#315 Edward Hagen: Anthropology, And The Bargaining Model of Depression And Suicide
RECORDED ON JANUARY 17th, 2020.
Dr. Edward Hagen is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Washington State University. His research takes an evolutionary approach to non-infectious diseases, with a focus on mental health. He investigates tobacco use in the larger context of human use of plant secondary compounds. He investigates depression, suicide, and deliberate self-harm as potential signaling strategies. Child growth and development is a research theme that grew out of his work on postpartum depression. He has also recently begun testing evolutionary models of leadership, as part of his more general interest in the evolution of human social organization. Finally, he has published a number of theoretical papers on evolutionary approaches to ontogeny, cognition, and behavior.
In this episode, we talk about the application of evolutionary anthropology to a better understanding of mental illness. We refer to the importance of the social context of the individual. We address Thomas Szasz’s work, and a constructive theory of mental illness. We then get into the bargaining model and costly signaling, and how it applies to suicide, anger, depression, self-harm, and postpartum depression. We also refer to alternative models, like inclusive fitness model. Then, we explore the paradox of drug reward in humans, and why we consume plant neurotoxins from adolescence onward in all societies, and we talk about the age and sex difference in substance use. Finally, Dr. Hagen tells us about current work he’s doing on evolutionary models of leadership and sexual selection.
Time Links:
How can anthropology help us understand mental illnesses
The importance of the social context
Thomas Szasz, and a constructive theory of mental illness
Mental illness, suicide, culture, group selection
The bargaining model of suicide, and costly signaling
The inclusive fitness model
The bargaining model of anger and depression
Sex differences in depression
Self-harm as costly signaling
Postpartum depression
The paradox of drug reward in humans
The evolutionary rationale for sex differences in substance use
Evolutionary models of leadership and sexual selection
Follow Dr. Hagen’s work!
Follow Dr. Hagen’s work:
Faculty Page: http://bit.ly/30t9d91
WSU Homepage: http://bit.ly/2Y2YW1U
Research works on ResearchGate: http://bit.ly/35SNgSd
Twitter handle: @ed_hagen