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All courses by

Joanne Souza

Joanne Souza is a health psychologist and a faculty member at Stony Brook University. She has published in the area of evolutionary biology and the implications to human social behavior. Her research primarily focuses on the effects of an individual’s immersion in dominance hierarchies versus democratized social units on human health, productivity and quality of life from an evolutionary biology perspective. She earned her PhD and MSc in Psychology from Walden University and her BA in Psychology, summa cum laude, from Stony Brook University. Her prior career was in the business world serving as an industry consultant in communications in health and education. Her published work includes the publication of “Social Coercion Theory” in the book Death from a Distance and the Birth of a Humane Universe.

Manchester BIOL20982 Spring 2022

In the course, we explore diverse biological theories of human origins, properties and history. The course is designed for majors in all disciplines - life sciences, social sciences and humanities. We take a remarkable journey through the entire diverse human story. We understand our origins as biological creatures and our relationship to other animal species. We explore the origins of our diverse uniquely human properties - including complex language, our large powerful minds, our elaborate ethical/political sense and our vast ecological dominance. Finally, we investigate how all of human history emerges, not as a process inscrutable to scientific analysis, but rather as a straightforward product of evolution by natural selection (our biological heritage). By the end of the course your understanding of yourself, of other people and the human past and future will be enlarged and changed profoundly. New insight into our nature allows us to understand how to approach the building of a better, more humane future. Students often name this course as the one they take at Stony Brook that most changes their lives.

course duration

22h 49min

BIO 358/CEB 553/BIO 558 2 ed

In the course, we explore diverse biological theories of human origins, properties and history. The course is designed for majors in all disciplines - sciences, social sciences and humanities. We take a remarkable journey through the entire diverse human story. We understand our origins as biological creatures and our relationship to other animal species. We explore the origins of our diverse uniquely human properties - including complex language, our large powerful minds, our elaborate ethical/political sense and our vast ecological dominance. Finally, we investigate how all of human history emerges, not as a process inscrutable to scientific analysis, but rather as a straightforward product of our biological heritage. By the end of the course your understanding of yourself, of other people and the human past and future will be enlarged and changed profoundly. New insight into our nature allows us to understand how to approach the building of a better, more humane future. Students often name this course as the one they take at Stony Brook that most changes their lives.

course duration

22h 49min