All posts; Tags Include "Evolutionary Psychology"
- February 3, 2011
- 01:59 AM
- 2,069 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
- 917 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
- 675 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
- 1,046 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
- 1,200 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
- 1,233 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
- 1,346 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
- 1,807 views
A biological mechanism that protects against rape?
by BPS Research Digest 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
- 1,342 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
- 1,092 views
Three-year-olds show a bias for spotting snakes in a striking posture
by BPS Research Digest 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
- 1,414 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
- 1,409 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
- 1,367 views
Which is worse: your partner having a heterosexual or homosexual affair?
by BPS Research Digest 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
- 1,711 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
- November 22, 2010
- 02:21 PM
- 950 views
Personality and Behavioural Ecology
by sandygautam in The Mouse Trap
Image by The Happy Robot via Flickr I am an avid personality researcher and most recently have posted a series on personality and emotion. I have also talked a bit about life-history theories and thus am aware of the broad filed of behavioral ecology. A recent paper by Nettle and Penke brings the two fieldsRating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)... Read more »
Nettle, D., & Penke, L. (2010) Personality: bridging the literatures from human psychology and behavioural ecology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 365(1560), 4043-4050. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0061
- November 22, 2010
- 11:01 AM
- 879 views
Stressing Motherhood: A primatologist discovers the social factors responsible for maternal infanticide. (Scientific American)
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries
The latest stop in the #PDEx tour is being hosted by Scientific American:Throughout history, from the fictional Medea to the tragic reports of modern times, women have taken the lives of their children under a variety of contexts, whether it is to punish the father, escape from the burden of motherhood, or even to protect a child from what they perceive as a fate worse than death. In this regard humans share yet another feature, albeit a tragic one, with nonhuman animals since females in a varie........ Read more »
Maestripieri, D. (2010) Emotions, stress, and maternal motivation in primates. American Journal of Primatology. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20882
- November 22, 2010
- 11:01 AM
- 735 views
Stressing Motherhood: A primatologist discovers the social factors responsible for maternal infanticide. (Scientific American)
by Eric Michael Johnson in The Primate Diaries in Exile
The latest stop in the #PDEx tour is being hosted by Scientific American:Throughout history, from the fictional Medea to the tragic reports of modern times, women have taken the lives of their children under a variety of contexts, whether it is to punish the father, escape from the burden of motherhood, or even to protect a child from what they perceive as a fate worse than death. In this regard humans share yet another feature, albeit a tragic one, with nonhuman animals since females in a varie........ Read more »
Maestripieri, D. (2010) Emotions, stress, and maternal motivation in primates. American Journal of Primatology. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20882
- November 22, 2010
- 04:43 AM
- 1,636 views
What do Women Want?
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
In short: women want dominant men as short term mates and prestigious men as long term mates. Dominant males being those who are ambitious, assertive and boss other people around, intimidating others. The kind of alpha males chasing desired women. The prestigious kind are those who achieve high social status through social networks (twitter?), making [...]
Related posts:Why are there so many great unmarried women and no great unmarried men?
Women Doctors more often wear White Coats in Media P........ Read more »
Kruger, D., & Fitzgerald, C. (2010) Reproductive strategies and relationship preferences associated with prestigious and dominant men. Personality and Individual Differences. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.10.022
- November 18, 2010
- 10:15 AM
- 1,247 views
What Can Dolphins Tell Us About The Evolution of Friendship?
by Jason Goldman in The Thoughtful Animal
Scientists thought they had a pretty good handle on the social interactions of bottlenose dophins (Tursiops). They've used the term fission-fusion dynamics to describe dolphin (and non-human primate) society and so far it has served researchers well. Fission-fusion societies among dolphins are characterized by two levels of social hierarchy: groups of two or three related males ("first-order alliances") which work together to guard one or more females from other males, and larger teams compris........ Read more »
Connor RC, Watson-Capps JJ, Sherwin WB, & Krützen M. (2010) A new level of complexity in the male alliance networks of Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.). Biology letters. PMID: 21047850
DeScioli P, & Kurzban R. (2009) The alliance hypothesis for human friendship. PloS one, 4(6). PMID: 19492066
- November 17, 2010
- 12:03 PM
- 2,590 views
Faunal Friends: Evolution and the Animal Connection
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
I’ll never forget the day S brought home a live chicken. When we lived in Queens, there were a number of fresh poultry and livestock suppliers that catered to the growing West Indian community, but there were definitely a few backyard farmers in the neighborhood. S was at a gas station when he heard a cheeping noise. He knelt down to investigate and when he straightened up, found a chick sitting on the mat in the car. “What was I supposed to do?” he asked showing me the chick. “It jumpe........ Read more »
Shipman, Pat. (2010) The Animal Connection and Human Evolution. Current Anthropology, 51(4), 519-538. DOI: 10.1086/653816
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