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.

289 - Joe Henrich: How Culture Made Humans Weird

Robinson's Podcast

289 - Joe Henrich: How Culture Made Humans Weird