Joyce Benenson is an author, a scientist, and a lecturer in the department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. During our conversation, Joyce talks about her field of expertise and research: sex differences in competition and cooperation. She also discusses human hierarchies, common misconceptions about men and boys, how she would, on average, describe the male and female psyche, consistent differences between boys and girls in childhood, and more.
Like many of the recent, brilliant guests on this show, Joyce's focus is human nature: what we know about who we are and what we're like. I can't get enough of this subject, and people like her have spent a career trying to answer fundamental questions about what makes us human.
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(00:00) Intro
(01:54) Joyce's work with children
(05:03) The major differences between men and women
(09:54) The male vs. the female psyche
(17:12) Females care more about equality than males
(26:24) Sexual differences of labor
(31:59) Male nature in the modern world
(41:02) Female intersexual competition: safe, subtle, solitary
(53:14) Men are communal: debunking a myth about men
