Dr. Sean Prall
Dept. of Anthropology, University of Missouri
Title: Perceptions that matter: using peer evaluations and dyadic data to explore behavior in rural Namibia
Abstract: Reputation and social status are central to research on mating, social learning, and cooperation. However, evolutionary social scientists face significant methodological difficulties in accurately measuring people’s perceptions of others. As a result, most studies in anthropology and psychology rely on hypotheticals or experimental paradigms in lab-based settings. While this work has yielded insight into how people think about these domains, these approaches are limited in their ecological validity, ability to capture a dynamic and competitive social environment, and may recapitulate social norms instead of yield novel information about social dynamics. An alternative approach, which I will explore in this talk, is the use of dyadic peer evaluations. Using two unique datasets, each with more than 10,000 ratings from a single community in Namibia, I will explore two case studies: 1) mating market competition, and 2) women’s status. I will highlight the benefits and potential drawbacks of dyadic peer evaluations and explore how these methods can be used as part of a larger toolkit to explore cultural and behavioral attributes of human populations.
Zoom: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92826436236?pwd=SytQNTNPSWdwaDNlTm05d2srdXNHUT09
Meeting ID: 928 2643 6236
Passcode: BEC