Bill von Hippel Keynote Speaker

Renowned psychologist, author, and expert on human behaviour.
A guest on podcasts including The Joe Rogan Experience, The Diary of a CEO and Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson.
Author of 'The Social Leap' and 'The Social Paradox'.

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Bill von Hippel's Biography

Dr. Bill von Hippel is a renowned psychologist, author, and expert on human behaviour.

Bill spent over three decades as a psychology professor in the United States and Australia.

Today, he writes books and conducts research for private companies. Bill has published over 150 academic articles and chapters across a range of psychological topics. His work has been cited over fifteen thousand times in the academic literature and widely reported in the media, including The New York Times ‘100 Ideas of the Year’, The Economist, USA Today, Le Monde, Il Mundo, Der Spiegel, and The Australian.

Bill is the author of The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy, a critically acclaimed book that explores how the challenges faced by our early ancestors continue to influence our decision-making, relationships, and happiness today. Through compelling research and accessible storytelling, Bill explains how the evolutionary pressures that shaped our ancestors’ brains also govern the way we navigate social situations, pursue goals, and seek fulfillment.

Bill has also been a guest on numerous podcasts, including The Joe Rogan Experience, The Diary of A CEO, London Real, and Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson. Bill’s first book, ‘The Social Leap’, has been translated into a dozen different languages and received the annual Book Prize from the world’s foremost social psychology society. Bill’s second book, ‘The Social Paradox’, was published in February 2025.

Known for his ability to connect evolutionary theory with everyday life, Bill’s research delves into the cognitive and social mechanisms that influence our relationships, decisions, and overall well-being. His talks are insightful and engaging, offering audiences a fresh perspective on how ancient evolutionary pressures continue to mold our lives today.

The Social Paradox: When Finding What You Want Means Losing What You Need

The two most fundamental human motives are the need for connection and the need for autonomy. These motives are in permanent tension with one another, but many aspects of our modern world have shifted their balance toward autonomy and away from connection, with important costs for our happiness. The good news is that restoring balance to your life is not nearly hard as it might seem.

The Evolutionary Psychology of Innovation

Technical innovation differentiates us from all other species and has played a major role in creating the safe and comfortable world that we occupy, yet most humans rarely if ever innovate new products. In this talk Bill explains why this is, why highly inventive people don’t create new things, and why neurodivergence is one of the best predictors of invention.

The Evolution of Happiness

Most of us spend our lives dreaming of achievements that we think will make us permanently happier, only to find that in way less time than it took to achieve our goals, our happiness drops right back to where it started regardless of our success. In this talk Bill explains how happiness evolved and why one of its defining features is its fleeting nature.

Baboons & Elephants: The Evolution of Moral and Immoral Leadership

The distribution of resources is one of the best predictors of whether the leadership that emerges is despotic or benevolent. In this talk Bill explains why this is and how inequality disrupts trust by incentivizing leaders to favor their own self-interest over that of the groups they lead.

The Evolution of Tribalism: Understanding Group Conflict

To be a moral person is to treat people equally regardless of group membership, but that was not always the case. Morality evolved to regulate the treatment of members of one’s own group but not members of other groups. In this talk Bill explains how an understanding of the origins of morality help us predict and navigate the emergence of intergroup conflict.

Why Scientists are the New Censors

Popular narratives suggest that scientific censorship is driven by authoritarians with dark motives, but scientific censorship is more often driven by scientists themselves. In this talk, Bill explains why benevolence leads scientists to censor themselves and others, slowing progress and biasing our understanding of the world.

Gender Differences in Careers

Why are girls less likely to become scientists? Closing the gender gap in STEM jobs has proved difficult, perhaps because it has more to do with the priorities of men and women than with sexism.