“ Correlation and causality. Why is it that throughout the animal kingdom and in every human culture, males account for most aggression and violence? Well, what about testosterone and some related hormo… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Hunter-gatherer societies have typically been egalitarian, as we'll soon see, throughout hominin history. Inequality emerged when stuff, things to possess and accumulate, was invented following animal… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ The brain is heavily influenced by genes. But from birth through young adulthood, the part of the human brain that most defines us is less a product of the genes with which you started life than of wh… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Interestingly, traumatic stress early in life (abuse, for example) greatly increases the risk of IBS in adulthood. This implies that childhood trauma can leave an echo of vulnerability, a large intest… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Testosterone has far less to do with aggression than most assume. Within the normal range, individual differences in testosterone levels don’t predict who will be aggressive. Moreover, the more an org… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Research shows that rejecting an offer is an emotional decision, triggered by anger at a lousy offer and the desire to punish. The Robert M. Sapolsky
“ If you have to boil this book down to a single phrase, it would be it's complicated. Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Agriculture makes people dependent on a few domesticated crops and animals instead of hundreds of wild food sources, creating vulnerability to droughts and blights and zoonotic diseases. Agriculture m… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Obviously, oxytocin and vasopressin are the grooviest hormones in the universe. Pour them into the water supply, and people will be more charitable, trusting, and empathic. We'd be better parents and… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Things that seem morally obvious and intuitive now weren’t necessarily so in the past; many started with nonconforming reasoning. Robert M. Sapolsky
“ The brain is heavily influenced by genes. But from birth through young adulthood, the part of the human brain that most defines us (frontal cortex) is less a product of the genes with which you starte… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ It’s not until the non-NMDA has been stimulated over and over by a long train of glutamate release, allowing enough sodium to flow in, that this activates the NMDA receptor. It suddenly responds to al… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ This is a central point of this book—we don’t hate violence. We hate and fear the wrong kind of violence, violence in the wrong context. Because violence in the right context is different. We pay good… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Most people who do a lot of exercise, particularly in the form of competitive athletics, have unneurotic, extraverted, optimistic personalities to begin with. (Marathon runners are exceptions to this.… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ If people around you smell scared, your brain tilts toward concluding that you are too.25 Robert M. Sapolsky
“ A remarkably consistent finding, starting with elementary school students, is that males are better at math than females. While the difference is minor when it comes to considering average scores, the… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Testosterone also increases confidence and optimism, while decreasing fear and anxiety.5 This explains the winner effect in lab animals, where winning a fight increases an animal’s willingness to part… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ How acute stress strengthens connectivity between the frontal cortex and motoric areas, while weakening frontal-hippocampal connections; the result is decision making that is habitual, rather than inc… Robert M. Sapolsky
“ Testosterone increases the excitability of amygdaloid neurons, and glucocorticoids decrease excitability of prefrontal cortical neurons. Robert M. Sapolsky
