Robert Sapolsky

Last updated

Robert Sapolsky
Robert Sapolsky in 2023 A 16.jpg
Sapolsky in 2023
Born (1957-04-06) April 6, 1957 (age 66)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Education Harvard University (BA)
Rockefeller University (PhD)
SpouseLisa Sapolsky
Children2
Scientific career
Fields Neurobiology, physiology, [1] biological anthropology
Institutions Stanford University
Salk Institute
Thesis The Neuroendocrinology of Stress and Aging  (1984)
Doctoral advisor Bruce McEwen
Other academic advisors Melvin Konner [2]

Robert Morris Sapolsky (born April 6, 1957) is an American neuroendocrinology researcher and author. He is a professor of biology, neurology, neurological sciences, and neurosurgery at Stanford University. In addition, he is a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Sapolsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, to immigrants from the Soviet Union. His father, Thomas Sapolsky, was an architect who renovated the restaurants Lüchow's and Lundy's. [4] Robert was raised an Orthodox Jew. He spent his time reading about and imagining living with silverback gorillas. By age twelve, he was writing fan letters to primatologists. [5] He attended John Dewey High School and by that time was reading textbooks on the subject and teaching himself Swahili. [6]

Sapolsky is an atheist. [7] [8] He said in his acceptance speech for the Emperor Has No Clothes Award, "I was raised in an Orthodox household and I was raised devoutly religious up until around age thirteen or so. In my adolescent years one of the defining actions in my life was breaking away from all religious belief whatsoever." [9]

In 1978, Sapolsky received his B.A., summa cum laude , in biological anthropology from Harvard University. [10] [11] He then went to Kenya to study the social behaviors of baboons in the wild. When the Uganda–Tanzania War broke out in the neighboring countries, Sapolsky decided to travel into Uganda to witness the war up close, later commenting, "I was twenty-one and wanted adventure. [...] I was behaving like a late-adolescent male primate." [12] He went to Uganda's capital Kampala, and from there to the border with Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and then back to Kampala, witnessing some fighting, [13] including the Ugandan capital's conquest by the Tanzanian army and its Ugandan rebel allies on April 10-11 1979. [14] Sapolsky then returned to New York and studied at Rockefeller University, where he received his Ph.D. in neuroendocrinology [10] [11] working in the lab of endocrinologist Bruce McEwen.

After the initial year-and-a-half field study in Africa, he returned every summer for another 25 years to observe the same group of baboons, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. He spent eight to ten hours a day for approximately four months each year recording the behaviors of these baboons. [15]

Career

Sapolsky in 2009 Robert Sapolsky.jpg
Sapolsky in 2009

Sapolsky is the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor at Stanford University, holding joint appointments in several departments, including Biological Sciences, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery. [16]

As a neuroendocrinologist, he has focused his research on issues of stress and neuronal degeneration, as well as on the possibilities of gene therapy strategies for protecting susceptible neurons from disease. [17] He is working on gene transfer techniques to strengthen neurons against the disabling effects of glucocorticoids. [18] Each year, Sapolsky spends time in Kenya studying a population of wild baboons in order to identify the sources of stress in their environment, and the relationship between personality and patterns of stress-related disease in these animals. [19] More specifically, Sapolsky studies the cortisol levels between the alpha male and female and the subordinates to determine stress level. An early but still relevant example of his studies of olive baboons is found in his 1990 Scientific American article "Stress in the Wild". [20] He has also written about neurological impairment and the insanity defense within the American legal system. [21] [22]

Sapolsky is also interested in the role of schizotypal disorders in the emergence and development of shamanism and the major Western religions. In this context, he has noted similarities between obsessive-compulsive behavior and religious rituals. [9] [23] [24]

Sapolsky's work has been featured widely in the press, most notably in the National Geographic documentary Stress: Portrait of a Killer, [25] [26] articles in The New York Times , [27] [28] Wired magazine, [29] the Stanford magazine, [30] and The Tehran Times . [31] His speaking style (e.g., on Radiolab, [32] The Joe Rogan Experience , [33] and his Stanford human behavioral biology lectures [34] ) has garnered attention. [35] Sapolsky's specialization in primatology and neuroscience has made him prominent in the public discussion of mental health—and, more broadly, human relationships—from an evolutionary perspective. [36] [37] In April 2017, Sapolsky gave a TED Talk. [38] [39]

Sapolsky has vigorously argued for a deterministic view of human behavior. According to him, "there is no free will, or at least that there is much less free will than generally assumed when it really matters". [40] He argues human actions are determined by neurobiology, hormones, childhood, and life circumstances. [22] [41] [42]

Sapolsky has received numerous honors and awards for his work, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 1987, [43] an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and the Klingenstein Fellowship in Neuroscience. [44] He was also awarded the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, [19] the Young Investigator of the Year Awards from the Society for Neuroscience, the International Society for Psychoneuroendocrinology, and the Biological Psychiatry Society. [45]

In 2007, he received the John P. McGovern Award for Behavioral Science, awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [46]

In 2008, he received Wonderfest's Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. [47] In February 2010 Sapolsky was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers, [48] following the Emperor Has No Clothes Award for 2002. [49]

His conferences and talks are published on Stanford's YouTube channel. [50]

Personal life

Sapolsky is married to Lisa Sapolsky, a doctor in neuropsychology. They have two children. [27] Sapolsky was a passionate amateur soccer player and used to play twice a week, but he stopped due to back problems. [51]

In his book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will , Sapolsky discussed his personal experiences with depression, revealing the complexities of living with the condition while also highlighting moments of relief provided by medication. [52]

Books

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biological anthropology</span> Branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species

Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an evolutionary perspective. This subfield of anthropology systematically studies human beings from a biological perspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primatology</span> Scientific study of primates

Primatology is the scientific study of primates. It is a diverse discipline at the boundary between mammalogy and anthropology, and researchers can be found in academic departments of anatomy, anthropology, biology, medicine, psychology, veterinary sciences and zoology, as well as in animal sanctuaries, biomedical research facilities, museums and zoos. Primatologists study both living and extinct primates in their natural habitats and in laboratories by conducting field studies and experiments in order to understand aspects of their evolution and behavior.

Irven DeVore was an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist, and Curator of Primatology at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. He headed Harvard's Department of Anthropology from 1987 to 1992. He taught generations of students at Harvard both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He mentored many young scientists who went on to prominence in anthropology and behavioral biology, including Richard Lee, Robert Trivers, Sarah Hrdy, Peter Ellison, Barbara Smuts, Henry Harpending, Marjorie Shostak, Robert Bailey, Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Richard Wrangham and Terrence Deacon.

Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated by electrophysiology—the electrical recording of neural activity ranging from the molar to the cellular, such as patch clamp, voltage clamp, extracellular single-unit recording and recording of local field potentials. However, since the neuron is an electrochemical machine, it is difficult to isolate electrical events from the metabolic and molecular processes that cause them. Thus, neurophysiologists currently utilise tools from chemistry, physics, and molecular biology to examine brain activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V. S. Ramachandran</span> Indian-American neuroscientist

Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a distinguished professor in UCSD's Department of Psychology, where he is the director of the Center for Brain and Cognition.

Neurochemistry is the study of chemicals, including neurotransmitters and other molecules such as psychopharmaceuticals and neuropeptides, that control and influence the physiology of the nervous system. This particular field within neuroscience examines how neurochemicals influence the operation of neurons, synapses, and neural networks. Neurochemists analyze the biochemistry and molecular biology of organic compounds in the nervous system, and their roles in such neural processes including cortical plasticity, neurogenesis, and neural differentiation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Dunbar</span> British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist

Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar is a British biological anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist, and specialist in primate behaviour. Dunbar is professor emeritus of evolutionary psychology of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is best known for formulating Dunbar's number, a measurement of the "cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social grooming</span> Behavior in social animals

Social grooming is a behavior in which social animals, including humans, clean or maintain one another's bodies or appearances. A related term, allogrooming, indicates social grooming between members of the same species. Grooming is a major social activity and a means by which animals who live in close proximity may bond, reinforce social structures and family links, and build companionship. Social grooming is also used as a means of conflict resolution, maternal behavior, and reconciliation in some species. Mutual grooming typically describes the act of grooming between two individuals, often as a part of social grooming, pair bonding, or a precoital activity.

<i>A Primates Memoir</i> 2001 book by Robert Sapolsky

A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons is a 2001 book by the American biologist Robert Sapolsky. The book documents Sapolsky's years in Kenya studying baboons as a graduate student. The chapters alternate between describing observations of a troop of baboons and the wildly different culture in Africa that he is increasingly cognizant of. The book portrays an unconventional way of studying neurophysiology to determine the effects of stress on life expectancy.

Klüver–Bucy syndrome is a syndrome resulting from lesions of the medial temporal lobe, particularly Brodmann area 38, causing compulsive eating, hypersexuality, a compulsive need to insert inappropriate objects in the mouth (hyperorality), visual agnosia, and docility. Klüver–Bucy syndrome is more commonly found in rhesus monkeys, where the condition was first documented, than in humans. Pathology on the syndrome is still controversial with Norman Geschwind's theory and Muller theory offering different explanations for the condition. Treatment for Klüver–Bucy syndrome is usually with mood stabilizers, anti-psychotics and anti-depressants.

<i>Why Zebras Dont Get Ulcers</i> 1994 book by Robert Sapolsky

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers is a 1994 book by Stanford University biologist Robert M. Sapolsky. The book describes itself as a "Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping" on the front cover of its third edition.

Joseph Altman was an American biologist who worked in the field of neurobiology.

Animal psychopathology is the study of mental or behavioral disorders in non-human animals.

Barbara Boardman Smuts is an American anthropologist and psychologist noted for her research into baboons, dolphins, and chimpanzees, and a Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baboon</span> Genus of mammals

Baboons are primates comprising the genus Papio, one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys, in the family Cercopithecidae. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma baboon. Each species is native to one of six areas of Africa and the hamadryas baboon is also native to part of the Arabian Peninsula. Baboons are among the largest non-hominoid primates and have existed for at least two million years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas C. Südhof</span> German-American biochemist

Thomas Christian Südhof, ForMemRS, is a German-American biochemist known for his study of synaptic transmission. Currently, he is a professor in the school of medicine in the department of molecular and cellular physiology, and by courtesy in neurology, and in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.

Dorothy Leavitt Cheney was an American scientist who studied the social behavior, communication, and cognition of wild primates in their natural habitat. She was Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Robert M. Seyfarth is an American primatologist and author. With his wife and collaborator Dorothy L. Cheney, he spent years studying the social behavior, communication, and cognition of wild primates in their natural habitat, including more than a decade of field work with baboons in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Seyfarth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania until his retirement, is a member of both the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Margaret Chatham Crofoot is an American anthropologist who is a professor at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. Her research considers the behavior and decision making of primates. She was appointed an Alexander von Humboldt Professor in 2019.

<i>Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will</i> 2023 book by Robert Sapolsky

Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will is a 2023 nonfiction book by American neuroendocrinology researcher Robert Sapolsky concerning the neurological evidence for or against free will. Sapolsky generally concludes that our choices are determined by our genetics, experience, and environment, and that the common use of the term free will is erroneous. The book also examines the "ethical consequences of justice and punishment" in a model of human behavior that dispenses with free will.

References

  1. "Robert Sapolsky at Stanford".
  2. Hanson, E. Simon (January 5, 2001). "A Conversation With Robert Sapolsky". Brain Connection. Retrieved June 3, 2014. BC: Who were your greatest mentors? RS: Of people I've actually dealt with, ... the main person is an anthropologist/physician named Melvin Konnor ... . He ... was my advisor in college and remains a major mentor.
  3. "Robert Sapolsky" . Retrieved February 22, 2009.
  4. At home with: Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky; Family Man With a Foot In the Veld, By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN, New York Times, APRIL 19, 2001
  5. Sapolsky, Robert (2001). A Primate's Memoir. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. pp. 24–25. ISBN   978-1-4165-9036-1.
  6. Vaughan, Christopher (November 2001). "Going Wild A biologist gets in touch with his inner primate". Stanford Magazine. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  7. Shwartz, Mark (March 7, 2007). "Robert Sapolsky discusses physiological effects of stress". News. Stanford University. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  8. "Dr. Robert Sapolsky's lecture about Biological Underpinnings of Religiosity". YouTube . I was raised in an extremely religious Orthodox upbringing and I had a break with it when I was about fourteen. That process of completely breaking to the point now where I have no religion, have no spirituality, I'm utterly atheist, and in passing it is probably the thing I most regret in my life but is something I appear not to be able to change the process of getting to that point I view in retrospect as one of the most defining things in my life, the process of turning into that person from who I was.
  9. 1 2 Sapolsky, Robert (April 2003). "Belief and Biology". Freedom from Religion Foundation. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Sapolsky Lectures on Stress and Health, Oct. 28 in Masur Auditorium - The NIH Record -October 16, 2009". nihrecord.nih.gov.
  11. 1 2 "Professor Robert Sapolsky Bio Page". www.thegreatcourses.com.
  12. Sapolsky 2007, p. 87.
  13. Sapolsky 2007, pp. 87–88.
  14. Sapolsky 2007, p. 88.
  15. "Transcript of How I Write Conversation with Robert Sapolsky". Stanford University. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  16. "Stanford Univ. detail of Prof. Sapolsky" . Retrieved July 27, 2007.
  17. Sapolsky, Robert M. (1992). Stress, the Aging Brain, and the Mechanisms of Neuron Death (Bradford Books). MIT Press. ISBN   0262193205.
  18. "Robert Sapolsky". Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA). UC San Diego. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  19. 1 2 "Rockefeller University names Robert Sapolsky 2008 Lewis Thomas Prize winner". Rockefeller University News. May 19, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  20. Sapolsky, Robert M (1990). "Stress in the Wild". Scientific American. 262 (1): 106–13. Bibcode:1990SciAm.262a.116S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0190-116. JSTOR   24996650. PMID   2294581.
  21. "The Brain on the Stand," New York Times Magazine
  22. 1 2 Sapolsky, RM (2004). "The frontal cortex and the criminal justice system". Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 359 (1451): 1787–96. doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1547. PMC   1693445 . PMID   15590619.
  23. Sapolsky, Robert M. (1998). "Circling the Blanket for God". The Trouble with Testosterone: and Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament . New York: A Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster. pp. 241–288. ISBN   978-0-684-83409-2.
  24. Dr. Robert Sapolsky's lecture about Biological Underpinnings of Religiosity on YouTube
  25. "Stress: Portrait of a Killer". Stress: Portrait of a Killer. Stanford University, National Geographic. 2008. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  26. Springer, Michael (August 22, 2012). "Do Yourself a Favor and Watch Stress: Portrait of a Killer (with Stanford Biologist Robert Sapolsky)". openculture.com. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  27. 1 2 Brown, Patricia Leigh (April 19, 2001). "AT HOME WITH: DR. ROBERT M. SAPOLSKY; Family Man With a Foot In the Veld". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  28. Angier, Natalie (April 13, 2004). "No Time for Bullies: Baboons Retool Their Culture". New York Times Archives. New York Times Company. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  29. Lehrer, Jonah (July 28, 2010). "Under Pressure: The Search for a Stress Vaccine". Wired Magazine. Wired.com. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  30. Vaughan, Christopher (November–December 2001). "Going Wild". Stanford University Magazine. Stanford University. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  31. "Racism, inequality, and conflict: an interview with Prof. Robert Sapolsky". Tehran Times. July 15, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  32. "People - Robert Sapolsky - Radiolab". www.radiolab.org. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  33. Joe Rogan (October 18, 2017), Joe Rogan Experience #965 - Robert Sapolsky, archived from the original on May 26, 2017, retrieved March 20, 2018
  34. "Human Behavioral Biology (Robert Sapolsky) 25 lectures". YouTube . Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  35. Meltzer, Tom (August 27, 2013). "The 20 online talks that could change your life". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  36. Sapolsky, Robert (May 9, 2017), The biology of our best and worst selves , retrieved March 20, 2018
  37. Sapolsky, Robert (January 8, 2010), The uniqueness of humans , retrieved March 20, 2018
  38. Vasquez, Alejandra; et al. (April 27, 2017). "Bugs and bodies: The talks of Session 8 of TED2017". TED Blog: Further reading on ideas worth spreading. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  39. "Robert Sapolsky: The biology of our best and worst selves". TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. April 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  40. Sapolsky, Robert (2023). Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will. New York: Penguin Press. p.  13. ISBN   9780525560975.
  41. Reese, Hope (October 18, 2023). "A Conversation With: Robert Sapolsky Doesn't Believe in Free Will. (But Feel Free to Disagree.)". The New York Times. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  42. Sapolsky, Robert M. (2017). "Biology, the Criminal Justice System, and (Oh, Why Not?) Free Will". Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst . New York: Penguin Press. pp. 552–583. ISBN   978-1-594-20507-1.
  43. "MacArthur Fellows List - July 1987". Archived from the original on April 19, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
  44. "Talk to probe roots of stress (03/16/07)". mc.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  45. "Science writer Robert Sapolsky to speak about coping with stress April 10". Middlebury. December 17, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  46. "About AAAS: John McGovern Lecture" . Retrieved February 22, 2009.
  47. "Sagan Prize Recipients". wonderfest.org. 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  48. "Honorary FFRF Board Announced". ffrf.org. Archived from the original on December 17, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  49. "Emperor Has No Clothes Award -- Robert Sapolsky". Freedom From Religion Foundation. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
  50. 1. Introduction to Human Behavioral Biology , retrieved June 5, 2022
  51. 17. Human Sexual Behavior III & Aggression I , retrieved February 11, 2022
  52. Sapolsky, Robert (2023). Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will . Penguin Press. p. 389. At some point in this writing process, I was struck with what seemed like the explanation for why I've been able to stick with an unshakable rejection of free will, despite the bummers of feelings it can evoke. A point made earlier in the chapter is personally very relevant. Since my teenage years, I've struggled with depression. Now and then, the meds work great and I'm completely free of it, and life seems like hiking above the tree line on a spectacular snow-capped mountain. This most reliably occurs when I'm actually doing that with my wife and children. Most of the time, though, the depression is just beneath the surface, kept at bay by a toxic combination of ambition and insecurity, manipulative shit, and a willingness to ignore who and what matter. And sometimes it incapacitates me, where I mistake every seated person as being in a wheelchair and every child I glance at as having Down syndrome.

Works cited

Video courses