Barbara Oakley Lecture

The title of Dr. Oakley's presentation is “Bad to the Bone: Horrors!–Can Our Genes Help Make Us Act Badly?” Dr. Barbara Oakley is author of a recent best selling book, “Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend.”

This is a great opportunity to enjoy an outside the box look at interdisciplinary connections between psychology and many different fields, including history, sociology, politics, and biology. Professor Barbara Oakley uses neuroscience and evolutionary theory--as well as an unusually adventurous background that has earned her the nickname of a "female Indiana Jones," to knit together disparate pieces of research that point toward answers to one of the most compelling questions today--why do some people intentionally inflect emotional and physical pain on others?