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Living This Way

By milhayser on December 3, 2009.
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When it comes to human nature, everyone's an expert—so let's argue about it, shall we? On Cognitive Daily, Dave Munger reviews an investigation into the truly fairer sex which suggests that "men are more tolerant of their friends' failings than women." Not convinced? Then counter your intuition on The Frontal Cortex, where Jonah Lehrer writes "nothing destroys a luxury brand like a sale." Consider the possibility of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps on Laelaps, where Brain Switek discusses Louis Leakey's "fuzzy" postulation that "the invention of stone tools allowed humans to domesticate themselves and accelerate evolution." Go on and question the innateness of Good and Evil with Razib Khan on Gene Expression, in light of the finding that eighteen-month-olds don't hesitate to lend strangers a helping hand. Finally, if you missed it, see David Sloan Wilson's fascinating series about group selection on Evolution for Everyone, where he speculates that our ancestors used their rock-throwing prowess to "suppress bullying and other domineering behaviors within-groups." Now write up some comments and let us know where we got it all wrong.

Links below the fold.

Tags
Anthropology
Culture
evolution
Categories
Brain and Behavior

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