Remember Evolutionary Psychology? The theory?
It’s over.

It is often said that the human brain develops and improves up to a certain age, then becomes stagnant for a while, then slowly (or not so slowly) deteriorates over time. This is an old conception that developed before we knew that neural connections are being modified constantly, and that it is even the […]

Is the Natural World a valid source of guidance for our behavior, morals, ethics, and other more mundane areas of thought such as how to build an airplane and what to eat for breakfast?1 When it comes to airplanes, you’d better be a servant to the rules of nature (such as gravity) or the airplane […]

I’m going to repost a one year old version of this particular “falsehood” as is. My plan is to rewrite this post in connection with an upcoming edition of my random installment “Everything you know is sort of wrong” on Skeptically Speaking. But for now, I thought I’d just get it out and […]

Color is funny. Anthropologists have long known that different cultures have different relationships, linguistically and in day to day practice, to the color spectrum. For example, the Efe Pygmy Hunter-Gatherers of the Ituri Forest describe things as white, black, or red, and that’s it. They live in a world of green. […]

The male and female human brains are different. Some of the better documented differences are similar to differences seen in other mammals. They are hard to find, very small, and may or may not be of great significance. Obviously, some are very important because they probably relate to such things as the […]

Efe people
Ituri Forest
Anthrophoto is an
excellent source for
anthropology stock
photos

There have been many studies of what impresses us about members of the opposite sex, but to my knowledge these studies are largely centered on Western societies, and never of foragers. There has been consideration of this issue, but no large scale surveys. One of the […]

When a student comes into my office for a chat, and we have been there a while, I can look at my watch (if I’m wearing it) or a clock on the wall with the absolute maximal subtlety, and the student will still pick up the cue that I am checking the time.
When […]