Category Archives: Evolution by Natural Selection
HBES 2012 Roundup 1: Joint Day with the Animal Behavior Society
The Human Behavior & Evolution Society (HBES) 2012 Annual Meetings took place this past weekend in Albuquerque, NM, in conjunction with the Animal Behavior Society, hosted by Steve Gangestad & others. I’ve only been to HBES one other time & … Continue reading
Religious Ecology Study (in Costa Rica & Tuscaloosa)
In a few weeks I’ll be heading to Limón province in Costa Rica to begin the first phase of what I hope will be a multi-site study of religious ecology. We (my students in the Human Behavioral Ecology Research Group [HBERG] … Continue reading
Penis Diversity is our Business
Actually, penis diversity is not our business. In fact, one of the student evaluations for the Anthropology of Sex course I taught this past semester said I talked too much about animal diversity & not enough about humans. I’m not sure … Continue reading
Towards a Bottom-Up Approach to Self-Deception
As I read John Hartung’s 1988 chapter on “self-deceiving down,” I am further convinced of the nonsense of arguing about theoretical distinctions & that we are considering the issue at too high a conceptual level to understand the influence of … Continue reading
Are We Confusing Self-Deceptive Enhancement with Illusory Superiority?
A New Statesman post by Uta Frith found its way to me this morning via a Tweet by @SteveSilberman with the catchphrase, “Men are more likely to think their IQ is 5 pts higher than it is, and women think theirs … Continue reading
Pivoting around Smartphones & Cigarettes: Evolved to Play in Extra-structural Interludes
Smartphones are like cigarettes are like junk food are like chewing your nails or doodling. Right. What do they have in common? Easy. Things we do when we’re bored. Bored in my class? Doodle. There were some amazing Jurassic landscapes … Continue reading
Assholes and Self-Deception
Findings just published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Kristina Durante et al. indicate that women are hormonally deluded during ovulation to believe that hot guys will stick around. This is a crass way of saying … Continue reading
Fireside Trance and the Boob Tube
When I was in my early 20s & wanted to be the next Charles Bukowski, I used to hang out at a bar called Coney Island High on St. Mark’s Place in NYC after work. Consistent with the Bukowski schtick, I … Continue reading
WHY CAESAR’S WIFE MUST BE ABOVE SUSPICION: MATES FUNCTION AS HONEST INDICATORS OF STATUS AND PRESTIGE. BY BEN AND BO WINEGARD.
In Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar, a story is related that Julius Caesar divorced his wife (Pompeia) because of rumors of opprobrious behavior. At trial, Caesar said he knew nothing about his wife’s rumored adultery, but asserted that he divorced her … Continue reading
Urban Angst: Darwinian Theory, the Need for Meaning, and Modern Existential Anxiety
“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” Victor Frankl Almost every human has, at one moment or another, recoiled from the world and asked a simple but disturbing question: “what is the … Continue reading
