The Oxford evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar is best known for his namesake “Dunbar’s number,” which he defines as the number of stable relationships people are cognitively able to maintain at once. (The proposed number is 150.) But after spending his decades-long career studying the complexities of friendship, he’s discovered many More
… Research shows that when it comes to risk assessment, people are more likely to believe something hazardous will occur when they can easily picture it: Maybe it’s already happened to them, or they’ve seen or heard about it happening to someone they know. “For millions of years, we learned what More
APS Past-President/ Author: Lisa Feldman Barrett Five hundred million years ago, a tiny sea creature changed the course of history: It became the first predator. It somehow sensed the presence of another creature nearby, propelled or wiggled its way over, and deliberately ate it. This new activity of hunting started More
Evolutionary psychologists have focused much of their research on the human pursuit of love and sex, but a global study shows that people’s strongest motivations lie elsewhere. More
Evolutionary psychologists have focused much their research on the human pursuit of love and sex, but a global study shows that people’s strongest motivations lie elsewhere. More
Humans’ unique cognitive abilities emerged from a cycle of interactions between brain, culture, and environment, says Atsushi Iriki. More
