Beat Your Genes Podcast - podcast cover

Beat Your Genes Podcast

BeatYourGenesbeatyourgenes.org
Evolutionary psychology with Dr. Doug Lisle, PhD and Nathan Gershfeld, D.C. Most psychology advice treats your brain like a broken machine. Beat Your Genes starts somewhere different: your instincts aren't broken. They're just optimized for a Stone Age environment that no longer exists. Dr. Lisle - Evolutionary psychologist, former Stanford lecturer, and co-author of The Pleasure Trap - has spent decades developing frameworks that explain human behavior from the ground up. Nathan Gershfeld, D.C. - trained first as an electrical engineer and then spent 14 years as a Doctor of Chiropractic. He brings a systems thinker's curiosity to every conversation. He mostly lets Dr. Lisle talk. Topics include relationships and attraction, self-esteem, personality, depression and anxiety, willpower, the ego trap, and how pushy people exploit agreeable ones. 380+ episodes. New episodes every other week. New here? Start at beatyourgenes.org/start-here
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Episodes

126: Delaying sex? Does a woman's self-esteem increase with age?

Today on the podcast a few questions from listeners will include a questions from a man trying to understand why Dr. Lisle recommends that women delay sex a bit. Another question asks whether women get more confident as they get older despite aging and perhaps feeling less attractive. And finally, an older listener has a crush on a much younger man in her life, what will Dr. Lisle say?

Jul 19, 201844 minSeason 1Ep. 126

125:Committing to goals, displaying confidence, soulmates

Committing to goals, displaying confidence, soulmates, why do guys push sex? 1. I'm 42 overweight would like to be married and would still like to have kids though I'm running out of time. I know exactly what I need to do to lose weight so I can feel better about myself and attract a mate but I just won't commit to doing it. Why? Are these things actually not important to me even though I think they are? 2. Setting New Year's resolutions seems to be a universal phenomenon. Is there an evolutiona...

Jul 12, 201851 minSeason 1Ep. 125

116: Beauty standards for women, Prostitution, and Emotional Intelligence

An instagram model recently stopped shaving her armpits and wearing makeup as a sort of protest against the "societal programming" of beauty standards. What does Dr. Lisle think about this? What's the Doug Download on Prostitution? Is emotional intelligence a thing?

May 10, 201851 minSeason 1Ep. 116

113: Why Good Men Hesitate: Fear of Commitment, Pinball Personalities, and Parametric Dating | Live Callers

Most people treat fear of commitment like a character flaw to be worked through in therapy. Dr. Lisle says the opposite. A healthy fear of commitment is not weakness or immaturity, it is a perfectly sensible response to what he calls a 25 to life sentence. Any male in his right mind would pause before signing up for that. In this live caller episode, Dr. Doug Lisle breaks down the actual evolutionary math behind male hesitation, why a screaming deal on looks does not close the deal on commitment...

Apr 19, 201846 minSeason 1Ep. 113

110:Co-dependency, child attachment styles, advice on losing a child

Questions for this show are: 1. Strategies for "healing" from an abusive relationship. Do spouses that escape a narcissist spouse need therapy and support on codependency? 2. Are children's attachment styles bogus in predicting their personalities? Also, what's the earliest age at which you can see a person's personality characteristics? 3.What advice would you give to a parent who's lost a child (say 18 years old) under tragic circumstances, such as suicide? Are there any useful techniques or w...

Mar 29, 201849 minSeason 1Ep. 110

109: What can our behavior signal to a romantic partner?

Questions for tonight are as follows: A listener's husband spends money on certain displays but not others - what does it mean? How does a 10-year married couple navigate being swingers when one of them no longer wants to do it? Why do some men feel guilty or nervous about Valentine's Day? Why do romantic partners act surprised when their spouse/partner leaves despite threatening to do so for a long time? Why does it feel so devastating when a spouse cheats?

Mar 22, 201834 minSeason 1Ep. 109

108: Punishing children, advice to psychology students, cynical from evo psych..

Questions today are about: Influencing children - how does punishment work? Advice to psychology students who want to learn evo psych in a school that teaches conventional psychology Phobias like snakes, heights, etc.. are briefly explored Brief question regarding Big Five personality and how/if those traits can change as we age and gain status. Sharing evolutionary psychology knowledge in social settings. Getting cynical from evolutionary psychology - accepting the tragic view of existence.

Mar 15, 201846 minSeason 1Ep. 108

107: Bullying, Job satisfaction, Changing careers

Listener questions today are: 1. Pediatrician has overweight child patients that get picked on at school. Asking for advice on what to tell them. 2. Job satisfaction - should people select their job based on their own IQ, conscientiousness, and stability? 3. Stay-at-home mom has finished raising her kids and now wants to do something that makes her feel productive. Her family, on the gravy train because of all that she does for them is giving her push back. She's a little stuck between starting ...

Mar 08, 201858 minSeason 1Ep. 107

105: Personality traits of 'alpha' males, advice to women dating 'alpha' males

A news article sprinkles in evolutionary psychology when explaining why people are purchasing certain electronics. We will review the alpha/beta male dynamics, discuss the typical personality traits of alpha males, and shed some light on what women should consider when dating the 'alpha' male. We also have a listener who calls in asking for advice about a family conflict.

Feb 22, 201856 minSeason 1Ep. 105

104: Why Some Families Push You Out and Never Let You Back In | Live Callers

Most people assume that if they just explain the situation clearly enough, their parent will finally see what they see. Dr. Lisle says that's the single biggest miscalculation adult children make. Your mother is running a completely different cost-benefit analysis than you are, and the thing you call a crisis she calls a reasonable tradeoff. In this episode, Dr. Doug Lisle takes two family dynamics calls that converge on the same evolutionary machinery. Kara calls from Las Vegas about her 70-yea...

Feb 15, 20181 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 104

103: On Air Session: My Family Turned Against Me

Kathy has been to five therapists in eight years, and none of them could explain why one fight over skipping Easter Mass turned into a permanent family estrangement. Dr. Lisle says the therapists missed it because they were looking in the wrong place. This was never about Easter, or religion, or one bad weekend. It was a coalition realignment, and the outcome was locked in before Kathy ever walked into that kitchen. In this episode, Dr. Lisle walks through the anatomy of a family coalition in re...

Feb 08, 20181 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 103
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