Robert Smith, Charles Ogletree, and Johanna Wald hare recently posted a synopsis of their chapter, titled “Coloring Punishment: Implicit Social Cognition and Criminal Justice” (in Justin D. Levinson and Robert J. Smith (eds), Implicit Racial Bias…
- 2 days ago, 6 Oct 12, 3:52am -

SALMS is excited to announce its Speakers Series slate for Fall 2012. All of the following talks will take place at noon in Austin North unless otherwise noted. Jon Hanson, Harvard Law School, “What Is ‘Law and Mind Sciences’ and Why Does It Ma…
- 5 days ago, 3 Oct 12, 4:01am -

For The Conversation, Shannon Callahan wrote an interesting piece on the social psychology of political yard signs.   As the November elections draw nearer, front yards across America are sprouting campaigns signs broadcasting their chosen politica…
- 6 days ago, 2 Oct 12, 4:01am -

SALMS General Body Meeting Monday, October 1, 7 p.m. Hauser 101 Milk + cookies buffet! For Harvard University students interested in getting more involved in the Student Association for Law and Mind Sciences (“SALMS”), there will be an introduct…
- 7 days ago, 1 Oct 12, 4:37am -

Sidney Shapiro, Thomas Owen McGarity, Nicholas Vidargas, and James Goodwin, have recently published their White Paper, titled “The Truth About Torts: Defensive Medicine and the Unsupported Case for Medical Malpractice ‘Reform’” on SSRN.  Her…
- 10 days ago, 28 Sep 12, 4:01am -

Rebecca Saxe is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. She is also an associate member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. She is known for her research on the neural basis…
- 12 days ago, 26 Sep 12, 4:01am -

From NortonSOC: Shamus Khan (Columbia University) discusses his C. Wright Mills award-winning book, Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School, and how elite schools “convert birthright into credentials” for privileged st…
- 14 days ago, 24 Sep 12, 4:01am -

From Harvard Gazette: Most parents like to believe that their children are more intelligent and insightful than the average person realizes. When it comes to concepts of fairness, they might be right, according to Harvard researchers. A new study, co…
- 16 days ago, 22 Sep 12, 4:01am -

SALMS is excited to announce its Speakers Series slate for Fall 2012 all to be held at Harvard Law School. The following talks will take place at noon in Austin North unless otherwise noted. [Situationist Contributor] Jon Hanson, Harvard Law School,…
- 18 days ago, 20 Sep 12, 4:01am -

From Harvard Gazette (regarding new research by Situationist friend Dan Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth): People spend 46.9 percent of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they’re doing, and this mind-wandering typically ma…
- 20 days ago, 18 Sep 12, 4:05am -

By: Megan E. Birney 2011 marks 10 years since the mixed-race category was added to the U.K.’s annual censes.  To commemorate this event, BBC Two has been running a series of programmes documenting the mixed-race experience both in Britain and ……
- 17 Oct 11, 9:23pm -

- 6 Oct 11, 10:26pm -

Social and Personality Psychology Compass © Blackwell Publishing Ltd Volume 5, Issue 10 Pages 694 – 823, October 2011 The latest issue of Social and Personality Psychology Compass is available on Wiley Online Library   Emotion Motivation Affiliat…
- 5 Oct 11, 7:52am -

By Kevin R. Betts Netflix witnessed a storm of customer outrage and tumbling stock prices this month as they dramatically increased their price for subscription to the service. Early this morning, CEO Reed Hastings reacted with an email to customers.…
- 19 Sep 11, 5:47pm -

Navy videographer at Ground Zero In the 10 years since the events of September 2001 a vast amount of scholarly research has been written on the impact of 9/11. Wiley-Blackwell is pleased to share with you this collection of free book and … Contin…
- 2 Sep 11, 10:21am -

- 7 Aug 11, 1:13pm -

By Kevin R. Betts I started reading a book this weekend titled, “The Perfect Swarm: The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life.” Author Len Fisher’s central idea is that understanding swarm intelligence can help us make better decisions. Swarm…
- 1 Aug 11, 2:00am -

By Erica Zaiser I came across this cartoon recently from Funnymos.com: Obviously it is meant to be humorous but it also made me wonder:  Does having a trait like glasses change people’s initial impressions of you? And has there been … Continue r…
- 26 Jul 11, 1:43pm -

By: Megan Birney We all want to be happy.  It’s something we’ve learned to strive for and likely the primary motivator for trying to land that perfect job, find your soul mate, start a family, get that promotion or buy … Continue reading →
- 24 Jul 11, 10:03pm -

By, Adam K. Fetterman Making appeals to religion is nothing new for American politics. Nearly every candidate makes statements such as “God bless America” or claims that their candidacy is a calling from God. However, on the other end of … Cont…
- 12 Jul 11, 5:50pm -

The Arizona State University School of Human Evolution and Social Change seeks to build on existing strengths to develop a world-class program in evolutionary social science, with a focus on the dynamic interactions between biology and culture respon…
- 12 days ago, 26 Sep 12, 10:30am -

A new book of obvious cognition-and-culture relevance by Paul Harris: Trusting What You’re Told: How Children Learn from Others (Harvard UP, 2012). The blurb:"If children were little scientists who learn best through firsthand observations and mini…
- 15 days ago, 22 Sep 12, 9:17pm -

As many of you know, our site was repeatedly attacked by malware this summer, bringing our activities to a halt. We are sorry about this and hope that none of our users' had their computer infected. We are sorry for any inconvenience all this may hav…
- 15 days ago, 22 Sep 12, 9:02pm -

An interesting debate (edited by Andrea Bender, Sieghard Beller, & Douglas L. Medin) on the role of anthropology in and for cognitive science was published in the latest issue of Topics in Cognitive Science (2012, vol. 4, no. 3). Due to constraints…
- 46 days ago, 23 Aug 12, 1:35pm -

A Theme Issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B on 'New thinking: the evolution of human cognition' compiled and edited by Cecilia Heyes and Uta Frith, with contributions from, among others, Robin I. M. Dunbar,  Chris D. Frith…
- 51 days ago, 18 Aug 12, 11:14am -

A new book (Cambridge UP 2012) of obvious cognition-and-culture relevance by Maurice Bloch. The blurb:"In this provocative new study one of the world's most distinguished anthropologists proposes that an understanding of cognitive science enriches, r…
- 54 days ago, 15 Aug 12, 10:15am -

Previously on cognitionandculture — Last year, Pierre Jacob posted a critical review of the so-called two-systems model of mindreading, according to which humans use two distinct mental tools to understand the thoughts of others: one is fast and au…
- 76 days ago, 23 Jul 12, 4:27pm -

People do not love markets – there is a lot of evidence for that. Is it relevant that, well, to put it bluntly, people do not seem to understand much about market economics?That is a common enough message from professional economists. It is put i…
- 18 Jun 12, 7:49pm -

PhD 4-year job position Social Psychology/Experimental Pragmatics at the Univeristé Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium Job description:One PhD position is available within a joint project on pragmatics and social cognition, coordinated by Oli…
- 14 Jun 12, 2:06pm -

This post is part of a Webinar, Debating Dunbar's Number.Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3While reading the stimulating critique of Robin Dunbar's social brain hypothesis recently published by Jan de Ruiter and his colleagues, my first reaction was:…
- 6 Jun 12, 9:41am -

No matter how much one may have disagreed with a colleague in life, no matter how much damage one might feel a particular person’s work may have done, when that colleague finally dies one says a few good words, pays respect, and puts aside past dif…
- 1 day ago, 7 Oct 12, 2:35am -

How to do things, from someone who actually does things: How to Protest a ‘Psychic’– Dr. Caleb Lack There is a big difference between writing and talking about doing something, and actually doing something in the Real World.  Confuse the two a…
- 5 days ago, 2 Oct 12, 4:00pm -

A study published in the European Journal of Personality suggests that humans infected with toxoplasmosis gondii are more extroverted compared to non-infected individuals. According to the CDC, roughly 22.5% of Americans over 12 are infected. The eff…
- 12 days ago, 25 Sep 12, 10:19pm -

As hard as it is for me to believe when I look back at it, I’ve been writing about the antivaccine movement now for more than seven years here on this blog and combatting it online for at least a decade now. I like to think that over the years my r…
- 19 days ago, 19 Sep 12, 7:00am -

Damage to the auditory nerve connecting the inner ear and brain causes hearing loss in some individuals. Researchers Dr. Marcelo Rivolta from the University of Sheffield and colleagues have shown that human embryonic stem cells that were different…
- 19 days ago, 18 Sep 12, 10:55pm -

Jonathan Jong & Jamin Halberstadt The universality of religious belief—in supernatural agents: gods, ghosts, souls, spirits, and their ilk—is, no doubt, the product of a whole host of inter…
- 57 days ago, 11 Aug 12, 8:54pm -

Luca Andrighetto Ask an Israeli about the conflict with Palestinians and you'll probably hear a tale of woe and victimhood. The strange thing is, if you ask a Palestinian the same question, you…
- 60 days ago, 9 Aug 12, 2:24pm -

Arne Sjöström Most everyone is familiar with the saying “revenge tastes sweet”, but is there some truth in this? It is only recently that revenge, and the psychological and behavioral imp…
- 92 days ago, 7 Jul 12, 5:33pm -

Namkje Koudenburg, Tom Postmes, and Ernestine Gordijn We all know the awkward feeling when a conversation is suddenly disrupted by a brief silence. These moments can be pretty unsettling. Beca…
- 22 May 12, 7:30am -

Neolithic Discovery: Why Orkney Is the Centre of Ancient Britain
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Well-Preserved Mammoth Found in Northern Siberia
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Human-Neandertal Mating Gets a New Date
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Tomb of Maya Queen Found—"Lady Snake Lord" Ruled Centipede Kingdom
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Greenlanders Strove for Change
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To discover why Neandertals are most closely related to people outside Africa, scientists have estimated the date when Neandertals and modern Europeans last shared ancestors. The research provides a historical context for the interbreeding. It sugges…
- 3 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 12:10am -

A skull fragment unearthed in Tanzania shows our ancient ancestors ate meat at least 1.5 million years ago, shedding new light on human evolution.
- 4 days ago, 4 Oct 12, 1:35pm -

Archaeologists in Guatemala have discovered the tomb of Lady K'abel, a seventh-century Maya Holy Snake Lord considered one of the great queens of Classic Maya civilization. The tomb was discovered during excavations of the royal Maya city of El Perú…
- 4 days ago, 3 Oct 12, 6:14pm -

In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by anthropologists. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon she…
- 5 days ago, 2 Oct 12, 6:54pm -

Mostly isolated from outsiders until the 1950s, Papua New Guinea's Enga tribes fought with bows and arrows until 1990, when their young people and mercenary "Rambos" began using shotguns and semiautomatic rifles, igniting 20 years of warfare that kil…
- 10 days ago, 27 Sep 12, 6:12pm -

Archaeological excavations carried out this year at the site of La Bastida (Totana, Murcia) have shed light on an imposing fortification system, unique for its time. The discovery, together with all other discoveries made in recent years, reaffirm th…
- 11 days ago, 27 Sep 12, 1:15pm -

An ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analyzed by a team of scientists. The probably 1,000-year-old statue, called the “Iron Man”, weighs 10 kilograms, portrays the Buddhist god Vaisravana and…
- 12 days ago, 26 Sep 12, 2:42pm -

A common type of geographic mapping software offers a new way to study human remains. In a new study, researchers describe how they used commercially available mapping software to identify features inside a human foot bone -- a new way to study human…
- 12 days ago, 25 Sep 12, 6:39pm -

The largest genomic study ever conducted among Khoe and San groups reveals that these groups from southern Africa are descendants of the earliest diversification event in the history of all humans -- some 100,000 years ago, well before the 'out-of-Af…
- 17 days ago, 20 Sep 12, 6:11pm -

How do language families evolve over many thousands of years? How stable over time are structural features of languages? Researchers introduced a new method using Bayesian phylogenetic approaches to analyse the evolution of structural features in mor…
- 17 days ago, 20 Sep 12, 5:53pm -

I tip my hat to sociology aficionado Holly, curator of Sociology Student Sheep.  The tumblr is a humorous, tongue-in-cheek look at the minds of earnest students of sociology.  No doubt, if you’ve ever hung out with sociologists, you’ll recogn…
- 11 hours ago, 7 Oct 12, 4:00pm -

W.W. Norton has released a fun little animation answering this thorny question. It has to do with abundance and hoarding, and the technological innovations that underlie these things, as well as government’s willingness to redistribute wealth.Enjo…
- 1 day ago, 6 Oct 12, 4:00pm -

The photograph of a sailor kissing a woman on V-J Day in Times Square is an iconic one. Taken by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt in Times Square on August 14, 1945, it is probably one of the most memorable images of WWII. As the Japanese surrender, t…
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 4:18pm -

This post is an updated version of one originally published in 2010.Skipping through a set of images of North Korea by photographers David Guttenfelder and Vincent Yu, I was reminded that the city is almost entirely devoid of advertising.  There…
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 4:00pm -

The Washington Post has a post up by Dylan Matthews that looks at the U.S. gender wage gap over time. It has several charts that illustrate trends in pay very clearly. Here’s a breakdown of median income (in constant 2010 dollars) by gender and rac…
- 3 days ago, 4 Oct 12, 5:16pm -

I watched the first U.S. Presidential debate of the election last night and I noticed something interesting about the coverage at CNN.  Notice that the live viewer information along the bottom includes the degree to which female (yellow) and male (g…
- 3 days ago, 4 Oct 12, 4:00pm -

Cross-posted at Montclair SocioBlog.The crucial moment in “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” for me at least, was the sight of Hushpuppy  in a new purple dress.  Hushpuppy, a seven-year-old girl is the central figure in the film, and up until that…
- 4 days ago, 3 Oct 12, 4:33pm -

In this clip from a campaign rally, Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan argues that “traditional marriage” is a “universal human value.”Ryan could not be more wrong. In fact, few practices have undergone more fundamental transformation.For…
- 4 days ago, 3 Oct 12, 4:00pm -

As we enter the home stretch of the presidential campaign, there’s a steady stream of media discussions of potential turnout and differences in early voters and those who vote on Election Day, analysis of the demographics of swing states, and a flo…
- 4 days ago, 3 Oct 12, 3:21pm -

People don’t know how much they’re eating. A recent experiment found that people eat more when the container is larger, even when the portion size is not. They gave Belgian college students a container of M&Ms and parked them in front of a TV, wi…
- 5 days ago, 2 Oct 12, 4:00pm -

Researchers in Sweden and Brazil have discovered a new group of nerve cells that regulate processes of learning and memory. These cells act as gatekeepers and carry a receptor for nicotine, which can explain our ability to remember and sort informati…
- 9 hours ago, 7 Oct 12, 5:48pm -

Researchers have for the first time measured the activity of a brain region known to be involved in learning, memory and Alzheimer’s disease during sleep. They discovered that this part of the brain behaves as if it’s remembering something, even…
- 9 hours ago, 7 Oct 12, 5:47pm -

Scientists have completed the first genome-wide evaluation of genetic variants associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). The study points to the involvement of specific genes and alterations in their expression as influencing the risk for developing…
- 1 day ago, 6 Oct 12, 9:09pm -

Whether you like someone can affect how your brain processes their movement, according to new research.
- 1 day ago, 6 Oct 12, 9:09pm -

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are inviting the world to take part in an online experiment that will allow participants to see how their individual scores on a face-name memory test compare with those of other test takers.
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 8:27pm -

Research shows that managing and treating vascular disease risk factors are not only beneficial to preventing heart disease and stroke, but also common forms of dementia.
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 5:46pm -

Chronic morphine exposure has the opposite effect on the brain compared to cocaine in mice, providing new insight into the basis of opiate addiction, according to researchers. They found that a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which…
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 5:46pm -

You’ve heard the tale before: Scientists can treat diseases like Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s in mice, but when those same drugs get to human trials, they fail. Can researchers come up with mice that better mimic the patient? In the case of Lou…
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 5:46pm -

A small company with roots in Singapore and Scotland plans to test a relatively unknown compound in clinical trials for a type of dementia that strongly affects behavior.
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 5:46pm -

Researchers use fMRI datasets to train a computer to predict the semantic category of an image originally viewed by five different people.
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 5:43pm -

David Sloan Wilson’s essay Human Cultures are Primarily Adaptive at the Group Level is helpful in calling attention to the fundamental role that the human social group has played throughout our evolutionary history.  But Sloan Wilson is mistaken,…
- 4 hours ago, 7 Oct 12, 10:35pm -

David Sloan Wilson detects signs of an emergent consensus around a broad notion of evolution which encompasses both genetic and cultural history and which recognizes as driving forces selection among groups, individuals, and genes. I hope so. Movemen…
- 3 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 7:56am -

The question of whether a given trait qualifies as an adaptation must be answered on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, a strong case can be made for species as primarily adapted to their environments. A similar argument can be made for human cultur…
- 5 days ago, 2 Oct 12, 5:07pm -

Some months ago I posted a blog on the role of geography in history, in which I discussed the Continental Axes argument of Jared Diamond. I found it a highly productive idea – literally so, because it prompted us to collect data to test empirically…
- 9 days ago, 29 Sep 12, 8:44am -

Two interesting news were reported this week. Forbes Magazine reported that the net worth of the wealthiest 400 Americans increased by 13 percent compared to last year. This is hardly surprising, since the magnitude of the top fortunes have been grow…
- 15 days ago, 23 Sep 12, 3:55am -

My blog averages about five hundred visits a day, which is a modest audience but enough to create a sense of obligation to post relatively regularly. A couple of times a week, I’ll look over this blog’s analytics and see what kind of search terms…
- 2 days ago, 6 Oct 12, 3:11am -

 As a student of human nature, I have an obsession with obtaining a human skull (I’m sure this is the dream of every psychologist and anthropologist). Has to be real! And it’s actually legal to buy human bones in most U.S. states and having a g…
- 5 days ago, 3 Oct 12, 3:08am -

PersonalityOn the Meyer-Briggs, I consistently score INTJ; but what can a test say about me that I can’t say better? I am a passionate introvert that spends countless hours consuming knowledge. I am effectively a hermit but despite occasional awkw…
- 7 days ago, 30 Sep 12, 5:12pm -

When I’m finished with my thesis, and it has went through the two dozen revisions that my reviewers will suggest (and I encourage), I will publish my work through ProQuest Thesis and Dissertation Indexing and publishing service and choose the ope…
- 8 days ago, 30 Sep 12, 3:04am -

Though I don’t condone religious incitation, the wave of protests and violence in the Middle East and Africa, spawned by a third rate film is a worthy discussion point for toleration. I can make no distinction between the masses that protest in emo…
- 12 days ago, 25 Sep 12, 4:54pm -

A new genetic analysis suggests that the common ancestor of modern mammals may not have been shrewlike in size, but more like a small monkey
- 17 hours ago, 7 Oct 12, 10:00am -

Software that identifies different pills by sight could help avoid dangerous drug mix-ups
- 18 hours ago, 7 Oct 12, 9:00am -

Using only webcam pictures and seasonal sunshine, a new system can create incredibly detailed 3D models of outdoor environments
- 2 days ago, 6 Oct 12, 11:00am -

The tiny greenhouse whitefly parasite has brain cells so slender, they may not behave like normal neurons – and may work mechanically instead
- 2 days ago, 6 Oct 12, 9:00am -

The latest outburst of SN 2009ip was no fake and the death was like no other – that has implications for a nearby, looming star explosion
- 2 days ago, 5 Oct 12, 5:50pm -