#135 Rebecca Sear: Human Behavioral Ecology, Mating, Parenting, Reproduction
Dr. Rebecca Sear is Reader at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), teaching demography and researching human reproductive behaviour from an evolutionary perspective. She is trained in zoology, biological anthropology, and statistics, and subsequently worked first in a social science institution (London School of Economics) and then in an institution of global and public health (LSHTM). Having been exposed to a variety of disciplines, she is particularly interested in how the natural, social and medical sciences can be integrated as we try to understand our own species, and aims to conduct research somewhere inbetween these disciplines. She is particularly interested in taking a comparative perspective to understanding human reproductive behaviour, and exploring why such behaviour varies between, as well as within, populations. In 2008, she co-founded the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association, and she’s currently Honorary Secretary of the British Society for Population Studies and a Board Member of the Evolutionary Anthropology Society.
In this episode, we talk about Human Behavioral Ecology (HBE), and some specific aspects of human behavior that it addresses. We start off by talking about the differences and the relationship between HBE and Evolutionary Psychology (EP) and other similar and close sciences of human behavior. We address the issue with studies done on WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Developed) and non-WEIRD societies; transcultural variation and human universals; and comparing modern and natural environments. Then, we tackle specific topics like human mating and reproduction; cooperative breeding and alloparenting in humans; the developmental consequences of father absence; the evolution of menopause; and other related topics.
Time Links:
Human Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Anthropology
WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies
Variation and human universals
Modern environments vs natural environments
Cues for reproduction
Humans as cooperative breeders
Sex differences in mating and reproductive strategies
Are humans mostly monogamous?
Father absence and its effects on girls’ development
About the role of menopause
Do grandparents still participate in child rearing in modern societies?
What happens when we have skewed sex ratios in society?
About State support and raising children
Can we use knowledge from human behavioral ecology to solve social issues?
Follow Dr. Sear’s work!
Follow Dr. Sear’s work:
Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/ybdkl2xo
Articles on Researchgate: https://tinyurl.com/y84odan9
Twitter handle: @RebeccaSear