All posts; Tags Include "Evolutionary Psychology"
- February 20, 2011
- 11:46 PM
- 1,650 views
Did the Red Fox Predate the Dog as Man's Best Friend?
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Pets have longed played a role in human companionship. Wild animals were primarily a source of food (and danger) in early human development. Later in evolution, animals began to serve a more complex role. Domestication of a variety of animals served a more utilitarian role. For example, domestication of horses allowed for extended travel, improved efficiency of hunting and provided a strategic advantage in battle.The domestications of wild wolves has been felt to be........ Read more »
Maher, L., Stock, J., Finney, S., Heywood, J., Miracle, P., & Banning, E. (2011) A Unique Human-Fox Burial from a Pre-Natufian Cemetery in the Levant (Jordan). PLoS ONE, 6(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015815
- February 16, 2011
- 10:23 AM
- 994 views
The Psychology of Killing and the Origins of War
by Dan Bailey in Smells Like Science
Has warfare been handed down to us through millions of years of evolution? Is it part of who we are as a species? At the heart of this question is whether humans have a natural capacity to kill other humans. Some social scientists have concluded that evolution has in fact left us with this unfortunate ability.
Primatologist Richard Wrangham, a major proponent of this idea, developed the “Imbalance of Power Hypothesis” to explain how evolution could produce a propensity for warfare........ Read more »
ROSCOE, P. (2007) Intelligence, Coalitional Killing, and the Antecedents of War. American Anthropologist, 109(3), 485-495. DOI: 10.1525/aa.2007.109.3.485
- February 12, 2011
- 05:08 PM
- 917 views
Fightin’ mad: a story of squid, sex, and proteins
A story about squid has been making the rounds in news sources and blogs this weekend. Just two days ago, a paper came out showing that male squid (loligo peleii) react with extreme agression to a certain protein found on the surface of squid eggs. The paper was written by a group of researchers (including [...]... Read more »
Scott F. Cummins, Jean G. Boal, Kendra C. Buresch,, Chitraporn Kuanpradit, Prasert Sobhon,, Johanna B. Holm, Bernard M. Degnan, Gregg T. Nagle,, & and Roger T. Hanlon. (2011) Extreme Aggression in Male Squid Induced by a b-MSP-like Pheromone. Current Biology. info:/10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.038
Anahí Franchi N, Avendaño C, Molina RI, Tissera AD, Maldonado CA, Oehninger S, & Coronel CE. (2008) beta-Microseminoprotein in human spermatozoa and its potential role in male fertility. Reproduction (Cambridge, England), 136(2), 157-66. PMID: 18469041
- February 10, 2011
- 11:32 AM
- 1,617 views
Too Many Men to Choose From…
by APS Daily Observations in Daily Observations
Can’t find the right guy or girl for Valentine’s Day? Research suggests you might be looking in the wrong place. A study published in Psychological Science found that people who ... Read more »
Lenton AP, & Francesconi M. (2010) How humans cognitively manage an abundance of mate options. Psychological science, 21(4), 528-33. PMID: 20424095
- February 4, 2011
- 04:03 PM
- 742 views
Touching Death
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries in Exile
The latest stop in the #PDEx tour is being hosted by The Prancing Papio:There is something intensely animal about our relationship with the dead. As an atheist I don’t feel particular reverence or awe at the site of a cadaver. It mostly just creeps me out. But even religious believers, those who should be comfortable with the idea that a dead body retains no trace of the person they once knew, also seem to have trouble letting go of what St. Paul called “confidence in the flesh.” In funera........ Read more »
Cronin, K., van Leeuwen, E., Mulenga, I., & Bodamer, M. (2011) Behavioral response of a chimpanzee mother toward her dead infant. American Journal of Primatology. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20927
- February 4, 2011
- 04:03 PM
- 740 views
Touching Death
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
The latest stop in the #PDEx tour is being hosted by The Prancing Papio:There is something intensely animal about our relationship with the dead. As an atheist I don’t feel particular reverence or awe at the site of a cadaver. It mostly just creeps me out. But even religious believers, those who should be comfortable with the idea that a dead body retains no trace of the person they once knew, also seem to have trouble letting go of what St. Paul called “confidence in the flesh.” In funera........ Read more »
Cronin, K., van Leeuwen, E., Mulenga, I., & Bodamer, M. (2011) Behavioral response of a chimpanzee mother toward her dead infant. American Journal of Primatology. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20927
- February 3, 2011
- 01:59 AM
- 1,659 views
The Social Functions of Blushing
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
It's happened to all of us. The poorly timed remark, tripping over an uneven sidewalk, a torn seam or an open button or zipper, or even the dreaded toilet paper stuck to the bottom of a shoe—embarrassment can strike at any time.
It's easy to feel as though embarrassing things happen only to you. (We tend to over-emphasize embarrassing events, but I'll let it slide if you want to pretend that you're socially savvy.) In fact, earlier this week, I came close to falling flat on my bac........ Read more »
Keltner, D., & Anderson, C. (2000) Saving Face for Darwin: The Functions and Uses of Embarrassment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 187-192. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8721.00091
Miller, Rowland S. (2001) On the Primacy of Embarrassment in Social Life. Psychological Inquiry, 12(1), 30-33. info:/
NICOLAOU, M., PAES, T., & WAKELIN, S. (2006) Blushing: an embarrassing condition, but treatable. The Lancet, 367(9519), 1297-1299. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68554-1
- January 26, 2011
- 09:30 AM
- 790 views
Need A Date? Take A Cue From The Birds
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
What's the best way for a lonely guy to get a date? If you're a Splendid Fairy-Wren (Malurus splendens, native to Australia), your best bet might be to frighten the object of your affection.
You've learned all about the birds and the bees; now it's time to learn from them.
Lots of research has shown that animals reduce their sexual behaviors when predators are around. After all, it isn't just potential mates who would see or hear an elaborate mating display, but also potential predators. The ........ Read more »
Greig, E., & Pruett-Jones, S. (2010) Danger may enhance communication: predator calls alert females to male displays. Behavioral Ecology, 21(6), 1360-1366. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arq155
Greig, E., & Pruett-Jones, S. (2009) A predator-elicited song in the splendid fairy-wren: warning signal or intraspecific display?. Animal Behaviour, 78(1), 45-52. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.02.030
Dutton DG, & Aron AP. (1974) Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of personality and social psychology, 30(4), 510-7. PMID: 4455773
- January 25, 2011
- 02:00 AM
- 535 views
The scent of a woman: subtle factors influencing human sexual attraction
by SAGE Insight in SAGE Insight
Scent of a woman men’s testosterone responses to olfactory ovulation cues From Psychological Science According to this research, odors can be a subtle factor affecting human mating, similar to the behavior of other animals. Monitoring the responses of men after smelling t-shirts worn by ovulating women, non-ovulating women and some not worn at all, they [...]... Read more »
Miller, S., & Maner, J. (2009) Scent of a Woman: Men's Testosterone Responses to Olfactory Ovulation Cues. Psychological Science, 21(2), 276-283. DOI: 10.1177/0956797609357733
- January 20, 2011
- 07:06 PM
- 901 views
Study: Your Genes Help Pick Your Friends
by David Berreby in Mind Matters
How much of you resides between your ears? And how much of what you call "me" is made outside your body, in your relationships with others? Biologists have largely confined themselves to aspects of the mind that can be measured in a single human body (galvanic skin response, activity in the amygdala ...Read More
... Read more »
Fowler, J., Settle, J., & Christakis, N. (2011) Correlated genotypes in friendship networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1011687108
- January 20, 2011
- 06:08 PM
- 1,029 views
Why we are all different (and not all religious)
So, on to the paper by Robert Rowthorn, which I see now has even been picked up by the Denver Post!
Just to explain a bit of the background. Rowthorn is an economist, and his paper is basically a model of what would would happen if you have a gene (strictly speaking [and for Bjørn's benefit], an allele) that predisposes for membership of a group, and if that group has high reproduction.
What he shows is that the gene spreads incredibly quickly - just 10 generations after it appears, 80% of t........ Read more »
Rowthorn R. (2011) Religion, fertility and genes: a dual inheritance model. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society. PMID: 21227968
Penke, L, Denisson, J, & Miller, GF. (2007) The Evolutionary Genetics of Personality. European Journal of Personality, 549-587. info:/
- January 12, 2011
- 09:45 PM
- 1,028 views
Chimpanzee Warfare?
by Dan Bailey in Smells Like Science
The Chimpanzees who live at the Ngogo site deep within Uganda’s Kibale National Park spend their days foraging and feeding, wrestling and playing, grooming and socializing. But every 10 to 14 days a group of males gathers and moves away from the rest of the group. They form a single-file line as they walk purposefully toward the edge of their territory, eventually striking out into the territory of a neighboring group of chimpanzees. They move in atypical silence, scanning the underbrush and ........ Read more »
Mitani, J., Watts, D., & Amsler, S. (2010) Lethal intergroup aggression leads to territorial expansion in wild chimpanzees. Current Biology, 20(12). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.021
- January 12, 2011
- 03:53 PM
- 1,212 views
Lemur Week: Numerical Cognition and Hidden Grapes
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
Behold! The second installment of the Science Online Lemur Cognition series. If you missed the first installment, you should check out the cyborg lemurs of the Duke Lemur Center.
There's some pretty good evidence that numerical cognition emerged fairly early in the primate lineage, at least, if not significantly earlier in evolution. Most of the work on numerical cognition in non-human primates, however, has focused on a handful of monkey and ape species. The prosimian suborder of primates, how........ Read more »
Lewis KP, Jaffe S, & Brannon EM. (2005) Analog number representations in mongoose lemurs (Eulemur mongoz): evidence from a search task. Animal cognition, 8(4), 247-52. PMID: 15660208
- January 11, 2011
- 01:14 PM
- 1,350 views
A biological mechanism that protects against rape?
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
When sex researchers compare men and women's genital arousal in response to various stimuli, they generally find that men tend only to be aroused by stimuli that match their declared sexual preferences and subjective feelings, whereas women tend to be aroused by a broad array of sexual material (even involving chimps), irrespective of their declared preferences and subjective feelings. A new study by Kelly Suschinsky and Martin Lalumiere tests the claim, which will surely prove controversial, th........ Read more »
Suschinsky, K., & Lalumiere, M. (2010) Prepared for Anything?: An Investigation of Female Genital Arousal in Response to Rape Cues. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610394660
- January 10, 2011
- 10:00 AM
- 1,209 views
Lemur Week: Ringtailed Lemurs Look Where You're Looking
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
In honor of Science Online, which begins on Thursday night, I will be writing about lemurs this week. Why lemurs? Because on Friday morning, as a part of Science Online, I will be taking a tour of the Duke Lemur Center.
It is common among animals - especially primates - to orient their gaze preferentially towards other individuals, as well as to follow the gaze of others. Lots of attention has been paid to gaze-following, in part because the ability to recognize and orient to the behavior of ot........ Read more »
Shepherd, S., & Platt, M. (2007) Spontaneous social orienting and gaze following in ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Animal Cognition, 11(1), 13-20. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-007-0083-6
- January 10, 2011
- 04:51 AM
- 849 views
Three-year-olds show a bias for spotting snakes in a striking posture
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Have we evolved to detect this threat?
We humans seem to have an innate predisposition to fear dangerous animals and other hazards that would have imperilled our ancestors - a phenomenon called 'prepared learning'. For example, when researchers in the 1980s used loud noises to condition people to fear the sight of snakes and guns, they found that people acquired a fear of the snakes much more easily, even though the noises matched the sound made by guns. A new study has built on that classic w........ Read more »
Masataka, N., Hayakawa, S., & Kawai, N. (2010) Human Young Children as well as Adults Demonstrate ‘Superior’ Rapid Snake Detection When Typical Striking Posture Is Displayed by the Snake. PLoS ONE, 5(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015122
- December 1, 2010
- 12:30 PM
- 1,237 views
Gratitude: Uniquely Human or Shared with Animals?
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
"Two chimps had been shut out of their shelter by mistake during a cold rain storm. They were standing dejeted, water streaming down their shivering bodies, when Professor Köhler chanced to pass." Upon opening the door for the two chimps, Dr. James Leuba recounts, "instead of scampering in without more ado, as many a child would have done, each of them delayed entering the warm shelter long enough to throw its arms around his benefactor in a frenzy of satisfaction."
"Chimpanzees," primatolog........ Read more »
Krisin E. Bonnie, & Frans B. M. de Waal. (2004) Primate Social Reciprocity and the Origin of Gratitude. in Robert A. Emmons , 213-229. info:/
DEWAAL, F. (1997) The Chimpanzee's service economy: Food for grooming. Evolution and Human Behavior, 18(6), 375-386. DOI: 10.1016/S1090-5138(97)00085-8
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002) Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 415(6868), 137-140. DOI: 10.1038/415137a
HART, B., & HART, L. (1992) Reciprocal allogrooming in impala, Aepyceros melampus. Animal Behaviour, 44(6), 1073-1083. DOI: 10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80319-7
Wilkinson, G. (1984) Reciprocal food sharing in the vampire bat. Nature, 308(5955), 181-184. DOI: 10.1038/308181a0
Seyfarth RM, & Cheney DL. (1984) Grooming, alliances and reciprocal altruism in vervet monkeys. Nature, 308(5959), 541-3. PMID: 6709060
- December 1, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 1,261 views
One fish, two fish... Can fish count?
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Quick! How many dots?
You can do that fast, right? You don’t even have to count.
In comparison, as fast as you can, how many dots?
That’s much trickier, isn’t it? Slower. You have to count.
The first, “at a glance” way of determining the number of things is called subitizing.
A new paper by Bisazza and colleagues takes a look at these abilities in guppies. Guppies, like many other fish, have a behaviour that is sensitive to numbers of things: joining a school of other fish. Bisa........ Read more »
Bisazza A, Piffer L, Serena G, & Agrillo C. (2010) Ontogeny of numerical abilities in fish. PLoS ONE, 5(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015516
- December 1, 2010
- 05:40 AM
- 938 views
Which is worse: your partner having a heterosexual or homosexual affair?
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Assuming you're in a heterosexual relationship, which is worse: for your partner to be unfaithful with a person of the opposite or the same sex? According to a pair of US psychologists, the answer depends on whether you're a man or woman. Men, they've found, are less likely to continue a relationship with an unfaithful partner who's had a heterosexual affair, as opposed to a homosexual affair. For women, it's the other way around - they're more troubled by their male partner going off with anoth........ Read more »
Confer, J., & Cloud, M. (2011) Sex differences in response to imagining a partner’s heterosexual or homosexual affair. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(2), 129-134. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.09.007
- November 24, 2010
- 02:53 PM
- 1,586 views
The Social Cognition of Your Thanksgiving Dinner
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
Even still, we tend to think of the turkey as a fairly unintelligent bird, skilled at little more than waddling around, emitting the occasional "gobble," and frying up golden-brown-and-delicious. But...what if I told you that the domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) could actually be quite clever, at least when it comes to social cognition? Apocryphal or not, Ben Franklin may have been on to something with the "Bird of Courage."
Head on over to Scientific American to catch my latest contribu........ Read more »
Buchwalder, T. (2003) A brief report on aggressive interactions within and between groups of domestic turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 84(1), 75-80. DOI: 10.1016/S0168-1591(03)00149-7
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