With post dramatic stress disorder hes also an assistant professor at the department of psychiatry at uta Health Science center. This is his second book and you know, i dont know if your parents told you when you were growing up that at the thanksgiving dinner table whatever you do, dont talk about sex, politics or partisanship. So, what has Doctor Garcia gone, hes written a book about sex, politics and partisanship. And so, with that introduction, please tell us how you have gone to these topics that we were told not to talk about. The first book was about religion. [laughter] so, Political Behavior can be irrational. It can be volatile but most of all it can be utterly perplexi perplexing. No matter what side of the aisle you fall on we have had the experience of watching the political circus on the news and just shaking our head in disbelief mostly at how the other side can think what it thinks and usually that comes with the distressing set of emotion, anger, hopelessness or just anxiety about where the nation is heading especially as we see it tears apart along the partisan lines. But again, we can see it happening we just struggled to make sense of it all and the political discourse falls short because it focuses on the surface level phenomenon. But because our psychology is such a central determinant as to whether we have cohesive functioning societies or whether we are fighting each other in the streets as we have recently witnessed more and more in the United States, we have a moral obligation to understand that the psychology and perhaps to ask different sets of questions perhaps to use a different toolset than the ones we have been using to answer those questions. So, in my degree is the Evolutionary Sciences and biology and psychology to explain what political partisanship really is, where it comes from. I love the sciences for what they are able to do. They are able to take complex confusing human behaviors and explaiexplained them with incree clarity by explaining the ultimate reason for things, the purpose of a like or dislike, of a policy preference. Why in fact half of the nation can be recalled by the words of a president and the other half can be inspired by the words of a president. Why is a good chunk of data can see that as being directly presented by god as quite a contrast. So what i want to tell you is all of this comes from a very ancient place. Our modernday political orientations of policy preferences into voting behaviors they are the result of selective pressures our ancestors once faced. In particular, i explain three types of pressures, the pressures of germs, the pressures of outside tribes and the dangerous hospital tried and human offspring into maturity which is an epic time and dependency of a huge task. And i also explain how the political orientations are based on the reproductive psychology, the way that we compete for the genetic sickness which means how much we can reproduce ourselves and future generations. And i also explain why the political orientation has such a gendered feel about them. So, this is something the popular press picked up on Chris Matthews called the daddy party. And coulter even bolstered she is more of a man than a liberal. [laughter] but when you think about it, this kind of makes sense. Conservatism is more supported by men generally speaking it isnt a perfect correlation. I explained why its not, but it tends to be more hawkish in its foreignpolicy and about the territory to build the wall ended up controlling womens reproduction of this that tends to be more supportive of womens rights and not a perfect correlation but when we look at the 2018 u. S. Congress out of o0 women and 81 are democrats. Before i run package for science i want to offer a couple of clarifications. The first is whenever we study evolutionary science, we have to be cautious not to make the naturalistic fallacy and that would state just because that je something is arrived at by a logically that its necessarily desired o or moreover that its inevitable. Often times our instincts are none of those things. Every piece of technology is an example of how we can transcend our genes. The other is most of the inputs including the political impulse occurs beneath the radar of the conscious awareness. Its what is known as instinct blindness in the way that we dont know the origins. Theres a value to bringing these up to the surface for examination. And i think that at times some people can be a little weary of the process. They think if i admit any influence of my behavior, i can feed free will to my genes but i tell you that cannot be more wrongheaded. The less we know, the more, not less likely we are to enact without consideration but i by e know what they are weak and make more rational choices. And finally, before i talk to the science, this is important i want everybody to know if you dont understand youre involved political psychology, others to understand it are going to use it to manipulate you, i care and see you. The political actors and analysts whispering in the ears of the candidates, they know very well the research that im about to share with you and you should know with two, and thats big. So, lets start with peer. You may remember the natural curve, the idea of bell curve from High School Biology that reflect to snatch Natural Selection at work. So the propensity to feel fear, how many kinds of stimuli most of us are kind of in the middle and some people are not very much. What we found is that predicts where you lie perfectly theres Even Research looking at brain imaging. These are brain differences we are talking about. Among those is the fear of germs and outsiders is pretty prominent. In Research Across the world, conservatives tend to fear germs more than liberals. We can test this. And they tend to be more xenophobic which means fear of new people and outside people. It can be anybody from the outside whereas liberals tend to be more xenophobic and that means interested in new people and cultures, speak a foreign language, that kind of thing. So, when you think about it, it benefited us in our evolutionary past because you know the evolutionary past we are very formidable to pathogens. Something as simple as a common cold can wipe out an entire tribe. We didnt have anything like vaccines or antibiotics. Have also made to send to fear the outside tribes because who were the biggest vectors of the disease, other people and other people bringing indices that your tribe doesnt have an immunity for they could wipe out an entire population. So, it made sense to have a psychology and in that kind of environment, but one of the things i ask, we now know about basic handwashing. We have vaccines and antibiotics. How much does this adaptation really serve us today . Does it serve us to be wary of outsiders when we are now aware of this universe in a microcosm that was invisible t to us until recently in our history. The problem is this kind of stuff gets manipulated. Supercross history, the rhetoric of germs has been attached to the outsiders. So, during world war ii they were labeled as berman. During the rwanda genocide i forget which side they carry disease and we know what happened there. Recently, donald trump said immigrants are going to come in and invest our nation. This has an impact and it gets manipulated by those at the top who want to see you go to any particulavote in aparticular wa. One example among many during the 2018 Congressional Election curiously timed to see my grand caravan marching up towards the border and the news was covering it. What happened after the midterm, where did they go, what happened. But fox news aired a segment saying they are bringing indices, possibly even smallpox. Forget about the fact that its been eradicated. But this has an impact and if you are on the sensitiv sensitif the curve, that is going to resignation with you. And i will tell you this. There is a objective research finding people on the conservative end of the spectrum tend to be more manipulated especially when fear is involved. Full disclosure like most scholars im kind of left of center but this makes me mad because my countrymen are getting manipulated. A lot of people dont know that. They respond to new segments like that and take it to the voting booth based on fear. Im only going to be able to unpack hp is a little bit but lets talk about the outside tribes. Those threats were very prominent and we can deduce this from the archaeological record where we see the massacre site after massacre site. What wasnt uncommon was for the tribe to form a party, kill all them to take women as the spoils of war. This was common. We even see it in the bible. This is basic primate competition. Men have an incentive to do this and its kind of disturbing to think about but they can increase by doing a. They can spread their offspring by eliminating the competitors. The same wouldnt appl would apn they are not going to benefit killing all the women in sleeping with as many men as possible. Its just not the same. In many ways, the conservatism developed to cope with the threat from the outside tribes and to engage in the practice. So, lets take for example one of the foundational instruments used to measure the psychology under the political conservatism, the rightwing authoritarianism, this is a con that social scientists after world war ii started to develop in the request to answer what in the heck gave the world adolf hitler. Later developed by the canadian psychologist and this instrument had three factors. One is ceding authority of the chain of command, really looking at the Authority Figures within thwhichin the past were often le formidable perhaps even allowed those are the Authority Figures. Conforming to the group norms who want to know what the person next to you is doing and aggression against outsiders this is a solid instrument and we can measure this across the world. When you think about it all of this maps onto the social organization of the military. It has a militaristic function you have to see the chain of command. Soldiers on the battlefield cant operate by the democracy. Any that operate by democracy or not going to survive the battlefield. Conforming to a group norms that is what the military is all about. And that coordinates movement but you also see it in the language and custom. This political psychology is geared towards more to help us survive the outside tried and engage in a kind o the kind of s talking about. Another foundational measure is called social dominance orientation and that is like the second most foundational instrument to measure the psychology of political conservatism. What if managers is how much you pay for your groups to be dominant and have more than th them. Benefits you to eliminate them, that psychology is going to help you. One thing we noticed is that they continue to be more comfortable with hierarchy, more comfortable with differences and resources whereas the goal is kind of the opposite. Well, that psychology is going to help you could try to get more than the other person. And in fact all of this, all of those are the domain of men mostly speaking to one thin so i think is fascinating is that when we measure how much naturally occurring testosterone men have been women have in the research lab, those with higher testosterone are less likely to share in the laboratory games. We dont see that among women. They are less likely to share so the same bug makes people want more than the other person. Most people are not saying i want more than the other person because it is going to benefit me. Its going to benefit my reproductive imperatives. Although we do see examples of that and thats what they are doing so, lets talk about donald trump for a second. Coming back to the rightwing authoritarianism, the speaking out of Authority Figures in a dangerous environment, who would you want as an ally in a physical fight what you want somebody like Arnold Schwarzenegger or somebody like bill gates, the attraction to the large formidable man is very large. There was one study that looked at about 300 years of u. S. President ial and found in almost every single taller of the candidate when the majority of the time and both candidates were taller than the average male citizen. Whats going on with that. Today our president s were never represent us in a physical fight much less donald trump. But, that psychology persists and for an example of how it persists, anybody remember the 2016 campaign and debates . People went out of their way to advertise their fighting power, not to hide it but advertise it. Then carson used to brag he would go after people with rocks and bats and he tried to stab somebody got something that none of us seem to recall, like i dont remember that. Donald trump made it a point to emphasize how big he is compared to his competitors. Candidates and political leaders even filmed themselves the box, Vladimir Putin has done that. Why does that matter . It comes from an ancient place. The thing is we really have to be aware of this psychology if we want to make more conscious choices. But again if you are on the more fearful and, that kind of is going to resonate with you if you hear outsiders by the design of our brain you are going to respond to build the wall. You are going to respond to that. The problem occurs when they are manufactured. There is a place for that kind of psychology that is when they are real. A good example of how these political orientations and tendencies are adopted, a good example of that is researchers found that the aftermath of 9 11 even liberals take a more conservative turn in their political views. They scored higher on the rightwing authoritarianism because it serves us to do with the other person is doing in the chain of command if there is a threat. But when theres not, how much does that serve us, that is a question i want people to ask yourselves. Does it serve us to be so insular . We are moving whether we like it or not into the Global Community of nations connected by culture, connected by economy and by ethnicity. Does that still serve us we need to ask ourselves do we want to put that psychology into the foreground versus to keep it when we needed. How much do we want to put the ideology that some people should have way more than other people, that is what gets the billionaires from paying taxes, does that serve the rest of us when that happens. This is one of the reasons why i advocate so strongly for the Evolutionary Sciences to have a place in the conversations about who we are. Sometimes we still fight for that. They are very against the scion is into the idea that we kind of evolved by process of Natural Selection, but we have to fight for that again so we can be honest about who we are and the more rational and thoughtful about the choices we make. [applause] someone who hasnt had the benefit of reading your book yet, i would like you to talk about two things. One, you were talking about rightwing strawmen. You also had an accident that the discussion on left strongmen and showing the depth of our kind of subconscious desire to have strong powerful leaders. Then i would like you to emphasize again after that you were very careful to demonstrate the nuances and a number of these points. Its not just black and white. There is a lot of grey in a dream. I have some liberal friends who carried antibacterial with them. So there is research finding that the far left wing is pretty similar to the far right that they are almost indistinguishable per statistically to find a true leftwing authoritarian and could not find that. In fact the measure he tried to develop to examine that were people who scored high on right wing authoritarian. The point that he made mike at the peak of the cold war those and communist russia were more strongly across the United States that we need to stick to the norms of communism to obey lenin and the americans are evi evil. They are the enemy. Psychologically those were the same as the right wing doing the same thing. It is really the same psychology. Even talk about the horseshoe of political spectrum. Its not alarming they probably touch the extreme right and he stream left are probably the same psychology. We have a few minutes left for questions please wait for the microphone. We will open the floor to questions. Uncertainty is one of the biggest creators of fear. When progress happens very rapidly as it has over the past ten or 20 years there is greater fear. Is this consistent with the research you have found quick. If i am understanding your question correctly. [inaudible] speaking to the rapid change one thing i do want to say is that we transform so much as a species in the way that we live today is in the eyeblink of time compared to how we use to live in the hunter gatherers surrounded by danger most of our history so we still have the stone age brains trying to adapt to the here and now. One thing we know is that if you want to read about this looking from hunter gatherers we have gone astronomically more safer and humane. Now sometimes it does not seem like that because were also connected to information at home in any given day there are two computers in front of my face we are protected by a technology more so than ever so we hear about it through every possible platform. It gives the illusion there is more danger. And that is manipulated as well for political ends. And those throughout culture is more harmed by fear of the other is homosexual so what is your observation on that and in particular about the remarkable changes in attitudes to homosexuals over the past 30 years. Sexual behaviors are often the focus of scrutiny as sexually reproducing beings. It is often tied to fear of germs. Look at the aids scare in the eighties and how that was packaged. In fact germs influenced a whole lot of thinking. One bit of research i really find fascinating is that what we have learned is the further away you move from the equator the more liberal people will become. And higher climates theres a higher pathogen so the further we get away from that more than to be more sexually open women are more sexually open the more further north you move. Think about nordic countries compared to the deep south. Sexuality has a lot to do with that but i talk about that in the book. That comment maybe we should take that to Climate Change may be more people would take that. Thank you for your talk. I think they are setting up that socialism is the new fear tacti tactic. So if you can comment on that and what should we be looking for quick. Whatever it is there are these badges of tribal identities we all evolve at a time that was useful for us to prove loyalty to the tribe. Think about it in the days of the hunter gatherer ancestors if we did not want to be abandoned it was could not survive on her own not like today. Writing on badges of tribal identity, denying Climate Change has become one. And even the conservative political analyst has done that publicly as a badge of your tribe. So that can happen in the face of overwhelming evidence with the motivated reasoning were you just deflect information to arrive at the emotional conclusion and normally that is with fear. s i will geek out on a story i found interesting. There is a study looking how people are motivated so then make a statement and totally contradicts that. The interesting thing is it was done with the mri machine. They found when people start engaging like making excuses for your candidate with conflicting messages the fear threat of the brain lights up. So this taps onto the limbic system and emotions to keep us alive. Even today not abiding by the Climate Change denial will not get us killed. And in the days of our ancestral past it could have. You have spoken a lot how the right is manipulated and obviously our country is gradually becoming more liberal. Can you talk about some of the ways the empathy driving issues that you say what we are becoming more feminine and empathic and less aggressive because we feel safer but what are some of the ways people are using to manipulate us with empathy quick. Great question. Those on the left are more concerned with fairness. Usually explained that we are primates. We are primates and social primates. For all of our history even today we have dominant hierarchies people have more power and people have less. So that political psychology evolved as a means to negotiate in the dominant hierarchy. So people who are liberal tended to be concerned so thats the way you keep from falling down the chain or from manipulating all the resources that you need. On the more conservative end those that are more comfortable with the status quo. So yes, the left can be manipulated especially through the rhetoric of unfairness. How much of that is real . I dont know. We do have billionaires like jeff mazos. I dont remember which culture it was but when a hunter brought back a large kill for the group, there was a way of ridiculing the hunter so he didnt get too big of an ego. So that i think reflects how ancient the drive is to keep men from amassing too much power so yes when a man comes back with the kill he denigrates i didnt get much. Just something small the tribe says you brought me out for this . The purpose is so the men are not big headed and start abusing their power and hurting people. If that fails then the tribe will execute him. We have seen that behavior in desmets. And even larger societies. The roman chariots. What you were just talking about to denigrate the performance of someone that will obviously be a threat , during the roman times the general who played a big victory come back to rome they said fame is fleeting to bring them back to the most logical. Probably to avoid that at some point. I think that my take away is that where we have evolved is our prejudices and emotions for the technological opulence so i am just curious what you say about the prospect to reconcile that quick. That is the point i make and i tried to ask questions about sometimes the biology is a mismatch for the current environment. One example is in the environments of the ancestral path that and sugar was hard to come by it was great to crave those foods so we woods on store up fat but now we have so much access that obesity is rampant in diabetes is rampant it doesnt serve us in the environment now. I do ask the question how much are these zeno phobic tendencies serving us today given the fact that most of the conflicts seem to be linked to resource scarcity. We can tell looking in terms of drought there were more massacres or the bones at the sites there was more starvation. But now we could eliminate starvation from the human experience. But the bottom line the first thing we need to do is get people to think about these ideas of we will enact it it is unconscious we dont know about it we have to be more aware and teach Critical Thinking and the evolutionary side should be a mainstay of that teaching. Thank you. [applause]