An evolutionary framework for the study of teaching
A new article or obvious cognition-and-culture relevance by Michelle Ann Kline on “How to learn about teaching: An evolutionary framework for the study of teaching behavior in humans and…
Tag: news
Social Norms and Cultural Dynamics
A Special Issue on “Social Norms and Cultural Dynamics” of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (Volume 129, July 2015) Edited by Michael Morris, Ying-yi Hong and Chi-Yue Chi…
Social Anthropology meets “the cognitive challenge”
Social Anthropology devotes an exciting special issue to “taking up the cognitive challenge”, edited by Rita Astuti and Denis Regnier, with contributions by (among others) Tamara Hale, Charles…
Budapest Conference on Cognitive Development
The Cognitive Development Center at the Central European University is pleased to announce the fifth annual Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development in Budapest, Hungary (J…
Sign language as a window into universally accessible linguistic biases
A very interesting new article: “Event representations constrain the structure of language: Sign language as a window into universally accessible linguistic biases” by Brent Strickland, Carl…
Scott Atran’s address to the UN security council
It is not everyday that an anthropologist is asked to speak before the security council: Scott Atran did, on the 23d of April. See video here.
Astuti and Bloch on “Incest, intentionality, and morality”
A thought-provoking article by Rita Astuti and Maurice Bloch, “The causal cognition of wrong doing: incest, intentionality and morality,” in Frontiers in Psychology, 18 February 2015. From the…
Should preferences based on authoritarianism and social dominance be treated as moral?
An interesting critical discussion of Jonathan Haidt’s apprach to morality from a social psychology and political science point of view: “Another Look at Moral Foundations Theory: Do Authori…
Book review of Flemming Rose’s “The Tyranny of Silence”
My review of Flemming Rose’s latest book “The Tyranny of Silence” can be found here. It’s titled Flemming Rose and the absence of empathy. The review is published at…
What Explains the Emergence of Moralizing Religions?
An ambitious article: “Increased Affluence Explains the Emergence of Ascetic Wisdoms and Moralizing Religions”, by Nicolas Baumard, Alexandre Hyafil, Ian Morris, and Pascal Bo…
A Cognitive Science of Theology?
A new, interesting, and original book by Helen De Cruz and Johan De Smedt: A Natural History of Natural Theology: The Cognitive Science of Theology and Philosophy of Religion. MIT…
Applications for PhD studentships in Cognitive Science at CEU, Budapest
PhD studentships are available for the doctoral program in Cognitive Science at Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary. Application deadline: February 1, 2015. The Department of Cogn…
Is probabilistic cognition universal?
An interesting paper by Laura Fontanari, Michel Gonzalez, Giorgio Vallortigara, and Vittorio Girotto: “Probabilistic cognition in two indigenous Mayan groups“, forthcoming in PNAS….
[extended deadline] Berlin Symposium on Reciprocity and Social Cognition
The deadline for submissions to this symposium has been extended to November the 1st. A symposium on ‘Reciprocity and social cognition’ organized by Anna Strasser, Stephen Butterfill, Richard Moor…
Call for posters: Reciprocity and Social Cognition
The Berlin School of Mind and Brain organizes a symposium on “Reciprocity and Social Cognition”, from the 23rd to the 25th of March, 2015. Keynote speakers will be…
Has a decimal point error misled millions into believing that spinach is a good source of iron?
A great cultural epidemiology story by Ole Bjørn Rekdal, “Academic urban legends,” in Social Studies of Science (2014, 44(4)) freely available here Abstract: Many of the me…
Random choice among the Kantu, swidden agriculturalists of Kalimantan
An excellent post by Michael Schulson at Aeon magazine entitled “How to choose? When your reasons are worse than useless, sometimes the most rational choice is a random stab in the…
Babies’ and birds’ causal understanding
A very interesting comparison between crows and humans in a new (free access) paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B entitled “Of babies and birds: complex tool…
Deparmental Lectureship in Cognitive Anthropology, Oxford
Applications are invited for a Departmental Lectureship in Cognitive Anthropology, effective from 1 September 2014, tenable until 30 September 2015. The post is based at the School of…
Combinatorial Communication in Bacteria?
Here is a challenge to standard views about the evolution of linguistic generativity: ““Combinatorial Communication in Bacteria: Implications for the Origins of Linguistic Generativity” by Thomas…
Negatively-Biased Credulity and the Cultural Evolution of Beliefs
A new article by Dan Fessler, Anne Pisor,& David Navarrete, highly relevant to cultural epidemiology in PLoS ONE 9(4): e95167. doi:10.1371 Abstract: The functions of cultural beliefs are often…
World Simulation in the NYT
The World Simulation is featured in the NYT’s “Ed Life” section this week along with several other innovative classes. Great picture of Madeline McMillen and Carol Ford, along…
The Moral Domain: Conceptual Issues in Moral Psychology. Vilnius . 9-11 October 2014
The Vilnius Experimental Philosophy Lab, the Departments of General Psychology and of Logic and History of Philosophy organize a conference on: The Moral Domain: Conceptual Issues…
The Content of Our Cooperation, Not the Color of Our Skin
A new, important article by David Pietraszewski, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby: The Content of Our Cooperation, Not the Color of Our Skin: An Alliance Detection System Regulates Categorization…