Randy Thornhill

Randy Thornhill (born 1944) is an American entomologist and 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.[3] He is known for his evolutionary explanation of rape as well as his work on insect mating systems and the parasite-stress theory.[4]

Randy Thornhill
Born
Randy Thornhill

1944
Alabama, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materAuburn University,
University of Michigan
Known forA Natural History of Rape, The Evolution of Insect Mating Systems
Spouse(s)Nancy Thornhill (divorced) Joy Thornhill (divorced)
AwardsHumboldt Prize (1989)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsEvolutionary psychology, entomology
ThesisEvolutionary Ecology of the Mecoptera (Insecta) (1974)
InfluencesGeorge C. Williams, Margo Wilson, W. D. Hamilton[2]
Websitebiology.unm.edu/core-faculty/thornhill.shtml

Life

Thornhill was born in Alabama in 1944.[5] 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.[2]

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 human behavioral ecology and evolutionary psychology.[6] In 1983, Thornhill published The Evolution of Insect Mating Systems, a book journalist Ethan Watters described as "groundbreaking".[4] He considers this his most important work.[2] As of 2014, he has published four books and over 150 papers, which have been cited more than 17,000 times.[3] His work has been featured in many newspapers, magazines, television shows and radio programs,[6] including an interview on The Today Show.[4]

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.[4] 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 pathogens.[3] He believes that morality, political systems and religion are all influenced by regional variations in pathogen levels. In particular, Thornhill and colleagues have suggested that collectivism and xenophobia serve to ward off infectious disease. In support of this, they reported that collectivist cultures had a higher prevalence of pathogens than individualist ones. Thornhill has also suggested that pathogen defense could help explain civil and ethnic warfare, homicide, patriarchal family structures, and social suppression of female sexuality.[4]

References
  1. "Faculty Highlights" (PDF). Newsletter of the Biological Society of New Mexico. 5: 1. July 1989.
  2. Salmon, Catherine; Thornhill, Randy. HBES Interview Series - Randy Thornhill. Human Behavior an Evolution Society Founders Videos. YouTube.
  3. Springer (2014). "The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality: About the authors". Springer.com. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  4. Watters, Ethan (3 March 2014). "The Germ Theory of Democracy, Dictatorship, and All Your Most Cherished Beliefs". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  5. Thornhill, R.; Fincher, C. L. (2014). The Parasite-stress Theory of Values and Sociality. Springer. p. viii. ISBN 9783319080406.
  6. 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. LeVay, Simon & Baldwin, Janice (2009). Human Sexuality, Third edition. Sinauer Associates, Inc. pp. 598, 602. ISBN 978-0-87893-424-9.
  9. Thornhill, R.; Palmer, C. T. (2000). A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion. MIT Press. pp. 126, 133–135, 138–139.
  10. Travis, Cheryl Brown (2003). Evolution, Gender, and Rape. MIT Press.
  11. Palmer, C. T., & Thornhill, R. (2003). "A posse of good citizens brings outlaw evolutionists to justice. A response to Evolution, Gender, and Rape. Edited by Cheryl Brown Travis. (2003). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press". Evolutionary Psychology. 1: 10–27. doi:10.1177/147470490300100102.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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