Joe Henrich is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology and Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on cultural evolution, human psychology, sociality, prestige, cooperation, and the emergence of complex societies. In this episode, Robinson and Joe discuss how culture transformed human evolution and enabled our species to build increasingly large and complex societies. More particularly, they talk about the tools of paleoanthropology, hunter-gatherer societies, the rise of massive cities, and why Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic—or WEIRD—people are psychologically unusual. They also discuss dominance hierarchies, attractiveness and prestige, the evolution of morality, and the importance of punishment in human societies. Joe’s most recent popular book is The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020).
Joe’s Website: https://henrich.fas.harvard.edu
The WEIRDest People in the World: https://amzn.to/3F3wUY7
OUTLINE
00:00 Tools of Paleoanthropology
07:31 Two Hunter-Gatherer Societies
13:12 How Culture Enabled Massive Cities
19:08 The WEIRDEST People in the World
25:59 Dominance Hierarchies
35:40 Attractiveness and Prestige
46:01 The Evolution of Morality
52:33 Punishment
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
