BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://bec.ucla.edu X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20080309T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20081102T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20090308T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20091101T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20100314T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20101107T090000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091109T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091109T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214446Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004828Z UID:4116-1257724800-1257724800@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Katerina Semendeferi - Neuroanatomical perspectives on the evolution of the mind DESCRIPTION:Katerina Semendeferi: UCSD Department of AnthropologyThe organ of the mind\, the brain\, is the focus of several fields of study. This lecture will address the role of neuroanatomy in reconstructions of cognitive evolution. It will present new data on the internal organization of the brain of humans and great apes and will revisit\, in a critical light\, some of the older data sets widely used in primate evolutionary studies. The lecture will address the challenges of reconstructing cognitive evolution based on animals like the apes that cannot be studied invasively\, the significance of including closely related taxonomic groups in studies of human evolution and the issues involved in transferring brain/mind data from animal models to hominids that are characterized by differences in brain size and socioecological adaptations. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/katerina-semendeferi-neuroanatomical-perspectives-on-the-evolution-of-the-mind/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091102T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091102T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214446Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004828Z UID:4115-1257120000-1257120000@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Steve Neuberg - Toward a Functional\, Affordance-Centered Model of Person Perception\, Prejudices\, and Social Interaction: Taking into Account Life History and Ecological Considerations DESCRIPTION:Steve Neuberg: Arizona State University Department of PsychologyTraditional psychological and social science theories fail to account for the complexity and nuance that characterize people’s prejudices and the manner in which\, more generally\, people view and interact with one another. I am developing an alternative\, functional\, affordance-based model\, one positing (1) that our views of others are based on our inferences about their goals\, the behavioral strategies they employ to reach them\, and the tangible threats and opportunities afforded us by those strategies\, and (2) that these goal and strategy inferences are themselves heuristically inferred from others’ life history standing (i.e.\, age X sex categorization) in combination with stereotypes about the behavioral strategies favored by the different physical and social ecologies in which people live (i.e.\, “ecology stereotypes”). This vertically integrative framework-linking life history and ecological considerations to person perception processes-provides a more compelling account for a wide range of psychological and social phenomena related to intergroup stereotypes and prejudices\, within-coalition stereotypes and prejudices\, various social-cognitive biases\, and the general accuracy of person perception and stereotypes. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/steve-neuberg-toward-a-functional-affordance-centered-model-of-person-perception-prejudices-and-social-interaction-taking-into-account-life-history-and-ecological-considerations/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091026T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091026T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214445Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004828Z UID:4114-1256515200-1256515200@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Andrew Shaner - Autism as the low-fitness extreme of a parentally selected fitness indicator DESCRIPTION:Andrew Shaner: UCLA Semel Institute for Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences; Deputy Chief of Psychiatry and Mental Health\, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare SystemIn many species\, siblings compete for parental care and feeding\, while parents must allocate scarce resources to those offspring most likely to survive and reproduce. This could cause offspring to evolve traits that advertise health\, and thereby attract parental resources. For example\, experimental evidence suggests that bright orange filaments covering the heads of North American coot chicks may have evolved for this fitness-advertising purpose. Suppose that the ability of infants and very young children to charm their parents evolved as a parentally selected fitness indicator. Young children would vary greatly in their ability to charm parents\, that variation would correlate with underlying fitness\, and autism could be the low-fitness extreme of this variation.\nThis general version of our hypothesis can explain why autism begins in childhood\, why it is highly heritable\, why the responsible genes have been so hard to find\, why it is more common in boys and more severe in girls and why it is associated with environmental hazards\, developmental abnormalities and increased mortality. Among its predictions is that autism will be more common in populations with historically high rates of genetic polyandry.\nIn addition to the general hypothesis\, suppose that a key component of charm involves infant social behaviors that prolong breast feeding and thereby delay conception of a younger sibling. If true\, this would explain why autism impairs social abilities so early and so profoundly. It would also predict that (1) within populations\, age at onset of autism will parallel age at onset of weaning\, (2) autism will be associated with scarce environmental resources and early weaning\, (3) delaying weaning will protect against autism (4) close relatives will show higher variance in infant social ability (including its anatomical and neurophysiological bases)\, and in subsequent birth interval\, and (5) infant social ability will correlate positively with both underlying fitness and parental resource allocation (e.g.\, intensity and duration of breast-feeding).http://bec.ucla.edu/papers/Shaner08.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/andrew-shaner-autism-as-the-low-fitness-extreme-of-a-parentally-selected-fitness-indicator/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091019T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091019T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20201006T212532Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004828Z UID:4890-1255910400-1255910400@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Steve Frank - Demography and timescale in social evolution DESCRIPTION:Steve Frank: UC Irvine & Santa Fe Institute Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCurrent studies of biological sociality tend to ignore two key factors: the consequences of social traits on long-term aspects of survival and fecundity (demography)\, and the tension between short and long time scales of success. I use several examples from the biology of microbes to illustrate these fundamental processes of sociality\, which apply to any problem that can be framed in terms of natural selection or economic efficiency. For those interested in the particular biological examples\, here is a brief summary. Microbes secrete molecules to modify their environment. Secretions dislodge and bind iron\, manipulate host defenses\, build protective biofilm structures\, and communicate information to neighboring microbes. Successful modulation of the environment and successful communication require collective action by a large population of microbes. Recent studies show that kin or group selection powerfully shapes the ways in which microbes collectively communicate and modify their environment. Others studies have shown that the basic design of metabolism and cellular biochemistry may also be influenced by social processes. Competition favors fast extraction and use of resources\, reducing metabolic efficiency and leading to low yield per unit of resource. I place these microbial processes into the broad framework of economic and life history theories of biology. I also show that demographic and timescale processes lead to new predictions about microbial pathogenesis and metabolism. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/steve-frank-demography-and-timescale-in-social-evolution-2/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091019T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091019T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214445Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004828Z UID:4113-1255910400-1255910400@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Steve Frank - Demography and timescale in social evolution DESCRIPTION:Steve Frank: UC Irvine & Santa Fe Institute Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyCurrent studies of biological sociality tend to ignore two key factors: the consequences of social traits on long-term aspects of survival and fecundity (demography)\, and the tension between short and long time scales of success. I use several examples from the biology of microbes to illustrate these fundamental processes of sociality\, which apply to any problem that can be framed in terms of natural selection or economic efficiency. For those interested in the particular biological examples\, here is a brief summary. Microbes secrete molecules to modify their environment. Secretions dislodge and bind iron\, manipulate host defenses\, build protective biofilm structures\, and communicate information to neighboring microbes. Successful modulation of the environment and successful communication require collective action by a large population of microbes. Recent studies show that kin or group selection powerfully shapes the ways in which microbes collectively communicate and modify their environment. Others studies have shown that the basic design of metabolism and cellular biochemistry may also be influenced by social processes. Competition favors fast extraction and use of resources\, reducing metabolic efficiency and leading to low yield per unit of resource. I place these microbial processes into the broad framework of economic and life history theories of biology. I also show that demographic and timescale processes lead to new predictions about microbial pathogenesis and metabolism. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/steve-frank-demography-and-timescale-in-social-evolution/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091012T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091012T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214444Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004828Z UID:4112-1255305600-1255305600@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Bruce Bridgeman - Treading a Slippery Slope: Slant Perception in Near and Far Space DESCRIPTION:Bruce Bridgeman: UC Santa Cruz Department of PsychologyEstimation of slope is an everyday tool for navigating the external world. Previous studies have found that slopes are overestimated more greatly with a verbal than with a proprioceptive measure. Since some neurons in the premotor cortex respond differently to objects within arm’s reach\, we hypothesized that slope estimation may also be affected by neural pathways that respond differently to identical visual information at different distances. Alternatively\, vision may be warning us about the greater effort required to walk up a slope. Verbal estimates greatly overestimated the actual slope\, and increased logarithmically with distance from the participant\, contradicting both theories. Proprioceptive estimates were more accurate. When participants experience a slope directly by walking up and down a hill prior to making estimates\, their estimates remain unchanged. Increases in perceived slope with distance depend upon range of the segment judged\, not length of the segment. The results can be interpreted as an implicit slope\, previously measured only in darkness\, modulated by depth cues available at near distances. http://www.bec.ucla.edu/slopes09.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/bruce-bridgeman-treading-a-slippery-slope-slant-perception-in-near-and-far-space/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091005T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20091005T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214425Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004829Z UID:4111-1254700800-1254700800@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Greg Hickok - On the nature of auditory-motor interaction in speech processing: implications for the interpretation of mirror neurons and beyond DESCRIPTION:Greg Hickok: UC Irvine Cognitive Sciences & Center for Cognitive NeuroscienceThere are two ideas regarding how auditory and motor speech systems interact in language processing. A popular view in the neuroscience community is that motor systems play an important role in the perception of speech. This is an old idea that has been largely (if not completely) abandoned on empirical grounds by the speech science community. However\, the discovery of mirror neurons in the macaque brain has resurrected the hypothesis among neuroscientists. The other idea regarding auditory-motor interaction comes out of the motor control literature which has provided compelling evidence that the auditory system plays an important role in speech production. I will review the evidence\, current and past\, for these two hypotheses and conclude (i) the motor system is not necessary for speech perception\, (ii) the motor system may be able to exert a top-down influence on auditory speech perception system but the evidence remains inconclusive and even if real the effects are relatively minor\, (iii) there is strong evidence for the reverse relation\, that auditory systems play a critical role in aspects of speech production. I will also review a number of fMRI and lesion studies aimed at mapping the cortical circuit supporting sensory-motor interaction in speech processing. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/greg-hickok-on-the-nature-of-auditory-motor-interaction-in-speech-processing-implications-for-the-interpretation-of-mirror-neurons-and-beyond/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090928T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090928T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214425Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004829Z UID:4110-1254096000-1254096000@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Aaron Sell - An evolutionary-computational model of human anger DESCRIPTION:Aaron Sell: UCSB Department of PsychologyAnger can be understood as a cognitive mechanism designed by natural selection to negotiate conflicts of interest in ways similar to\, but distinct from\, non-human animal conflict. The Recalibrational Theory of anger uses an evolutionary biological framework to predict the major features of anger and explain their computational structure by reference to this function. Datasets collected from five distinct cultures address the major features of anger including under what conditions anger is evoked\, when aggression is used by the anger system\, which individuals set lower thresholds for anger and aggression\, why and how anger triggers modifications of the face and voice\, and how one predicts and explains the computational structure of anger-based arguments. The data demonstrate that anger is a well-designed system for recalibrating targets in ways that minimize immediate and future costs resulting from conflicts of interest.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/SellTalk.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/aaron-sell-an-evolutionary-computational-model-of-human-anger/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090603T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090603T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214424Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004829Z UID:4109-1243987200-1243987200@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Devesh Rustagi - Conditional Cooperation Norm\, Altruistic Punishment\, and Participatory Forest Management in Ethiopia DESCRIPTION:Devesh Rustagi: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology\, Zurich – Department of Environmental Policy and EconomicsRecent research suggests that the power of conditional cooperation norm and punishment of norm violators in sustaining cooperation depends on behavioral type composition of a group\, which has been shown\, experimentally\, to have a predictive effect on cooperation outcome. However\, because the existing evidence is exclusively based on experiments with a handful of students from the industrialized west\, fundamental questions on the occurrence of this evidence across cultures\, in a real world setting\, and it’s policy relevance remain unanswered. Here\, we report results from experiments and surveys with 679 members belonging to 49 forest user societies engaged in the management of common property forests in Ethiopia. We find that\, first\, 35 % members behave as conditional cooperators. Second\, the share of conditional cooperators in a society has a significantly positive effect on the society’s forest management outcome\, even when we control for structural determinants of cooperation. Third\, conditional cooperators use costly monitoring as a mechanism to achieve a better forest outcome. The unique field settings allow us to generate this evidence in conditions where endogenous group formation\, high migration and reverse causality have been ruled out. Our findings provide empirical support to the models of punishment and cultural group selection. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/devesh-rustagi-conditional-cooperation-norm-altruistic-punishment-and-participatory-forest-management-in-ethiopia/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090601T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090601T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214424Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004829Z UID:4108-1243814400-1243814400@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Ruth Mace - Cultural Evolution and the Behavioural Ecology of Fertility Decline DESCRIPTION:Ruth Mace: University College London Department of AnthropologyA behavioural ecological approach to human birth rates suggests they should vary according to the costs of raising children to adulthood. Demographers and most other social scientists are sceptical of this view\, not least because birth rates are generally lowest in the wealthiest countries; most favour arguments based on cultural changes and cultural influences. I will argue that evolutionary arguments based on costs and benefits and on cultural influence are not mutually exclusive and that variation in birth rates both within populations and also across populations can be understood in terms of different levels of parental investment and different constraints on parents. I will draw on data from Kenya\, Ethiopia\, the Gambia and the UK to illustrate these points. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/ruth-mace-cultural-evolution-and-the-behavioural-ecology-of-fertility-decline/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090527T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090527T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214423Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004829Z UID:4107-1243382400-1243382400@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Athena Aktipis - Walking Away from the Haystack:\nConditional Movement Favors the Evolution of Cooperation in Groups DESCRIPTION:Athena Aktipis: University of Arizona Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyModels such as Maynard Smith’s Haystack model have shown that high rates of movement (i.e.\, migration\, mixing\, dispersal) undermine the evolution of cooperation. However\, these models generally assume that movement is unconditional. The present model replaces the assumption of unconditional movement with conditional movement; individuals stay in groups that provide higher returns (by virtue of having more cooperators)\, and ‘Walk Away’ from groups providing low returns. Implementing this conditional movement rule generates a number of findings including: 1) when individuals have high thresholds\, corresponding to low tolerance for defectors\, this lead to selection for cooperation\, 2) high thresholds lead to high rates of movement initially and lower rates of movement after selection for cooperators\, and 3) population structure becomes more stable after selection increases the proportion of cooperators in the population. These findings challenge the standard view derived from Maynard Smith’s Haystack model and others that high rates of movement undermine selection for cooperation. In contrast\, the current model demonstrates that high rates of conditional movement can be associated with stronger selection for cooperation. These results show that high rates of migration observed in nature are not prohibitive for the evolution of cooperation\, as standard group selection models have assumed.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/AktipisWalkingAwayTextAndFigs.doc URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/athena-aktipis-walking-away-from-the-haystackconditional-movement-favors-the-evolution-of-cooperation-in-groups/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090520T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090520T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214410Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004829Z UID:4106-1242777600-1242777600@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Nina Jablonski - The Evolution and Significance of Human Nakedness DESCRIPTION:Nina Jablonski: Penn State Department of AnthropologyHumans are distinguished from other primates by being functionally hairless over most of their bodies. This condition evolved because hairlessness facilitated cooling of the body by sweating. The evaporative cooling made possible by sweating results in whole-body cooling of blood flowing in superficial vessels\, and the maintenance of constant brain temperature. The combination of anatomical\, physiological\, and new genetic information pertaining to the structure and function human skin have helped to “lay bare” the evolution of human hairlessness and sweatiness. Hairlessness had major consequences for the evolution of skin pigmentation and the communication of visual information and signals through elaborated facial expressions and\, later\, body painting and decoration.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/JablonskiTalk.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/nina-jablonski-the-evolution-and-significance-of-human-nakedness/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090518T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090518T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214410Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004829Z UID:4105-1242604800-1242604800@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Daniel Geschwind - Transcriptome Organization in Human and Primate Brain: Connecting Genes to Brain to Cognition and Behavior DESCRIPTION:Daniel Geschwind: UCLA Departments of Human Genetics\, Neurology\, and PsychiatryWe are interested in understanding how genes influence human cognition and behavior\, leading to unique human cognitive specializations\, such as language. Advances in molecular and statistical genetics now allow us to identify genes that may be responsible for the emergence of some of these human cognitive features. But convergent approaches relying on data from several levels are necessary to understand a particular gene’s relationship to brain structure and function. To do this\, we have undertaken a multidisciplinary approach involving the study of human diseases affecting these features\, such as autism\, as well as human brain evolution. We have begun to develop methods that try to take into account the systems level organization of gene expression (the transcriptome)\, and applied these to large scale data sets. This has revealed a previously unrecognized organization to the transcriptional program in brain\, which provides a framework on which to understand adaptive changes in gene expression on the human lineage.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/OldhamEtAlNatureNeuroscience.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/daniel-geschwind-transcriptome-organization-in-human-and-primate-brain-connecting-genes-to-brain-to-cognition-and-behavior/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090511T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090511T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214409Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004830Z UID:4104-1242000000-1242000000@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Joseph Manson - Adherence to Conversational Norms in Interactions Among Strangers: Effects on Cooperation and Expectations of Cooperation DESCRIPTION:Joseph Manson: UCLA Department of AnthropologySeveral studies have shown that\, following brief interactions among strangers\, subjects perform better than chance at predicting whether their co-subjects will defect in a one-shot Prisoner’s Dilemma Game (PDG). However\, previous work did not explore how such predictive accuracy was possible. Theoretical work suggests that adherence to “arbitrary” norms serves a signaling function that allows individuals to assort so as to maximize coordination and cooperative efficiency. One set of norms\, documented by Conversation Analysis (CA)\, concerns the details of face-to-face interaction\, such as respecting interlocutors’ rights to complete each turn constructional unit (TCU). We hypothesized that Defection in a PDG and predictions of co-subjects’ Defections would be more likely vis-à-vis unfamiliar interlocutors who violated conversational norms at higher frequencies. We videotaped short conversations among same-sex triads of previously unacquainted university students who were naïve to the impending PDG. We then separated participants and directed each of them to (a) play a one-shot PDG with each of their two co-participants and to predict one another’s play decisions and (b) complete the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP) along with some demographic questions. From each videotaped conversation\, a mean of 3.93 min was transcribed using CA methods. Subjects chose to cooperate in 67.7% of decisions\, comparable to previous studies of face-to-face interaction. However\, participants performed no better than chance at predicting one another’s game play decisions. Nonetheless\, personality and conversational behavior were related to one another and to objective outcomes like game play and earnings\, in both expected and unexpected ways. We discuss these results with reference to the co-evolution of human cultural variation\, cultural capacities and social judgment mechanisms. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/joseph-manson-adherence-to-conversational-norms-in-interactions-among-strangers-effects-on-cooperation-and-expectations-of-cooperation/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090504T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090504T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214409Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004830Z UID:4103-1241395200-1241395200@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Scott Johnson - Mental Rotation in Adults and Infants: A Sex Difference DESCRIPTION:Scott Johnson: UCLA Department of PsychologyMental rotation (MR) is the process by which people imagine how an object would look when rotated into a different orientation in space; it may be related to performance on tasks like perspective-taking and navigation. Men typically perform faster and more accurately than women on MR tasks. Known influences on MR performance in adults are both biological (e.g.\, exposure to testosterone) and experiential (e.g.\, practice at spatial tasks)\, raising vital questions about the developmental origins of MR. Until recently\, developmental studies were limited to children 4 years and older. This talk will present evidence that sex differences in MR performance are present far earlier\, and can be observed in preverbal infants. I will also discuss the influence of task demands on MR in infants\, and the possible biological and environmental contributions to performance that may shed light on the intersection of visual/motor skills and mental imagery of 3D objects early in life.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/MooreJohnson2008.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/scott-johnson-mental-rotation-in-adults-and-infants-a-sex-difference/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090429T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090429T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214408Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004830Z UID:4102-1240963200-1240963200@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Paul Mellars - Rethinking Modern Human Behavioural Origins and Dispersal: Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives DESCRIPTION:Paul Mellars: University of Cambridge Department of ArchaeologyResearch over the past ten years in both DNA studies and archaeology has provided some remarkable new insights into the origins of biologically and behaviourally modern human populations\, and their widespread dispersal from Africa to the rest of the world around 60\,000 years ago. \nThe combination of DNA studies and recent finds of skeletal remains show that essentially ‘modern’ humans had emerged in Africa by at least 150-200\,000 years ago\, and subsequently spread from Africa into both Asia and Europe around 55-60\,000 years ago\, where they rapidly replaced the pre-existing “archaic” populations (including the Eurasian Neanderthals) within a matter of a few thousand years. \nThis talk will focus specifically on the patterns of dispersal of biologically and behaviourally modern humans from Africa\, and the nature of the cultural and behavioural adaptations which made this dispersal possible. The aim will be to compare and integrate evidence from both genetic (i.e. DNA) studies and the recent spate of new archaeological discoveries in Africa and elsewhere. The talk will focus on the two questions of (a) why there was a delay of around 100\,000 years between the initial emergence of modern Homo sapiens in Africa and their subsequent dispersal to the rest of the world; and (b) what range of behavioural innovations and adaptations allowed the widespread geographical dispersal of modern humans into a range of new and sharply contrasting environments\, and the rapid replacement of the pre-existing ‘archaic’ populations in these regions\, within such a short space of time. How far these behavioural innovations can be attributed to a major neurological change\, and how far to simple cumulative ‘feedback’ processes of technological\, social and other behavioural changes remains a central and critical question for future research.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/MellarsDispersalModel.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/paul-mellars-rethinking-modern-human-behavioural-origins-and-dispersal-archaeological-and-genetic-perspectives/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090427T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090427T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214337Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004830Z UID:4101-1240790400-1240790400@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Jenessa Shapiro - Perceiving White Norms: Ironic Effects in Blacks' versus Whites' Judgments of Minority Targets DESCRIPTION:Jenessa Shapiro: UCLA Department of PsychologyConformity to a perceived norm is a common strategy used to gain the approval of one’s interaction partners. Identifying a group norm is ordinarily relatively simple. However\, this task may be especially difficult when the norm is held by a group to which one does not belong\, as is the case in intergroup interactions. In contemporary American society\, Whites tend to believe that norms condemning public expressions of racial prejudices are pervasive (e.g.\, Dovidio & Gaertner\, 1986). In contrast\, Black Americans tend to view normative White behavior as prejudicial against themselves and other minority groups (e.g.\, Neimann\, Jennings\, Rozelle\, Baxter\, & Sullivan\, 1994). The present research examined some ironic implications of this divergent perception of White prejudice-relevant norms. In one study\, when evaluations of a Native American job candidate were to be made public to an unfamiliar group of White males upon whom participants were dependent\, White men expressed less prejudice whereas Black men expressed greater prejudice\, relative to when these responses remained private. In contrast\, White and Black females expressed no prejudice when their evaluations were to be public to White females\, although Black females expressed generally more favorable judgments of both White and Native American candidates. Follow-up studies support the hypothesis that differential inferences about White prejudice norms underlie this pattern of findings: The public judgments made by Black males (compensatory conformity) and Black females (compensatory pleasantness) can be seen as strategies aimed at reducing the likelihood that they themselves will be discriminated against in an intergroup interaction. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/jenessa-shapiro-perceiving-white-norms-ironic-effects-in-blacks-versus-whites-judgments-of-minority-targets/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090420T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090420T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214336Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004830Z UID:4100-1240185600-1240185600@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Edouard Machery - Did Morality Really Evolve? DESCRIPTION:Edouard Machery: University of Pittsburgh Department of History and Philosophy of ScienceThat morality evolved is a commonplace among evolutionary biologists\, psychologists\, and anthropologists. In this talk\, I will however argue that biologists\, psychologists\, and anthropologists have failed to pay enough attention to the differences between three distinct interpretations of the hypothesis that morality evolved: (1) some components of moral cognition (e.g.\, some particular emotions\, concepts\, or norms) evolved\, (2) a capacity to grasp and be motivated by norms in general evolved\, and (3) a capacity to grasp and be motivated by a distinctive type of norms evolved. Under the first two interpretations\, it is fairly uncontroversial that morality evolved\, while under the third and most interesting interpretation\, the hypothesis that morality evolved is empirically unsupported. Philosophical implications in ethics will be incidentally considered.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/MacheryEvolutionOfMorality.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/edouard-machery-did-morality-really-evolve/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090415T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090415T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214336Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004830Z UID:4099-1239753600-1239753600@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Barbara König - Cooperation and Social Selection - A Case Study of Communal Nursing in House Mice DESCRIPTION:Barbara König: University of Zurich Institute of ZoologyIn addition to sexual selection\, selection resulting from social interactions in contexts other than mating can be a potent evolutionary force. Such social selection processes are facilitated whenever individual fitness varies as a result of any form of social interactions. The choice of social partners for communal care of young is such a situation in which interactants potentially experience fitness variance. We combine lab experiments with field data to investigate the existence and impact of female social partner choice and the potential for social selection to occur in the communally breeding wild house mouse (Mus domesticus). Female house mice display non-random preferences\, and social partner choice yields significant fitness benefits. This suggests that interactions among females are subject to social selection processes\, driving the evolution of female traits.http://www.bec.ucla.edu/Konig.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/barbara-ka%c2%b6nig-cooperation-and-social-selection-a-case-study-of-communal-nursing-in-house-mice/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090413T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090413T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214335Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z UID:4098-1239580800-1239580800@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Naomi Eisenberger - Why Rejection Hurts: Examining the Shared Mechanisms Underlying Physical and Social Pain DESCRIPTION:Naomi Eisenberger: UCLA Department of PsychologyNumerous languages characterize ‘social pain\,’ the feelings resulting from social rejection or loss\, with words typically reserved for describing physical pain (“broken hearts\,” “hurt feelings”) and perhaps for good reason. It has been suggested that\, in mammalian species\, the social attachment system borrowed the computations of the physical pain system in order to prevent the potentially harmful consequences of social separation. In this talk\, I will use a combination of behavioral and neuroimaging methodologies to explore the notion that physical and social pain rely on overlapping neural and experiential processes. Specifically\, I will examine: 1) whether social pain activates pain-related neural circuitry\, 2) whether individual differences in sensitivity to one kind of pain relate to individual differences in sensitivity to the other (e.g. Are individuals who are more sensitive to physical pain also more sensitive to social pain?)\, and 3) whether factors that up- or down-regulate one type of pain affect the other in a similar manner (e.g.\, Can physical painkillers reduce social pain?). URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/naomi-eisenberger-why-rejection-hurts-examining-the-shared-mechanisms-underlying-physical-and-social-pain/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090406T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090406T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214335Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z UID:4097-1238976000-1238976000@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Joseph Henrich - The Evolution of Cultural Adaptations: Fijian Food Taboos Protect Against Dangerous Marine Toxins DESCRIPTION:Joseph Henrich: University of British Columbia Departments of Psychology and EconomicsThis talk will first develop an evolutionarily-informed\, cognitively-grounded approach to culture\, and then apply this approach to explain patterns of food taboos for pregnant and lactating women on Yasawa Island\, Fiji. Within a broader cognitive framework\, I focus on (1) understanding our capacities for cultural learning as evolved cognitive mechanisms for acquiring adaptive information from other individuals\, in a complex\, noisy\, and changing world\, and (2) examining how and when these learning mechanisms result in cumulative cultural evolutionary processes that produce population-level patterns of adaptation and maladaptation. Then\, applying this framework\, I will argue that the patterns of food taboos observed across three villages in Fiji represent a culturally-evolved adaptation\, influenced by various cognitive biases\, that protects women\, fetuses\, and infants from dangerous marine toxins. Our findings indicate that these patterns likely emerged\, and are now maintained\, by the operation of the cultural learning mechanisms predicted by our evolutionary approach to cognition. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/joseph-henrich-the-evolution-of-cultural-adaptations-fijian-food-taboos-protect-against-dangerous-marine-toxins/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090330T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090330T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214331Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z UID:4096-1238371200-1238371200@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Roberto Delgado - Revisiting Island Differences in Orangutan Socioecology: Behavioral Flexibility and Geographic Variation DESCRIPTION:Roberto Delgado: USC Department of AnthropologyInitial field observations and reports from a few short-term studies pointed to island differences between Bornean and Sumatran orangutans in their general appearance and behavioral ecology\, implying meaningful taxonomic distinctions. However\, upon further scrutiny at multiple sites and for longer periods of study\, researchers have found population-specific differences across a wide array of features including dietary breadth\, foraging strategies\, life history parameters\, molecular markers\, morphological characters\, reproductive tactics\, sociality\, tool-using abilities\, vocalizations and other traits. Furthermore\, the nature of this variation is not always in line with expectations based on a simple island (i.e. Borneo vs. Sumatra) dichotomy\, making suspect previous assumptions about historical divergence patterns. Herewith\, I review the extent of qualitative and quantitative differences documented and explore a theoretical framework for examining geographic variation and behavioral flexibility among orangutan populations. In particular\, I address hypotheses invoking genetic differences\, anatomical differences\, ecological factors and opportunities for social learning to explain population-level differences. The available data to date suggest that differences in habitat productivity with its concomitant effects on demographic factors such as local population density can influence patterns of gregariousness as well as both the frequency and intensity of social learning within orangutan communities. By examining the occurrence and distribution of geographically varying characteristics such as subsistence skills\, comfort skills\, and signals\, we can determine whether or not the observed patterns of variation are justified with a cultural interpretation when other (i.e. ecological\, genetic) explanations are not adequate. Hence\, identifying the underlying factors leading to geographic variation in behavior has implications for understanding the emergence of local traditions among great apes as well as the origins and evolution of culture within the human lineage. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/roberto-delgado-revisiting-island-differences-in-orangutan-socioecology-behavioral-flexibility-and-geographic-variation/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090309T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090309T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214329Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z UID:4095-1236556800-1236556800@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Rebecca Bliege Bird - Why Women Hunt: Risk and Contemporary Foraging in a Western Desert Aboriginal Community DESCRIPTION:Rebecca Bliege Bird: Stanford University Department of AnthropologyAnthropologists commonly invoke an “economy of scale” to explain gender differences in hunter-gatherer subsistence and economic production: wives pursue childcare-compatible tasks and husbands\, of necessity\, provision wives and offspring with hunted meat. This theory explains little about the division of labor among the Australian Martu\, where women hunt extensively\, and gendered asymmetry in foraging decisions is linked to men’s and women’s different social strategies. Women cooperate with other women primarily hunt small\, predictable game (lizards) to provision small kin networks\, to feed children\, and to maintain their cooperative relationships with other women. They trade off large harvests against greater certainty. Men tend to hunt as a political strategy\, using a form of “competitive magnanimity” to rise in the ritual hierarchy and demonstrate their capacity to keep sacred knowledge. Resources that can provision the most others with the most meat best fit this strategy\, resulting in an emphasis on kangaroo. They trade off reliable consumption benefits to the nuclear family for more unpredictable benefits in social standing. Among the Martu\, gender differences in the costs and benefits of engaging in competitive magnanimity\, rather than an economy of scale\, structure men’s more risk-prone and women’s more risk-averse foraging decisions. These results suggest an alternative model of the foraging division of labor that emphasizes the role of ecological variance and social competition and de-emphasizes essentialized sexual and reproductive dichotomies. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/rebecca-bliege-bird-why-women-hunt-risk-and-contemporary-foraging-in-a-western-desert-aboriginal-community/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090302T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090302T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214328Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z UID:4094-1235952000-1235952000@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Patricia Gowaty - It's About Time: Reproductive Decisions Under Ecological and Fitness Constraints DESCRIPTION:Patricia Gowaty: UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BehaviorDo genes for choosy females and indiscriminate mates determine typical sex roles; or\, do ecological and social constraints determine sex roles? Or is sex role determination due to more complex interactions of sex-associated genes and ecological conditions? Answering this question has been difficult\, largely because until now there has been no null theory of ecological constraints on sex-associated “sex role” behavior. Here we describe the switchpoint theorem (SPT) that analytically solves the problem of what fraction of potential mates in a population a focal individual of either sex should find acceptable to mate in order to maximize relative lifetime fitness; the SPT is a null model of ecological constraints on reproductive decision-making. The SPT assumes that demographic stochasticity affects time available for mating and that there is variation in fitness that would be conferred by mating with alternative potential mates\, to prove that environmental induction of flexible\, reproductive decision-making of individuals of both sexes is adaptive. The SPT provides a reasonable scenario for the assumption that all individuals assess likely fitness outcomes before accepting or rejecting a potential mate. Rather than assuming sex differences in genes for choosy females and indiscriminate males\, the SPT is a sex-neutral hypothesis that begins with individual differences in ecological constraints to predict induced and adaptive sex role variation. The predictions of the SPT depend on five parameters: individual survival and encounter probabilities\, population size\, the distribution of fitness that would be conferred by mating with alternative potential mates\, and individual latencies (time outs after copulation). The SPT predicts that all else equal\, higher probabilities of individual survival and encounters\, higher population sizes\, and longer latencies decrease the fraction of acceptable mates for focal individuals\, so that focal individuals reject more potential mates. Similarly\, it predicts that when instantaneous survival and encounter probabilities decline\, adaptively flexible individuals accept more potential mates. The SPT provides a novel\, quantitative\, unified framework for studying how sexual selection and sexual conflict may operate when individuals manipulate the time available for mating of potential mates\, their mates\, and rivals. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/patricia-gowaty-its-about-time-reproductive-decisions-under-ecological-and-fitness-constraints/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090223T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090223T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214327Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z UID:4093-1235347200-1235347200@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Daniel Nettle - Why is the Theory of Evolution So Hard to Understand? DESCRIPTION:Daniel Nettle: Newcastle University Centre for Behaviour and EvolutionEven in the most developed countries\, many people do not accept the theory of evolution as true. Whilst there are cultural and ideological reasons for this\, part of the issue is that evolutionary ideas appear to violate certain intuitive beliefs. Even more interestingly\, recent research has shown that students who do accept evolution quite systematically misunderstand how it works\, tending to endorse species selectionism\, the idea that species are born and die abruptly\, and models of heredity in which useful characteristics are acquired by all members of the species\, not just the progeny of the individuals in which they arise. I will argue that all of these errors arise because in our intuitive cognition about animals\, there is little distinction between the species and the individual. Indeed\, species are seen as a kind of individual\, and individual animals are seen as appearances of the underlying species. This leads people into what Ernst Mayr called typological\, rather than population\, thinking. I report results of a recent study of conceptualisation of evolutionary change amongst undergraduate students\, and argue that a good way of conveying evolutionary ideas is by using human examples\, since our intuitive cognition about humans primarily works at the level of individuals\, their family relationships\, and the ways they are different from other members of their species. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/daniel-nettle-why-is-the-theory-of-evolution-so-hard-to-understand/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090217T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090217T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214326Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z UID:4092-1234828800-1234828800@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:David Sloan Wilson - Evolving the City: Using Evolutionary Theory to Understand and Improve the Quality of Everyday Life DESCRIPTION:David Sloan Wilson: SUNY Binghamton Department of Biological\nSciences & Department of AnthropologyEvolutionary theory is rapidly expanding beyond the biological sciences to include all human-related subjects in academia. Since evolution is fundamentally about organisms in relation to their environment\, basic scientific research needs to focus on people from all walks of life\, as they go about their daily lives. This kind of research is also most relevant for improving the quality of everyday life\, leading to a positive tradeoff between basic and applied science. I will provide an overview of The Binghamton Neighborhood Project\, a unique “whole university/whole city” approach to community-based research from an evolutionary perspective. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/david-sloan-wilson-evolving-the-city-using-evolutionary-theory-to-understand-and-improve-the-quality-of-everyday-life/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090209T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090209T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214324Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004832Z UID:4091-1234137600-1234137600@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Robert Boyd - The Evolution of Social Stratification DESCRIPTION:Robert Boyd: UCLA Department of AnthropologyIn this talk I explain how culturally heritable differences in wealth between social groups can arise and be maintained even when the only adaptive learning process driving cultural evolution increases individuals’ economic gains. The key assumptions are that human populations are structured into groups and that cultural learning is more likely to occur within groups than between groups. Then\, if groups are sufficiently isolated and there are potential gains from specialization and exchange\, stable stratification can sometimes result. This model predicts that stratification is favored by (1) greater surplus production\, (2) more equitable divisions of the surplus among specialists\, (3) greater cultural isolation among subpopulations within a society\, and (4) more weight given to economic success by cultural learners. I will conclude by arguing that this mechanism may explain why there is much more heritable variation among groups within the human species than in other taxa.http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/boyd/HenrichBoydCA0908.pdf URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/robert-boyd-the-evolution-of-social-stratification/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090202T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090202T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214322Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004832Z UID:4090-1233532800-1233532800@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Nathan Bailey - Same-sex Mating Behavior and Evolution DESCRIPTION:Nathan Bailey: UC Riverside Department of BiologySame-sex mating behavior has been extensively documented in non-human animals\, but we still know relatively little about its evolutionary impact. What evidence exists that same-sex sexual behavior can be adaptive? Do the genetic and physiological mechanisms underlying same-sex mating help explain its ultimate cause and maintenance in populations? How flexible is it\, and what is the significance of that plasticity? And can same-sex mating interactions influence the evolutionary dynamics of populations? My talk will draw upon studies published in the last several years in a wide variety of non-human animals to highlight discoveries addressing the role of same-sex sexual behaviors as agents of evolutionary change. I will focus on both the evolutionary causes and consequences of same-sex mating behavior. However\, the bulk of the discussion will be organized around the second theme\, because recent studies suggest that the impact of same-sex mating behavior on population-level processes can be powerful and of considerable importance. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/nathan-bailey-same-sex-mating-behavior-and-evolution/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090126T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090126T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214321Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004832Z UID:4089-1232928000-1232928000@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:James Fowler - Genes and Social Networks DESCRIPTION:James Fowler: UCSD Political Science DepartmentSocial networks exhibit strikingly systematic patterns across a wide range of human contexts. While genetic variation accounts for a significant portion of the variation in many complex social behaviors\, the heritability of egocentric social network attributes is unknown. Here we show that three of these attributes (in-degree\, transitivity\, and centrality) are heritable. We then develop a “mirror network” method to test extant network models and show that none accounts for observed genetic variation in human social networks. We propose an alternative “Attract and Introduce” model with two simple forms of heterogeneity that generates significant heritability as well as other important network features. We show that the model is well suited to real social networks in humans. These results suggest that natural selection may have played a role in the evolution of social networks. They also suggest that modeling intrinsic variation in network attributes may be important for understanding the way genes affect human behaviors and the way these behaviors spread from person to person.http://arxiv.org/abs/0807.3089 URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/james-fowler-genes-and-social-networks/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090112T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090112T000000 DTSTAMP:20260502T013437 CREATED:20200922T214320Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004832Z UID:4088-1231718400-1231718400@bec.ucla.edu SUMMARY:Karthik Panchanathan - Quantifying the Bystander Effect in a Multi-Player Dictator Game DESCRIPTION:Karthik Panchanathan: UCLA Department of AnthropologyBehavioral economics studies have shown people to have other-regarding social preferences. In the Dictator Game\, for example\, dictators transfer some portion of their endowment to recipients\, who start out without an endowment. If people were self-interested\, those assigned the role of dictator would keep all of their endowment; those assigned to be recipients would go home with nothing. In social psychology\, scores of studies document the Bystander Effect\, in which the likelihood of receiving help declines as the number of potential helpers increases. To reconcile pro-social preferences with the Bystander Effect\, psychologists propose the notion of diffusion of responsibility: while people want to see the victim helped\, they feel less of a responsibility to help when others are present and able to help. Here\, we present results from two multi-player dictator games\, one in the lab with real stakes (N=196) and one online with hypothetical stakes (N=215)\, to look for evidence of the diffusion of responsibility in an experimental economics setting. URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/karthik-panchanathan-quantifying-the-bystander-effect-in-a-multi-player-dictator-game/ CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR