Examples: The Influence of Hormone Levels and Sensory Input on Decision-Making

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Hormone levels play a crucial role in decision-making as they affect behavior and the assessment of outcomes. Sensory inputs, whether external (such as pain, tiredness, hunger) or internal (like low blood glucose levels), significantly impact behavior as well. For instance, being in pain can lead to cheating, being less charitable, less trustworthy, and more likely to punish norm violations. Additionally, sensory cues like being monitored (even subconsciously) or environmental factors like a bad smell can influence decision-making, making individuals more socially conservative unconsciously.

A common argument against free will is that human behavior is not freely chosen, but rather determined by a number of factors. So what are those factors, anyway? There’s no one better equipped to answer this question than Robert Sapolsky, a leading psychoneurobiologist who has studied human behavior from a variety of angles. In this conversation we follow the path Sapolsky sets out in his bestselling book Behave, where he examines the influences on our behavior from a variety of timescales, from the very short (signals from the amygdala) to the quite ancient (genetic factors tracing back tens of thousands of years and more). It’s a dizzying tour that helps us understand the complexity of human action.

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Robert Sapolsky received his Ph.D. in neuroendocrinology from Rockefeller University. He is currently the John and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Biology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at Stanford University. His awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, the McGovern Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Wonderfest’s Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization.

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