Bailey House: University of California, Los AngelesOne explanation for the diversity in cooperative behavior across human social groups is that our prosociality is motivated in part by learned cultural beliefs that vary substantially across societies, and which extend adaptations for cooperation between genetic kin and reciprocal partners. Reframing this idea as a developmental question about […]

Claire White : California State University, NorthridgeGrief is a universal reaction to the loss of a valued relationship partner. Two main evolutionary accounts of grief have been proposed. The first views grief as a by-product of an adaptive separation reaction that functions to aid unification in the temporary loss of a valued relationship partner. The […]

Steven Stroessner: Barnard College, Columbia UniversityMotivations are generally concerned with maintaining safety (prevention) or ensuring advancement (promotion) (Regulatory focus theory; Higgins, 1997). Four experiments examined whether information implying imminent threat would interact with regulatory focus to affect endorsement of stereotypes and stereotype-based policies. Because threatening information is more relevant to the safety goals of prevention-focused […]

Monique Borgerhoff-Mulder: University of California, DavisWhile the causes, transmission and consequences of material and social inequality are well studied in the social sciences, the ways in which people respond to inequality are less clear. As evolutionary social scientists we know that humans show a strong aversion to inequality, but we have little understanding of how […]