Testosterone and Social Learning Amplification

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Testosterone does not cause aggression, but amplifies what has already been socially learned. It is more about defending challenges to status, which can involve non-aggressive behaviors like generosity. Testosterone amplifies actions that help hold onto status within a social context, which suggests the need to change how status is pursued in our culture.

On this episode, neuroscientist and author Robert Sapolsky joins Nate to discuss the structure of the human brain and its implication on behavior and our ability to change. Dr. Sapolsky also unpacks how the innate quality of a biological organism shaped by evolution and the surrounding environment - meaning all animals, including humans - leads him to believe that there is no such thing as free will, at least how we think about it today. How do our past and present hormone levels, hunger, stress, and more affect the way we make decisions? What implications does this have in a future headed towards lower energy and resource availability? How can our species manage the mismatch of our evolutionary biology with our modern day challenges - and navigate through a ‘determined’ future?

About Robert Sapolsky:

Robert Sapolsky is professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya. Over the past thirty years, he has divided his time between the lab, where he studies how stress hormones can damage the brain, and in East Africa, where he studies the impact of chronic stress on the health of baboons. Sapolsky is author of several books, including Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, A Primate's Memoir, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, and his newest book coming out in October, Determined: Life Without Free Will. He lives with his family in San Francisco.

Watch this video episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xhobcj2K9v4

For Show Notes and More visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/88-robert-sapolksy