Psychologist, professor and writer, Jesse specializes in cognitive science and the evolutionary bases of human behaviour. From God to sex to suicide to the afterlife, he uses humor and science to explore, at the deepest levels, what it means to be—and to think—human.
Photo by Guy Frederick
Jesse is the author of several acclaimed popular science books, and he and his work have been featured on numerous documentaries, television shows and radio programmes, including ‘Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman’, ‘Conan’, ‘Chelsea Lately’, ‘Q&A’ (Australia), NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ and the BBC. He has written for Scientific American, Slate, Guardian, The New York Times, Discover, Chicago Tribune, New Republic, Vice and many others.
Jesse is Professor of Science Communication and Head of the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand. He lives on the Otago Peninsula with his partner Juan and their two border terriers, Hanno and Kora.
“If truth be told—and Jesse Bering urges us to be honest—we’re all perverts. And if you’re not, then most around you are. Bering pulls no punches in this engrossing romp through the history, cultural relativism, politics, and science of sexuality. He brings shadowy taboos out to the front stage for a juicy, humorous, and nonjudgmental outing. Perv is a page-turner that is hard to put down.”
Bruce Hood, Chair of Developmental Psychology in Society, University of Bristol, and author of The Self Illusion
“A colorful romp through psychology, philosophy and popular culture.”
New Humanist
“Witty . . . . [Bering] employs examples and analogies that make his arguments seem like common sense rather than the hard-earned scientific insights they really are.”
New Scientist
If you’d like to follow along with Jesse’s writings – he finally has a new book in development! – just add your email address below.
Jesse is Head of the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago.
