181. David Buss — When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2021

⏱️ 108 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sexual conflict permeates ancient religions, from injunctions about thy neighbor’s wife to the permissible rape of infidels. It is etched in written laws that dictate who can and cannot have sex with whom. Its manifestations shape our sexual morality, evoking approving accolades or contemptuous condemnation. It produces sexual double standards that flourish even in the most sexually egalitarian cultures on earth. And although every person alive struggles with sexual conflict, most of us see only the tip of the iceberg: dating deception, a politician’s unsavory sexual grab, the slow crumbling of a once-happy marriage, a romantic breakup that turns nasty. When Men Behave Badly shows that this “battle of the sexes” is deeper and far more pervasive than anyone has recognized, revealing the hidden roots of sexual conflict — roots that originated over deep evolutionary time — which define the sexual psychology we currently carry around in our 3.5-pound brains. Providing novel insights into our minds and behaviors, When Men Behave Badlypresents a unifying new theory of sexual conflict, and offers practical advice for men and women seeking to avoid it.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to The Michael Sherman Show.
0:07.0	My guest today is David Bus.
0:11.0	And his new book is When Men Behaved Badly, the Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault.
0:18.0	David is the Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin
0:23.2	and a past president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society.
0:27.3	He's the author of several books including The Evolution of Desire,
0:30.6	The Dangerous Passion, the Murder next door, and why women have sex co-authored with Dr.
0:36.9	Cindy Meston.
0:38.6	He's written for publications such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Psychology Today, and he's made more than 30 television
0:45.5	appearances on shows such as CBS This Morning, ABC's 2020, and NBC's Dateline and
0:51.7	today, among others.
0:54.0	Buss has received numerous awards which include the Distinguished Scientific Award
0:58.5	for Early Career Contribution to Psychology
1:01.6	by the American Psychological Association, the APA,
1:05.0	a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford
1:09.8	and the G Stanley Hall Award from the APA. Most recently he received the Association for
1:15.2	Psychological Science, APS, Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017. In other words,
1:21.9	David Bus is the expert on this whole subject of
1:25.4	Evolutionary Psychology of Mating Behavior and his book is basically in response to
1:31.0	the Me Too movement that is to say how can we explain why men behave badly,
1:35.8	though the book is titled, when men behave badly and includes both approximate and ultimate
1:41.9	causal explanations for why these things happen.
	...

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