Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) - Dave Pietraszewski & David Pinsof

Latest Episodes:

Founding Evolutionary Psychology with Leda Cosmides Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

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 Cosmides:
https://psych.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/leda-cosmides

https://www.cep.ucsb.edu/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V1vCfTYAAAAJ&hl=en

The Origins of evolutionary psychology with Martin Daly Mar 31, 2026

Show notes

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 has never seen before.

More about Martin Daly:
https://www.martindaly.ca/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Daly_(professor)

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1BUIq-UAAAAJ

Music and Acoustics with Greg Bryant Mar 24, 2026

Show notes

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 music:

/gbryant.bandzoogle.com/home

https://gbryant.bandcamp.com/album/soft-assembly-of-a-die-hard

Stress with Jen Byrd-Craven Mar 17, 2026

Show notes

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 Jen 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 Jen Byrd-Craven:

https://byrd-cravenpsychobiologylab.mystrikingly.com/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MYyZEL4AAAAJ&hl=en

Cultural Evolution with Rob Boyd Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

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 Boyd:

https://www.robboyd.net/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Boyd_(anthropologist)

https://search.asu.edu/profile/1952328

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YucHqSsAAAAJ&hl=en

Microchimerism with Amy Boddy Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

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

Status and Personality with Patrick Durkee Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

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 Durkee:
https://www.pdurkee.com/

https://csm.fresnostate.edu/about/directory/psych/durkee-patrick.html

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uj4K4rQAAAAJ&hl=en

The Microbiome with Katrine Whiteson Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

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 more. A great example of using evolution to better understand our health.

More about Katrine Whiteson:
https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6103
https://kwhiteson.bio.uci.edu/

Views of Mind with Clark Barrett Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

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 Shuar.

http://www.hclarkbarrett.com/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vIovbyUAAAAJ&hl=en

https://www.geographyofphilosophy.com/

The Behavioral Immune System with Josh Tybur Feb 03, 2026

Show notes

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 whether evolutionary mismatch is over-used and under-specified (or not). Oh, that whole world-wide pandemic thing.

More about Josh Tybur:

https://www.joshtybur.com/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ash8oRMAAAAJ&hl=en

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