All posts; Tags Include "Evolutionary Psychology"
- January 13, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 521 views
From the Archives: Power, Confidence, and High Heels
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
Ed. Note: During 2012, I thought I would use Fridays to share some of my favorite AiP posts from the archives—and this one definitely tops the list. It was selected as a Research Blogging Editor’s Selection. And I hope you’ll enjoy it too. Cinderella got the prince and Dorothy was envied. Why? They well shod. [...]
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E.O. Smith. (1999) High Heels and Evolution: Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, and High Heels. Psychology, Evolution, and Gender, 1(3), 245-277. info:/
- January 5, 2012
- 04:26 PM
- 587 views
Polar Bears Say “Stay Away!”
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
It’s winter, and while Los Angeles has been unseasonably warm, I find my mind wandering to cooler things, like polar bears. In most zoos and animal parks, polar bears (ursus maritimus) attract such a disproportionate amount of attention that they are referred to in the industry as “charismatic megafauna,” or in other words, “really cool [...]
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Renner, M., & Kelly, A. (2006) Behavioral Decisions for Managing Social Distance and Aggression in Captive Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus). Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 9(3), 233-239. DOI: 10.1207/s15327604jaws0903_5
- December 20, 2011
- 07:48 AM
- 527 views
Does a man's facial dimensions influence his leadership performance?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
You might notice thatmany studies we cover rely on survey rating data. This reflects thefield's research focus and its desire for 'ecological validity' -examining real-world contexts rather than simplified laboratoryset-ups. Nonetheless, as someone with a heterodox psychologybackground, I find it heartening when studies choose more imaginativemeasures.Here's a great example,entirely rating-free: a study that evaluates whether male CEOappearance affects company performance by actually measuring C........ Read more »
Wong, E., Ormiston, M., & Haselhuhn, M. (2011) A Face Only an Investor Could Love: CEOs' Facial Structure Predicts Their Firms' Financial Performance. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1478-1483. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611418838
- December 1, 2011
- 03:52 AM
- 670 views
OK, I’ll Trust You…If You Think God Is Watching.
by Melanie Tannenbaum in PsySociety
When this year’s Miss USA contestants responded to a question about the value of teaching evolution in public schools, one thing was clear: There is a raging debate between Religion and Evolution, and these women had firmly planted themselves on … Continue reading →... Read more »
Shariff, Azim, & Norenzayan, Ara. (2011) Mean Gods Make Good People: Different Views of God Predict Cheating Behavior. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. info:/
Gervais WM, Shariff AF, & Norenzayan A. (2011) Do you believe in atheists? Distrust is central to anti-atheist prejudice. Journal of personality and social psychology, 101(6), 1189-206. PMID: 22059841
- November 27, 2011
- 11:59 AM
- 712 views
Dumbstruck by the thought of her
by Charles Harvey in Charles Harvey - Science Communicator
Men actually get stupider when given the possible chance of interacting with a woman, study finds... Read more »
Nauts, S., Metzmacher, M., Verwijmeren, T., Rommeswinkel, V., & Karremans, J. (2011) The Mere Anticipation of an Interaction with a Woman Can Impair Men’s Cognitive Performance. Archives of Sexual Behavior. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-011-9860-z
- November 27, 2011
- 12:05 AM
- 423 views
The Eight Rasas/Emotions (contd)
by sandeep gautam in The Mouse Trap
A taxonomy of Basic emotions derived from India Rasas. ... Read more »
Camras, L., & Shutter, J. (2010) Emotional Facial Expressions in Infancy. Emotion Review, 2(2), 120-129. DOI: 10.1177/1754073909352529
- November 26, 2011
- 07:58 AM
- 789 views
Faking it – the science of pretend orgasms
by Charles Harvey in Charles Harvey - Science Communicator
One of the greatest insecurities many men have is that their lady might not be as pleased in the bedroom as she actually seems. In essence – she might be faking it. It is the women, however, who are the insecure ones , as new research shows faked orgasms are much more likely to occur when the women is afraid her partner might leave her.... Read more »
Kaighobadi, F., Shackelford, T., & Weekes-Shackelford, V. (2011) Do Women Pretend Orgasm to Retain a Mate?. Archives of Sexual Behavior. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-011-9874-6
- November 17, 2011
- 07:23 AM
- 595 views
Social Networks Matter: Friends Increase the Size of Your Brain
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
New research confirms that social complexity enriches cognitive growth. Could having more Facebook friends actually make you smarter? Let’s face it, as a species we’re obsessed with ourselves. The vast majority of us spend our days at work or school where a considerable amount of time is taken up not discussing the important issues of [...]
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Sallet, J., Mars, R., Noonan, M., Andersson, J., O'Reilly, J., Jbabdi, S., Croxson, P., Jenkinson, M., Miller, K., & Rushworth, M. (2011) Social Network Size Affects Neural Circuits in Macaques. Science, 334(6056), 697-700. DOI: 10.1126/science.1210027
- November 14, 2011
- 10:00 AM
- 609 views
If Chickens Like Consonant Music, Will They Hate B.B. King? That’s Not Even the Right Question to Ask
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
Neuroscience Can’t Explain Wagner (or B.B. King) writes Christopher Shea on the Ideas Market blog at the Wall Street Journal, arguing against the claims that are made in my post from last week about day-old chickens preferring consonant music. I find two problems with his argument: the first concerning methodology, and the second concerning what [...]
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Chiandetti C, & Vallortigara G. (2011) Chicks like consonant music. Psychological science, 22(10), 1270-3. PMID: 21934134
- November 9, 2011
- 10:00 AM
- 749 views
Day Old Chickens Prefer The Same Music That You Do
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
You might have more in common with the chicken on your plate than you realize. Sure, you’ve also got two thighs, two legs, two breasts, and two wings (sort of). But new research suggests that chickens might like to rock out to the same tunes you’ve got on your iPod. The kinds of sounds that [...]
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Chiandetti C, & Vallortigara G. (2011) Chicks like consonant music. Psychological science, 22(10), 1270-3. PMID: 21934134
- November 9, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 669 views
The more feminine you appear, the more children you will want
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Or as blogger Scicurious puts it: “it must be science”. Yes. Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. And this time, we turn to the science bloggers for a reaction to some new research. The article abstract begins with this sentence: “Previous studies have shown that women with higher maternal tendencies are shorter and have lower testosterone [...]
Related posts:Redux: Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman (with appreciation to Tammy Wynette, Linda Ronstadt and Anne Reed)
Female bosses can ........ Read more »
Law Smith MJ, Deady DK, Moore FR, Jones BC, Cornwell RE, Stirrat M, Lawson JF, Feinberg DR, & Perrett DI. (2011) Maternal tendencies in women are associated with estrogen levels and facial femininity. Hormones and behavior. PMID: 21983237
- November 4, 2011
- 02:18 AM
- 849 views
Thinking About Survival Helps Children Remember
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
One thing that often gets overlooked in our education reform debate is that students are not simply empty vessels who always fill with additional knowledge when exposed to skilled teachers or longer school days. There are also a number of cognitive and social factors that affect the way kids respond to information. For example, a [...]... Read more »
Aslan, A., & Bäuml, K. (2011) Adaptive memory: Young children show enhanced retention of fitness-related information. Cognition. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.10.001
- October 26, 2011
- 10:24 AM
- 314 views
Are People Nice or Just Living in an Uncertain World?
by Daniel Wall in A Sociable Mammal
Uncertainty in interaction length can have important consequences.... Read more »
Delton AW, Krasnow MM, Cosmides L, & Tooby J. (2011) Evolution of direct reciprocity under uncertainty can explain human generosity in one-shot encounters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(32), 13335-40. PMID: 21788489
- October 23, 2011
- 05:22 PM
- 712 views
I am (breastfeeding) woman, hear me roar!
“…You don’t want to mess with mama grizzlies.” – Sarah Palin, May 2010, in reference to novice female political candidates.
Yes, “mama grizzly” Sarah Palin is right, you don’t want to mess with a mother bear, in particular when her cubs are involved. Turns out, you don’t want to mess with mama humans, either, especially the lactating kind.
In a fitting follow-up to my bumpy nipples post, I’ve come across new research that sho........ Read more »
Hahn-Holbrook J, Holt-Lunstad J, Holbrook C, Coyne SM, & Lawson ET. (2011) Maternal defense: breast feeding increases aggression by reducing stress. Psychological science, 22(10), 1288-95. PMID: 21873570
- October 21, 2011
- 05:33 AM
- 728 views
Book Review: Where is the Exact Place of God(s)?
by Farid Pazhoohi in Epistemophil
Todd Tremlin, Minds and Gods: the cognitive foundations of religion. (Oxford University Press, Inc. USA, 2010), 256 pp., $27.12, ISBN: 978-0199739011
In human history, religions and their related issues have always been taken for granted and people have treated them as something sacred. Questioning of almost all religious beliefs hadn’t been allowed. Philosophical point of view seems not to be too much successful in identifying the main roots and origins of the religious thought and its relate........ Read more »
Todd Tremlin. (2006) Minds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion. Oxford University Press. info:/
- October 10, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 701 views
Cooperation Is Child’s Play
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
Cooperation confounds us: Humans are the only members of the animal kingdom to display this tendency to the extent that we do, and it’s an expensive endeavor with no guarantee of reciprocal rewards. While we continue to look for answers about how and why cooperation may have emerged in human social and cultural evolution, we [...]
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Schmidt, M., & Sommerville, J. (2011) Fairness Expectations and Altruistic Sharing in 15-Month-Old Human Infants. PLoS ONE, 6(10). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023223
- October 4, 2011
- 01:04 PM
- 984 views
The Scary New Computer Program that spots Born Leaders and Predicts Election Results!
by Stuart Farrimond in Dr Stu's Science Blog
Have you ever done a ‘leadership’ exercise? I’m sure you know the sort of thing - You’re on a corporate “training day” and after being placed into arbitrary groups in a stuffy meeting room, you are given a handful of straws, paperclips and plastic cups and told to build a tower that reaches the ceiling. … Continue reading »... Read more »
Spisak, B., Homan, A., Grabo, A., & Van Vugt, M. (2011) Facing the situation: Testing a biosocial contingency model of leadership in intergroup relations using masculine and feminine faces. The Leadership Quarterly. DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.08.006
- October 4, 2011
- 10:59 AM
- 517 views
Do you feel better in Nature?
by Farid Pazhoohi in Epistemophil
Where do you go when you’re tired of modern society? Do you like to go on picnic and spend your time in nature? It seems natural environment has fundamental effects on our feelings. This paper showed that different environments elicit different affective responses and one might feel happier when is in direct contact with natural environment. This study suggests that this feeling might be due to our evolutionary past in Savannahs. Study presents that “some environments (e.g., mountain........ Read more »
Hinds, J., and Sparks, P. (2011) The affective quality of human-natural environment relationships. Evolutionary Psychology, 9(3), 451-469. info:/
- September 30, 2011
- 07:02 AM
- 557 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Channel James Earl Jones
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
Oh that deep uniquely resonant voice! Whether reading Edgar Allen Poe or reciting Justin Bieber lyrics this voice is instantly recognizable. We remember it without even trying. Especially if we are women. Yes. If you have a deep male voice, you have an edge with (heterosexual) female jurors. If your expert or fact witness has a [...]
Related posts:Simple Jury Persuasion: Should we channel Donna Reed and James Dean?
Simple Jury Persuasion: Are those folks in the jury box thinkers or feelers?
........ Read more »
Smith, D., Jones, BC, Feinberg, DR, & Allan, K. (2011) A modulatory effect of male voice pitch on long-term memory in women: Evidence of adaption for mate choice? . Memory and Cognition. info:/
- September 26, 2011
- 05:00 PM
- 700 views
Empathy, distress and mindfulness
by Bronwyn Thompson in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
One of the main thrusts of the paper by Hadjistavropoulos, Craig, Duck, Cano, Goubert, Jackson, et al., is that pain communication can serve several functions - it can be an action where a message is sent or received; it can be an interaction where the message is sent, received and interpreted; or it can be … Read more... Read more »
Hadjistavropoulos, T., Craig, K., Duck, S., Cano, A., Goubert, L., Jackson, P., Mogil, J., Rainville, P., Sullivan, M., de C. Williams, A.... (2011) A biopsychosocial formulation of pain communication. Psychological Bulletin. DOI: 10.1037/a0023876
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