All posts; Tags Include "Evolutionary Psychology"
- September 22, 2011
- 09:14 AM
- 673 views
Degeneracy, Evolution and Language
by Wintz in A Replicated Typo 2.0
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Having had several months off, I thought I’d kick things off by looking at a topic that’s garnered considerable interest in evolutionary theory, known as degeneracy. As a concept, degeneracy is a well known characteristic of biological systems, and is found in the genetic code (many different nucleotide sequences encode a polypeptide) and immune responses (populations . . . → Read More: Degeneracy, Evolution and Language... Read more »
Edelman, G. (2001) Degeneracy and complexity in biological systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(24), 13763-13768. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.231499798
Whitacre, J. (2010) Degeneracy: a link between evolvability, robustness and complexity in biological systems. Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling, 7(1), 6. DOI: 10.1186/1742-4682-7-6
- September 19, 2011
- 03:29 PM
- 453 views
Seeing is believing?
by Bronwyn Thompson in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
I am slowly wending my way through a long, complex and incredibly important article by a group of researchers and clinicians writing about the social element of pain. The basic premise of this paper is that while pain is a private experience, we are social creatures. As social creatures, we communicate about things that are … 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
- September 17, 2011
- 08:33 AM
- 554 views
How does spatial distance between partners affect their feeling of jealousy?
by Farid Pazhoohi in Epistemophil
A new study that is appeared in journal of Evolutionary Psychology, investigated effect of distance of partner and closeness of the rival person on jealousy. Study showed that spatial distance affects the intensity of jealousy. An amazing finding is that although men felt comfortable near their partner and far from the rival person, women still felt a bit jealous while they were with their men and far from the rival women.
In short, this study showed that “the jealousy mechanism responds w........ Read more »
Schützwohl, A., Morjaria, S., and Alvis, S. (2011) Spatial Distance Regulates Sex-Specific Feelings to Suspected Sexual and Emotional Infidelity. Evolutionary Psychology. info:/
- September 9, 2011
- 01:09 AM
- 1,348 views
Coming to terms with the female orgasm
by Greg Laden in Greg Laden's Blog
I think I know why science does not understand the female orgasm. It is because science excels when it breaks free of context, history, human complexities and anthropology, but when a topic requires one to grasp context, history, human complexities and anthropology, then science, especially the hard sciences, can fall short. Also, the nature of the female orgasm is a comparative question, but human sexuality is highly (but not entirely) derived; It is difficult to make a sensible graph or tabl........ Read more »
Zietsch, B., & Santtila, P. (2011) Genetic analysis of orgasmic function in twins and siblings does not support the by-product theory of female orgasm. Animal Behaviour. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.08.002
- September 6, 2011
- 11:58 AM
- 564 views
Freedom to Riot: On the Evolution of Collective Violence
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
From London to the Middle East riots have shaken political stability. Are the answers to be found in human nature? Police cars were overturned and shops looted as the mob descended on the city’s central square. Rioters tore the police station’s outer door off its hinges and “used it as a battering ram” to break [...]
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Marco Lagi, Karla Z. Bertrand, & Yaneer Bar-Yam. (2011) The Food Crises and Political Instability in North Africa and the Middle East. New England Complex Systems Institute. arXiv: 1108.2455v1
- August 26, 2011
- 08:50 AM
- 1,303 views
Penis Spines, Pearly Papules, and Pope Benedict’s Balls
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
Author’s note: The following originally appeared as a guest post at A Primate of Modern Aspect and subsequently formed the basis for a technical comment published by Nature co-authored with John Hawks. This post is also notable in that it began my collaboration with artist Nathaniel Gold. There is very little known about the reign [...]
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McLean, C., Reno, P., Pollen, A., Bassan, A., Capellini, T., Guenther, C., Indjeian, V., Lim, X., Menke, D., Schaar, B.... (2011) Human-specific loss of regulatory DNA and the evolution of human-specific traits. Nature, 471(7337), 216-219. DOI: 10.1038/nature09774
- August 11, 2011
- 06:39 AM
- 1,167 views
It doesn't always pay to be pretty
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
The beautiful people have it all, or so we're usually told. According to research, they're seen as friendlier, more intelligent, and they earn more. But a pair of new journal articles tells a different story, outlining some contexts in which being pretty doesn't pay.
Maria Agthe and her team had 400 students appraise one of four job candidates based on his or her CV, with their photo attached.
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Agthe, M., Sporrle, M., & Maner, J. (2011) Does Being Attractive Always Help? Positive and Negative Effects of Attractiveness on Social Decision Making. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(8), 1042-1054. DOI: 10.1177/0146167211410355
PHILLIPS, A., & HRANEK, C. (2011) Is beauty a gift or a curse? The influence of an offender's physical attractiveness on forgiveness. Personal Relationships. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01370.x
- August 8, 2011
- 03:00 PM
- 1,170 views
On the Origin of Cooperative Species: New study reverses a decade of research claiming chimpanzee selfishness
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
Charles Darwin had more in common with chimpanzees than even he realized. Before he was universally known for his theory of natural selection, the young naturalist was faced with one of the great moral choices in the history of science. The decision he made has long been hailed as the type of behavior that fundamentally [...]
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Victoria Hornera,J. Devyn Cartera, Malini Suchaka, and Frans B. M. de Waal. (2011) Spontaneous prosocial choice by chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. info:/10.1073/pnas.1111088108
- August 3, 2011
- 11:00 AM
- 1,245 views
Humans Aren’t The Only Ones Who Need To Avoid The Heat: How Birds Avoid Scrambled Eggs
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
July was the hottest month ever recorded in Washington, D.C., in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and in Wichita Falls, Kansas, as measured by the National Weather Service. In fact, the NWS has issued an “excessive heat warning” for a huge swath of middle America extending from northwestern Illinois and central Iowa in the north to central Texas in the south. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn each year that people can easily become ill or even die from extreme heat: from 19........ Read more »
Monif AlRashidi, András Kosztolányi, Mohammed Shobrak, Clemens Küpper, & Tamás Székely. (2011) Parental cooperation in an extreme hot environment: natural behaviour and experimental evidence. Animal Behaviour, 235-243. info:/10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.04.019
- August 1, 2011
- 08:59 AM
- 1,584 views
Why do we make odd faces when we orgasm? A romance in three parts
by Jon Wilkins in Lost in Transcription
So, Guillaume's Mailbag has continued on its mission to provide an adaptive explanation for every existing trait. The most recent trait Guillaume has been tackling was submitted by John Wilkins, who asked, "Why do we make odd faces when we orgasm?"
In case you missed when I've plugged him before, JoHn Wilkins (no recent relation) is a philosopher of science in Australia. His most recent book is Species: A History of the Idea, and he runs an excellent blog called Evolving Thoughts. He recently c........ Read more »
Ross HE, Cole CD, Smith Y, Neumann ID, Landgraf R, Murphy AZ, & Young LJ. (2009) Characterization of the oxytocin system regulating affiliative behavior in female prairie voles. Neuroscience, 162(4), 892-903. PMID: 19482070
Carmichael MS, Warburton VL, Dixen J, & Davidson JM. (1994) Relationships among cardiovascular, muscular, and oxytocin responses during human sexual activity. Archives of sexual behavior, 23(1), 59-79. PMID: 8135652
Krüger TH, Haake P, Chereath D, Knapp W, Janssen OE, Exton MS, Schedlowski M, & Hartmann U. (2003) Specificity of the neuroendocrine response to orgasm during sexual arousal in men. The Journal of endocrinology, 177(1), 57-64. PMID: 12697037
- July 29, 2011
- 10:13 AM
- 1,262 views
Does Rough-and-Tumble Play Teach Lessons About Fairness? “Why, Soitenly!”
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
The Three Stooges was the source of an ongoing controversy between my parents. My dad introduced my brother and I to their antics and would often laugh along with us as we imitated their physical hijinks in front of the TV. But, for my mom, the Stooges’ fake violence and prat falls were simply ridiculous [...]
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Van Leeuwen, E., Zimmermann, E., & Ross, M. (2010) Responding to inequities: gorillas try to maintain their competitive advantage during play fights. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0482
- July 12, 2011
- 04:00 PM
- 775 views
Rats, Bees, and Brains: The Death of the “Cognitive Map”
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
Humans, just like all other animals, face the same problem every day: how do we get around the world? I don’t mean how do we walk, swim, crawl, or fly. I mean, how do we navigate? If I leave in search of food, how do I find my way back home? ... Read more »
Tolman, E. (1948) Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review, 55(4), 189-208. DOI: 10.1037/h0061626
O'Keefe J, & Speakman A. (1987) Single unit activity in the rat hippocampus during a spatial memory task. Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Experimentation cerebrale, 68(1), 1-27. PMID: 3691688
Whishaw IQ. (1991) Latent learning in a swimming pool place task by rats: evidence for the use of associative and not cognitive mapping processes. The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology, 43(1), 83-103. PMID: 2017576
Collett, T., & Rees, J. (1997) View-based navigation in Hymenoptera: multiple strategies of landmark guidance in the approach to a feeder. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology, 181(1), 47-58. DOI: 10.1007/s003590050092
Simons, D., & Wang, R. (1998) Perceiving Real-World Viewpoint Changes. Psychological Science, 9(4), 315-320. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9280.00062
Epstein R, & Kanwisher N. (1998) A cortical representation of the local visual environment. Nature, 392(6676), 598-601. PMID: 9560155
- July 5, 2011
- 03:55 AM
- 773 views
Throwing Rocks From the Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
I’m teaching my son to think like a scientist. He is two years old. We frequently go for walks together through the woods and along the coastlines of British Columbia where I allow his curiosity to run free. His current research project is throwing rocks into the ocean (this is just the exploratory phase mind [...]... Read more »
Michael Elazar. (2011) Projectile Motion and the Rejection of Superposition. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 169-187. info:/10.1007/978-94-007-1605-6_16
- June 27, 2011
- 02:54 AM
- 1,539 views
“It’s Hard for Me to Say I’m Sorry”
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
Photo credit here.
Readers may find that the title for this post triggers a certain refrain by Chicago (or BoysIIMen, depending on how old you are). Apologies in advance to those of you who may find yourself humming the chorus on your drive home or while walking through the halls of your workplace or campus. Or while grocery shopping. Or brushing your teeth. (The power of suggestion is a curious thing.) Of course, you may question how sorry I really am considering that I made a conscious deci........ Read more »
de Waal, FB. (2000) Primates--A Natural Heritage of Conflict Resolution. Science (New York, N.Y.), 289(5479), 586-90. PMID: 10915614
Schlenker, B. and Darby, B. (1981) The Use of Apologies in Social Predicaments. Social Psychology Quarterly., 44(3), 271-278. info:/
Silk, J. (2002) The Form and Function of Reconciliation in Primates. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31(1), 21-44. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.31.032902.101743
- June 23, 2011
- 10:30 AM
- 1,288 views
From the Archives: What Can 3D Movies Teach Us About How Ants Smell?
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
A version of this post was originally published on my Wordpress blog on March 15, 2010. Click the archives image to see the original post.
Most animals, at some point in their day-to-day lives, face the same problem. After they've gone out in search of food, they need to find their way home. But some of the places like where various critters live lack any real visual landmarks, like the open ocean or wide expanses of desert. Instead of relying on vision, some animals have developed the ability ........ Read more »
Steck, K., Hansson, B., & Knaden, M. (2009) Smells like home: Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, use olfactory landmarks to pinpoint the nest. Frontiers in Zoology, 6(1), 5. DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-6-5
Steck, K., Knaden, M., & Hansson, B. (2010) Do desert ants smell the scenery in stereo?. Animal Behaviour. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.01.011
- June 22, 2011
- 12:00 PM
- 1,345 views
The intelligent homosexual's guide to natural selection and evolution, with a key to many complicating factors
by Jeremy Yoder in Denim and Tweed
.flickr-photo { }.flickr-framewide { float: right; text-align: left; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; width:100%;}.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } San Francisco Pride, 2008. Photo by ingridtaylar.This is a cross-posting of my latest contribution to the Scientific American guest blog. Since the original went up at SciAm, P.Z. Myers has pointed out a few more complicating factors. If you read one paper to follow up on what I've written here, I'd suggest Nathan Bailey a........ Read more »
Bogaert, A. (2006) Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men's sexual orientation. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sciences USA, 103(28), 10771-4. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0511152103
Bailey, N., & Zuk, M. (2009) Same-sex sexual behavior and evolution. Trends in Ecology , 24(8), 439-46. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.014
Camperio-Ciani, A., Corna, F., & Capiluppi, C. (2004) Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity. Proc. Royal Soc. B, 2217-21. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2872
Eller, E., Hawks, J., & Relethford, J.H. (2010) Local extinction and recolonization, species effective population size, and modern human origins. Human Biology, 805-24. DOI: 10.1353/hub.2005.0006
Futuyma, D.J. (2005) Celebrating diversity in sexuality and gender. Evolution, 1156-9. DOI: 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2005.tb01052.x
Gavrilets, S., & Rice, W.R. (2006) Genetic models of homosexuality: generating testable predictions. Proc. Royal Soc. B, 3031-8. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3684
Haldane, J.B.S. (2008) A mathematical theory of natural and artificial selection. Part V: Selection and mutation. Mathematical Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc., 23(07), 838. DOI: 10.1017/S0305004100015644
Hamer, D.H., Hu, S., Magnuson, V.L., Hu, N., & Pattatucci, A.M. (1993) A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 321-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.8332896
Herbenick D., Reece M., Schick V., Sanders S.A., Dodge B., & Fortenberry J.D. (2010) Sexual behavior in the United States: results from a national probability sample of men and women ages 14-94. The journal of sexual medicine, 255-65. PMID: 21029383
Pillard RC, & Bailey JM. (1998) Human sexual orientation has a heritable component. Human Biology, 70(2), 347-65. PMID: 9549243
Rahman, Q., & Hull, M.S. (2005) An empirical test of the kin selection hypothesis for male homosexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 461-7. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-005-4345-6
Ramagopalan, S., Dyment, D.A., Handunnetthi, L., Rice, G.P., & Ebers, G.C. (2010) A genome-wide scan of male sexual orientation. Journal of Human Genetics, 131-2. DOI: 10.1038/jhg.2009.135
Roach, J., Glusman, G., Smit, A., Huff, C., Hubley, R., Shannon, P., Rowen, L., Pant, K., Goodman, N., Bamshad, M.... (2010) Analysis of genetic inheritance in a family quartet by whole-genome sequencing. Science, 328(5978), 636-9. DOI: 10.1126/science.1186802
Rice, G. (1999) Male homosexuality: Absence of linkage to microsatellite markers at Xq28. Science, 284(5414), 665-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5414.665
Takahata, N. (1993) Allelic genealogy and human evolution. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2-22. info:/8450756
Tenesa, A., Navarro, P., Hayes, B.J., Duffy, D.L., Clarke, G.M., Goddard, M.E., & Visscher, P.M. (2007) Recent human effective population size estimated from linkage disequilibrium. Genome Research, 520-6. DOI: 10.1101/gr.6023607
Xu, L., Chen, H., Hu, X., Zhang, R., Zhang, Z., & Luo, Z.W. (2006) Average gene length is highly conserved in prokaryotes and eukaryotes and diverges only between the two kingdoms. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 1107-8. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msk019
- June 21, 2011
- 12:43 PM
- 1,355 views
Post-Hoc Supernatural Punishers
by Cris Campbell in Genealogy of Religion
In the inaugural issue of Religion, Brain & Behavior, Jeffrey Schloss and Michael Murray examine the idea that belief in supernatural agents is adaptive because these agents are punishers: supernatural policeman if you will. This policing can have two effects. First, belief in supernatural punishment can enhance within group cooperation. Second, it can reduce cheating [...]... Read more »
Schloss, Jeffrey P., & Murray, Michael J. (2011) Evolutionary Accounts of Belief in Supernatural Punishment: A Critical Review. Religion, Brain , 1(1), 46-99. info:/10.1080/2153599X.2011.558707
Brandhorst, Mario. (2010) Naturalism and the Genealogy of Moral Institutions. The Journal of Nietzsche Studies, 5-28. info:/
- June 17, 2011
- 05:28 PM
- 1,121 views
EP Therapy: Foraging Camp for Autistics
by Cris Campbell in Genealogy of Religion
Everyone knows the experience: you happen upon a wreck and know you shouldn’t look but can’t help it. You know there is a chance of seeing something you don’t want to see and which may haunt you, but you look regardless. There should be a word for this and in the absence of one, I [...]... Read more »
Reser, Jared E. (2011) Conceptualizing the Autism Spectrum in Terms of Natural Selection and Behavioral Ecology: The Solitary Forager Hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychology, 9(2), 207-238. info:/
- June 16, 2011
- 11:00 AM
- 957 views
Fido Might Not Know What You Do and Do Not See
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
You've probably had a conversation that goes something like this:
Person A: "My dog is sooooo amazing!"
You: "I mean, dogs are awesome and all, but what's so amazing about this particular dog?"
Person A: "He just understands me. It's like he knows what I'm thinking and what I need."
You: "Do you think he's just maybe responding contingently do your overt displays of emotion?"
Person A: "Listen, man, I'm telling you: my dog can read my mind!"
No matter on which side of this sort of argument yo........ Read more »
Udell MA, Dorey NR, & Wynne CD. (2011) Can your dog read your mind? Understanding the causes of canine perspective taking. Learning . PMID: 21643852
Hare B, Call J, & Tomasello M. (2001) Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know?. Animal behaviour, 61(1), 139-151. PMID: 11170704
- June 15, 2011
- 04:16 PM
- 2,268 views
To Be or Not to Be Monogamous?
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
What does it mean to be monogamous?Sexual exclusivity between two partners?
A two-party partnership, characterized by cooperation where resources are shared and children are produced?
A genetic commitment to producing offspring with a single partner?
A social system in which only two people are contracted to marriage at a time?
Or is it perhaps some combination of these four?
For some people, establishing yourself in an exclusively committed relationship where you wake up next to the same perso........ Read more »
Curtis, J. Thomas, & Wang, Z. (2003) The Neurochemistry of Pair Bonding. Current Directions in Psychology, 12(2), 49-53. info:/
Fuentes, A. (1998) Re-Evaluating Primate Monogamy. American Anthropologist, 100(4), 890-907. DOI: 10.1525/aa.1998.100.4.890
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