Apr 27, 2017

This View of History Webinar: A Conversation With Peter Turchin

Peter Turchin discusses his new book "Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth". Ultrasociety chronicles 10,000 years of human history from an evolutionary perspective, shows how warfare paradoxically caused us to become the greatest cooperators on earth, and begins to point the way toward a future without war.

Apr 11, 2017

How Noble in Reason: Shakespeare Reveals the Primacy of Emotions in Human Nature

Mar 28, 2017

The Truth about Fake Facts

The invention of fake facts was to compel us to behave for the benefit of our group, even when it might be against our private interests.

Mar 16, 2017

Immigration Bans Handicap Science Globally

As a biologist, I know the importance of genetic diversity in evolution by natural selection. It is precisely because of our diversity as a nation that America leads the world in innovation.

Feb 1, 2017

A Groundhog Day Lesson About Fake News

What can groundhogs teach us about our fake news epidemic?

Feb 1, 2017

Xenophobia in the Light of Evolution: On the Origins of Anti-Immigration Sentiment

Besides racial prejudice, what else are there behind xenophobia? Among the evolved human instincts, we can find at least two for the anti-immigration sentiment: territoriality and the endowment effect.

Nov 7, 2016

The Conversation About Trump Should Consider the Evolution of Men’s Political Psychology

Evolutionary psychologists find that people prefer political leaders who are physically dominant when they believe their group faces an existential threat.

Oct 25, 2016

Toward A New Social Darwinism

The biggest victim of the stigmatized view of Social Darwinism has been all of us, by preventing the application of evolutionary theory to public policy until very recently.

Apr 5, 2016

How WEIRD is Donald Trump?

Let’s hope future DNA studies don’t show a lot of Trump genes in the population.

Mar 4, 2016

The Ends of War: Human Evolution and the Origins of Inter-Group Violence

If we want to understand the beliefs and behavior of people locked in deadly conflict with each other, we first need to consider these traits in their natural context, and that means understanding war in human evolution.

Mar 2, 2016

When Democracy Meets the Ghost of Evolution: Why Short Presidents Have Vanished

Size matters in politics: America hasn’t seen a president shorter than 5’7” since William McKinley. A main culprit, unbeknownst to many, comes from voters’ cognitive biases—the work of evolution. And the conundrum took a theatrical turn early this year when Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential hopeful, was spotted wearing a pair of new boots. #bootgate

Feb 11, 2016

What Donald Trump & Company Need to Know About Evolution

Why should anyone care about evolution literacy when so many other issues clamor for our attention, such as the economy, inequality, climate change, terrorism, and the refugee crisis? The answer is that evolutionary theory can help us understand and provide solutions to each and every one of these issues.

Feb 2, 2016

Review of "Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth"

Professor Turchin’s new book Ultrasociety identifies the causal mechanisms hidden in the twists and turns of human civilisation by quantifying the rise and fall of empires.

Nov 18, 2015

A Christmas Truce in the Study of War

Just as the soldiers of the ‘Christmas Truce’ lived the experience of their psychological plasticity, modern behavioral scientists must give greater attention to the dynamic interaction of evolved mechanisms for war and peace, rather than studying each in exclusivity.

Jul 5, 2015

Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism

May 6, 2015

What Isn't Evolutionary Psychology?

Feb 19, 2015

Scott Walker Has No Backbone. Who Has The Courage To Accept Evolution?

Jan 19, 2015

We Like To Think People Vote Against Their Self-Interest. Research Shows It’s Not True.

Jan 18, 2015

Evolution Makes Forgiving Hard

Forgiveness is emotionally difficult for one very good evolutionary reason.

Dec 30, 2014

National Medal Of Science Awarded To Political Scientist Robert Axelrod

Jun 18, 2014

A Book That Changes The Way We Think About The Economy And Government

Complexity and the Art of Public Policy is a milestone in the application of scientific knowledge to problem solving in the real world.

Sep 11, 2013

Making The Right Mistakes: Error Management And The Evolution Of Errors

An evolutionary perspective on psychological biases tells a very different story about decision making.If we have learned anything from recent years in the behavioral sciences, it is that humans have numerous but systematic psychological biases that steer our judgment and decision-making away from what one might expect if we were even-handed in weighing up costs, benefits and probabilities.

Jul 30, 2013

Status and Stress

New research investigates the complex relationship between status and stress.

Jul 25, 2013

Let’s Shake Up The Social Sciences

It is time to create new social science departments that reflect the breadth and complexity of the problems we face.

Jul 25, 2013

War Arose Recently, Anthropologists Contend

A battle has broken out among scientists trying to untangle the origins of war.

Jul 22, 2013

Brain scans reveal possible links to reoffending

Researchers studying brain scans of inmates find a possible link to risks of future criminal behavior.

Jul 22, 2013

Are some problems too big for democracy?

When you have lost a democratic election to someone who fights against your sacred values, there is no consolation in the thought that you can barter over policy details in the legislature.

Jul 15, 2013

Education, Neoliberal Culture, and the Brain

“There is a Mr. Hyde inside each of us. What we have to do is prevent the conditions that will bring the monster forth.”

Jul 8, 2013

Human Herding: How People are Like Guppies

To what extent can human herding be explained in terms of the same goals that motivate herding in other social species?

Jun 29, 2013

Painful and Extreme Rituals Enhance Social Cohesion

Painful and extreme rituals may enhance social cohesion.

Jun 29, 2013

Good Intentions and the Road to Hell

Pathological altruism can counterintuitively lead to pervasive problems in public policy.

May 24, 2013

Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links to Physical Strength

Men’s upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution.

May 16, 2013

Soldiers’ faces predict aggression, military rank and number of children

What role has aggression played in human evolution? Can scientists predict who might be more aggressive?

Mar 22, 2013

More Power Leads to More Dehumanization

People assigned to positions of power tend to dehumanize those in less powerful positions even when the roles are randomly assigned.

Mar 22, 2013

Left, Right: The Brain Science of Politics

Political inclinations and ideological leanings may be tied to innate factors like a person’s biology, physiology and genetics.

Feb 23, 2013

Surprising Brain Differences Between Republicans and Democrats

Two studies support the theory that political decision making has a neurological basis.

Feb 20, 2013

Debate: Public Money Spent on Social Science

Politicians to propose cutting the roughly $11 million in NSF cash that funds Political Science research.

Feb 12, 2013

D-Day: Darwin’s March on Politics

If we are to understand human behavior, evolutionary theory offers the single most powerful and parsimonious framework for doing so. As editors of the politics section, we aim to provide a forum for all new research on politics, irrespective of topic or level of analysis, but unified by a common focus on applying the insights of evolution to the many puzzles of political behavior.

Feb 2, 2013

Feeling Threatened Makes Us Nicer (Toward Our Group)

Perceived menace makes people kinder to their kin but nastier to outsiders.

Feb 2, 2013

Punish the Shirkers! Especially the Low-status Ones

Do high-status freeloaders get a free pass?

Jan 31, 2013

What Our Primate Relatives Say About War

With a clearer picture of where we came from, we may find a better understanding of who we are and where we are going.

Jan 20, 2013

Born to Lead?

New study identifies a specific DNA sequence associated with the tendency for individuals to occupy a leadership position.

Jan 13, 2013

Is War Creative?

Warfare has transformed us from living in villages to living in huge states, building cities and civilizations, and ultimately making our lives more peaceful.

Dec 16, 2012

Does History Cycle?

The reason you have ups and downs in dynamical systems is that there are internal feedback loops.

Nov 19, 2012

Body Politic

Research continues apace on the genetics of political behavior

Nov 11, 2012

Steven Pinker and His Critics: Is the Long Peace a “Statistical Illusion”?

Scholars continue to debate the Decline of Violence thesis. The latest critique is offered by Nassim Taleb; Pinker responds.

Nov 11, 2012

How (Evolutionary) Science Can Heal a Divided Electorate

Greater Good interviews Johnathan Haidt in the wake of the 2012 U.S. presidential election and asks: how can a divided electorate move forward?

Oct 26, 2012

Political Strength: A Man’s Muscle Power Influences His Beliefs

Do you favor wealth redistribution? The answer might depend on how strong you are.

Oct 22, 2012

Why Partisans Can’t Explain Their Views

Being forced to explain your views can lead you to become more moderate on those views

Oct 11, 2012

War and Violence on the Decline in Modern Times

Political Scientist Joshua Goldstein and Psychologist Steven Pinker discuss arguments on the decline of violence.