#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.
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.
Time Links:
What is the Parasite-Stress Theory of Values?
The biological bases of culture
Pathogen levels, and excluding other possible factors
Effects on personality traits
Infectious disease and trust within groups
Social and political conservatism
Be careful about the naturalistic fallacy
Pathogens from human sources, and the ones from other animals (zoonotic sources)
Disgust and fear
The issue with domesticated animals
Philopatry and migration
Infection, neurodevelopment, IQ, and openness to ideas
Parasite-stress, and the values of northern and southern Americans
Religion, purity, and pathogen avoidance
The Inquisition, the Enlightenment, and the Cultural Revolution in the 60’s
Considering environmental factors, and where cultural values come from
Parasite-stress and speciation
Follow Dr. Thornhill’s work:
Faculty page: http://biology.unm.edu/Thornhill/rthorn.htm
Books: https://tinyurl.com/y95a5myn