Bloggingheads.tv - Robert Wright Speaks with Christopher Ryan (co-author of Sex at Dawn)

On this week's episode of The Wright Show, Robert Wright speaks with Christopher Ryan, the co-author (with Cacilda Jetha) of Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships. He also blogs at Psychology Today. It's an interesting and challenging (to our beliefs) book.

Because I am always curious about these things, here is some background on Ryan:

Christopher received a BA in English and American literature from Hobart College in 1984 and an MA and Ph.D. in research psychology at Saybrook University twenty years later. He spent the intervening decades traveling around the world, living in unexpected places working at very odd jobs (e.g., gutting salmon in Alaska, teaching English to prostitutes in Bangkok and self-defense to land-reform activists in Mexico, managing commercial real-estate in New York's Diamond District, helping Spanish physicians publish their research). Somewhere along the way, he decided to pursue doctoral studies in psychology. Drawing upon his multi-cultural experience, Christopher's research focused on trying to distinguish the universally human from the cultural. His doctoral dissertation analyzes the prehistoric roots of human sexuality, and was guided by the world-renowned psychologist, Stanley Krippner.

Based in Barcelona since the mid 1990s, Christopher has lectured at the University of Barcelona Medical School and worked as a consultant at various local hospitals. He's given presentations around the world (in both English and Spanish), and published peer commentaries, scientific and popular articles as well as book chapters. His work can be found in publications such as Behavioral and Brain Sciences (Cambridge University Press), SAGA: Best New Writing on Mythology (White Cloud Press), and a text book used in medical schools and teaching hospitals throughout Spain and Latin America.

He lives with his co-author, Cacilda Jetha, M.D., in Barcelona, Spain.

The Wright Show

 

Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero) and Christopher Ryan (Sex at Dawn, Psychology Today)

• "Traditional marriage" ain't so traditional   7:17
• Do men innately care whether a child is really theirs?   9:22
• Male vs. female sexual jealousy   8:13
• Communes, swingers, and "When a Man Loves a Woman"   10:22
• The importance of primate penis size   5:18
• Is the war of the sexes built in to human nature?   9:11

Play entire video

Recorded: Aug 14 — Posted: Aug 31

Download:   wmv   mp4   mp3   fast mp3  

Links Mentioned

• Christopher's book, with Cacilda Jetha, "Sex at Dawn"
• Bob's book, "The Moral Animal"
• Percy Sledge performing "When a Man Loves a Woman"