Randy Thornhill

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Randy Thornhill
Humboldt Prize (1989)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsEvolutionary psychology, entomology
Thesis Evolutionary Ecology of the Mecoptera (Insecta)  (1974)
Websitebiology.unm.edu/core-faculty/thornhill.shtml

Randy Thornhill (born 1944) is an American

evolutionary biologist. He is a professor of biology at the University of New Mexico, and was president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society from 2011 to 2013.[2] He is known for his evolutionary explanation of rape as well as his work on insect mating systems and the parasite-stress theory.[3]

Life

Thornhill was born in Alabama in 1944.[4] When he was 12, his mother introduced him to Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, which encouraged his later interest in human evolution.[5]

He received a BS in Zoology from Auburn University in 1968, an MS in entomology from Auburn University in 1970, and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Michigan in 1974. His doctoral thesis discussed the evolutionary ecology of Mecoptera insects.[6] He was formerly married to fellow researcher Nancy Thornhill.[7]

Work

Thornhill's interests lie in the evolution and ecology of animal social psychology and behavior, as well as

The Today Show.[3]

Together with anthropologist Craig T. Palmer, Thornhill authored A Natural History of Rape in 2000. Thornhill and Palmer proposed that rape should be understood through evolutionary psychology,[8] and criticized the argument that rape is not sexually motivated.[9] They argue that the capacity for rape is either an adaptation or a byproduct of adaptive traits such as sexual desire and aggressiveness.[8] The work provoked a major controversy. Thornhill received several death threats, and was assigned a campus police officer to escort him to and from class.[3] A compendium of academic criticism was published,[10] to which Thornhill responded.[11]

Since 2005, Thornhill has proposed that many human values evolved to protect against

patriarchal family structures, and social suppression of female sexuality.[3]

In 2021, Thornhill appeared as a guest on episode 38 of season 4 of the Jordan B. Peterson Podcast entitled: Death, Disease, and Politics. There, he discussed his research and views with the host (Peterson) about a range of topics, including attractiveness, Thornhill's parasite-stress theory, and the “critical role that infectious disease plays in humanity, IQ, sex, religion, and conservatism”.[12][13]

References

  1. ^ "Faculty Highlights" (PDF). Newsletter of the Biological Society of New Mexico. 5: 1. July 1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  2. ^ a b c Springer (2014). The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality: About the authors. Springer.com. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e Watters, Ethan (3 March 2014). "The Germ Theory of Democracy, Dictatorship, and All Your Most Cherished Beliefs". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  4. ISBN 9783319080406
    .
  5. ^ a b Salmon, Catherine; Thornhill, Randy. HBES Interview Series - Randy Thornhill. Human Behavior an Evolution Society Founders Videos. YouTube.
  6. ^ a b c Thornhill, R. (January 2015). "Curriculum Vitae". Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  7. ^ Rosenfeld, Megan (20 February 2000). "Rape a natural behavior? Theory causes an unnatural uproar". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-87893-424-9
    .
  9. ISBN 9780262201254
    .
  10. ^ Travis, Cheryl Brown (2003). Evolution, Gender, and Rape. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
  11. doi:10.1177/147470490300100102
    .
  12. ^ FM, Player, S4E38: Death, Disease, and Politics | Dr. Randy Thornhill, retrieved 2021-07-29
  13. ^ "S4E38: Death, Disease, and Politics | Dr. Randy Thornhill". www.thinkspot.com. Retrieved 2021-07-29.

External links

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