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Behavioral Social Neuroscience Seminar

Thursday, December 13, 2012
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Beckman Behavioral Biology B180
The Evolution of Irrationality: Insights from Capuchin Monkeys
Laurie Santos, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Yale University,

My talk will explore the evolutionary origins of our judgment and decision-making heuristics. Specifically, I will explore the possibility that some aspects of adult human irrational decision-making might be shared with non-human primates and human children.  I will then attempt to use a comparative-developmental approach to directly address the origins of several classic human irrationalities. I will then discuss why such irrationalities may emerge so early in human development and evolution, with the hope of providing insight into the psychological machinery that drives both accurate and biased decision-making.

For more information, please contact Barbara Estrada by phone at Ext. 4083 or by email at [email protected].