Upcoming Presentation

Paleolithic archaeologists have employed expectations generated from models developed in evolutionary anthropology to aid in the investigation of the origins of high-fidelity cultural transmission. Based on the notion that copying error ought to yield high levels of between-group cultural variation under unbiased cultural transmission, archaeologists have interpreted ostensibly “lower-than-expected” levels of cultural variation among regional […]

Given that animal-borne pathogens pose especially high disease risks and, moreover, that a growing body of research suggests that the evolved function of disgust is the avoidance of disease, it is largely unsurprising that the consumption of non-normative meat would evoke strong disgust reactions. Yet, it is largely unclear whether and when concerns about disease […]

Friends have recurrently provided social, material, and emotional support—helping humans meet a range of recurrent challenges tributary to fitness. But friendships are not the first type of relationship that comes to mind when thinking about research in social psychology or evolutionary social science. Moreover, when friendships are the focus, work typically foregrounds the friendship dyad. […]

On the Number of Genealogical Ancestors: Tracing to the Source Groups of an Admixed Population Jazlyn Mooney USC In genetically admixed populations, admixed individuals possess ancestry from multiple source groups. Studies of human genetic admixture frequently estimate ancestry components corresponding to fractions of individual genomes that trace to specific ancestral populations. However, the same numerical […]

Patricia Greenfield Distinguished Professor, UCLA Department of Psychology Associate, Harvard Department of Human Evolutionary Biology A Theoretical and Empirical Approach to Cultural Evolution: Intergenerational Transmission, Cognition, and Creativity For the theoretical approach, I will present my multilevel theory of ecological change, cultural evolution, and human development. For the empirical evidence, I will report findings from […]

To Save Humankind, Kill Off the Hero’s Journey of Human Evolution Holly Dunsworth University of Rhode Island In Narratives of Human Evolution, Misia Landau revealed that late 19th and early 20th century fathers of human evolutionary theory, including Charles Darwin, unconsciously conformed their stories to the key structural elements of Russian folktales. Dunsworth argues that […]