Yale Conference – The Evolution of Social Psychology

Yale Hosts An Exploration Of The Roots Of Social Psychology

How do we make moral decisions, pick friends and lovers, and develop empathy for the feelings of others? An international group of renowned scientists who study the behavior of mankind’s closest relatives will try to answer these and other fundamental questions at the Evolution of Social Psychology workshop to be held at Yale Nov. 7-9.

The meeting, part of the Yale University Cognitive Science Program’s Interdisciplinary Workshop series, will feature anthropologists, psychologists, primatologists, economists, neuroscientists, lawyers, and philosophers all discussing lessons learned from primate behavior.

“By bringing together researchers from multiple areas of the cognitive sciences we hope to gain novel and important insights into the ways in which primates make sense of their social world,” said Tamar Szabo Gendler, professor of philosophy and chair of the cognitive science program. “We hope to use these insights to understand the origins of human social cognition.”

Provisional Schedule

All events will take place in Lindsey-Chittenden Hall, 63 High Street, New Haven [map].
All events are open to the public. Pre-registration requested [click here].

Friday, November 7, 2008

3:15-3:45         Welcome and introduction

• Tamar Gendler (Yale, Philosophy and Cognitive Science); Brian Scholl (Yale, Psychology and Cognitive Science); Laurie Santos (Yale, Psychology and Cognitive Science)

3:45-6:00        Primate Moral Cognition I: Prosociality and Inequity Aversion

• Sarah Brosnan (Georgia State, Psychology); Ian Gilby (Harvard, Biological Anthropology); Katherine Cronin (Wisconsin, Psychology); Venkat Lakshminarayanan (Yale, Psychology); Commentary: Joshua Knobe (UNC, Philosophy); Moderator: Stephen Darwall (Yale, Philosophy and Law)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

9:00-10:15       Primate Moral Cognition II: Helping

• Felix Warneken (Leipzig, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Developmental and Comparitive Psychology); Jennifer Barnes (Yale, Psychology); Commentary: Matthew Noah Smith (Yale, Philosophy); Moderator: Lori Gruen (Wesleyan, Philosophy and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies)

10:45-12:00     Primate “System I”: Emotion and Unconscious Processing

• Brian Hare (Duke, Biological Anthropology and Anatomy); Richard Byrne (St. Andrews, Psychology); Commentary: John Bargh (Yale, Psychology); Moderator: Stephen Anderson (Yale, Linguistics and Cognitive Science)

12:00-2:00       Lunch

• Pre-registration for lunch required by November 1 [click here]

2:00-4:45         Primate Decision-Making and Irrationality

• Louisa Egan (Northwestern, Kellogg School of Management); Michael Platt (Duke, Neurobiology); Alexandra Rosati (Duke, Biological Anthropology); Daeyeol Lee (Yale, School of Medicine/ Neurobiology and Cognitive Science); Keith Chen (Yale, School of Organization and Management/ Economics and Cognitive Science); Commentary: Don Brown (Yale, Economics); Moderator: Joseph Simmons (Yale, School of Organization and Management/Marketing)

5:15-6:30         Primate In-Group/Outgroup Biases

• David Watts (Yale, Anthropology and Cognitive Science); Neha Mahajan (Yale, Psychology); Commentary: Kristina Olson (Yale, Psychology and Cognitive Science); Moderator: Vivek Sharma (Yale, Political Science)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

9:30-12:00       Primate Theory of Mind

• April Ruiz (St. Andrews, Psychology); Drew Marticorena (Duke, Neuroscience); Laurie Santos (Yale, Psychology and Cognitive Science); Josep Call (Leipzig, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology); Commentary: Rebecca Saxe (MIT, Brain & Cognitive Sciences); Moderator: TBA

Among the topics that will be discussed are how primates make social decisions, how they are affected by emotional and unconscious processes, how they evaluate others’ actions in moral terms, and they reason about the mental states of others.

The workshop begins Friday afternoon at Lindsey-Chittenden Hall at 63 High St. and continues until Sunday at noon. Pre-registration (no cost) is requested at: http://www.yale.edu/cogsci/workshop2008.

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For updates and additional information, go here.