Why Do Humans Embrace Rituals? Disease and Danger May Be at the Root of the Behaviors
While the origins of many rituals remain murky, emerging research suggests we evolved such social practices to ward off or address common threats.
National Geographic
Topics: Cristine Legare Cultural Evolution Ritual
How the ‘Western Mind’ Was Shaped by the Medieval Church
Most research on human psychology focuses on Western societies, but the way people in the West think can be traced to changes in family structures in the Middle Ages.
BBC Future
Topics: Cultural Evolution
Is Your Society Good for (Biological) Fitness?
Remember that there are two major biological objectives in life, survival and reproduction.
Science on Religion
Topics: Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
‘The WEIRDest People in the World’ Review: Marriage Story
An evolutionary biologist argues that a change in how we coupled made the modern West radically different.
The Wall Street Journal
For the Evolution of Smarts, Parents Matter
Songbird research shows cognitive and survival benefits.
Cosmos
Topics: Animal Studies Cognitive Development Cultural Evolution Intelligence Learning Social Learning
Chimps Have Local Culture Differences When It Comes to Eating Termites
Different groups of chimpanzees have their own distinct ways of fishing for termites, suggesting these techniques are passed on as a form of local culture.
New Scientist
Topics: Animal Studies Cultural Evolution
Is Human Cooperativity an Outcome of Competition Between Cultural Groups?
A study by ASU researchers looks at how culture may have fueled our capacity to cooperate with strangers.
ASU Now
Topics: Cooperation Cultural Evolution Evolutionary Mechanisms Human Evolution
Being Copycats Might Be Key to Being Human
A quirk of psychology that affects the way people learn from others may have helped unlock the complicated technologies and rituals that human culture hinges on.
The Conversation
Topics: Cultural Evolution Ritual Social Learning
Emotional Words Such as “Love” Mean Different Things in Different Languages
An analysis of more than 2,000 languages reveals differences in the way feelings are conceptualized among cultures.
Scientific American
Topics: Cultural Evolution Emotion Language
How the Early Christian Church Gave Birth to Today’s WEIRD Europeans
Centuries-old incest ban made Westerners more independent and trusting of strangers, study argues.
Science
Topics: Cultural Evolution Values
Revenge Is Bittersweet at Best
Research is starting to reveal how the urge for vengeance may have evolved, when it can be useful, and what could prevent the violence it can provoke.
Knowable Magazine
Topics: Cooperation Cultural Evolution Group Conflict Reputation Revenge
Complex Birdsongs Help Biologists Piece Together the Evolution of Lifelong Learning
Could mating preferences, like females preferring males who sing complex songs, affect the evolution of learning? Insights from birds could have clues for how people learn throughout their lives.
Topics: Animal Studies Cultural Evolution Language Learning
Humans May Have Been Crafting Stone Tools for 2.6 Million Years
A new study pushes the origins of early human tool-making back by some 10,000 years earlier than previously believed.
Smithsonian
Adaptations Inspired by Cultural Change Common in the Animal Kingdom
According to a new survey, cultural lifestyle changes inspire evolutionary adaptations more often than previously thought.
UPI
Topics: Animal Studies Cultural Evolution Genes
Game of Thrones and the Evolutionary Significance of Storytelling
What is it about storytelling that gets people so riled up when they feel it goes wrong? Perhaps the fury stems from the evolutionary burden stories, and storytellers, have had to carry.
Nautilus
Topics: Cooperation Cultural Evolution
The Worth of an Angry God
How supernatural beliefs allowed societies to bond and spread.
Topics: Cooperation Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Morality
Did Big Gods Come Before or After Big Societies?
The whirling center of a scientific controversy.
Topics: Cooperation Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Morality Scientific Study of Religion
Big Gods Came After the Rise of Civilizations, Not Before, Finds Study Using Huge Historical Database
God only started watching over us quite recently, according to a new study that analyzed 414 societies from 30 world regions.
Cultural Intelligence: A Conversation with Michele Gelfand
In this ever-increasing global world, we need to understand culture.
Edge.org
Topics: Cultural Evolution Revenge Values
How Belief in Punitive Gods May Have Helped Large Societies Cooperate
Belief in punitive gods may have helped humans cooperate across larger societies by uniting distant populations into a cohesive group.
Topics: Belief Cooperation Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Faith Morality Religious Groups
Sexual Selection in Action: Birds That Attract Multiple Mates Change Their Songs More Quickly
Biologists investigated whether birds that search for multiple mates would evolve ever more elaborate songs to attract them. What they found might have surprised Darwin.
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