One of the most prominent results of evolutionary psychology research is “the Cinderella Effect,” made famous by the work of Margo Wilson and Martin Daly (you can find one of their summary papers here). Although I don’t pretend to be an expert on the extensive literature on this phenomenon, it’s pretty much what the name […]
If you’ve read anything about evolutionary psychology in the popular press, you’ll know about the infamous Satoshi Kanazawa. Although he’s a reader in Management at the London School of Economics, he’s published several books and a bunch of popular articles purporting to explain the evolutionary roots of human behavior. I say “purporting” because he is […]
There’s been a lot of kerfuffle on the intertubes about the value of evolutionary psychology, the field that studies the evolutionary roots of human thought, language, and behavior. I want to weigh in here with my answer to the question posed in the title, and my answer is, “Certainly not!” Now I am known as […]
If you’re not an American, perhaps you don’t know about “Black Friday.” That’s the Friday after Thanksgiving Day (which falls on Thursday), and that Friday traditionally marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Many stores open at midnight or early in the morning, and have incredible bargains, like waffle makers for only two dollars. […]
Here’s one last (I hope) post on the brouhaha about the evolution of social behavior that I’ve covered over the last year or so. I think E. O. Wilson must be feeling a bit beleaguered about the criticism he’s endured for his relentless advocacy of group selection. Not only was he an author of the […]
Bob Trivers is a bit of an eccentric character, but his ideas on parental investment, parent-offspring conflict, and altruism have been landmarks in evolutionary psychology, and even though some of his ideas may be far-fetched, they’re never boring. He’s one of the most important evolutionary thinkers of our era. I’ve just received a copy of […]
In the next week or so I’ll publish a piece describing a tiny act of altruism I performed for someone I’d never met before—and did not expect to meet again. This happens to us all the time. The fact is that people are nicer than they should be—at least according to the dictates of evolution. […]
