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PODCAST

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast)

Dave Pietraszewski & David Pinsof

Actual evolutionary psychology by actual evolutionary psychologists. Hosted by Dave Pietraszewski and David Pinsof. Every week, Dave and David bring cutting-edge work in the evolutionary behavioral sciences to you. patreon.com/epthepod

science social sciences

All Episodes

112:25

Revenge and Forgiveness with Mike McCullough

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/04/21

Revenge, forgiveness, morality. Join us and our guest Mike McCullough (UC San Diego) as we navigate the deep cost/benefit structure of the social world. Topics include what punishment really is, why we should respect revenge, why victims may sometimes not seek help, and why times heals all wounds. More about Mike McCullough: https://www.michael-mccullough.com/ https://psychology.ucsd.edu/people/profiles/mmccullough.html https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZyAttkAAAAAJ&hl=en

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127:17

Causality with Tadeg Quillien

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/04/14

Causality is....well...causality...it's hard to explain. And that's exactly what Tadeg Quillien (Edinburgh) does: figure out what the heck causality is, and how our mind does it. Other topics include domain generality vs. specificity, counterfactuals, relevance, morality, beliefs and theory of mind, and what it means to be computational, and how David Hume was pretty cool. More about Tadeg

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123:51

Founding Evolutionary Psychology with Leda Cosmides

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/04/07

A guest who needs no introduction. Leda Cosmides (UCSB) talks about how she and John Tooby co-founded the enterprise "evolutionary psychology"---including the how's, when's and why's---and what she thinks about current work. Other topics include why it's good for science to not be a jerk, and how she's come to understand what the heck behavioral and experimental economists are up to. More about Leda

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120:21

The Origins of evolutionary psychology with Martin Daly

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/03/31

Along with Margo Wilson, Martin Daly (McMaster) is one the founding pioneers of evolutionary psychology. In this episode, we get Martin's take on the history and the field. Topics include studying real-world phenomena (like homicide), inequality, and how evolutionary biologists like Williams and Hamilton supported the upstart approach (and whether it's really a different approach at all), and what happens when you give a lab-reared rat the kind of plant that it evolved to eat out in the wild, but

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118:10

Music and Acoustics with Greg Bryant

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/03/24

What's up with music? Why do vibrating strings tug on our emotions? And why can't most animals keep a beat? In this episode, we talk to Greg Bryant (UCLA) all about things acoustic and musical. Other topics include: the evolutionary logic of distortion in rock, laughter (including in rats!), and the psychology of perfect pitch and jamming. More about Greg Bryant: https://gabryant.scholar.ss.ucla.edu/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=urz-QfkAAAAJ&hl=en Greg's

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92:39

Stress with Jenn Byrd-Craven

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/03/17

What is stress? Is it useful? What is the endocrine system? Why do we need it (and why isn't a brain enough)? In this episode, we talk to Jenn Byrd-Craven (Oklahoma State) about all things stress and endocrine. Other topics include development, supposedly "over-active" stress responses, rage-bait, chilling out, obesity, parenting, status, teaching history, and much more. More about Jenn

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131:52

Cultural Evolution with Rob Boyd

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/03/10

Along with Pete Richerson, Rob Boyd (ASU) is one of *the* founders of cultural evolution, and one of the key figures in connecting human behavior with evolution. A very special episode with one of the greats! To top it off, we have Rob's former PhD student (and previous guest) Cristina Moya, in the role of guest host. More about Rob

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114:29

Microchimerism with Amy Boddy

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/03/03

Are we one, or do we contain multitudes? In this episode, we explore the bizarre and fascinating world of microchimerism with Amy Boddy (UCSB). More about Amy Boddy: https://www.anth.ucsb.edu/people/amy-boddy https://boddylab.com/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jnNIBc4AAAAJ&hl=en

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139:43

Status and Personality with Patrick Durkee

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/02/24

What is status? What is inspiration? What is personality? It all sounds simple and obvious, but in this episode with Patrick Durkee (CSU Fresno), we make "the familiar strange" and think through how an evolved mind may figure out how to invest our time and energy, what inspiration means, and what personality really is. More about Patrick

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116:44

The Microbiome with Katrine Whiteson

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/02/17

In this episode, we talk with Katrine Whiteson (UC Irvine) about her amazing work studying the human microbiome. We cannot stress enough how much we learned from this episode, from how to prevent your gut bacteria from becoming trashed by antibiotics, how to shop for food that will feed your healthy microbes and prevent blood sugar spikes. Other topics include: what's missing form our modern gut bacteria, the relationship between eating, cancer, and immune function, hunting for phages, and much

en

139:34

Views of Mind with Clark Barrett

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/02/10

In this episode, we talk to Clark Barrett (UCLA) about all the ways we understand the mind, and all the ways that that understanding may be weirder and wider that our intellectual inheritance would have it. Topics include: lies, hunting magic, predicting the future, spirituality, dreams, Freud, fish with two jaws, embodiment, art, physical intelligence, not discounting other views of the mind, Konrad Lorenz, and the music of the

en

137:58

The Behavioral Immune System with Josh Tybur

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/02/03

It stinks to be sick. Our guest, Josh Tybur (VU Amsterdam), is the one of the foremost experts on how our brain--or better yet, our "behavioral immune system"--helps us avoid pathogens while still navigating the necessities of social and physical life: eating, hugging, parenting, mating, and so on. Topics include whether pathogen avoidance actually drives attitudes towards social outgroups, how disgust, sex, and morality all interact (including David's pet theory of kinky sexual practices), and

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124:12

Selection with Paul Smaldino

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/01/27

Intentions be damned! Whats matter is selection! In this episode, Paul Smaldino (UC Merced) takes us on a tour of his work on social signals, social identities, the perverse incentives of science, the stupidity and yet usefulness of models, and so much else. (Paul also shows us his small model of the solar system in the background). More about Paul

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129:15

Consciousness with Michael Graziano

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/01/20

Consciousness: is it really that hard of a problem? In this episode, we talk to our favorite mechanistically-minded (and possibly clearest) thinker about consciousness we've had the pleasure to stumble across, Michael Graziano (Princeton). Topics include why consciousness has been so hard to study, what it is, and what future (evolutionary) work on consciousness would look like. More about Michael

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113:14

Peace with Luke Glowacki

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/01/13

The evolution of war has occupied science. But what about the evolution of peace? In this episode, we talk to Luke Glowacki about his framing of peace as requiring just as much, if not more, explanation, than the evolution of war, and how it comes about via cultural technology interacting with our evolved psychology. Other topics include the distribution of conflict, the Omo valley research project, and how to think about our own species through the lens of other species--including mongeese

en

122:48

Free Will with David Pietraszewski

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2026/01/06

Free will: Do we really have it? And what is it, exactly? In this episode, co-host David Pietraszewski takes the role of guest and explains his recent evolutionary, adaptationist approach to the problem of free will, explaining what people are talking about when they talk about free will, why different people have different opinions about whether it really exists in light of science, and what an evolutionary approach has to say about how to study it in the first place. If you love or hate the study

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110:04

Moralizing Self-Control with Léo Fitouchi

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2025/12/30

Why do we care about delaying gratification? Why do we judge others for moral failings that have no apparent consequences on us? In this episode, we talk to Lêo Fitouchi (IAST Toulouse) about all things moral, including guzzling french fries. More about Léo Fitouchi: https://sites.google.com/view/leofitouchi/home

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104:44

Evolutionary Social Sciences with Dan Nettle

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2025/12/23

Poverty? Universal basic income? Do we really crave sugar because of evolutionary mismatch? How do you train for an 800meter and a 100K running race? We cover this and much more with Dan Nettle (Jean Nicod). More about Dan Nettle: https://www.danielnettle.eu/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rl3kkv4AAAAJ&hl=en

en

121:08

Culture, Killing, and PTSD with Sarah Mathew

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2025/12/16

How do evolutionary behavioral scientists think about the interplay between our psychology and culture? What causes some cultural norms to persist and spread? Do non-Western combatants in war have something like PTSD? In this episode, we explore all of these questions and more with Sarah Mathew (ASU), who talks about her work with the Turkana, and her long-term interest in the interplay between our evolved psychology of cooperation and violence, and the social norms and institutions that push and

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97:54

Reasoning and Epistemic Vigilance with Hugo Mercier

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) ·

2025/12/09

Is the evolved mind prone to believing misinformation? Are people gullible? What is reasoning, anyway? And what is it for? In this episode, we talk all things reasoning with Hugo Mercier (Institute Jean Nicod). If you have an opinion about whether people are reasonable (or not) this episode is for you. More about Hugo Mercier: https://sites.google.com/site/hugomercier/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=b3o24EEAAAAJ&hl=en

en

50 results

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