Kim Meidenbauer is a social, cognitive, and environmental neuroscientist, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Chicago, and incoming Assistant Professor at Washington State University. Lastly, we talk about how understanding which gender differences are natural and which are socially constructed allows us to reduce sexism and discrimination.ĭr. We talk about the role human moral values play in shaping the behavioral sciences, both for good and for bad. We talk about how the field of primatology evolved over the decades, especially during the feminist revolution, and how old views of human and primate evolution focusing on male-dominance and violent competition, rather than egalitarian cooperation, have gone out of fashion. Chimpanzees are patriarchal, competitive, and aggressive while bonobos are matriarchal, peaceful, and highly sexual. de Waal’s most recent book, Different, comparing and contrasting sex and gender differences amongst humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos. He’s the author of several bestsellers including Chimpanzee Politics, Good Natured, Our Inner Ape, The Age of Empathy, Mama’s Last Hug, and most recently, Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist. He has been elected to the (US) National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. Candler Professor in the Psychology Department of Emory University and Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Frans de Waal is a primatologist and the C.