Dr. Eric Shattuck – How do humans act when we get sick and why?

Oct 29, 2025

Dr. Eric Shattuck of Florida State University joins the show to discuss his research on sickness behavior. He wants to know how humans tend to act when they get sick and why they act that way.

Recommendations

• Dr. Shattuck's faculty page at FSU
• Dr. Shattuck's personal web page
• Social Health and Immunology Research (SHIRE) Lab page
• Dr. Shattuck's Google Scholar profile
• Shattuck, E.C. and Muehlenbein, M.P. (2015), Human sickness behavior: Ultimate and proximate explanations. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 157: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22698
• Shattuck, EC. (2021). Networks, cultures, and institutions: Toward a social immunology. Brain Behav Immun Health. 18:100367. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100367. PMID: 34761241; PMCID: PMC8566934.
• Stockmaier S, Stroeymeyt N, Shattuck EC, Hawley DM, Meyers LA, Bolnick DI. Infectious diseases and social distancing in nature. Science. 2021 Mar 5;371(6533):eabc8881. doi: 10.1126/science.abc8881. PMID: 33674468.
• Shattuck, Eric & Muehlenbein, Michael. (2020). Religiosity/Spirituality and Physiological Markers of Health. Journal of Religion and Health. 59. 10.1007/s10943-018-0663-6.
• Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)
• Scavenger's Reign
• Common Side Effects
• Primal
• Weir, A. (2021). Project Hail Mary. Ballantine Books, New York.