Human Nature with Roni Fouks

🎙️ Unveiling Evolutionary Insights into Male and Female Survival Strategies with Joyce Benenson 🔍 Dive into the evolutionary strategies that shaped our sexes in this thought-provoking podcast episode featuring Dr. Joyce Benenson, esteemed Harvard University lecturer in Human Evolutionary Biology and author of the enlightening book "Warriors and Worriers: The Survival of the Sexes." 🌱 In this con...

🧠 In this episode, join me in a thought-provoking conversation with Mark Leary, an esteemed psychology and neuroscience professor at Duke University. Together, we unravel the intricate layers of the self, exploring the nuanced differences between self-esteem and self-respect and the crucial role of self-compassion in our internal narratives. 🔍 Mark Leary, with his wealth of research, navigates t...

In today's episode, I spoke with Adam Lane Smith, an attachment specialist and personal coach emphasizing the important role of attachment for our well-being and relationships. We talked about how attachment issues are at the core of many common mental issues, such as depression and anxiety. We spoke about modern dating and apps, hookup culture and how it preys on anxiously attached individuals -...

Prof. Uriel Reichman | Founding President & Chairman of the Board, Reichman University In today's episode, Uriel and I discussed the current state of affairs in Israel, the judicial reform that is threatening Israel's democracy and has caused millions of Israelis to organize in massive protests weekly. We spoke about the ideologies that are driving the harmful policies of the current...

In today's episode, I spoke with Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist, author of Dopamine Nation, Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University, and an expert on the opioid crisis. We spoke about the 'pain-pleasure' mechanism of the dopaminergic systems, how they can induce addictive behaviors through over stimulation, and how understanding these mecha...

In today's episode, I spoke with Delroy Paulhus, a personality researcher focusing on antisocial, Dark Tetrad personality traits such as psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism. We spoke about how the internet provides a platform for sadists to get their kicks by trolling others online. And we spoke about the idea of human evil, our own shadow sides, and how we can better unders...

In today’s episode, I spoke with John Vervaeke, professor of cognitive science at the University of Toronto and creator of the YouTube lecture series “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis”.  In his brilliant 50-part series, John weaves together philosophy, the history of ideas, and cognitive science to explain why we collectively find ourselves today in a crisis of meaning.  In our conversation, we s...

In today’s episode, I spoke with Ben Volkow, the CEO and Founder of Otonomo, a company that’s revolutionizing the world of car data. Otonomo offers the leading data platform and marketplace for sharing and utilizing vehicle data, with over 40 million connected cars and 4 billion data points. The opportunities are far-reaching for this unprecedented amount of car data, from traffic management and s...

In today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. Mark Solms, a psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist from South Africa who is well known for his groundbreaking research on the brain mechanisms of dreaming. Today we spoke about the unique field of neuropsychoanalysis, some of his earlier research showing why Freud was right about dreaming, and about his new book The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Co...

In today’s episode, I spoke with David Schapiro, an expert in the insurtech space, who combines his silicon valley cowboy past with the old-school culture of the insurance industry. David explains why we’re seeing the emergence of a great number of tech companies within the insurance space, and why this is just the tip of the iceberg. David has been involved in companies such as ClickSoftware, PLA...

In today’s conversation, I spoke with Micha Kaufman, founder and CEO of Fiverr.  Fiverr has completely revolutionized the gig economy, making freelance work accessible for people all over the world. Fiverr simplifies the process of connecting freelancers with their customers, which allows freelancers to truly make a living from their work, and provides easy access for businesses large and small to...

In today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. James Pennebaker, a social psychology professor from UT Austin. Needless to say, within the psychology community, Pennebaker is a well known name.  James is a pioneer in the field of writing therapy, where he has explored how writing about a past trauma can help people recover, as well as how the language we use can indicate the state of our mental health.  ...

In today’s episode, I spoke with Tara Stiles, the founder of Strala Yoga, a revolutionary approach to being, moving, and healing.  Strala Yoga is not like other styles of yoga.  Strala combines the principles of tai-chi with yoga and delivers an easy-going flow, that allows you to sync with your breath, tune inwards, really listen to your body, and ultimately, to become good friends with yourself....

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?  A conversation with Yuval Tal, Founder & President of Payoneer and Managing Partner at Team8 Fintech.  Yuval and I spoke about the ins and outs of entrepreneurship. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Yuval shared his lessons and insights from his entrepreneurial journey, and what kind of personality makes for a successful entrepreneur. @YouTube:...

A very special episode with a very special person! In today' s episode I spoke with Irvin Yalom, the author of best-selling books such as When Nietzsche Wept and Love's Executioner, the father of existential psychotherapy and a pioneer in the field of group theory.    We spoke about his latest book, A Matter of Death and Life, which he co-authored with his late wife, Marylin Yalom. Maryl...

Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen and I discussed his new book, Pattern Seekers, and how autism has been a driving force for innovation throughout human history.  We spoke about the difference between the Systemizing Mechanism and the Empathy Circuit, and how there is a big overlap between individuals with autism and those who are hyper-systemizers.  Simon explained how, for most of human history, the true...

In today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. David Buss, an evolutionary psychologist from UT Austin, about his latest book - When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault.  This conversation was incredibly enlightening.  David employs an evolutionary framework to better understand the dynamics of human mating. What I love about the evolutionary approach is that it...

In today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. Sam Gosling, a personality researcher from UT Austin. To start with - we should first ask ourselves - what is personality? There are endless theories and frameworks that try to describe, explain, and predict a person’s characteristic nature - as well as many different approaches to studying and measuring an individual’s personality. In this episode, Sam gave...

In today’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Prof. Bernard Berofsky, an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy from Columbia University, who in his career has explored topics such as free-will, determinism, liberation, autonomy, and creativity. Bernard is an exceptional philosophical thinker, and his devotion to the pursuit of knowledge and truth is an inspiring one.  This conversation was a...

In today’s episode, I got to speak to Prof. Ran Barkai, an archeologist from Tel Aviv university. Archeology is a fascinating field that provides us with a very real, physical, sensory connection with our past. By uncovering certain objects, remnants, and markings left behind by prehistoric man, we can paint a picture of what the life of our early ancestors was really like. Each new discovery adds...

How can scientific innovations transform society? What can learning about different cultures teach us about ourselves?  What can learning about our past  teach us about our future? And what do we truly need in order to drive scientific progress? In today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. Nicholas Dirks, the President of the New York Academy of Sciences, former Chancellor of UC Berkeley, and former dea...

In today’s episode, I spoke with Prof. Reuven Dar, a clinical psychologist and researcher, who studies OCD.  Ruvi and his colleagues have developed a model that approaches OCD in a different way from the mainstream consensus. They’ve come up with a framework for OCD called “Seeking Proxies for Internal States”. The idea behind this is that individuals suffering from OCD have a harder time accessin...

In today's episode, I spoke with Prof. Leo Corry, a historian and philosopher of mathematics and science, and the former dean of the Humanities at Tel Aviv university. Leo has studied mathematics, history, and philosophy, and has such an extensive mapping of the history and evolution of science and mathematics, as well as how different cultural and social movements worked together and created...

What does it really mean to be on the same wavelength with someone? Is there any truth to these kinds of metaphors? Dr. Yulia Golland shows that on a certain level - yes there is. Dr. Yulia Golland is a social neuroscientist who studies interpersonal synchrony. In other words, she studies how people get in-sync with one another. Human beings are inherently social creatures, and we are constantly s...

Did you know we have trillions of bacteria, yeast, and virus cells living within us?  How does this "microbiome" affect our health and well-being?  Today we spoke about the microbiome with Dr. Elran Haber, who is the CEO of Biomica, an emerging biopharmaceutical company developing innovative microbiome-based therapeutics for the treatment of immune-mediated and infectious diseases, with...