Author Archives: Bo Winegard

Bo Winegard

About Bo Winegard

Bo Winegard is a graduate student at Florida State University, studying social psychology under Dr. Roy Baumeister. He became fascinated with evolutionary psychology after reading Robert Wright’s “The Moral Animal” as a late teenager. Since then, he has sought to address a number of human behaviors, propensities, and ailments from an evolutionary perspective: eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, political behavior, film, literature, and other cultural productions, cognitive dissonance, self-deception, and cooperation. He is one of the co-authors of a peer reviewed article in The Review of General Psychology that approaches body dissatisfaction in women from an evolutionary perspective; he also has a few political articles published at Dissident Voice and at Truthout focusing on both topical and theoretical matters. Currently he is interested in evolutionary theories of depression and anxiety, tribalism, and human mating. His ultimate desideratum is to use a synthesis of evolutionary psychology, social psychology, and sociology to plumb the mysteries of human nature.

A dialogue concerning political correctness and its discontents

Aletheia: I shall make two somewhat related contentions. First, science should never be suppressed, distorted, or otherwise manipulated for ANY reason. And second, political correctness has become a suffocating force on many college campuses, in many segments of society, and … Continue reading

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The Royal Opposition: Why We Should Seek Contrary Opinions

“Without contraries is no progression.” William Blake    1. The Owl of Minerva  History, according to the idealist philosopher, Friedrich Hegel, is not a disconnected jumble of accidents; rather, it is the purposeful and progressive ascent of the absolute spirit … Continue reading

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Let the dead bury the dead?

Many years ago, I was watching one treacly movie or another about a grieving widow. It wasn’t good, but it was embarrassingly effective. I was moved. As I am wont to do, I quickly dissipated my sadness by contemplating a … Continue reading

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Why James Bond flaunts women (and why you should watch Bourne movies)

James Bond. High status, clever, cunning. Men want to be him, as they say, and women want to be with him. Although he might be slightly antiquated in a post-Bourne world of action heroes, he still resonates. Last year’s latest … Continue reading

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Kim Kardashian’s baby: Why we are all addicted to gossip.

Forged from fragments of private disclosures, invidious rumors, and personal inventions, gossip is a weapon often wielded to wound an absent other. In a brilliant but troubling short story by William Faulkner—“Dry September”—it even leads to the tragic murder of … Continue reading

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Interpreting the cup: Schopenhauer, Darwin, and human suffering.

I   There is something discomfiting about our society’s constant moral admonitions that we should be happy. The world is not always a benevolent place. And our lives are not always filled with joy. It is vexing to pretend perpetually … Continue reading

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The Two Tragedies of life

“There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” Oscar Wilde     In Mike Cahill’s idiosyncratic and charming indie film King of California, a mentally troubled man with … Continue reading

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American Inequality and Cultural Strategies Theory. By Bo and Ben Winegard.

This is a theoretical snippet that my brother, Ben Winegard, and I worked on to (partially) explain the sundry problems that result from gross amounts of economic and social inequality. Inequality has increased dramatically in the United States since the … Continue reading

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Posted in Evolution and Psychology | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

WHY CAESAR’S WIFE MUST BE ABOVE SUSPICION: MATES FUNCTION AS HONEST INDICATORS OF STATUS AND PRESTIGE. BY BEN AND BO WINEGARD.

In Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar, a story is related that Julius Caesar divorced his wife (Pompeia) because of rumors of opprobrious behavior. At trial, Caesar said he knew nothing about his wife’s rumored adultery, but asserted that he divorced her … Continue reading

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Posted in Adaptation, Evolution and Biology, Evolution and Psychology, Evolution by Natural Selection, Mating and Sexuality, Variation | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Urban Angst: Darwinian Theory, the Need for Meaning, and Modern Existential Anxiety

“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” Victor Frankl Almost every human has, at one moment or another, recoiled from the world and asked a simple but disturbing question: “what is the … Continue reading

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Posted in Evolution and Biology, Evolution and Psychology, Evolution by Natural Selection | 4 Comments