Intentionality detection and "mindreading": Why does game form matter? PNAS -- McCabe et al. 97 (8): 4404 - By around the age of 4 years, children "can work out what people might know, think or believe" based on what they say or do. This is called "mindreading," which builds upon the human ability to infer the intentions of others.
Psychology - Psychology will soon be transformed by both neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, predicts primatologist Frans B.M. de Waal, PhD.
The adaptive nature of the human neurocognitive architecture: An alternative model - The model of the human neurocognitive architecture proposed by evolutionary psychologists is based on the presumption that the demands of hunter-gatherer life generated a vast array of cognitive adaptations. Here we present an alternative model.
A bottom-up approach with a clear view of the top - Online paper by G. F. Miller and P. M. Todd.
Evolutionary Ethics and Biologically Supportable Morality - A paper by Michael Byron.
Evolution, Teleology, Intentionality - Online paper by Daniel Dennett.
Darwin on the Evolution of Morality - Paper presented for the session on the 19th century biology, International Fellows Conference (Center for Philosophy of Science, Univ. of Pittsburgh), May 20-24, Castiglioncello, Italy by Soshichi Uchii, Kyoto University.
Individualism and Evolutionary Psychology - Online paper by David Buller.
Memes and the Exploitation of Imagination - Online paper by Daniel Dennett.
Is There a Normal Phase of Synaesthesia in Development? - A paper in Psyche by Simon Baron-Cohen.
Functional Origins of Religious Concepts - This is a profound essay on the role of religion from an evolutionary perspective. Pascal Boyer, the author, is one of the rising stars in evolutionary theory in the social sciences.
Animal Soul - A history of the idea and a critique of reductionism. It appeared in Paul Edwards, ed., 'The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.'
Association of Ideas - This essay appeared in Philip P. Wiener, ed., 'Dictionary of the History of Ideas'.
Darwin and the Genre of Biography - Published in G. Levine, ed., 'One Culture: Essays in Science and Literature'. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987, pp. 203-24.
Darwin: Man and Metaphor - This is the text of a television documentary in the series 'Late Great Victorians', BBC1, 1988. It was also published in Science as Culture no. 5: 71-86, 1989.
Darwinism is Social - This essay appeared on David Kohn, ed., 'The Darwinian Heritage'. Princeton and Nova Pacifica, 1985, pp. 609-638.
Darwin, Marx, Freud and the Foundations of the Human Sciences - This is a talk on the grand view of the human sciences, presented to CHEIRON, the European Society for the History of the Behavioural Sciences and reprinted in its Newsletter, Spring 1988, pp. 7-12.
Darwinism and the Division of Labour - The founding conference of the British Society for the Social Responsibility in Science in November 1970, was on the theme, 'The Social Impact of Modern Biology'. The conference was attended by a number of eminent scientists, e.g., Nobel Laureates James Watson, Jaques Monod, Maurice Wilkins; David Bohm, Jacob Bronowski, R.G. Edwards (of Steptoe & Edwards, the pioneers of 'test-tube babies'), as well as some radicals, Hilary & Steven Rose, John Beckwith. It was, perhaps, the last moment when radicals and posh scientists were relatively united. The talk was published in The Listener, 17 August 1972, pp. 202-5 and in Science as Culture no. 9: 110-24, 1990.
Darwin's Metaphor and the Philosophy of Science - This was first presented to the Piaget Seminar, University of Geneva, about 1986 and published in Science as Culture (no. 16) 3: 375-403, 1993. It draws out the philosophical implications of 'Darwin's Metaphor' (Cambridge, 1985), in particular, the role of metaphorical and teleological language in Darwin.
The Development of Herbert Spencer's Concept of Evolution - A paper delivered to the Eleventh International Congress of the History of Science, Warsaw, August 1965 and published in Actes du Xle Congres International d'Histoire des Sciences Warsaw: Ossolineum, 1967, vol. 2, pp. 273-78.
Evolutionary Biology and Ideology: Then and Now - A paper contributed to a conference on 'The Social Impact of Modern Biology'. It appeared in Science Studies 1: 177-296, 1971.
The Functions of the Brain: Gall to Ferrier (1808-1886) - An online paper on mind, brain, and adaptation in the nineteenth century. It was published in Isis 59: 251-68, 1968.
The Naturalization of Value Systems in the Human Sciences - This essay first appeared as an Open University Course Unit for 'Science and Belief: from Darwin to Einstein', Block VI: Problems in the Biological and Human Sciences. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1981, pp. 63-110.
An Evolutionary Hypothesis For Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Abed, Riadh T and de Pauw, Karel W (1999) An Evolutionary Hypothesis for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Psychological Immune System?. Behavioural Neurology 11:245-250.
In Favor of Animal Consciousness - An excerpt from Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness by Donald R. Griffin, the creator of the field of cognitive ethology.
Behavior and the General Evolutionary Process - Paper by William Baum.
Behavioral inferences from the Skhul/Qafzeh early modern human hand remains - These results support the inference of significant behavioral differences between Neanderthals and the Skhul/Qafzeh hominids and indicate that a significant shift in human manipulative behaviors was associated with the earliest stages of the emergence of modern humans.
Assault on Evolution - Larry Arnhart on the activities of "intelligent design theorists".
Herbert Spencer and Inevitable Progress - Spencer is so grandiose that it is hard to summarize his ideas, yet he was one of the most influential thinkers in nineteenth-century Britain, and his ideas were an inspiration around the world. His version of evolution was utterly generalised in all the ways Darwin tried to be circumspect. The organic analogies which Spencer developed are the foundation-stones for the widespread idea of functionalism across the biomedical and human sciences, extending to architecture, systems theory, cybernetics and information theory. The essay was reprinted in a collection from the journal: G. Marsden, ed., Victorian Values. Longman, 1990.
The Darwin Debate - This essay appeared in Marxism Today 26 (no.4), April 1982, pp. 20-22.
How Hardwired Is Human Behavior? - Abstract and electronic delivery of Nigel Nicholson's paper in the Harvard Business Review.
Genes, culture and human freedom - Like every other organism, humans are shaped by both nature and nurture. But unlike any other organism, we are defined by our ability to transcend both. Article by Kenan Malik.
Humans and Other Animals - How much do we share with the birds of the air and the beasts of the field? Article by John Wilson at Christianity Today.
The Human Limits of Nature - 'The Limits of Human Nature' was the title of the London Institute of Contemporary Arts winter lecture series for 1971-72. The distinguished group of contributors, included Alan Ryan, Arthur Koestler, David Bohm, Raymond Williams and John Maynard Smith. This contribution was published in J. Benthall, ed., 'The Limits of Human Nature' (Allen Lane, 1973), pp. 235-74.
Malthus on Man - In Animals no Moral Restraint - A paper was presented to a conference on 'Malthus, Medicine and Science' organised by Roy Porter at the Wellcome Institute, London, on 20 March 1998.
What if Human Nature Is Historical - This essay moves from pure ideology about changing human nature to using biofeedback as a transitional topic to spelling out the desiderata for treating human nature as a historical project.
Get Real - Daniel Dennett responds to his critics.
Sociobiology Sanitized: The Evolutionary Psychology and Genic Selectionism Debates - Socio-political overview of the circumstances leading to the development of Evolutionary Psychology as distinct from Sociobiology, by Val Dusek. This web page is associated with the Science-as-Culture mailing list and journal.
Menarche - Any decrease in average menarcheal age during the past 20-30 years has been small (almost certainly less than six months), particularly when compared with the reduction of a year or more that occurred in many European countries between the late 19th and mid 20th centuries.
Why we're all getting brighter - Dumbing down? Don't believe it. Scientists have proved we are smarter now than ever before, largely because we watch TV, surf the net, and spend hours chatting to friends.
Humans-Who Are We? - Official Web Site - Humans are brimming with unique traits that do not fit the animal mold - according to the Jehovah's Witnesses.
It's only natural - Red Pepper archive - The bioglogical differences between men and women are no threat to feminism, says Helena Cronin.
Scholarship and the History of the Behavioural Sciences - A paper that first appeared in History of Science 2: 1-51, 1966.
Evolution, Biology and Psychology from a Marxist Point of View - This article is largely historical, but the issues remain timely.
Prediction and Accommodation in Evolutionary Psychology - Ketelaar and Ellis have provided a remarkably clear and succinct statement of Lakatosian philosophy of science and have also argued compellingly that evolutionary theory fills the Lakatosian criteria of a progressivity.
The Meanings of Darwinism: Then and Now? - Charles Darwin grew up in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and attended Shrewsbury School for seven years. The school held a Millennium Conference on 'Darwinism and Ethics for the Next Millennium' on 16 October 1999. Papers were given by Mary Midgley, Matt Ridley, Colin Tudge and Robert M. Young.
"The Mind as the Software of the Brain" by Ned Block - Cognitive scientists often say that the mind is the software of the brain. This chapter is about what this claim means.
Bottlenose dolphins and theory of mind - Bottlenose dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror, an advanced intellectual ability observed previously only in humans and apes.
The Genetic Archaeology of Race | Olson - The study of human genetic variation has become the most contentious area in modern science. A detailed article by Steve Olson.
Fear makes worms turn friendly - A single gene influences the social behaviour of worms.
Genetics - The British Medical Journal publishes a special edition "putting genetics into perspective".
Ancestors - Meave Leakey discusses her team's recent skull find suggesting a new human ancestor.
Gene-Trapping Method Powers Discovery of New Brain-Wiring Signals - Marc Tessier-Lavigne and William C. Skarnes unveil a technique that "enables scientists to identify new genes and to determine which genes are responsible for defects in brain wiring that are observed during development".
Ring-breaker drives dove love - Leonida Fusani and colleagues discover the role of aromatase in courtship behaviour.
Domestication's Family Tree - DNA is revealing that taming animals was not a simple process.
Chimps touched by television - Chimpanzees are moved by fearful or appealing television scenes.
Men fish for compliments - The menfolk of the Meriam, a people who live on islands off the northeast tip of Australia, spend their time spear-fishing and turtle-hunting, but are they really fishing for compliments?
Reproductive greontology - The relationship between aging and the risk of producing offspring with gene-influenced illnesses.
Sport and genetics - Stephen Jay Gould and Kipchoge Keino on why athletic achievement isn't in the genes.
IQ and longevity - Results of an intelligence test, given to all 11-year olds attending Aberdeen schools in 1932, were used to determine survival up to 76 years. Of 2,230 subjects traced, those who died before 1 January 1997 had a significantly lower IQ at age 11 years than those who were alive or untraced. This suggests that high mental ability in late childhood reduces the chances of death up to age 76.
Psychological brain damage - Martin Teicher and colleagues report four types of brain damage caused by psychological abuse.
Swanson et al. 98 (5): 2509 - A new study by Willie J. Swanson and colleagues provides evidence of sperm competition and sexual conflict.
Unconscious - Philip Wong and Howard Shevrin have uncovered neurobiological evidence for the human unconscious state.
The sweet smell of the immune system - Manfred Milinski and Claus Wedekind find evidence for the hypothesis that "perfumes are selected "for self" to amplify in some way body odors that reveal a person's immunogenetics".
NYTimes.com: Exuberance is Rational - Richard Thaler has led a revolution in the study of economics by understanding the strange ways people behave with their money.
Neurobiology of laughter - Did you hear the one about the prefrontal cortex?
Palaeoanthropology and politics - Norman Levitt reflects on the Kennewick Man affair.
Dreams - Matthew Wilson contends that animals do have complex dreams.
Men Show Feelings In Lower Left Quadrant Of Face - When it comes to emotions men and women are equally expressive, but men display most of their joy, disgust or other sentiments in the lower left quadrant of their face. Women, on the other hand, show their emotions across their entire countenance.
The cognitive skills of Neanderthals - Neanderthals were predators.
Science -- Human genome - The special issue on the first draft of the human genome.
Human genome - overview - press releases - Comprehensive information on the first draft of the human genome from Nature.
Origins of the specious - Andrew Brown explains why 'Introducing Evolutionary Psychology', the latest in Icon Books' popular series of comic books on important subjects, has been withdrawn from sale while 10,000 stickers are pasted over the face of Steven Rose.
Steven Pinker: the mind reader - In room 10-250 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the brightest undergraduates in America are filing in for the start of their Thursday afternoon lecture. These students, taking psychology 101, are drawn from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, and all of them, men and women, are dressed in the same baggy, designer-labelled sportswear. They are fresh-faced and polite, chattering about assignments and movies, and seem overwhelmingly confident that life will go well for them.
Guardian Unlimited - And Darwin created us all - As two of the world's great Darwinists prepare to debate whether science is killing the soul, Tim Radford asks if natural selection is the key to life, the universe, and everything.
Darwin's darling - A profile of Helena Cronin.
Has psychology become respectable at last? - The past decade witnessed the surge of "evolutionary psychology". Its most thoughtful exponents, such as Robert Plomin, are confident that economics, education and sociology will all benefit from evolutionary psychology and gene mapping.
Stone Age bosses aren't all that bad - Applied to business, as Nigel Nicholson does in his book Managing The Human Animal (Texere, £18.99), Evolutionary Psychology suggests that most organisational practice runs directly against the grain of human programming.
You've got a lot to answer for, Charlie Darwin - Is psychology frozen in the Pleistocene era? Hilary and Steven Rose are sure it must have evolved since then.
The Evolution of Ethics - A theory concerning the integration of ethics and science using cybernetic theory as a logical foundation.
Perfect pitch may help babies speak - US researchers say everyone may be born with perfect pitch to help them learn the skills of language.
To Love, Honour and Deceive - Long-term relationships are fundamentally dishonest. And it's all women's fault, new research suggests.
Why elephants don't forget - A study of African elephants reveals that dominant females build up a social memory as they get older, helping the herd to survive.
Mozart 'can cut epilepsy' - Music, particularly Mozart, could have a therapeutic effect on epilepsy, say scientists.
Baboon Key to Human Stress - Article describes how the stresses and strains that afflict humans are evident in baboon societies. Also suggests that both species share the long-term health effects.
Did the Caveman Teach Us to Queue? - Chris Horrie provides a critique of the discipline in this BBC News article.
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