions,

00:20:20.400 but we never connected.

00:20:21.320 I mean, he follows me on Twitter and I follow him

00:20:23.940 or on X rather, I should say now.

00:20:25.440 Now, so hopefully one day we'll be able to sit down together

00:20:28.360 because there's so much for us to chat about.

00:20:30.440 We have so many things in common.

00:20:32.660 Although he may be a bit more,

00:20:34.800 and I don't think I'm being unfair,

00:20:36.800 he may be more of a caustic atheist than I am.

00:20:41.200 Now, I'm not much of a believer,

00:20:43.420 but I truly do understand the importance

00:20:47.220 and value that people hold toward religiosity.

00:20:53.700 In other words, I understand why people are religious.

00:20:56.680 Now, that doesn't mean that I agree with all religious tenets,

00:21:00.660 but I'm a bit more willing to understand

00:21:04.800 that the default value of human beings

00:21:07.100 is to be religious believers,

00:21:09.180 whereas I think Professor Dawkins

00:21:12.040 tends to be a bit more caustic

00:21:13.820 when it comes to religiosity.

00:21:17.400 But in any case,

00:21:18.480 the reason why I'm mentioning him

00:21:19.920 is because in his 1976 book,

00:21:22.140 The Selfish Gene,

00:21:23.340 which I highly recommend you all read,

00:21:25.980 he basically introduced the term meme

00:21:29.600 as the cultural analog to the gene.

00:21:32.240 So in the same way that genes propagate in populations,

00:21:36.640 he argued correctly

00:21:38.780 that humans are both a biological and cultural animal.

00:21:42.620 And so we also, right now,

00:21:44.840 the lecture that I'm giving right here on X

00:21:47.520 is a form,

00:21:50.360 well, a very powerful form of memetic transmission, right?

00:21:54.620 The memes in my brain are going through my voice,

00:21:59.660 and it is hopefully entering your brain.

00:22:02.860 I am infecting you in a positive sense,

00:22:05.760 not in a parasitic sense.

00:22:06.920 I am infecting you with these ideas.

00:22:10.840 And so libraries are a large repository of memes, right?

00:22:17.660 If I start singing a jingle and you catch it

00:22:22.180 and you start singing it two minutes later,

00:22:26.280 well, that itself was a meme

00:22:28.220 that was transmitted from one person to the next.

00:22:30.340 So any packet of information

00:22:32.540 that spreads from one person to another,

00:22:36.180 from one group to another,

00:22:38.280 is a memetic transmission.

00:22:41.180 And so one of the things that you could do

00:22:43.360 in an evolutionary sense

00:22:45.120 is study, you know, how memes go viral.

00:22:51.040 Are there certain structures of the content of memes

00:22:55.380 that will make them more infectious than others?

00:22:58.680 And you could see how, you know,

00:23:00.580 understanding these processes

00:23:01.940 eventually led to, you know,

00:23:05.160 me writing The Parasitic Mind,

00:23:06.880 my 2020 book,

00:23:08.100 which, please, if you haven't gotten a copy yet,

00:23:11.400 you need to administer that mind vaccine

00:23:13.760 to you and to your loved ones.

00:23:16.060 But I should mention,

00:23:18.300 I'm just digressing for a second.

00:23:21.160 My neuroparasitological model

00:23:23.520 in The Parasitic Mind

00:23:25.300 is distinct from memes

00:23:28.160 because memes can be positive memes.

00:23:30.640 They can be neutral memes.

00:23:31.940 Or they can be negative memes.

00:23:33.340 But the framework of parasitic idea pathogens

00:23:39.240 is a unique reality

00:23:42.500 because a parasitic means

00:23:44.900 it's taking the host parasite mechanism

00:23:48.720 and it's basically saying

00:23:50.780 that to the detriment of the host,

00:23:54.580 the parasite is altering its behavior

00:23:57.460 to suit its reproductive interests.

00:23:59.480 So it's not the same as memetic transference.

00:24:03.360 But in any case,

00:24:03.920 this is just a technical point.

00:24:05.880 So to summarize before I now get finally to the main,

00:24:12.400 you know,

00:24:12.860 explaining what the key tenets of evolution psychology are,

00:24:16.660 I've discussed ethology.

00:24:18.820 I've discussed behavioral ecology,

00:24:22.440 sociobiology,

00:24:24.120 gene culture co-evolution modeling,

00:24:26.860 Darwinian anthropology,

00:24:28.780 and memetic theory.

00:24:29.620 And now I'm going to come to evolutionary psychology.

00:24:32.560 In their totality,

00:24:34.180 all of these disciplines

00:24:35.880 constitute the evolutionary behavioral sciences.

00:24:40.180 So this is why

00:24:41.000 my chaired professorship

00:24:42.740 was in the evolutionary behavioral sciences

00:24:45.900 because I don't, frankly, care

00:24:47.840 which approach I use.

00:24:49.920 My research is almost always

00:24:52.200 informed, you know,

00:24:54.400 by the evolutionary lens.

00:24:56.260 And then I can use that lens

00:24:59.320 to study a wide range of things, right?

00:25:02.140 I've studied things in psychiatry

00:25:04.260 and, you know, right?

00:25:05.340 So I've studied the Munchhausen syndrome,

00:25:06.940 my proxy,

00:25:07.700 and suicide,

00:25:08.460 and obsessive compulsive disorder,

00:25:10.160 and things that are bread and butter marketing,

00:25:12.760 you know,

00:25:13.040 gift giving behavior

00:25:14.100 and the framing effect.

00:25:16.920 Some of you may know it.

00:25:17.760 This is the Kahneman and Tversky stuff.

00:25:19.700 I've looked at that

00:25:20.280 from an evolutionary perspective.

00:25:21.840 Mate search,

00:25:22.580 all sorts of things I've studied.

00:25:25.460 I've looked at

00:25:26.000 how the menstrual cycle

00:25:27.160 affects women's behavior.

00:25:28.940 I've looked at how

00:25:29.880 conspicuous consumption

00:25:31.440 affects men's testosterone levels.

00:25:33.740 So my research areas

00:25:35.420 are very, very broad,

00:25:36.900 but they're typically all

00:25:38.760 under the rubric

00:25:40.580 of some application

00:25:42.700 of an evolutionary mechanism.

00:25:44.520 Hence, that's why,

00:25:45.920 you know, people refer to me

00:25:47.540 as either as an evolutionary psychologist

00:25:49.780 or evolutionary consumer psychologist

00:25:51.620 or evolutionary behavioral scientist.

00:25:53.500 Okay.

00:25:54.060 So now we come

00:25:55.140 to the last remaining part

00:25:58.940 of today's lecture,

00:26:00.180 and I hope that you're enjoying it.

00:26:01.720 Maybe I can get a couple of thumbs up

00:26:03.560 just to get a sense

00:26:04.440 that you're hopefully enjoying this

00:26:06.900 and learning.

00:26:08.120 Where are the thumbs up?

00:26:09.300 Where is the happiness?

00:26:11.460 I'm not seeing it.

00:26:12.240 Where is it?

00:26:13.680 Give me a thumbs up.

00:26:14.660 Give me something.

00:26:16.160 Oh boy,

00:26:16.680 there's a lot of people here.

00:26:17.740 I wish,

00:26:18.280 I don't know if there's a way

00:26:19.120 to know how many people

00:26:19.880 are in the session.

00:26:23.280 In any case,

00:26:24.300 oh, I see a person

00:26:25.740 with a Ukraine flag

00:26:26.960 with a thumbs up.

00:26:28.000 Okay, thank you.

00:26:29.020 I've got another person

00:26:30.220 who just gave 100%.

00:26:31.300 Okay, thank you very much.

00:26:32.880 Okay, so now I'd like to talk about

00:26:35.180 what evolutionary psychology is.

00:26:38.020 Okay?

00:26:39.060 This is the punchline.

00:26:40.800 So you ready?

00:26:42.400 Focus.

00:26:43.260 Because one of the things

00:26:44.080 that I despise the most

00:26:45.500 in my public engagement

00:26:46.580 is when people start saying,

00:26:50.620 I don't expect the people

00:26:51.960 that are here listening,

00:26:53.800 but, you know,

00:26:54.860 some random guy

00:26:56.180 living in mom's basement,

00:26:58.980 oh, evolutionary psychology,

00:27:00.400 that's just quack science.

00:27:01.560 That's pseudoscience.

00:27:02.420 You know,

00:27:02.620 you guys just sit

00:27:03.380 with a cognac and a cigar

00:27:04.620 and you just make up stories.

00:27:06.140 I mean, literally,

00:27:07.080 nothing could be further

00:27:08.020 from the truth.

00:27:09.300 Okay?

00:27:10.000 But in any case,

00:27:11.620 I'll leave that

00:27:12.400 for another lecture.

00:27:13.140 What is evolutionary psychology?

00:27:15.760 Okay.

00:27:16.740 So number one,

00:27:18.180 evolutionary psychology

00:27:19.280 purports that the mind

00:27:21.000 is a product

00:27:21.760 of natural

00:27:22.820 and sexual selection

00:27:23.820 that was shaped

00:27:25.620 during the EEA,

00:27:27.660 the Environment

00:27:28.240 of Evolutionary Adaptiveness,

00:27:29.700 basically,

00:27:30.820 the Pleistocene era

00:27:31.880 from somewhere

00:27:32.560 from 10,000 years ago

00:27:34.220 to about

00:27:34.780 almost 2 million years ago,

00:27:36.300 1.8 million years ago.

00:27:37.640 So in the same way

00:27:38.740 that evolution

00:27:39.680 has resulted

00:27:41.360 in us having opposable thumbs,

00:27:43.140 in the same way

00:27:44.140 that evolution

00:27:44.800 gives us

00:27:46.660 a different

00:27:47.120 respiratory system

00:27:48.260 than that of fish,

00:27:50.120 right?

00:27:50.400 Everything is due

00:27:51.080 to evolution.

00:27:52.120 Well, surely,

00:27:52.900 it can't be

00:27:53.600 that the most important

00:27:54.680 organ in your body

00:27:55.940 that defines

00:27:56.580 your personhood,

00:27:57.560 which is your mind,

00:27:59.180 your brain,

00:27:59.920 that that somehow

00:28:01.400 exists

00:28:02.120 outside of evolution.

00:28:03.900 But it may or may not

00:28:05.600 surprise you to know

00:28:06.640 that 99.9%

00:28:09.220 of social scientists

00:28:10.620 still hang on

00:28:12.520 to the idea

00:28:13.220 that,

00:28:14.440 well,

00:28:15.080 to the extent

00:28:15.740 that evolution

00:28:16.440 operates,

00:28:17.660 it stops at the neck.

00:28:19.340 So sure,

00:28:20.120 Professor Saad,

00:28:21.200 evolution explains

00:28:22.120 opposable thumbs,

00:28:23.120 but what kind of

00:28:23.960 quack scientists

00:28:24.940 are you that you think

00:28:25.940 that the human mind

00:28:27.620 is shaped by evolution?

00:28:29.140 Well, of course,

00:28:29.720 it's shaped by evolution.

00:28:30.860 How else do you think

00:28:32.020 it came to be,

00:28:33.580 right?

00:28:34.160 You wouldn't,

00:28:35.320 every single other

00:28:36.680 species on Earth,

00:28:37.700 I mean,

00:28:38.060 literally,

00:28:38.800 every single other

00:28:40.260 species on Earth

00:28:41.560 is never studied

00:28:43.220 without an evolutionary lens,

00:28:45.420 without understanding

00:28:46.300 the biological heritage

00:28:47.540 of that species.

00:28:48.540 But somehow,

00:28:49.500 there is this unique

00:28:50.800 species

00:28:51.340 called Homo sapiens

00:28:53.660 that exists

00:28:55.000 in a magical plane

00:28:56.520 outside of

00:28:57.740 evolutionary theory.

00:28:59.560 Of course,

00:29:00.280 that's nonsense,

00:29:01.200 right?

00:29:02.020 So number one,

00:29:03.320 mind is a product

00:29:04.120 of natural

00:29:04.660 and sexual selection.

00:29:05.800 For those of you

00:29:06.520 who don't know,

00:29:07.720 natural selection

00:29:08.560 is the mechanism

00:29:09.660 that results

00:29:10.640 in the adaptations

00:29:13.120 that confer

00:29:14.120 survival advantage

00:29:15.380 to an organism,

00:29:16.800 whereas sexual selection

00:29:19.640 is the evolutionary mechanism

00:29:21.920 that results

00:29:22.620 in adaptations

00:29:23.440 that confer

00:29:24.340 a reproductive advantage,

00:29:26.680 right?

00:29:26.900 Because remember,

00:29:27.980 life is a two-step process.

00:29:29.660 you have to survive,

00:29:31.920 but you can survive

00:29:32.980 all you want

00:29:33.560 if you don't reproduce,

00:29:34.760 if you don't spread

00:29:35.820 your genes,

00:29:36.280 at least if you're

00:29:36.840 a sexually reproducing species,

00:29:38.320 then you're finished.

00:29:40.060 You're in a Darwinian dead end.

00:29:41.440 So life is a two-step game,

00:29:43.120 survive and mate.

00:29:44.700 Therefore,

00:29:45.180 hence,

00:29:45.480 natural and sexual selection.

00:29:47.120 So,

00:29:48.280 our human mind

00:29:49.400 is shaped

00:29:50.140 by these dual forces.

00:29:51.400 Okay,

00:29:51.560 number one.

00:29:51.980 number two,

00:29:55.420 very,

00:29:56.020 very important.

00:29:58.860 Evolutionary psychologists

00:30:00.340 recognize

00:30:02.640 that the human mind

00:30:04.720 is made up

00:30:06.100 of two sets

00:30:07.540 of computational systems.

00:30:10.740 There is what's called

00:30:12.160 domain general mechanisms.

00:30:14.620 So,

00:30:14.760 for example,

00:30:15.520 intelligence

00:30:16.160 is a domain

00:30:18.000 general ability.

00:30:19.560 Why is a domain general?

00:30:20.580 Because,

00:30:21.440 well,

00:30:21.660 precisely that,

00:30:22.820 right?

00:30:22.980 I mean,

00:30:23.180 even when you measure

00:30:25.140 intelligence,

00:30:26.140 it's called

00:30:26.900 general G.

00:30:29.060 Okay,

00:30:29.400 it's general intelligence.

00:30:31.780 Why?

00:30:32.320 Because I can use

00:30:33.420 my intelligence

00:30:34.160 to do well

00:30:36.160 in my job,

00:30:37.280 to be funny

00:30:38.680 at a party,

00:30:39.560 to do well

00:30:40.900 on a calculus exam.

00:30:42.280 So,

00:30:42.720 it is a transferable

00:30:44.460 cognitive ability

00:30:46.160 across many domains.

00:30:48.460 Okay?

00:30:49.060 And,

00:30:49.540 nearly all

00:30:52.160 of psychology

00:30:53.180 simply focuses

00:30:55.860 on domain

00:30:57.100 general mechanisms.

00:30:59.280 Now,

00:30:59.580 it's not that

00:31:00.040 that's wrong.

00:31:01.340 It's that

00:31:01.900 it's only part

00:31:03.360 of the story.

00:31:04.280 So,

00:31:04.960 our human mind

00:31:05.780 is made up

00:31:06.420 of an amalgamation

00:31:07.480 of domain

00:31:08.260 general mechanisms,

00:31:09.680 but now here comes

00:31:10.540 the evolutionary part,

00:31:12.520 but domain

00:31:13.380 specific

00:31:14.480 mechanisms.

00:31:15.780 Now,

00:31:16.080 what do we mean

00:31:16.580 by domain specific?

00:31:17.620 It means

00:31:18.860 that we've evolved

00:31:20.420 computational systems

00:31:22.040 that have uniquely

00:31:23.740 evolved

00:31:24.500 to solve

00:31:25.600 very specific

00:31:27.320 evolutionary problems.

00:31:29.200 Find mate,

00:31:31.040 retain mate,

00:31:32.760 avoid

00:31:33.240 poisonous,

00:31:36.520 you know,

00:31:37.400 contaminated food,

00:31:39.560 avoid predators,

00:31:41.100 build coalitions

00:31:42.180 and friendships,

00:31:43.540 invest in kin.

00:31:44.580 each of these

00:31:46.080 recurring

00:31:46.780 evolutionarily

00:31:47.700 important problems

00:31:48.920 would have

00:31:50.120 resulted

00:31:50.840 in selection

00:31:52.540 pressures,

00:31:53.480 evolutionary pressures,

00:31:54.420 for the human mind

00:31:56.220 to evolve

00:31:57.040 targeted

00:31:58.940 mechanisms.

00:31:59.800 This is very,

00:32:00.780 very,

00:32:01.540 God damn,

00:32:02.240 I can't believe

00:32:02.860 you're getting

00:32:03.280 all this for free.

00:32:04.840 I better see

00:32:05.700 an incredible growth

00:32:06.900 of subscription.

00:32:08.480 This shouldn't be,

00:32:09.000 this should be like

00:32:09.640 a thousand dollars

00:32:11.360 for this session.

00:32:13.780 In any case,

00:32:14.600 that's one of the

00:32:15.200 beautiful things

00:32:15.880 about the democratization

00:32:16.980 of knowledge

00:32:17.720 and that is that

00:32:18.660 we can now just

00:32:19.680 sit and speak

00:32:20.900 to each other

00:32:21.500 completely separated

00:32:23.660 by thousands of miles.

00:32:25.080 It's such a beautiful thing.

00:32:26.900 In any case,

00:32:27.300 so what's an example

00:32:29.480 of a domain-specific

00:32:30.240 mechanism?

00:32:31.620 Well,

00:32:32.940 let's suppose

00:32:35.160 you want to

00:32:36.060 make the argument

00:32:37.120 that human beings

00:32:38.560 have evolved

00:32:39.620 a preference

00:32:41.860 for facially symmetric,

00:32:43.980 well,

00:32:44.180 for facial symmetry.

00:32:45.980 In other words,

00:32:46.740 we find

00:32:47.540 attractive

00:32:50.560 a person

00:32:52.120 who's symmetric

00:32:52.660 and by the way,

00:32:53.180 that is a human universal.

00:32:54.760 Now,

00:32:55.040 if I want to

00:32:55.660 demonstrate to you

00:32:56.920 that that is

00:32:58.220 a

00:32:59.220 adaptation,

00:33:02.840 by the way,

00:33:03.380 that speaks to another

00:33:04.380 tenet of evolutionary psychology,

00:33:06.200 which is that

00:33:06.780 the human mind

00:33:07.600 is not tabula rasa,

00:33:09.480 right?

00:33:09.900 Social scientists

00:33:10.640 typically think

00:33:11.360 that we are born

00:33:11.940 with empty slates

00:33:12.860 and it is only

00:33:13.740 socialization

00:33:14.680 that then fills

00:33:15.540 our otherwise

00:33:16.660 empty minds

00:33:17.420 or in Latin

00:33:18.580 tabula rasa,

00:33:19.820 tabula rasa,

00:33:20.800 empty plate.

00:33:23.020 That's nonsense,

00:33:23.920 right?

00:33:24.160 There are

00:33:24.620 biological imperatives

00:33:25.920 that are

00:33:26.900 completely

00:33:28.100 there,

00:33:29.800 hardwired

00:33:30.660 when we come

00:33:31.640 to the world.

00:33:32.160 Now,

00:33:32.320 how would I

00:33:32.820 establish that?

00:33:34.240 How would I

00:33:34.860 establish

00:33:35.480 that

00:33:36.680 the preference

00:33:38.840 for

00:33:39.240 facial symmetry

00:33:40.780 is innate?

00:33:42.080 Well,

00:33:42.460 here I would

00:33:43.140 turn to

00:33:44.220 developmental psychology.

00:33:46.500 Developmental psychologists

00:33:47.600 study,

00:33:48.260 well,

00:33:49.340 cognitive development

00:33:50.460 or emotional

00:33:52.220 development.

00:33:52.800 they're studying

00:33:53.940 how these

00:33:55.380 mechanisms

00:33:56.280 come to be

00:33:59.000 throughout

00:33:59.860 the life cycle

00:34:01.160 of an organism.

00:34:02.620 Well,

00:34:03.340 I could take

00:34:04.140 children

00:34:04.780 or infants

00:34:05.960 who are

00:34:06.520 too young

00:34:07.500 to be socialized.

00:34:08.680 In other words,

00:34:09.060 by definition,

00:34:10.260 they could not

00:34:11.060 have been socialized

00:34:12.320 and I could

00:34:13.320 show you

00:34:14.040 that they already

00:34:15.100 exhibit

00:34:15.840 an innate

00:34:17.420 preference

00:34:18.060 for facially

00:34:19.180 symmetric

00:34:19.700 individuals

00:34:20.560 at a stage

00:34:22.700 prior to

00:34:24.060 them having

00:34:24.640 had the

00:34:25.520 possibility

00:34:25.940 of being

00:34:26.320 socialized.

00:34:26.820 By definition,

00:34:27.880 I'm ruling

00:34:28.440 out the

00:34:29.060 socialization

00:34:29.660 explanation.

00:34:30.520 So,

00:34:30.660 that's a very,

00:34:31.240 very powerful

00:34:31.700 way to

00:34:32.640 demonstrate

00:34:33.140 how certain

00:34:34.280 mechanisms

00:34:34.800 are innate,

00:34:36.240 are instinctual,

00:34:37.540 to use the

00:34:38.440 term of

00:34:38.880 human ethology.

00:34:40.260 So,

00:34:40.600 domain-specific

00:34:41.620 mechanisms

00:34:42.500 are those

00:34:44.060 that have

00:34:45.140 specifically

00:34:46.060 evolved

00:34:46.880 to solve

00:34:48.000 a recurring

00:34:48.900 evolutionary

00:34:49.500 problem.

00:34:50.320 And so,

00:34:51.340 my mind

00:34:52.060 and yours

00:34:52.760 is an

00:34:53.700 amalgamation

00:34:54.460 of both

00:34:55.180 domain-general

00:34:56.460 mechanisms

00:34:57.020 and domain-specific

00:34:58.540 mechanisms.

00:34:59.460 And if you'd

00:35:00.100 like to

00:35:00.780 remember this

00:35:02.240 distinction,

00:35:02.720 I always tell

00:35:03.140 my students

00:35:03.600 when they're

00:35:03.920 all panicking

00:35:04.440 about the

00:35:04.820 exams,

00:35:05.620 one of the

00:35:06.160 best ways

00:35:06.580 to remember

00:35:07.100 this distinction

00:35:07.920 between domain-general

00:35:08.960 and domain-specific

00:35:09.760 is to think

00:35:10.940 about a

00:35:12.360 Swiss army

00:35:13.260 knife.

00:35:14.960 I wish

00:35:16.120 I was

00:35:16.540 taking questions

00:35:17.460 now to

00:35:17.960 see if

00:35:18.760 anybody

00:35:19.060 can guess

00:35:19.900 why I'm

00:35:20.460 using the

00:35:21.260 Swiss army

00:35:21.800 knife metaphor.

00:35:23.400 Well,

00:35:24.260 the Swiss army

00:35:25.220 knife is made

00:35:26.180 up of

00:35:26.580 different blades,

00:35:27.540 correct?

00:35:28.340 Each of

00:35:29.000 these blades

00:35:29.840 solves a

00:35:31.780 particular

00:35:32.460 function that

00:35:33.580 is non-transferable

00:35:34.900 to other

00:35:35.940 functions,

00:35:36.680 right?

00:35:36.940 So,

00:35:37.340 when you

00:35:37.920 open up

00:35:38.520 the cork

00:35:39.920 blade,

00:35:40.460 you know,

00:35:40.620 the one

00:35:40.900 that for

00:35:41.420 you to

00:35:41.700 pop the

00:35:42.260 cork from

00:35:42.780 the wine

00:35:43.420 bottle,

00:35:44.120 I can't

00:35:44.960 use that

00:35:45.620 blade to

00:35:46.420 cut butter.

00:35:47.400 It could

00:35:48.120 only be

00:35:48.900 used for

00:35:49.860 that

00:35:50.140 singular

00:35:50.800 function,

00:35:52.920 and it

00:35:53.340 is non-transferable,

00:35:54.740 and therefore

00:35:55.080 it is,

00:35:55.520 you know,

00:35:56.620 function-specific

00:35:57.740 or domain-specific.

00:35:59.900 So,

00:36:00.640 one of the

00:36:01.020 things that

00:36:01.560 evolutionary

00:36:01.980 psychologists

00:36:02.620 have done

00:36:03.620 is they've

00:36:04.700 tried to

00:36:05.320 uncover

00:36:05.920 what are

00:36:07.460 some of

00:36:07.940 these domain-specific

00:36:09.120 modules,

00:36:10.040 and then

00:36:10.660 demonstrate how

00:36:11.580 they are

00:36:12.220 actually

00:36:13.020 cognitive

00:36:14.160 or emotional

00:36:15.480 or behavioral

00:36:16.320 adaptations.

00:36:17.620 Okay,

00:36:17.760 so that's

00:36:18.080 a very,

00:36:18.920 very powerful

00:36:19.800 distinction

00:36:21.220 from

00:36:22.180 non-evolutionary

00:36:24.100 psychology

00:36:24.740 and what

00:36:26.020 evolutionary

00:36:26.480 psychologists

00:36:27.000 do.

00:36:27.900 And then

00:36:28.340 finally,

00:36:29.700 the last

00:36:30.540 important

00:36:32.380 tenet,

00:36:33.420 and then

00:36:33.820 I will

00:36:34.560 call it

00:36:35.600 quits,

00:36:36.800 but please

00:36:37.480 post comments

00:36:38.720 at the

00:36:39.240 bottom,

00:36:40.000 you know,

00:36:40.280 in the

00:36:40.720 whatever,

00:36:41.700 in the

00:36:42.440 comments

00:36:44.360 section

00:36:44.820 of the

00:36:45.280 general

00:36:45.720 X-spaces

00:36:46.760 session,

00:36:47.540 the last

00:36:48.620 distinction

00:36:49.240 or tenet

00:36:50.700 of evolution

00:36:51.260 psychology,

00:36:53.120 arguably

00:36:53.520 the most

00:36:54.160 epistemologically

00:36:55.700 mind-blowing

00:36:56.640 distinction,

00:36:57.820 is the

00:36:59.020 distinction

00:36:59.500 between

00:37:00.600 proximate

00:37:01.540 explanations

00:37:02.220 and ultimate

00:37:03.580 explanations.

00:37:05.080 Okay?

00:37:05.480 This is

00:37:06.020 really,

00:37:06.600 truly important.

00:37:07.220 I mean,

00:37:07.880 I mean,

00:37:08.280 literally,

00:37:09.480 if you

00:37:10.180 only

00:37:10.680 learned

00:37:11.120 this,

00:37:12.920 you would

00:37:13.440 be

00:37:13.800 unbelievably

00:37:14.620 more

00:37:15.300 better

00:37:16.440 equipped

00:37:16.900 in

00:37:17.120 understanding

00:37:17.700 the

00:37:18.380 natural

00:37:18.960 world.

00:37:20.360 Much

00:37:20.640 of science

00:37:21.340 operates

00:37:22.060 at the

00:37:22.740 proximate

00:37:23.160 level.

00:37:23.580 What does

00:37:23.820 that mean?

00:37:24.860 Proximate

00:37:25.400 explanations

00:37:26.080 explain

00:37:26.980 the how

00:37:28.020 and the

00:37:29.080 what

00:37:29.400 of a

00:37:29.980 phenomenon.

00:37:31.240 Okay?

00:37:32.460 And much

00:37:33.020 of science

00:37:33.520 operates at

00:37:34.140 the proximate

00:37:34.580 level,

00:37:34.880 and that's

00:37:35.120 perfectly

00:37:35.460 fine.

00:37:36.120 It's

00:37:36.460 the

00:37:36.680 mechanistic

00:37:37.600 explanation

00:37:38.580 of a

00:37:39.120 phenomenon.

00:37:40.440 How does

00:37:40.980 diabetes

00:37:41.480 occur?

00:37:43.180 What are

00:37:43.580 some

00:37:43.820 factors

00:37:44.460 that

00:37:45.280 increase

00:37:46.060 the

00:37:46.740 likelihood

00:37:47.140 of you

00:37:47.560 getting

00:37:47.820 diabetes?

00:37:48.420 So,

00:37:48.600 notice how

00:37:49.040 I use

00:37:49.540 the words

00:37:50.040 how and

00:37:51.000 what.

00:37:52.180 Okay?

00:37:52.560 So,

00:37:53.180 that's

00:37:53.400 fine.

00:37:53.940 Most

00:37:54.180 Nobel

00:37:54.520 Prizes

00:37:55.160 that have

00:37:55.920 ever been

00:37:56.380 won

00:37:56.880 have been

00:37:57.500 won

00:37:57.860 for

00:37:58.680 explorations

00:37:59.980 at the

00:38:00.340 proximate

00:38:00.760 level.

00:38:01.260 That's

00:38:01.480 perfectly

00:38:01.860 fine.

00:38:02.860 But now

00:38:03.680 comes

00:38:04.200 the big

00:38:04.860 kicker.

00:38:06.120 Evolutionary

00:38:06.760 theory

00:38:07.280 and evolutionary

00:38:08.440 psychology

00:38:09.180 recognize

00:38:10.820 that there

00:38:11.440 is a

00:38:11.740 completely

00:38:12.360 separate

00:38:13.400 epistemological

00:38:14.500 level to

00:38:16.100 scientific

00:38:16.660 explanations,

00:38:17.680 and that's

00:38:18.020 called

00:38:18.400 ultimate

00:38:19.020 explanations.

00:38:20.460 Ultimate

00:38:20.880 explanations,

00:38:21.860 ultimate

00:38:22.140 doesn't mean

00:38:22.780 superior,

00:38:23.640 you know,

00:38:23.820 it's the

00:38:24.140 ultimate,

00:38:24.700 it's better.

00:38:25.820 A lot

00:38:26.140 of my

00:38:26.600 buffoonish

00:38:27.480 and basilic

00:38:28.200 colleagues

00:38:28.660 who have

00:38:29.420 been

00:38:29.600 historically

00:38:30.160 hostile to

00:38:31.440 all of my

00:38:31.880 evolutionary

00:38:32.240 psychology

00:38:32.700 work used

00:38:33.820 to get

00:38:34.080 offended.

00:38:34.580 Oh,

00:38:35.040 you know,

00:38:35.360 big biology

00:38:36.340 guys coming

00:38:37.040 with his

00:38:37.380 ultimate

00:38:37.680 explanations.

00:38:38.220 That's

00:38:38.620 not what

00:38:38.860 it means.

00:38:39.800 Ultimate

00:38:40.120 explanations

00:38:40.780 means the

00:38:41.820 Darwinian

00:38:42.660 why.

00:38:44.080 So,

00:38:44.520 it's

00:38:44.640 ultimate

00:38:45.120 in that

00:38:45.980 if you

00:38:46.380 unfold

00:38:47.260 the

00:38:48.320 sequence

00:38:49.920 of

00:38:50.320 causality,

00:38:51.180 it's the

00:38:51.720 ultimate

00:38:52.160 Darwinian

00:38:52.820 why,

00:38:53.160 which is

00:38:53.520 why did

00:38:54.920 the mechanism

00:38:55.760 evolve to

00:38:56.860 be of

00:38:57.360 that form?

00:38:58.920 Okay?

00:38:59.240 So,

00:38:59.760 the how

00:39:00.260 and what

00:39:00.880 answers the

00:39:02.100 proximate

00:39:02.680 explanations,

00:39:03.320 and the

00:39:04.780 ultimate

00:39:06.100 explanation is

00:39:06.940 the

00:39:07.060 Darwinian

00:39:07.480 why.

00:39:07.780 And so,

00:39:08.060 let me give

00:39:08.520 a specific

00:39:09.200 example which

00:39:09.940 I've often

00:39:10.540 given,

00:39:10.900 so maybe

00:39:11.200 some of

00:39:11.540 you have

00:39:11.860 heard it

00:39:12.500 before,

00:39:12.880 but I

00:39:13.100 suspect

00:39:13.360 many

00:39:13.700 haven't,

00:39:15.000 whenever,

00:39:15.420 because otherwise

00:39:15.980 it's maybe a

00:39:16.840 bit abstract

00:39:17.360 to understand

00:39:18.280 the distinction

00:39:18.800 between

00:39:19.100 proximate and

00:39:19.700 ultimate.

00:39:20.040 So,

00:39:20.220 let me

00:39:20.340 explain it.

00:39:21.960 Take,

00:39:22.520 for example,

00:39:23.000 pregnancy

00:39:23.360 sickness.

00:39:24.480 Pregnancy

00:39:24.880 sickness is

00:39:25.420 simply a

00:39:25.820 more general

00:39:26.280 term for

00:39:26.840 morning

00:39:27.380 sickness.

00:39:27.760 The reason

00:39:29.280 why you

00:39:29.600 don't say

00:39:29.880 morning

00:39:30.120 sickness is

00:39:30.600 because while

00:39:31.480 many women

00:39:32.140 will experience

00:39:32.840 those symptoms

00:39:33.460 in the

00:39:33.800 morning,

00:39:34.780 others don't,

00:39:35.900 and so the

00:39:36.240 more general

00:39:36.680 term is

00:39:37.180 pregnancy

00:39:37.820 sickness.

00:39:38.640 Now,

00:39:39.340 pregnancy

00:39:39.820 sickness,

00:39:41.160 there's a

00:39:41.580 million ways

00:39:42.380 that if I

00:39:43.460 were a

00:39:44.440 researcher

00:39:44.920 in this

00:39:46.340 area,

00:39:47.440 or even

00:39:48.140 a practitioner

00:39:48.980 in this

00:39:49.380 area,

00:39:49.800 a gynecologist,

00:39:50.740 an OBGYN

00:39:51.460 physician,

00:39:52.440 there's a

00:39:53.040 million proximate

00:39:53.800 questions that I

00:39:54.440 can ask.

00:39:55.120 I could say,

00:39:56.080 hey,

00:39:56.600 how do

00:39:57.420 hormonal

00:39:58.440 changes in

00:39:59.660 a woman's

00:40:00.240 body affect

00:40:01.480 the severity

00:40:02.520 of her

00:40:04.160 pregnancy

00:40:05.020 sickness?

00:40:06.020 Right?

00:40:06.280 So you see

00:40:06.580 how I said

00:40:07.020 how?

00:40:07.720 How is

00:40:08.780 a proximate

00:40:09.480 question.

00:40:10.480 What are

00:40:11.140 some olfactory

00:40:12.900 cues that

00:40:14.100 will increase

00:40:15.340 the severity

00:40:16.100 of pregnancy

00:40:17.060 sickness

00:40:17.500 symptoms?

00:40:18.320 That's a

00:40:18.660 what question.

00:40:19.540 And there's

00:40:20.060 been a

00:40:20.460 million different

00:40:21.660 scientific

00:40:22.600 proximate

00:40:23.260 questions that

00:40:24.300 have been

00:40:24.580 asked when

00:40:26.820 it comes to

00:40:27.240 pregnancy

00:40:27.560 sickness.

00:40:28.340 But now

00:40:28.720 get ready.

00:40:29.560 I'm about

00:40:30.100 to blow

00:40:30.620 your minds.

00:40:31.480 You ready?

00:40:32.520 You're

00:40:32.660 sitting

00:40:33.920 seated

00:40:34.500 or sitting

00:40:36.080 down?

00:40:36.840 The ultimate

00:40:37.960 explanation for

00:40:38.920 pregnancy

00:40:39.300 sickness is

00:40:40.540 to try to

00:40:41.220 understand the

00:40:42.140 Darwinian

00:40:42.720 why.

00:40:43.180 Why did

00:40:44.160 this mechanism

00:40:45.240 evolve?

00:40:46.240 And the

00:40:46.600 person who

00:40:47.620 really,

00:40:48.680 I mean,

00:40:48.920 she's not the

00:40:49.300 only one,

00:40:49.820 but she's

00:40:50.280 one of the

00:40:51.200 best known

00:40:52.380 evolutionists

00:40:54.120 to study

00:40:54.820 the evolutionary

00:40:55.480 roots of

00:40:56.000 pregnancy

00:40:56.300 sickness.

00:40:56.800 Her name

00:40:57.180 is Margaret

00:40:58.440 Prophet.

00:40:59.680 And there's

00:41:00.180 a whole story

00:41:01.280 about her.

00:41:01.720 She just

00:41:02.060 disappeared off

00:41:03.620 the face of

00:41:04.040 the earth.

00:41:04.900 Just enter

00:41:05.720 her name.

00:41:07.140 Margaret

00:41:07.620 Prophet,

00:41:08.280 P-R-O-F-E-T.

00:41:10.980 Incredible

00:41:11.540 scholar.

00:41:12.340 She was an

00:41:12.860 independent

00:41:13.380 scholar.

00:41:14.340 She wasn't

00:41:14.720 affiliated to

00:41:15.300 any school.

00:41:15.900 I don't even

00:41:16.260 think she,

00:41:17.460 when she came

00:41:18.200 up with some

00:41:18.580 of her

00:41:18.840 brilliant theories,

00:41:19.560 she didn't

00:41:19.900 have a PhD,

00:41:21.460 if I remember

00:41:22.160 correctly.

00:41:23.380 In any

00:41:23.720 case,

00:41:24.720 the ultimate

00:41:25.360 Darwinian

00:41:26.000 explanation for

00:41:26.900 why pregnancy

00:41:27.640 sickness is

00:41:28.420 the following.

00:41:29.300 Now watch

00:41:29.760 how gorgeous

00:41:30.640 this is.

00:41:34.100 Pregnancy

00:41:34.780 sickness happens

00:41:36.040 during the

00:41:36.980 first trimester

00:41:37.700 of your

00:41:38.240 gestation,

00:41:39.060 during a

00:41:39.500 period called

00:41:40.140 organogenesis.

00:41:41.140 Organogenesis

00:41:41.860 is when the

00:41:43.720 organs are

00:41:44.980 forming in

00:41:46.180 utero.

00:41:47.480 Okay?

00:41:47.700 Hence,

00:41:48.100 organogenesis,

00:41:48.940 the start

00:41:50.300 of organ

00:41:51.040 formation.

00:41:52.200 Well,

00:41:52.880 you could

00:41:53.300 literally set

00:41:54.300 your clocks

00:41:55.180 to organogenesis.

00:41:57.000 We know

00:41:57.260 exactly,

00:41:58.420 roughly,

00:41:58.920 when it's

00:41:59.200 going to

00:42:00.280 start in

00:42:00.860 the first

00:42:01.220 trimester

00:42:01.760 and when

00:42:02.720 it's going

00:42:03.060 to end.

00:42:05.280 So,

00:42:05.620 how does

00:42:06.540 that help

00:42:06.940 us understand

00:42:07.600 the Darwinian

00:42:08.400 why?

00:42:08.840 Well,

00:42:09.700 the most

00:42:10.440 dangerous

00:42:11.000 thing

00:42:11.740 to the

00:42:14.080 fetus

00:42:14.640 while its

00:42:16.020 organs are

00:42:16.820 forming in

00:42:17.500 utero

00:42:18.100 is if

00:42:19.880 the mother

00:42:22.220 is exposed

00:42:23.420 to food-borne

00:42:25.020 pathogens,

00:42:26.100 specifically

00:42:26.660 teratogens.

00:42:28.140 Therefore,

00:42:29.860 women,

00:42:30.740 this is very

00:42:31.780 much consumer

00:42:32.300 behavior,

00:42:33.640 women will

00:42:34.260 be repelled

00:42:35.500 from consuming

00:42:36.520 certain foods

00:42:37.460 that might

00:42:38.240 otherwise have

00:42:39.080 a high

00:42:39.620 load of

00:42:40.900 such pathogens

00:42:41.600 or they

00:42:42.620 become

00:42:43.100 uniquely

00:42:44.180 attracted

00:42:44.940 to other

00:42:45.640 foods

00:42:46.220 that serve

00:42:47.320 as

00:42:48.020 antimicrobial

00:42:49.600 insurance

00:42:50.920 against

00:42:51.820 ingestation

00:42:53.040 of these.

00:42:53.600 So,

00:42:53.860 for example,

00:42:54.380 you've all

00:42:54.960 heard of the

00:42:55.460 stereotypical

00:42:56.360 pregnant woman

00:42:58.320 is desirous

00:42:59.380 of pickles.

00:43:00.220 Well,

00:43:00.360 because pickling

00:43:01.260 actually serves

00:43:02.940 as an

00:43:03.320 antimicrobial

00:43:04.200 mechanism.

00:43:04.680 so smoking

00:43:06.780 food,

00:43:07.920 salting

00:43:08.340 food,

00:43:09.160 using

00:43:09.500 spices,

00:43:10.780 pickling,

00:43:11.200 are all

00:43:12.300 part of

00:43:13.500 a panoply

00:43:14.960 of

00:43:15.880 antimicrobial

00:43:18.860 mechanisms

00:43:19.680 that are

00:43:20.140 used,

00:43:21.280 that are

00:43:21.480 ingested

00:43:22.000 to protect

00:43:23.020 yourself.

00:43:23.380 Now,

00:43:23.860 let's suppose

00:43:24.780 that all

00:43:25.820 of these

00:43:26.340 food preferences,

00:43:28.700 whether I'm

00:43:29.380 repelled by

00:43:30.120 certain foods

00:43:30.780 or attracted

00:43:32.460 to other

00:43:32.880 foods,

00:43:33.620 what would

00:43:34.800 be the

00:43:35.100 ultimate

00:43:35.420 insurance

00:43:35.920 policy to

00:43:36.520 make sure

00:43:36.920 that if

00:43:37.200 I'm a

00:43:37.520 pregnant

00:43:37.760 woman that

00:43:38.320 I protect

00:43:39.180 my fetus

00:43:40.640 during

00:43:40.900 organogenesis,

00:43:41.760 well,

00:43:41.940 then I

00:43:42.300 will throw

00:43:42.920 up.

00:43:43.740 So,

00:43:43.960 the feeling

00:43:44.520 of,

00:43:45.500 so the

00:43:45.900 ultimate

00:43:46.540 mechanism,

00:43:48.620 you know,

00:43:48.840 the final

00:43:49.300 mechanism is,

00:43:50.880 you know,

00:43:51.180 if all else

00:43:51.880 fails,

00:43:52.760 throw up.

00:43:53.780 And therefore,

00:43:54.560 now you might

00:43:54.980 say,

00:43:55.180 okay,

00:43:55.320 well,

00:43:55.440 that sounds

00:43:55.740 great.

00:43:56.520 That's a

00:43:57.680 cool scientific

00:43:58.840 reality,

00:43:59.720 but what is

00:44:00.620 the practical

00:44:01.740 actionable

00:44:02.700 thing here?

00:44:04.440 And again,

00:44:05.240 forgive me

00:44:05.800 here,

00:44:06.380 I truly

00:44:07.120 hope that

00:44:07.720 you appreciate

00:44:08.520 the power

00:44:10.060 of what we're

00:44:10.720 talking about

00:44:11.300 here.

00:44:12.380 In the same

00:44:13.740 way that you

00:44:14.800 couldn't study

00:44:15.900 things at the

00:44:17.880 nano level

00:44:18.620 until we

00:44:19.560 developed an

00:44:20.860 electronic

00:44:21.280 microscope,

00:44:22.620 and in the

00:44:24.000 same way that

00:44:24.720 you can't

00:44:25.280 study things

00:44:25.860 at the

00:44:26.140 cosmological

00:44:26.760 level until

00:44:28.080 you develop

00:44:28.840 telescopes that

00:44:30.080 are powerful

00:44:30.620 enough to

00:44:31.180 allow us to

00:44:31.720 see things

00:44:32.280 that the

00:44:32.580 naked eye

00:44:33.080 can't see,

00:44:34.020 what I'm

00:44:34.540 offering you

00:44:35.380 right here

00:44:36.140 is an

00:44:37.240 epistemological

00:44:38.900 telescope and

00:44:40.540 electronic

00:44:41.100 microscope.

00:44:42.000 What I'm

00:44:42.260 showing you

00:44:43.000 is that once

00:44:44.300 you understand

00:44:45.100 evolutionary

00:44:45.780 theory,

00:44:46.800 you're able

00:44:47.700 to explain

00:44:48.540 any phenomenon

00:44:50.180 involving

00:44:51.260 biological

00:44:52.380 agents at

00:44:53.880 two levels

00:44:54.880 of analyses,

00:44:55.760 at the

00:44:56.160 proximate

00:44:56.720 level and

00:44:57.480 the ultimate

00:44:57.940 level.

00:44:58.480 So now let's

00:44:58.940 come back to

00:44:59.400 pregnancy

00:44:59.720 sickness.

00:45:01.100 If you

00:45:01.640 say,

00:45:01.860 okay,

00:45:02.020 well,

00:45:02.160 who cares?

00:45:03.100 That's great,

00:45:03.940 Dr. Saad,

00:45:04.420 but I mean,

00:45:04.780 who cares about

00:45:05.280 what's the

00:45:05.940 actionable,

00:45:07.160 practical

00:45:07.720 value in

00:45:09.900 having a

00:45:10.740 Darwinian

00:45:12.020 explanation of

00:45:13.220 pregnancy

00:45:13.660 sickness?

00:45:14.460 Aha,

00:45:15.260 well,

00:45:15.640 get ready.

00:45:16.500 Let's suppose

00:45:17.240 you are a

00:45:18.440 pregnant woman

00:45:19.200 who's experiencing

00:45:20.100 great amount of

00:45:21.820 pregnancy sickness

00:45:22.780 symptoms.

00:45:23.860 Well,

00:45:24.220 tomorrow you

00:45:24.660 have an

00:45:24.940 exam or

00:45:25.720 tomorrow you

00:45:26.220 have a

00:45:26.540 job interview

00:45:27.200 or tomorrow

00:45:27.820 you're going

00:45:28.320 on a

00:45:28.640 business trip.

00:45:29.660 You don't

00:45:29.980 want to be

00:45:30.340 running to

00:45:30.980 the bathroom

00:45:31.460 every 14

00:45:32.100 seconds and

00:45:32.700 throwing up

00:45:33.200 and feeling

00:45:33.600 awful.

00:45:34.300 So you

00:45:34.780 go and

00:45:35.380 see your

00:45:36.060 OBGYN,

00:45:37.420 your

00:45:37.600 gynecologist,

00:45:38.540 and you

00:45:39.060 say,

00:45:39.320 hey,

00:45:39.460 doc,

00:45:39.880 help me.

00:45:40.640 What will

00:45:41.300 he or

00:45:41.700 she do?

00:45:42.520 They will

00:45:43.080 prescribe

00:45:43.640 something to

00:45:44.600 you that

00:45:45.540 attenuates

00:45:46.680 those pregnancy

00:45:47.900 sickness

00:45:48.480 symptoms.

00:45:49.860 Guess

00:45:50.060 what?

00:45:50.720 You ready?

00:45:51.180 That is

00:45:52.720 the

00:45:53.000 perfectly

00:45:54.040 incorrect

00:45:55.140 thing to

00:45:55.800 do from

00:45:56.480 an evolutionary

00:45:56.980 perspective.

00:45:57.700 Why?

00:45:58.440 Because

00:45:58.880 those

00:45:59.260 pregnancy

00:45:59.920 sickness

00:46:00.580 symptoms

00:46:01.300 are there

00:46:02.960 to protect

00:46:04.480 the fetus.

00:46:06.200 Now,

00:46:06.580 you might

00:46:06.780 say,

00:46:06.960 well,

00:46:07.060 how do

00:46:07.240 we know

00:46:07.480 that?

00:46:07.840 Well,

00:46:07.980 there are

00:46:08.220 several ways

00:46:08.700 we know

00:46:08.940 that.

00:46:09.760 You're

00:46:10.020 much less

00:46:10.600 likely to

00:46:11.740 have a

00:46:12.220 miscarriage

00:46:12.960 the more

00:46:14.060 pregnancy

00:46:14.680 sickness

00:46:15.180 you experience.

00:46:16.880 The success,

00:46:18.220 the trajectory

00:46:18.880 of your

00:46:19.700 gestational

00:46:20.480 path,

00:46:22.020 journey,

00:46:22.700 is more

00:46:23.540 likely to

00:46:24.020 be successful

00:46:24.620 the more

00:46:25.840 pregnancy

00:46:26.520 sickness

00:46:27.120 symptoms

00:46:27.640 you experience.

00:46:28.760 So,

00:46:28.940 while it

00:46:29.360 makes

00:46:29.740 pragmatic

00:46:30.620 sense for

00:46:31.440 you to

00:46:31.680 say,

00:46:31.880 look,

00:46:32.060 I want

00:46:32.340 to reduce

00:46:33.240 my symptoms

00:46:33.900 because

00:46:34.120 otherwise

00:46:34.380 I can't

00:46:35.000 go and

00:46:35.340 take this

00:46:35.680 exam.

00:46:36.080 I'm going

00:46:36.200 to be

00:46:36.360 running

00:46:36.560 to the

00:46:36.860 bathroom

00:46:37.120 every

00:46:37.360 three

00:46:37.580 minutes.

00:46:38.360 From

00:46:38.680 a broader

00:46:39.540 ultimate

00:46:40.460 explanation

00:46:41.300 perspective,

00:46:42.820 those

00:46:43.660 very

00:46:44.120 unpleasant

00:46:44.820 symptoms

00:46:45.480 have

00:46:46.460 evolved

00:46:47.120 to the

00:46:48.220 benefit

00:46:48.580 of your

00:46:49.460 growing

00:46:50.540 child

00:46:50.960 in your

00:46:51.320 belly.

00:46:52.740 And so

00:46:53.000 here

00:46:53.340 is where

00:46:54.100 you see

00:46:54.520 the value

00:46:55.260 of

00:46:56.300 applying

00:46:57.360 the

00:46:58.460 evolutionary

00:46:59.020 lens

00:46:59.520 to

00:46:59.740 medicine.

00:47:00.920 And I

00:47:01.220 actually

00:47:01.500 mentioned

00:47:01.820 this.

00:47:02.100 I was

00:47:02.240 just

00:47:02.540 giving a

00:47:03.820 talk

00:47:04.160 in

00:47:04.400 Colorado

00:47:04.880 this

00:47:05.260 past

00:47:05.500 weekend

00:47:05.760 at the

00:47:06.160 Steamboat

00:47:06.560 Institute's

00:47:07.640 summit

00:47:08.100 on foreign

00:47:08.720 policy and

00:47:09.240 global

00:47:09.440 security.

00:47:09.880 I had

00:47:11.200 a

00:47:11.800 student

00:47:14.120 who's

00:47:14.440 heading

00:47:14.920 to

00:47:15.280 medical

00:47:15.720 school

00:47:16.120 ask me

00:47:17.220 you know

00:47:17.460 okay

00:47:17.760 this

00:47:19.600 evolutionary

00:47:20.020 psychology

00:47:20.460 stuff

00:47:20.740 sounds

00:47:20.960 so

00:47:21.140 fascinating

00:47:21.480 and so

00:47:21.720 I was

00:47:21.880 trying to

00:47:22.160 explain

00:47:22.420 to him

00:47:22.760 the

00:47:23.380 importance

00:47:23.920 of

00:47:24.280 evolutionary

00:47:24.680 medicine.

00:47:25.280 By the

00:47:25.460 way the

00:47:25.740 pioneer

00:47:26.380 of using

00:47:27.400 evolutionary

00:47:28.340 principles

00:47:28.820 in

00:47:29.020 medicine

00:47:29.320 there's

00:47:29.620 a great

00:47:29.960 book

00:47:30.240 highly

00:47:30.620 recommended

00:47:31.080 go and

00:47:31.620 buy it

00:47:32.000 when we

00:47:32.280 finish

00:47:32.620 this

00:47:32.860 today.

00:47:33.560 It's

00:47:34.120 called

00:47:34.360 Why We

00:47:34.860 Get

00:47:35.060 Sick

00:47:35.440 by

00:47:36.080 George

00:47:36.420 Williams

00:47:36.840 and

00:47:37.060 Randy

00:47:37.440 Nesse

00:47:37.860 Nesse

00:47:38.540 is

00:47:38.760 N-E-S-S-S-E

00:47:39.860 Randy

00:47:40.520 Nesse

00:47:40.800 is a

00:47:41.140 friend

00:47:41.280 of mine

00:47:41.560 who's

00:47:41.740 been

00:47:41.860 on my

00:47:42.100 show

00:47:42.260 twice

00:47:42.640 he is

00:47:43.380 a

00:47:43.660 psychiatrist

00:47:44.160 by

00:47:44.480 training

00:47:44.820 but

00:47:45.040 he's

00:47:45.260 an

00:47:45.480 evolutionary

00:47:46.120 physician

00:47:47.760 in that

00:47:48.600 he

00:47:48.800 applies

00:47:49.400 the

00:47:50.360 evolutionary

00:47:50.880 lens

00:47:51.460 to

00:47:51.680 study

00:47:52.220 why

00:47:53.760 we've

00:47:54.120 evolved

00:47:54.700 bodies

00:47:55.500 and

00:47:56.260 minds

00:47:56.740 that

00:47:57.400 are

00:47:57.640 prone

00:47:57.960 to

00:47:58.160 certain

00:47:58.500 diseases

00:47:59.020 so

00:47:59.760 understanding

00:48:00.480 the

00:48:00.760 ultimate

00:48:01.420 causation

00:48:02.120 of

00:48:02.320 disease

00:48:02.800 can

00:48:03.360 result

00:48:03.820 in

00:48:04.060 completely

00:48:04.580 different

00:48:05.140 medical

00:48:05.500 interventions

00:48:06.160 than

00:48:06.840 if

00:48:07.000 you

00:48:07.140 were

00:48:07.320 restricted

00:48:07.820 strictly

00:48:08.680 to

00:48:08.880 the

00:48:09.040 proximate

00:48:09.500 world

00:48:09.820 and so

00:48:10.380 one of

00:48:10.620 the

00:48:10.700 things

00:48:10.880 that

00:48:11.080 Randy

00:48:11.400 has

00:48:11.620 been

00:48:11.760 doing

00:48:12.120 well

00:48:12.640 probably

00:48:13.400 the

00:48:13.640 primary

00:48:14.180 thing

00:48:14.480 that

00:48:14.580 he's

00:48:14.700 been

00:48:14.840 doing

00:48:15.020 in his

00:48:15.240 career

00:48:15.440 other than

00:48:15.960 publishing

00:48:16.580 scientific

00:48:17.200 papers

00:48:17.560 is to

00:48:18.480 try to

00:48:19.160 Darwinize

00:48:20.080 the

00:48:20.880 medical

00:48:21.380 curriculum

00:48:22.020 in medical

00:48:22.580 schools

00:48:22.940 in other

00:48:23.240 words

00:48:23.420 it makes

00:48:24.100 no sense

00:48:24.720 for

00:48:25.000 future

00:48:25.720 for future

00:48:25.740 physicians

00:48:26.460 to

00:48:26.960 be

00:48:27.140 trained

00:48:27.620 without

00:48:28.220 ever

00:48:28.700 the

00:48:28.980 word

00:48:29.300 Darwin

00:48:29.820 or

00:48:30.140 evolutionary

00:48:31.600 biology

00:48:32.100 ever

00:48:32.500 being

00:48:32.820 mentioned

00:48:33.240 that

00:48:34.100 makes

00:48:34.340 you

00:48:34.500 an

00:48:34.660 incomplete

00:48:35.240 physician

00:48:35.740 now

00:48:36.140 that

00:48:36.500 doesn't

00:48:36.740 mean

00:48:36.880 that

00:48:37.020 you

00:48:37.140 still

00:48:37.340 can't

00:48:37.640 be

00:48:37.740 a

00:48:37.880 great

00:48:38.060 physician

00:48:38.500 if

00:48:39.880 you're

00:48:40.260 restricted

00:48:40.940 to

00:48:41.160 proximate

00:48:41.620 world

00:48:41.960 but

00:48:42.420 you're

00:48:42.640 certainly

00:48:43.020 a more

00:48:43.360 complete

00:48:43.860 one

00:48:44.160 if

00:48:44.720 you

00:48:44.920 know

00:48:45.120 both

00:48:45.420 proximate

00:48:46.020 and

00:48:46.200 ultimate

00:48:46.540 the

00:48:46.980 same

00:48:47.160 applies

00:48:47.580 so

00:48:47.900 that's

00:48:48.160 what

00:48:48.560 have

00:48:48.700 I

00:48:48.860 done

00:48:49.060 I've

00:48:49.460 done

00:48:49.580 exactly

00:48:49.940 the

00:48:50.100 same

00:48:50.240 thing

00:48:54.720 trying

00:48:54.940 to

00:48:55.080 Darwinize

00:48:55.720 the

00:48:56.560 business

00:48:56.880 school

00:48:57.180 you

00:48:58.420 can't

00:48:58.740 study

00:48:59.000 economics

00:48:59.680 or

00:49:00.300 trading

00:49:00.920 or

00:49:01.620 employer

00:49:02.320 behavior

00:49:02.940 or

00:49:03.260 employee

00:49:03.740 behavior

00:49:04.300 or

00:49:04.600 consumer

00:49:05.120 behavior

00:49:05.660 without

00:49:06.300 recognizing

00:49:06.980 that all

00:49:07.620 of these

00:49:08.120 biological

00:49:09.140 agents

00:49:09.960 are shaped

00:49:11.100 by evolutionary

00:49:11.920 forces

00:49:12.580 and so

00:49:13.400 that's

00:49:13.700 why I

00:49:14.620 Darwinize

00:49:16.080 the business

00:49:16.800 school

00:49:17.100 whether it

00:49:17.760 be

00:49:17.940 entrepreneurship

00:49:18.640 or

00:49:19.360 behavioral

00:49:20.940 game

00:49:21.300 theory

00:49:21.700 or

00:49:22.120 economics

00:49:23.040 or

00:49:23.540 behavioral

00:49:24.100 finance

00:49:24.700 or

00:49:24.960 consumer

00:49:25.280 behavior

00:49:25.700 all

00:49:26.260 of

00:49:26.440 these

00:49:26.640 fields

00:49:26.880 actually

00:49:27.120 I

00:49:27.240 have

00:49:27.360 a

00:49:27.480 book

00:49:27.660 called

00:49:27.920 evolutionary

00:49:28.320 psychology

00:49:28.800 in the

00:49:29.060 business

00:49:29.260 sciences

00:49:29.660 it's

00:49:30.140 an edited

00:49:30.500 book

00:49:30.800 where there

00:49:31.560 are

00:49:31.720 different

00:49:32.160 chapters

00:49:32.680 in different

00:49:33.600 areas

00:49:34.120 of business

00:49:34.740 and where

00:49:37.020 you demonstrate

00:49:37.600 how you

00:49:38.220 would apply

00:49:38.840 the evolutionary

00:49:39.400 lens

00:49:39.760 in those

00:49:40.260 fields

00:49:40.560 how would

00:49:40.940 you apply

00:49:41.360 the evolutionary

00:49:42.280 lens

00:49:42.700 in retail

00:49:44.020 design

00:49:44.520 well

00:49:44.920 there is

00:49:45.900 a way

00:49:46.760 to do

00:49:47.040 so

00:49:47.260 okay

00:49:47.660 so

00:49:48.720 to summarize

00:49:49.720 the key

00:49:51.060 tenets of

00:49:51.480 evolutionary

00:49:51.840 psychology

00:49:52.380 the mind

00:49:53.280 is a

00:49:53.560 product of

00:49:54.020 natural

00:49:54.340 and sexual

00:49:54.720 selection

00:49:55.200 also

00:49:58.980 evolutionary

00:49:59.940 psychologists

00:50:00.460 recognize

00:50:00.980 that there

00:50:01.800 are

00:50:02.140 domain

00:50:02.640 specific

00:50:03.220 and domain

00:50:03.940 general

00:50:04.360 mechanisms

00:50:04.960 that constitute

00:50:06.000 the human

00:50:06.400 mind

00:50:06.740 the mind

00:50:07.860 is not

00:50:08.440 an empty

00:50:08.900 slate

00:50:09.340 it's not

00:50:09.920 tabula rasa

00:50:10.480 and of

00:50:11.640 course

00:50:12.060 evolution

00:50:13.380 psychology

00:50:14.020 recognizes

00:50:14.820 the

00:50:15.300 epistemological

00:50:16.000 distinction

00:50:16.560 between

00:50:17.380 proximate

00:50:18.500 and ultimate

00:50:19.920 explanations

00:50:20.540 so there

00:50:21.680 you have

00:50:22.120 it

00:50:22.380 that's

00:50:23.260 I mean

00:50:24.660 I was

00:50:25.000 hoping to

00:50:25.920 only go

00:50:26.180 20 to

00:50:26.560 30 minutes

00:50:27.000 but of

00:50:27.520 course I

00:50:27.920 never

00:50:28.200 stay true

00:50:29.320 to

00:50:29.680 I always

00:50:30.680 end up

00:50:30.940 speaking

00:50:31.180 much

00:50:31.440 longer

00:50:31.800 went

00:50:32.440 for

00:50:32.620 almost

00:50:32.880 50

00:50:33.200 minutes

00:50:33.540 it would

00:50:35.560 be

00:50:35.780 fantastic

00:50:36.620 I'm truly

00:50:37.200 trying to

00:50:37.600 build a

00:50:37.960 community

00:50:38.340 of people

00:50:38.960 I mean

00:50:39.340 a dream

00:50:39.980 would be

00:50:40.420 that I'm

00:50:41.080 giving these

00:50:41.520 lectures

00:50:41.900 and there are

00:50:42.780 you know

00:50:42.980 10,000 people

00:50:43.940 signing up

00:50:44.540 you know

00:50:45.220 and it's not

00:50:45.960 it's not just

00:50:46.620 because of the

00:50:47.260 money of the

00:50:47.980 subscription

00:50:48.340 it's because

00:50:48.920 you know

00:50:49.760 you can't

00:50:50.380 believe some

00:50:51.020 of the

00:50:51.320 conversations

00:50:51.860 we end up

00:50:52.380 having

00:50:53.180 now

00:50:54.400 right now

00:50:55.380 I've got

00:50:55.720 you know

00:50:55.980 a couple

00:50:56.240 of hundred

00:50:56.520 subscribers

00:50:57.040 but imagine

00:50:57.560 if I could

00:50:57.980 get

00:50:58.180 thousands

00:50:58.740 of subscribers

00:50:59.340 imagine

00:50:59.700 if we

00:51:00.400 could live

00:51:00.720 in a

00:51:00.940 world

00:51:01.200 where

00:51:01.540 you know

00:51:02.320 every single

00:51:03.060 day

00:51:03.440 I wake

00:51:04.920 up

00:51:05.180 and I

00:51:05.720 prepare

00:51:06.060 a lecture

00:51:06.680 which I

00:51:07.540 then

00:51:07.920 you know

00:51:08.780 profess

00:51:09.360 to

00:51:09.840 you know

00:51:10.460 10,000

00:51:11.200 people

00:51:11.600 and then

00:51:11.920 a thousand

00:51:12.380 people are

00:51:12.880 coming for

00:51:13.400 a Q&A

00:51:13.920 period

00:51:14.320 so

00:51:15.060 if you

00:51:15.820 appreciate

00:51:16.360 what I'm

00:51:16.760 doing here

00:51:17.300 and I

00:51:18.160 really wanted

00:51:18.640 to do

00:51:19.040 by the way

00:51:19.560 a session

00:51:20.660 that was

00:51:21.600 a scientific

00:51:22.240 session

00:51:22.680 because of

00:51:23.160 course

00:51:23.440 many of

00:51:24.180 you know

00:51:24.540 me

00:51:24.740 through

00:51:24.960 my

00:51:25.160 other

00:51:25.400 which is

00:51:25.880 also

00:51:26.180 science

00:51:26.560 based

00:51:26.800 but you

00:51:27.080 know

00:51:27.140 me

00:51:27.540 as

00:51:28.200 someone

00:51:28.400 who

00:51:28.560 fights

00:51:28.820 in

00:51:28.920 the

00:51:29.040 culture

00:51:29.300 wars

00:51:29.700 as

00:51:29.900 the

00:51:30.060 author

00:51:30.300 of

00:51:30.420 the

00:51:30.540 parasitic

00:51:30.920 mind

00:51:31.220 I mean

00:51:31.440 all of

00:51:31.760 that of

00:51:32.060 course

00:51:32.200 is

00:51:32.360 scientifically

00:51:32.820 based

00:51:33.260 but of

00:51:34.560 course

00:51:34.760 the majority

00:51:36.700 of my

00:51:37.140 scientific

00:51:37.500 career

00:51:37.880 has been

00:51:38.260 spent

00:51:38.660 within

00:51:39.120 the

00:51:39.300 behavioral

00:51:39.660 sciences

00:51:40.140 within

00:51:40.420 consumer

00:51:40.880 behavior

00:51:41.320 within

00:51:41.720 evolutionary

00:51:42.300 psychology

00:51:42.800 within

00:51:43.060 psychology

00:51:43.520 decision

00:51:43.880 making

00:51:44.140 so I

00:51:44.800 really

00:51:44.980 wanted

00:51:45.280 to

00:51:45.640 return

00:51:46.400 to

00:51:47.160 the

00:51:47.640 roots

00:51:48.060 and

00:51:48.660 you know

00:51:52.680 about

00:51:54.260 scientific

00:51:54.840 issues

00:51:55.380 and so

00:51:56.040 I don't

00:51:57.360 know if

00:51:57.720 it will

00:51:57.920 ever be

00:51:58.340 as exciting

00:51:58.880 as lecturing

00:51:59.500 about

00:51:59.740 evolutionary

00:52:00.120 psychology

00:52:00.620 so maybe

00:52:01.100 I led

00:52:01.760 with

00:52:02.100 my

00:52:03.080 favorite

00:52:03.480 topic

00:52:03.880 because

00:52:04.100 obviously

00:52:04.460 I'm an

00:52:04.760 evolutionary

00:52:05.060 psychologist

00:52:05.520 but I

00:52:06.380 just

00:52:06.660 I'm so

00:52:07.440 thankful

00:52:07.860 for

00:52:08.280 these

00:52:08.680 platforms

00:52:09.320 and

00:52:10.000 I don't

00:52:10.740 know

00:52:10.880 if

00:52:11.360 Elon

00:52:11.760 is

00:52:12.020 here

00:52:12.320 maybe

00:52:12.760 he

00:52:13.000 is

00:52:13.260 we

00:52:13.900 do

00:52:14.060 follow

00:52:14.340 each

00:52:14.580 other

00:52:14.800 I

00:52:15.520 can't

00:52:17.200 tell you

00:52:17.660 how

00:52:18.060 thankful

00:52:18.640 I am

00:52:19.100 that

00:52:19.300 someone

00:52:19.640 like

00:52:20.000 Elon

00:52:20.640 Musk

00:52:21.000 exists

00:52:21.520 I

00:52:21.960 said it

00:52:22.420 when he

00:52:23.360 originally

00:52:23.760 bought

00:52:24.240 Twitter

00:52:25.020 that

00:52:25.840 of

00:52:26.080 all

00:52:26.360 of

00:52:26.500 the

00:52:26.640 great

00:52:26.980 things

00:52:27.440 that

00:52:27.680 he

00:52:27.900 has

00:52:28.120 achieved

00:52:28.620 and

00:52:28.800 you know

00:52:29.040 he's

00:52:29.220 achieved

00:52:29.540 more than

00:52:30.040 a thousand

00:52:30.800 people put

00:52:31.380 together

00:52:31.680 will ever

00:52:32.040 achieve

00:52:32.420 through

00:52:33.400 all of

00:52:33.700 his

00:52:33.840 entrepreneurial

00:52:34.500 innovations

00:52:37.160 and so

00:52:37.620 on

00:52:37.820 none

00:52:38.660 are going

00:52:39.920 to

00:52:40.260 historically

00:52:41.140 be as

00:52:41.560 important

00:52:41.980 as

00:52:42.660 him

00:52:43.200 having

00:52:43.720 defended

00:52:45.000 freedom

00:52:46.060 of speech

00:52:46.600 right

00:52:47.200 because

00:52:47.640 listen

00:52:49.200 many of

00:52:51.260 my scientific

00:52:51.800 papers

00:52:52.300 would get

00:52:53.120 desk

00:52:53.540 rejected

00:52:54.080 at

00:52:54.620 journals

00:52:55.100 because

00:52:55.860 people

00:52:56.320 the editor

00:52:57.440 did not

00:52:58.000 like

00:52:58.380 evolutionary

00:52:58.860 psychology

00:52:59.460 so to

00:53:00.420 have a

00:53:00.880 forum

00:53:01.180 where I

00:53:01.540 could say

00:53:01.840 hey guys

00:53:02.340 seven o'clock

00:53:03.060 today

00:53:03.420 I'm talking

00:53:04.340 about

00:53:04.560 evolutionary

00:53:04.940 psychology

00:53:05.500 come

00:53:05.900 join me

00:53:06.580 let's

00:53:06.840 have

00:53:06.960 some

00:53:07.140 fun

00:53:07.460 yes

00:53:09.200 we can

00:53:09.820 originally

00:53:10.760 thank

00:53:12.400 Jack Dorsey

00:53:13.740 being the

00:53:15.140 the founder

00:53:16.300 of Twitter

00:53:16.900 but

00:53:17.520 boy

00:53:18.300 do we

00:53:18.760 all

00:53:19.120 owe

00:53:19.580 a lot

00:53:22.340 to

00:53:22.940 Elon

00:53:23.320 Musk

00:53:23.660 so

00:53:24.060 Elon

00:53:24.680 if

00:53:24.900 you're

00:53:25.060 listening

00:53:25.420 or if

00:53:25.880 you will

00:53:26.160 listen

00:53:26.540 hats off

00:53:27.740 to you

00:53:28.040 thank you

00:53:28.420 so much

00:53:28.860 you will

00:53:29.360 go down

00:53:29.880 in history

00:53:30.540 as unbelievably

00:53:31.920 important

00:53:32.480 if for no

00:53:33.680 other reason

00:53:34.300 than the fact

00:53:35.320 that

00:53:35.700 you're providing

00:53:37.360 for many of

00:53:38.060 our

00:53:38.340 free thinkers

00:53:39.540 a platform

00:53:40.800 to do

00:53:41.740 exactly what

00:53:42.260 we're doing

00:53:42.540 here

00:53:42.820 so guys

00:53:44.140 thank you so

00:53:45.040 much

00:53:45.220 this has been

00:53:45.620 fantastic

00:53:46.080 I will now

00:53:46.960 be closing

00:53:47.780 this session

00:53:48.780 heading off

00:53:50.220 to a Q&A

00:53:51.480 I'm hoping

00:53:52.180 to only keep

00:53:52.680 it to half an

00:53:53.140 hour because

00:53:53.540 otherwise

00:53:53.940 my wife

00:53:55.040 will divorce

00:53:55.620 me

00:53:55.900 and my

00:53:57.120 children

00:53:57.480 also need

00:53:58.400 to spend

00:53:58.780 some time

00:53:59.320 with their

00:53:59.680 gorgeous

00:54:00.020 father

00:54:00.480 so I'm

00:54:01.880 going to

00:54:02.500 close this

00:54:03.560 one and

00:54:04.120 then open

00:54:04.700 up another

00:54:06.060 session

00:54:07.380 but it will

00:54:08.520 be reserved

00:54:09.020 for only the

00:54:09.620 subscribers

00:54:10.080 and there

00:54:10.520 what I do

00:54:11.020 is I just

00:54:11.480 take questions

00:54:11.980 so if

00:54:12.300 someone

00:54:12.580 wants to

00:54:13.320 ask

00:54:13.520 hey

00:54:13.700 tell me

00:54:14.000 more about

00:54:14.460 Proximate

00:54:14.960 Ultimate

00:54:15.260 tell me

00:54:15.760 how we

00:54:16.340 can apply

00:54:16.840 evolutionary

00:54:17.420 psychology

00:54:18.040 in the

00:54:18.640 whatever

00:54:19.480 in the

00:54:20.100 psychiatry

00:54:20.780 whatever it

00:54:21.620 is that

00:54:21.940 today we've

00:54:22.400 talked about

00:54:22.860 but please

00:54:23.800 if you do

00:54:24.580 end up

00:54:24.900 subscribing

00:54:25.280 and join

00:54:25.600 me there

00:54:25.900 restrict your

00:54:26.600 questions

00:54:27.160 to today's

00:54:28.320 topic

00:54:28.740 key tenets

00:54:29.940 of evolutionary

00:54:30.500 psychology

00:54:30.880 thank you all

00:54:31.620 so much

00:54:31.900 for coming

00:54:32.400 and I

00:54:33.900 will talk

00:54:34.280 to you

00:54:34.520 soon

00:54:34.700 I'm going

00:54:35.040 to try

00:54:35.400 to have

00:54:35.740 these

00:54:36.000 as often

00:54:36.540 as possible

00:54:37.140 I'm

00:54:37.840 currently

00:54:38.100 on sabbatical

00:54:38.780 so on

00:54:39.040 the one

00:54:39.280 hand

00:54:39.580 it's good

00:54:40.440 news

00:54:40.760 in that

00:54:41.160 I have

00:54:41.460 more time

00:54:42.080 because I'm

00:54:42.700 not teaching

00:54:43.260 I'm not

00:54:43.600 doing

00:54:43.740 administration

00:54:44.200 on the

00:54:44.980 other hand

00:54:45.480 when I'm

00:54:46.540 on sabbatical

00:54:47.060 I'm usually

00:54:47.540 trying to

00:54:48.200 catch up

00:54:48.600 on all

00:54:48.940 of the

00:54:49.140 other work

00:54:49.700 like the

00:54:50.880 next book

00:54:51.580 you know

00:54:52.420 closing out

00:54:53.580 some papers

00:54:54.220 traveling a lot

00:54:55.680 more giving

00:54:56.120 a lot more

00:54:56.540 talks

00:54:56.820 so it's

00:54:57.920 unclear

00:54:58.240 whether I'll

00:54:58.640 have more

00:54:59.020 or less

00:54:59.260 time

00:54:59.580 but I'm

00:55:01.020 certainly

00:55:01.240 going to

00:55:01.540 try to

00:55:01.900 don't hold

00:55:02.760 me to

00:55:03.020 this

00:55:03.220 but have

00:55:04.080 at least

00:55:04.620 one of

00:55:04.960 these a

00:55:05.420 week

00:55:05.580 and I

00:55:05.820 hope that

00:55:06.140 you always

00:55:06.500 join me

00:55:06.820 and by

00:55:07.300 the way

00:55:07.560 mention

00:55:08.480 it to

00:55:08.700 other

00:55:08.880 people

00:55:09.240 tell

00:55:10.340 people

00:55:10.760 again

00:55:11.140 this is

00:55:11.600 unbelievable

00:55:12.160 right

00:55:12.600 I just

00:55:13.120 turned this

00:55:13.660 on

00:55:13.980 and we

00:55:14.560 just had

00:55:14.980 an almost

00:55:15.380 one hour

00:55:15.900 free lecture

00:55:16.640 about really

00:55:17.540 important and

00:55:18.560 profound things

00:55:19.180 thank you so much

00:55:19.920 for your attention

00:55:20.360 guys and I'll

00:55:20.900 talk to you soon

00:55:21.440 cheers take care

00:55:22.140 for now

The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad - January 27, 2024

Key Tenets of Evolutionary Psychology and the Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad_640)

Episode Stats

Length

Words per Minute

Word Count

Sentence Count

Misogynist Sentences

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript