Lectures & Conferences
From time to time the NEI hosts guest lecturers from within UNE and beyond. The NEI has also hosted two international conferences and is currently devising a third.
Lectures
2009:
"Remembering the Dead"
Since the dawn of the U.S. as a republic, many more women have died giving birth to the nation than have men in defending it. Yet, while the sacrifices of the nation's warriors are glorified, even sanctified, those of its mothers go virtually unacknowledged. Why do we honor dead warriors but ignore dead mothers? To discover an answer this intriguing question, Dr. Roscoe will examine the construction of death and honor in human society, review the data on death and its memorialization in the U.S., and consider several possible explanations for the discrepancy. He will conclude that the true reason lies in the nature of human social organization.
2007:
Sarah Strout
"Sex in the City: The Ambiguity of Female Mating Strategies"
Most research on human mating strategies focuses exclusively on their evolutionary adaptiveness. Evolutionary psychologists explain our present-day mating behavior by considering how it may have contributed to the reproductive success of our prehistoric ancestors.
This presentation will explore how any theory that attempts to explain female mating strategies must consider cultural, religious, and social influences on a woman's decision making, as well as the evolutionary influences. To highlight the ambiguities of female mating strategies, we will examine the fictional lives of the characters on the popular TV series "Sex and the City" and use a multi-level theory that takes into account all influences to explain female mating strategies.
2006:
David Livingstone Smith
"The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War"
War is a uniquely human activity, a recurring nightmare from which humanity seems to be unable to awaken. We have poured energy into the project of slaughtering our fellow human beings for at least the last ten thousand years, and probably much longer. As technology advanced, we became ever more dangerous to one another. In the last century, war took the lives of over 87 million people, of which 60 percent - around 54 million - were noncombatants. In this presentation I will explore the evolutionary and psychological roots of war and genocide, with a view towards identifying what it is about human nature that makes it possible for us to treat our fellow human beings with such extraordinary brutality. I will argue that our penchant for war is a product of evolution and is deeply embedded in our human nature. However, killing does not come easily to us: our lethal ferocity towards members of our own species is matched by equally powerful inhibitions against killing that are also part of our evolutionary heritage. In taking the lives of others, we also do violence to ourselves. As a result, psychiatric disorders are common among soldiers. In order to go to war, we must find a way to overcome our natural reluctance to kill members of our own species. In a remarkable act of self-deception, we activate psychological systems originally evolved to deal with non-human dangers in a prehistoric environment, viewing 'the enemy' not as a real human being, but as a predator, prey or a vector of disease. This presentation will be accompanied by illustrations, some of which may be disturbing.
Kilian Garvey
"A Neuropsychological Exploration of Creationist and Evolutionary Beliefs"
More than seventy-five years after the famous Scopes trial, the battle between evolutionists and creationists continues to rage in the United States. Why is it that the theory of evolution by natural selection, arguably the strongest theory in the history of science, generates so much skepticism and suspicion? Perhaps science can go some way towards answering this question. In this presentation, I will use a number of psychological and neuroanatomical studies to explore possible reasons for this. I will suggest that there are at least two neuropsychological attributes that lead some people to form an incomplete assessment of evolutionary theory: (1) a relatively inefficient interaction between the two hemispheres of the brain due to differences in the corpus callosum, the band of nerve tissue that connects them, and (2) an overactive sympathetic ('fight or flight') nervous system that results in a false sense of danger. Along the way, we will consider a range of phenomena including right- and left-handedness, right-wing authoritarianism, the tolerance of ambiguity, the need for cognition, the need for cognitive closure, the emotions of fear and disgust as we explore the cognitive styles and motivational needs of creationists.
"Positive Psychology: Virtue and Vice"
Spokespersons for the positive psychology movement urge psychologists to conduct empirical research to determine the routes to and benefits of virtuous behavior. They also see their movement itself as virtuous by claiming it to be a corrective to mainstream or so-called "negative psychology" (now also called "psychology as usual"). However, their rhetoric and mission are fraught with problems, if not bona-fide vice, nonetheless. In this colloquium I will consider whether positive psychology is indeed just what the doctor ordered to cure psychological science of its alleged shortcomings. I will also consider whether the way in which virtue is construed in positive psychology circles allows for a science of virtue that is, as founder and leader of the movement Martin Seligman claims, descriptive and not prescriptive. The vices of movements in general will be discussed.
"'The Better Angels of Our Nature': Evolution and Morality"
Are we humans essentially altruistic beings whose natural state is to care for others? Or are we ogres at heart, our moral codes the only thing holding us back from utter selfishness? I argue that an evolutionary consideration of morality suggests a third alternative, that we are by nature moral strugglers and deliberators-- that the relevant adaptive trait is neither altruism nor selfishness, but rather a refined ability to assess our social environments and make informed decisions about how altruistic or selfish to be. We tend to make these decisions on the basis of two main variables: the anticipated effects of our behavior on our reputation, and the perceived stability of the social groups on which we depend. Furthermore, what we often call morality is actually a conglomerate of tendencies and capacities, some of which are millions of years old and others just thousands. Many of its more recent features, including moral rules that are difficult for us to follow, are cultural surrogates for adaptation in an age when our social environments are changing too fast for us to adapt genetically to them.
2003:
"Rape: Evolutionary And Cross-Cultural Perspectives"
Many popular approaches see rape as being caused by societal conditions unique to American culture. Evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives demonstrate that such a view is incomplete. First, anthropological studies indicate that rape has occurred in all known cultures. Second, forced copulations have been observed in a wide variety of species, from insects to nonhuman primates. Both of these facts suggest that fundamental evolutionary principles may be involved in the causation of rape. Far from making unique aspects of
American culture irrelevant to the causation of rape, an evolutionary perspective increases our ability to identify the exact way aspects of American culture influence the frequency of rape. Hence, an understanding of the evolutionary basis of rape may help us to decrease the frequency of rape in our culture.
2002:
Robert Haskell
"The New Unconscious: An Introduction to Sub-literal Language and Meaning in Everyday, Workplace, and Therapeutic Settings"
This introductory presentation is based on Haskell’s original research into unconscious language and meaning in everyday, workplace, and therapeutic settings. Based on his specifically developed method, he will present an everyday natural language approach for concretely recognizing hidden emotions and attitudes about such eternal human feelings as jealously, racial stereotypes, competition, and secrets from friend, relatives, and co-workers. Prof. Haskell’s findings have direct applications for psychotherapists and mental health counselors (see Smith’s talk below). The editor of Details Magazine called Haskell’s new way of listening to hidden meaning in conversations a veritable “Chat Decoder”(June, 1999). The illustrations presented are based on his two general audience books, Between The Lines, and Deep Listening: Uncovering Hidden Meaning In Conversation. His research also reveals unrecognized novel cognitive and linguistic operations.
David Smith
"Speaking the Unspeakable: Unconscious Communication in Psychotherapy"
The study of unconscious communication in psychotherapy shows that psychotherapy clients are unconsciously and exquisitely sensitive to the deeper implications of their therapists' interventions and management of the therapy. These incisive perceptions are communicated in disguised forms by means of the seemingly unrelated narratives that clients tell in therapy. These stories use metaphor and analogy to speak the unspeakable: the raw interpersonal messages that are usually excluded from social interaction and conscious awareness. Using actual clinical examples, Smith will describe the principles of decoding these hidden communications so as to understand their significance. With these skills in hand, mental health professionals can make use of their clients' unconscious supervision to enable them to practice more effectively, and persons undergoing counseling or therapy can come to understand their own unconscious assessment of their therapist.
"Therapy, Manipulation, and the Mind of the Modern American"
