Sit back and relax as we tell you a story about....well....stories. In this episode, we talk with Michelle Sugiyama (U Oregon), who explores human nature through the lens of understanding how, when, and why we decide to tell each other stories. Other topics include the function of name labels, whether enjoying fiction is a byproduct or adaptation, history, propaganda, and how songs help us learn.  More about Michelle Sugiyama:https://talkingstories.uoregon.edu/ https://blogs.uoregon.edu/humananimallab/ https://cas.uoregon.edu/directory/social-sciences/all/mscalise https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_7XnIB0AAAAJ&hl=en

What is a mechanism? Are claims about function doomed to fail? And why are explanations in psychology and human behavior so fraught and contested? We pose these and other mysteries to one the shining stars in modern philosophy of science, Lauren Ross (UC Irvine). Other topics include how philosophers are kind of like therapists, how modern philosophy of science thinks about grand explanations of everything, reductionism, and why what's happening in psychology is reassuringly not new under the scientific sun.  More about Lauren Ross: https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~rossl/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MR__Y0AAAAAJ&hl=en

Pascal Boyer (St. Louis) is one of the greats! We talk about his shifting thinking in terms of belief selection to belief production, and why this is a subversive idea. Other topics include birthdays, shamanism and magic, and why we should remain optimistic about the future of science.  More about Pascal Boyer:http://www.pascalboyer.net/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7OaZg10AAAAJ&hl=en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_Boyer

Is leaving a hunter horticultural lifestyle for a more westernized, market economy good or bad for one's health? And what does it take to run a field site? In this episode we talk to Josh Snodgrass (Oregon), one of the co-directors of the Shuar Project, and an expert on the consequences of transitioning from a more traditional to market subsistence on one's existence and health. Turns out: it's complicated! More about Josh Snodgrass: https://www.pinniped.net/snodgrass.html https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EADPtvQAAAAJ&hl=en https://cas.uoregon.edu/directory/profiles/all/jjosh

Do we choose how we choose others? Kris Smith gives us a tour of his fieldwork in across Tanzania, from the arid plains of Hadza Land to the shores of village fisheries, Kris explains what he's learned about understand partner choice, levels of cooperation, and how the local way of making a living. Kris also explains what mistakes new students often make in the field, the effects of social mobility, the difficulties of abstract measures across cultures, and how not to avoid mosquitos in the field.    More about Kris Smith: https://anthro.wsu.edu/faculty/wsu-profile/kristopher.m.smith/ https://www.kristophermsmith.com/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AXOcqSIAAAAJ&hl=en

How does our evolved psychology deal with pathogens? Can other people tell when you're sick? What's the relationship between worrying about sickness and your social network? Do you stay in or go out when you're sick? Love 'em or hate 'em, pathogens are a part of life and an extreme selection pressure, and our guest Josh Ackerman (UMichigan) gives us the in's and out's of how our minds deal with and are dealt with by this tiny microscopic critters.  More about Josh Ackerman: https://lsa.umich.edu/psych/people/faculty/joshack.html https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=w3nbv6UAAAAJ&hl=en

We are all still recovering from the HBES conference in Morocco. So, in this half-length episode the David's discuss a listener comment about whether natural selection "designs" anything, and whether it is a mistake to talk and think in that way. We also hear from previous guest Greg Bryant in a mini-interview from HBES. Have a great week!

This week features a special mini-episode, fresh off the presses from our trip to the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES) conference in Rabat, Morocco. We (briefly) talk with Bret Beheim (Max Planck Leipzig), Cristina Moya (UC Davis), and Brian Wood (UCLA). Also, this episode marks one year of the podcast!   More about Brian Wood: https://anthro.ucla.edu/person/brian-wood/ http://brianwoodresearch.com/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oRH6SiEAAAAJ&hl=en

Steve Neuberg (ASU) takes us on a professional and personal journey, explaining what it means to straddle two different sub-disciplines with grace, tact, and not a little bit of success. Topics include: the specificity of discrimination and stereotyping, the difference between going phenomenon vs. adaptive problem first in one's approach, why it's useful to give the benefit of the doubt, and what Steve's newest venture is. A fun, thoughtful, and wide-ranging conversation.  More about Steve: https://psychology.asu.edu/research/labs/evolution-ecology-social-behavior https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=98Zaz2MAAAAJ&hl=en https://search.asu.edu/profile/11074

Ray Hames, along with guest-host Zach Garfield, discusses his time with the Yanamamo, being a student of Napoleon Chagnon, and what it was like to be in the early, 2nd generation of anthropologists applying evolution to human behavior. Topics include hunting, the history of sociobiology, human behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology, attitudes about indigenous populations, the elderly, sexual orientation, and the darkness in Eldorado hoax.    More about Ray Hames: https://rhames.unl.edu/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BZ98oywAAAAJ&hl=en https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/raymond-b-hames-srcedw/