analysis of social relations emphasizing communications and evolutionary psychology
Non-human animals can have quite complex social relationships. Consider, for example, greylag geese. They live in flocks. Within a flock, the geese recognize closely related birds (kin) long past the period of necessary care for dependent offspring. In addition, the geese form long-term, opposite-sex, reproductive pair-bonds. The geese identify close genetic relations (kin) with a … Continue reading evolutionary roots of friending
Given names are an important but under-appreciated type of data. Given names represent significant symbolic choices. Large populations of persons have been making this well-defined symbolic choice for millennia. Given names are thus useful data for studying symbolic choice, effects of communication technologies, and information economics. Given name frequency data are now also important to … Continue reading value of given name data
Men differ significantly from women in social communication. Analysis of sex differences in literary reading illustrates this difference. … Read the post literary reading & the status of men in social communication
The brilliant Michael Nielsen observes: The contrast between the science comment sites and the success of the amazon.com reviews is stark. To pick just one example, you’ll find approximately 1500 reviews of Pokemon products at amazon.com, more than the total number of reviews on all the scientific comment sites I described above. The disincentives facing … Continue reading communicative calculus in science
More women than men use Facebook, and women are more socially engaged on Facebook than are men. … Read the post women more friendly than men