Humans are an ultrasocial species. This sociality, however, cannot be fully explained by the
canonical approaches found in evolutionary biology, psychology, or economics …

Innovation is often assumed to be the work of a talented few, whose products are passed on
to the masses. Here, we argue that innovations are instead an emergent property of our …

Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the
wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters …

Where did we come from? What is our connection with other life forms? What are the
mechanisms of mind that define what it means to be a human being? Evolutionary …

The human species is more reliant on cultural adaptation than any other species, but it is
unclear how observational learning can give rise to the faithful transmission of cultural …

The Shape of Thought: How Mental Adaptations Evolve presents a road map for an
evolutionary psychology of the twenty-first century. It brings together theory from biology and …

Humans carry with them sophisticated perceptual and inferential machinery for dealing with
predators and prey. This chapter reviews strands of research from many fields that are …

People decide on political issues using judgmental shortcuts called heuristics. What is the
origin of these political heuristics? Traditionally, heuristics have been viewed as learned …

Norms permeate human life. Most of people's activities can be characterized by rules about
what is appropriate, allowed, required, or forbidden—rules that are crucial in making people …

Human cognition is sensitive to the distinction between living and nonliving things. Animacy
plays a role in language comprehension, reasoning, the organization of knowledge, and …