Understanding and mitigating the effects of current behavioral stressors through lessons drawn from human evolution

Online conference by Nina Jablonski, anthropologist, Atherton Professor and Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Emerita at the Pennsylvania State University, and fellow for a one-month writing residency in May 2026 at the Paris IAS as part of the "Paris IAS Ideas" series.

The "Paris IAS Ideas" online lecture series offers short and stimulating presentations by researchers from the Paris Institute for Advanced Studies, marking the start of their month-long writing residency.

Session exclusively online and in English.
Free upon registration.
Registration is required via the form at the bottom of the page to receive the login link.

Presentation

The last decade has seen a rise in "contagious" emotions and behaviors in real and virtual public spaces around the world. Some scholars have attributed this “epidemic” to an increase in the number of ways in which emotions -- both positive and negative -- can be expressed, especially including through social media. The propagation of negative emotions, especially anger, has attracted particular attention because of the ramifying harmful effects it can have. One of the most thoughtful and provocative examinations of this issue has described the phenomenon as one aspect of “multiscale inflammation,” which affects individuals, communities, and societies through a series of interdependent inflammatory and neural processes. In this project, the evolutionary origins of multiscale inflammation will be explored in order to better understand the basis of human susceptibility to this increasingly serious issue.