Overthinking Nature and Nurture
My appearance on The Overthinkers podcast with Joseph Holmes
What happens when a secular evolutionary psychologist and a Christian podcaster sit down to talk about human nature? More agreement than you might expect.
I recently joined Joseph Holmes on The Overthinkers podcast to discuss nature, nurture, and the evolution of sex differences. Among other things, we discussed:
My new book A Billion Years of Sex Differences
Why genetic and evolutionary explanations for human behavior make so many people uncomfortable
Six lines of evidence that many sex differences are partly innate
Why upbringing has less impact than we think - but it’s also not all in the genes
The nature and nurture of criminality and addiction
How a better understanding of human nature can help us build a better world
Despite coming at these issues from very different philosophical starting points, Joseph and I found a great deal of common ground on human nature, morality, and how best to cultivate our better angels while restraining our darker impulses.
The episode is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, and wherever else you listen to podcasts.
Follow me on Twitter/X for more psychology, evolution, and science.
Related Reading
You can order my book A Billion Years of Sex Differences here.
You can read the first chapter of my previous book The Ape That Understood the Universe for free here.
From the Archive
12 Things Everyone Should Know About Evolutionary Psychology
This is the latest post in my “12 Things Everyone Should Know” series. You can access the full collection here.
12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ
This is the first post in my “12 Things Everyone Should Know” series. You can access the complete collection here.
A Billion Years of Sex Differences
I recently gave a professorial lecture at my university, focused on some of my theoretical work on the evolution of human sex differences. The following is a lightly edited transcript of the lecture.
The First Law of Behavior Genetics
This is the first part of a five-part series about the Four Laws of Behavior Genetics and why they matter. I’ll be releasing one new part a month. In this first part, I’ll give an overview of the Four Laws, then do a deep dive into the First Law. The overview is free; the deep dive is for paid subscribers. Check out the other benefits of a paid subscription
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Steve