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 […]

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 […]

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 […]