The Michael Shermer Show: Why the Same Childhood Doesn't Affect Everyone the Same Way
Episode webpage: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/sciencesalon/mss589_Jay_Belsky_2026_03_03.mp3
#psychology #science #DevelopmentalPsychology #EvolutionaryPsychology
Left-Handed People Are More Competitive, Says Science
The article examines why society pays disproportionate attention to incels, analyzing how cultural attraction theory and evolutionary psychology help explain the prominence of incel narratives in media and public discourse.
The piece highlights how certain psychological themes—sex, status, moral outrage, and group dynamics—make incel stories highly memorable and shareable, shedding light on why they attract widespread attention despite the relatively small size of the community.
Article Title: The psychology behind society’s fixation on incels
Link to PsyPost Article: https://www dot psypost.org/the-psychology-behind-societys-fixation-on-incels/
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#psychology #mediastudies #culturalattraction #incels #evolutionarypsychology
"Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-long project that cloaked eugenics, race science and sexual misconduct in Ivy League respectability"
#epstein #highereducation #evolutionarypsychology
https://www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-billionaires-eugenics-project-harvard-academia-john-brockman
Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-long project that cloaked eugenics, race science and sexual misconduct in Ivy League respectability
The article presents a cross-cultural analysis linking the size of a country’s cosmetics market to paternal investment in childcare and to economic inequality. Using a revised sexual selection framework, it suggests that when men contribute more to parenting and when inequality is higher, women may invest in appearance to attract high-investment partners. The study finds that per hour increases in paternal investment relative to maternal investment correspond to about a $2.17 rise in per-capita cosmetics spending.
This work is of interest to psychology because it connects parental effort, mate choice, and social context to consumer behavior, highlighting how cultural and economic factors shape psychological strategies around attractiveness and partnership.
Article Title: New research connects the size of the beauty market to male parenting effort
Link to PsyPost Article: ift dot tt/9RlsUEG
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#psychology #evolutionarypsychology #matechoice #paternalinvestment #cosmeticsindustry
I recently finished reading Richard Wollheim's "Painting As An Art".
I found much of it stimulating in the close attention paid to particular pictures and thought provoking with regard to his theory of "seeing in" as the way to understand our perception of paintings.
On the other hand, his use of psychoanalytic theory left me with questions.
Surprisingly, his use of this theory reminded of some recent reading of mine in evolutionary psychology. Both Wollheim and the evolutionary psychologists stress the significance of a common human nature and are inclined to downplay the importance of systems of symbols or culture in general.
I do think that a substantive concept of human nature makes sense, and I am open to the possibility of evolutionary psychology and psychoanalytical theory contributing to an understanding of of human nature.
Altogether less agreeable to me is the tendency of these theories to smuggle in a social ontology in which culture is merely the creation of atomized individuals. One can believe in the evolved nature of the mind and allow for the possibility of certain kinds of psychic forces at work in the individual without denying the importance, still less the existence, of social facts. Thinking about languages as at once learned and used by individuals but also existing as entities external to those individuals is helpful here.
Image: The Construction of the Tower of Babel -- Folio xvii, The Bedford Book of Hours -- 1423 - 30 - The British Library.
#Wollheim #RichardWollheim #PaintingAsAnArt #EvolutionaryPsychology #Psychoanalysis #SocialOntology #Art #Philosophy #IlluminatedManuscript #BookOfHours #BedfordBBookOfHours #15thCenturyArt #TowerOfBabel
#EvolutionaryPsychology (the podcast): Selection with Paul Smaldino
Episode webpage: https://epthepod.podbean.com/e/paul-smaldino/
Media file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/wjugmwxfqe27ddhb/Paul_Smaldino9gm7w.mp3
Intentions be damned! Whats matter is selection! In this episode, Paul Smaldino (UC Merced) takes us on a tour of his work on social signals, social identities, the perverse incentives of science, the stupidity and yet usefulness of models, and so much else. (Paul also shows us his small model of the solar system in the background). More about Paul Smaldino: https://smaldino.com/wp/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AwHfbP0AAAAJ&hl=en https://smalldinosaurs.bandcamp.com/album/dad-songs
New research reports a distinct decrease in sexual motivation during the implantation window, a mid-luteal phase five to nine days after ovulation. The findings suggest that this reduced desire may be an evolved response to lower health risks when immune defenses are transiently suppressed to support embryo implantation, with behavioral changes such as less masturbation observed.
The article sits at the intersection of evolutionary theory, psychophysiology, and behavioral psychology, illustrating how cycle-related biological changes can shape motivation and behavior. It also demonstrates the use of diary methods and rigorous analysis to map daily experiences to precise hormonal phases.
Article Title: Women’s libido drops significantly during a specific phase of the menstrual cycle
Link to PsyPost Article: ift dot tt/w6utkID
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#menstrualcycle #sexualmotivation #implantationwindow #evolutionarypsychology #psychologyresearch
#Evolutionary #Psychology (the podcast): #Consciousness with Michael Graziano
FYI, this podcast is also on #YouTube
Episode webpage: https://epthepod.podbean.com/e/consciousness-with-michael-graziano/
Media file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/u7yvvvkwju2ra4ud/Michael_Graziano9oxp8.mp3
Consciousness: is it really that hard of a problem? In this episode, we talk to our favorite mechanistically-minded (and possibly clearest) thinker about consciousness we've had the pleasure to stumble across, Michael Graziano (Princeton). Topics include why consciousness has been so hard to study, what it is, and what future (evolutionary) work on consciousness would look like. More about Michael Graziano:https://grazianolab.princeton.edu/ https://pni.princeton.edu/people/michael-graziano https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Graziano https://www.press53.com/michael-s-a-graziano https://www.amazon.com/stores/B.-B.-Wurge/author/B001JS4X0U?
Love Factually: Deep Dive: #Evolutionary Mythbusting
Episode webpage: https://lovefactually.substack.com/p/bonded-by-evolution-part2
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