Episode 18: Political Animals

Rose McDermott is the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor of International Relations at The Watson School of International and Public Affairs, at Brown University. She’s also a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. McDermott studies a variety of topics, including international relations, nuclear strategy, gender, the role of emotion in decision-making, and genetic contributions to political attitudes and behaviors. We discuss a range of topics, including (a) whether her work is more psychological political science or political psychology, (b) what her work has to say about the Russia-Ukraine war, and (c) what smell has to do with politics. OTHER LINKS --Volodymr Zelenskyy's 2025 address to the UN General Assemply (transcript and video) --"Assortative mating on ideology could operate through olfactory cues," (2014) by Rose McDermott, Dustin Tingley, & Peter K. Hatemi, in the American Journal of Political Science --Wikipedia entry on Amos Tversky --Wikipedia entry on Robert Jervis --Richard Wrangham's Harvard online bio --"Drivers of female power in bonobos," (2025) by Martin Surbeck et al., in Communications Biology --Wikipedia entry on the "tradwife" MUSIC CREDITS (all songs from Free Music Archive, and each song carries the "cc by" license) --"The Trail," by Unheard Music Concepts --"Afrikaans," by C. Scott --"Belview," by C. Scott --"Determinate," by C. ScottSpecial Guest: Rose McDermott.