TEDxConstitutionDrive 2012 - Douglas Kenrick - "Sex, Murder and Self-Actualization"
Channel: TEDx Talks
Date: 2012-03-20

Our 2012 theme was "Identity"

This year we explored Identity in a way that went beyond the standard gender/race/age lines. We see Identity as the non-genetic DNA of us, one that is co-created by our environments and ourselves, and which drives in a powerful way our choices, our relationships and our lives. Speakers as diverse as Eric Drooker, New Yorker artist, to Beau Lewis, producer of the American Hipster series, to John Murray, scientist at the SRI International labs, came to share their perspectives on Identity.


Douglas Kenrick, psychologist and author of Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life
 
Douglas T. Kenrick is author of Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life: A psychologist investigates how evolution, cognition, and complexity are revolutionizing our view of human nature. Following the trajectory of his closest male relatives, who all spent time in Sing Sing, Kenrick was expelled from two high schools and very nearly thrown out of the local community college. But he broke with family tradition, straightened out, and went on to get a Ph.D. and become a professor of social psychology. He has since authored over 180 scientific articles, books, and book chapters, on topics ranging from everyday homicidal fantasies to the links between sex, religion, conspicuous consumption, and self-actualization. His research attempts to integrate three great syntheses of the last few decades: evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, and dynamical systems theory. Kenrick's research has been covered in various outlets, including New York Times magazine, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Fortune. He has appeared in numerous documentaries on the BBC and the Discover channel, and on the Oprah Winfrey Show.