husayn gokal
Sharjah

StanfordHuman BiologyHUMBIO 160

Human Behavioral Biology

planned·~150 hours total

Professor

  • Robert Sapolsky

Textbook

  • Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

    Robert M. Sapolsky · ISBN 9781594205071

Materials

Sapolsky's legendary 2010 lectures on the biological underpinnings of human behaviour — genes, evolution, hormones, neuroscience, ethology, sociology. The lectures are on YouTube; the textbook Behave is the published synthesis.

The right starting point for any serious thinking about why humans do what they do.

Syllabus

  1. Week 1

    Introduction; the danger of categorical thinking

  2. Week 2

    Behavioural evolution

  3. Week 3

    Molecular genetics

  4. Week 4

    Behavioural genetics

  5. Week 5

    Recognising relatives

  6. Week 6

    Ethology

  7. Week 7

    Introduction to neuroscience

  8. Week 8

    Limbic system

  9. Week 9

    Human sexual behaviour

  10. Week 10

    Aggression, war, and peace

  11. Week 11

    Hormones; emergence and complexity

  12. Week 12

    Language; schizophrenia; individual differences