Grief: Exploring the Communication of Emotions with Dr. Nicholas Christakis

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, professor at Yale University, is a sociologist and physician who conducts research in the areas of social networks and biosocial science. He directs the Human Nature Lab.  

The author of four books and over 200 articles, Christakis was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2006 and was made a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2010 and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.

On this episode we are talking to Nicholas about his book, "BLUEPRINT: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society". In Blueprint, he introduces the compelling idea that our genes affect not only our bodies and behaviors, but also the ways in which we make societies, ones that are surprisingly similar worldwide. 

He brings some impactful questions related to grief to the table, like: Why do we have this capacity for grief? Why is it helpful for us as humans to have the experience of the emotions around grief? 

"Emotions are a very primitive form of communication that far preceded our capacity for language - it's a more sophisticated type of communication."

Thank you for listening! 

Learn more about EB and the voices in this episode:

Meet Dr. Nicholas Christakis

Learn more about the book "Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society"

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