Grab some candy (or brains): Halloween is here! This week, we talk to Coltan Scrivner about why we can't look away from the macabre, what exactly the "horror" genre is, and why a self-dose of fear and horror may be good for anxiety. If you are curious about horror, true crime, cobwebs, zombies, great white sharks, Jurassic Park, or whether its good for kids to experience gross or scary things, this episode is for you!

Also, today, Coltan's book, Morbidly Curious, comes out:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/705578/morbidly-curious-by-coltan-scrivner-phd/

More about Coltan Scrivner:

https://www.coltanscrivner.com/

https://www.morbidlycuriousthoughts.com/

How are humans able to sustain large families? What is our "true" reproductive strategy as a species? Are kids designed to raise younger children? And is it unnatural for us to live in such strongly age-segregated societies? In this episode, we talk to Karen Kramer (U of Utah) where we discuss our (possibly unique) ability to live with and raise one another.

More about Karen Kramer:

https://www.sapiens.org/authors/karen-l-kramer/

https://profiles.faculty.utah.edu/u0839608/about

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2tP1330AAAAJ&hl=en

Why do we believe what we believe? And our we aware of why we believe what we believe? And what is a belief anyway? And what should we think of people like Jordan Peterson? We tackle these questions and more in this episode with Dan Williams (Sussex): our first guest representing evolutionary approaches to philosophy.

More about Dan Williams:

https://danwilliamsphilosophy.com/

https://www.conspicuouscognition.com/

Did we evolve to live long lives? Is heart disease a human universal? In this episode, we talk to Mike Gurven (UCSB), who has run a number of large-scale studies on the life and health of non-Western populations (among much, much more). And now, he has a new book out (Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer) summarizing the big picture of what we've learned so far!

More about Mike Gurven:

https://www.anth.ucsb.edu/people/michael-gurven

https://gurven.anth.ucsb.edu/

More about the book (Mike is the real deal, so we are happy to plug his book!):

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691231990/seven-decades

Enter code (PUP30 for a discount)

https://www.target.com/p/seven-decades-by-michael-d-gurven-hardcover/-/A-94306245

https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Decades-Evolved-Live-Longer/dp/0691231990/ref=sr_1_1

What do the lindy hop, ostensive communication, and the evolution of language all have in common? Thom Scott-Phillips! In this episode, we discuss if language is an adaptation, why art museums have that certain vibe, the theory crisis in the behavioral sciences, the state of scientific publishing, and why Thom loves the lindy hop.

More about Thom Scott-Phillips:

https://www.thomscottphillips.com/

Humor is one of the great puzzles of evolutionary psychology. Co-host David Pinsof (UCLA) presents the coordinating “mix-up” hypothesis of humor, in which….well, you’ll have to listen to find out. By Dave’s account, it is one of the best accounts of the psychology of humor out there (but what do we know?) Content warning: this episode does contain humor (or at least attempts at it).

More about David Pinsof:

https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/

https://www.kremslab.com/people

More about Dave Pietraszewski:

https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski

Plants are mini chemical weapon factories! Learning and evolution are not opposed! This week, Annie Wertz (UCSB) joins us to describe her groundbreaking world on the evolutionary psychology of what babies know about plants, and how infants selectively use social information to guide their interactions with them. A lovely example of how adopting an evolutionary perspective inspires new areas of research, and a good example of how evolution builds learning mechanisms.

More about Annie Wertz:

https://psych.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/annie-e-wertz

https://lilac.psych.ucsb.edu/

Pat Barclay (Guelph) joins us to discuss his work solving the mysteries of the evolution of cooperation. Pat is a wonderful human being and an exceptional scientist, whose work is at the forefront of understanding how and why we solve the problem of cooperation as a species.

More about Pat Barclay:

http://patbarclay.com/

More about David Pinsof:

https://www.everythingisbullshit.blog/

https://www.kremslab.com/people

More about Dave Pietraszewski:

https://cal.psych.ucsb.edu/david-pietraszewski