
Discovery
The Life Scientific: Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
Jan 8, 2024
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, a Professor Emerita of Anthropology, challenges stereotypes and explores female primate behavior. Her groundbreaking study of langur monkeys in India overturned assumptions about infanticide. She emphasizes the importance of shared care and social cognition in humans and discusses the challenges faced by academic couples.
26:28
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Quick takeaways
- The traditional sex stereotypes in evolutionary biology portraying males as aggressive and competitive and females as passive are incomplete and fail to account for the complexity and diversity of female primate behavior.
- The importance of shared care and allomaternal support in human evolutionary history highlights the need for improved daycare options to support mothers and infants, as well as the impact of shared caregiving on the socio-cognitive development of human infants.
Deep dives
Overcoming Bias in Evolutionary Biology
Traditional sex stereotypes in evolutionary biology, rooted in biology, depict males as aggressive and competitive, and females as passive. However, this bias does not align with the many exceptions in nature and overlooks male care and female competition seen in other species. By studying female primate behavior, the guest challenges these stereotypes and highlights the importance of understanding female perspectives in evolutionary biology.
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