#1195
Mentioned in 19 episodes

The Mating Mind

How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature
Book • 2000
In 'The Mating Mind,' Geoffrey Miller proposes that the human mind evolved not just as a survival machine but as a courtship machine.

He argues that many of the distinctive human traits, such as language, art, music, and morality, were developed as fitness indicators and sexual attractors.

Miller draws on Darwin's theory of sexual selection and integrates ideas from psychology, economics, history, and pop culture to explain how these traits were shaped by the sexual choices of our ancestors.

The book suggests that once language evolved, thought itself became subject to sexual selection, and that human courtship is a primary driving force behind human evolution.

Mentioned by

Mentioned in 19 episodes

Mentioned by
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Rory Sutherland
in the context of signaling and self-advertisement in human behavior.
1,294 snips
Rory Sutherland
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Rory Sutherland
as a case of someone actually getting a bang on the money.
1,035 snips
#973 - Rory Sutherland - Waymo, Texas Culture, Airline Lounges, OpenAI & Uber Eats
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Rory Sutherland
as a game-changing book on evolutionary psychology and sexual selection.
448 snips
Rory Sutherland: The Psychology of Advertising
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Matt Ridley
as a book that proposes the human brain as a sexually selected feature.
350 snips
#923 - Matt Ridley - Why Evolution Favours Beauty Over Survival
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Matt Ridley
as a book that argues that the human brain exploded in size because of sexual selection.
61 snips
Net Zero Must Go - Matt Ridley
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Chris Williamson
as an evolutionary psychology book.
57 snips
#574 - 600k Q&A - Masculinity Crisis, Overrated Thinkers & Lex Fridman
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Matt Ridley
as an evolutionary biologist who proposed a theory about the evolution of the human mind.
50 snips
Ideas Having Sex: How Money & Language Evolve Civilization w/ Matt Ridley (WiM574)
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Rory Sutherland
when discussing human behavior and advertising.
44 snips
Is It Ever OK to Promote Fossil Fuels? Ep186: Rory Sutherland
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Nicholas Humphrey
as the author who suggested that language evolved for seduction purposes.
38 snips
EP 311 Nicholas Humphrey on the Invention of Consciousness
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Chris Williamson
as one of
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Geoffrey Miller
's books.
34 snips
#432 - Geoffrey Miller - An Evolutionary Psychologist's Dating Advice
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Geoffrey Miller
as his first book analyzing how sexual selection through mate choice shaped human evolution.
30 snips
Can Modern Societies Reproduce Themselves? | Guest: Geoffrey Miller | 7/25/25
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Chris Williamson
in the context of evolutionary psychology and mating dynamics.
29 snips
#421 - Hamza - How Men Can Survive The Modern Dating World
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Richard Dawkins
in relation to sexual selection and its role in brain evolution.
23 snips
Are Science’s Greatest Achievements Helpful or Holding You Back? | Richard Dawkins (Archived Episode)
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Paul Bloom
in relation to the concept of sexual selection and its role in human evolution.
Mysteries of the mind
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Matt Ridley
in relation to the evolution of the human brain and sexual selection.
Dr. Matt Ridley - Birds, Sex & Beauty - Charles Darwin's Strangest Idea (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad_812)
Mentioned by David Lundberg-Kenrick as a book discussing the mating mind.
#515 - David & Douglas Kenrick - Evolved Psychology Vs The Modern World
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Scott Barry Kaufman
in relation to his hypothesis about creativity and sexual selection.
177. Intimations of Creativity | Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman
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Francis Foster
at the end of the podcast as one of
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Geoffrey Miller
's books.
Geoffrey Miller on Sex Differences, Masculinity & Political Polarisation

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