The adaptivity of children’s search processes Andreas Wilke Clarkson University, Department of Psychology Humans and other organisms must search effectively for the resources they need, whether these are physical (e.g., food or shelter) or informational (e.g., patterns in the world, or concepts stored in memory). Most human search studies have focused on brief (static) laboratory […]
The evolutionary psychology of psychology David Pietraszewski Psychological and Brain Sciences, UCSB Sciences progress when the perspective-dependence of their inquiry is taken into account and corrected for. This happened in astronomy, physics, and chemistry, but it has not yet happened in the psychological and behavioral sciences. Because human beings have no choice but to use […]
Snark Hunting and Non-Traditional Models for the Biology of Monogamy Nicholas Grebe Assistant Professor Department of Psychology Occidental College Since the 1950s, the field of organismal biology has warned against a single-minded focus on common, easy-to-study animal models—the lab rat being the canonical example—that comes at the expense of understanding both diversity and commonality in […]
Storytelling, sovereignty, and STEM Justin Lund Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology OSU Center for Health Sciences Inclusive and engaged research and education are essential for fostering equity and mutual respect. Yet, academic approaches to culturally appropriate knowledge production and community engagement vary widely. Indigenous communities have long been a focus of research, […]
Lineage Fitness Theory and the Lineage Manipulation and Mutualism Mechanism: Bridging Evolutionary Social Sciences & Cultural Evolution Ryan Nichols Department of Philosophy, California State University Fullerton Lineage fitness theory aims to improve integration of cultural evolution with evolutionary psychological and social sciences by explaining the onset and maintenance of key traditions as products of gene-culture […]
Bridging the data gap between children and AI models Mike Frank Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor of Human Biology, Stanford University Large language and language-vision models show intriguing emergent behaviors, yet they receive at least three to four – and sometimes as much as six – orders of magnitude more language data than human children. What accounts for […]
Music and Health: Biological Foundations and Applications Daniel L. Bowling Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) Every day, hundreds of millions of people turn to music to regulate their mood, take pleasure, and socialize. […]
Incentivized punishers and moralistic offenders destabilize cooperation Tage Rai Assistant Professor Rady School of Management University of California, San Diego Punishment is classically theorized to be essential for the evolution of cooperation in human societies and is the primary means by which states attempt to directly reduce crime. Yet, empirically, punishment is often ineffective at […]
An evolutionary-physiological model of human energy management and the emergence of novel non-communicable diseases Hillard Kaplan Professor, Anthropology, University of New Mexico Research Affiliate, Economic Science Institute, Chapman University This talk presents recent findings obtained with Tsimane and Moseten Native South Americans showing that they 1) engage in high levels of physical activity, and have […]
Generic generalizations within and across contexts Ny Vasil Assistant Professor Psychology Department, California State University East Bay Generic generalizations about natural and social kinds (e.g., “Raccoons have rabies”; “Trader Joe’s cashiers are friendly”) shape how agents learn, explain and intervene on their environment. Yet, there’s no consensus about what underwrites people’s endorsement of generic generalizations. […]
