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Multitudes : how crowds made the modern world
In 'Multitudes', Dan Hancox celebrates the history of the crowd. The crowd is the human embodiment of democracy. It is a testament to the incredible things that happen when we gather with strangers in pursuit of a common goal - whether that is to throw a rave, or overthrow a dictator. We will see how crowds have the power to change history, and how joining crowds changes us for the better, too.
BOOK
Men are less religious in more gende-requal countries
Sex differences in religiosity are cross-culturally common and robust, yet it is unclear why sex differences in some cultures are larger than in others. Although women are more religious than men in most countries, religions frequently provide asymmetrical benefits to men at the expense of women. Two global analyses (51 countries and 74 countries) found that country-level gender equality was consistently and negatively associated with religiousness (i.e. religious attendance, reported importance of God and frequency of prayer) for men, more than for women, leading to a larger sex difference in religiousness in more gender-equal countries. Results were especially robust for religious attendance, and hold accounting for country-level wealth, as well as individuals’ religious affiliation, the moralization of sexuality, age and education level. We interpret results through a rational choice lens, which assumes that people are more drawn to religion when it is consistent with their reproductive goals.
Journal Article
Bounded rational response equilibria in human sensorimotor interactions
The Nash equilibriumis one of the most central solution concepts to study strategic interactions between multiple players and has recently also been shown to capture sensorimotor interactions between players that are haptically coupled. While previous studies in behavioural economics have shown that systematic deviations from Nash equilibria in economic decision-making can be explained by the more general quantal response equilibria, such deviations have not been reported for the sensorimotor domain. Here we investigate haptically coupled dyads across three different sensorimotor games corresponding to the classic symmetric and asymmetric Prisoner’s Dilemma, where the quantal response equilibrium predicts characteristic shifts across the three games, although the Nash equilibrium stays the same. We find that subjects exhibit the predicted deviations from the Nash solution. Furthermore, we show that taking into account subjects’ priors for the games, we arrive at a more accurate description of bounded rational response equilibria that can be regarded as a quantal response equilibrium with non-uniform prior. Our results suggest that bounded rational response equilibria provide a general tool to explain sensorimotor interactions that include the Nash equilibrium as a special case in the absence of information processing limitations.
Journal Article
Why do some primate mothers carry their infant’s corpse? A cross-species comparative study
Non-human primates respond to the death of a conspecific in diverse ways, some of which may present phylogenetic continuity with human thanatological responses. Of these responses, infant corpse carrying by mothers (ICC) is the most frequently reported. Despite its prevalence, quantitative analyses of this behaviour are scarce and inconclusive. We compiled a database of 409 published cases across 50 different primate species of mothers’ responses to their infants’ deaths and used Bayesian phylogenetic regressions with an information-theoretic approach to test hypotheses proposed to explain between- and within-species variation in ICC. We found that ICC was more likely when the infant’s death was non-traumatic (e.g. illness) versus traumatic (e.g. infanticide), and when the mother was younger. These results support the death detection hypothesis, which proposes that ICC occurs when there are fewer contextual or sensory cues indicating death. Such an interpretation suggests that primates are able to attain an awareness of death. In addition, when carried, infant age affected ICC duration, with longer ICC observed for younger infants. This result suggests that ICC is a by-product of strong selection on maternal behaviour. The findings are discussed in the context of the evolution of emotion, and implications for evolutionary thanatology are proposed.
Journal Article
Hoverflies use a time-compensated sun compass to orientate during autumn migration
The sun is the most reliable celestial cue for orientation available to daytime migrants. It is widely assumed that diurnal migratory insects use a ‘time-compensated sun compass’ to adjust for the changing position of the sun throughout the day, as demonstrated in some butterfly species. The mechanisms used by other groups of diurnal insect migrants remain to be elucidated. Migratory species of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are one of the most abundant and beneficial groups of diurnal migrants, providing multiple ecosystem services and undergoing directed seasonal movements throughout much of the temperate zone. To identify the hoverfly navigational strategy, a flight simulator was used to measure orientation responses of the hoverflies Scaeva pyrastri and Scaeva selenitica to celestial cues during their autumn migration. Hoverflies oriented southwards when they could see the sun and shifted this orientation westward following a 6 h advance of their circadian clocks. Our results demonstrate the use of a time-compensated sun compass as the primary navigational mechanism, consistent with field observations that hoverfly migration occurs predominately under clear and sunny conditions.
Journal Article
The measure of spatial position within groups that best predicts predation risk depends on group movement
Both empirical and theoretical studies show that an individual’s spatial position within a group can impact the risk of being targeted by predators. Spatial positions can be quantified in numerous ways, but there are no direct comparisons of different spatial measures in predicting the risk of being targeted by real predators. Here, we assess these spatial measures in groups of stationary and moving virtual prey being attacked by three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). In stationary groups, the limited domain of danger best predicted the likelihood of attack. In moving groups, the number of near neighbours was the best predictor but only over a limited range of distances within which other prey were counted. Otherwise, measures of proximity to the group’s edge outperformed measures of local crowding in moving groups. There was no evidence that predators preferentially attacked the front or back of the moving groups. Domains of danger without any limit, as originally used in the selfish herd model, were also a poor predictor of risk. These findings reveal that the collective properties of prey can influence how spatial position affects predation risk, via effects on predators’ targeting. Selection may therefore act differently on prey positioning behaviour depending on group movement.
Journal Article
Lifelong exposure to artificial light at night impacts stridulation and locomotion activity patterns in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus
Living organisms experience a worldwide continuous increase in artificial light at night (ALAN), negatively affecting their behaviour. The field cricket, an established model in physiology and behaviour, can provide insights into the effect of ALAN on insect behaviour. The stridulation and locomotion patterns of adult male crickets reared under different lifelong ALAN intensities were monitored simultaneously for five consecutive days in custom-made anechoic chambers. Daily activity periods and acrophases were compared between the experimental groups. Control crickets exhibited a robust rhythm, stridulating at night and demonstrating locomotor activity during the day. By contrast, ALAN affected both the relative level and timing of the crickets’ nocturnal and diurnal activity. ALAN induced free-running patterns, manifested in significant changes in the median and variance of the activity periods, and even arrhythmic behaviour. The magnitude of disruption was light intensity dependent, revealing an increase in the difference between the activity periods calculated for stridulation and locomotion in the same individual. This finding may indicate the existence of two peripheral clocks. Our results demonstrate that ecologically relevant ALAN intensities affect crickets’ behavioural patterns, and may lead to decoupling of locomotion and stridulation behaviours at the individual level, and to loss of synchronization at the population level.
Journal Article
The interplay of wind and uplift facilitates over-water flight in facultative soaring birds
Flying over the open sea is energetically costly for terrestrial birds. Despite this, over-water journeys of many birds, sometimes hundreds of kilometres long, are uncovered by bio-logging technology. To understand how these birds afford their flights over the open sea, we investigated the role of atmospheric conditions, specifically wind and uplift, in subsidizing over-water flight at a global scale. We first established that ΔT, the temperature difference between sea surface and air, is a meaningful proxy for uplift over water. Using this proxy, we showed that the spatio-temporal patterns of sea-crossing in terrestrial migratory birds are associated with favourable uplift conditions. We then analysed route selection over the open sea for five facultative soaring species, representative of all major migratory flyways. The birds maximized wind support when selecting their sea-crossing routes and selected greater uplift when suitable wind support was available. They also preferred routes with low long-term uncertainty in wind conditions. Our findings suggest that, in addition to wind, uplift may play a key role in the energy seascape for bird migration that in turn determines strategies and associated costs for birds crossing ecological barriers such as the open sea.
Journal Article
Lifetime reproductive benefits of cooperative polygamy vary for males and females in the acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
Cooperative breeding strategies lead to short-term direct fitness losses when individuals forfeit or share reproduction. The direct fitness benefits of cooperative strategies are often delayed and difficult to quantify, requiring data on lifetime reproduction. Here, we use a longitudinal dataset to examine the lifetime reproductive success of cooperative polygamy in acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), which nest as lone pairs or share reproduction with same-sex cobreeders. We found that males and females produced fewer young per successful nesting attempt when sharing reproduction. However, males nesting in duos and trios had longer reproductive lifespans, more lifetime nesting attempts and higher lifetime reproductive success than those breeding alone. For females, cobreeding in duos increased reproductive lifespan so the lifetime reproductive success of females nesting in duos was comparable to those nesting alone and higher than those nesting in trios. These results suggest that for male duos and trios, reproductive success alone may provide sufficient fitness benefits to explain the presence of cooperative polygamy, and the benefits of cobreeding as a duo in females are higher than previously assumed. Lifetime individual fitness data are crucial to reveal the full costs and benefits of cooperative polygamy.
Journal Article
Improving pandemic mitigation policies across communities through coupled dynamics of risk perception and infection
Capturing the coupled dynamics between individual behavioural decisions that affect disease transmission and the epidemiology of outbreaks is critical to pandemic mitigation strategy. We develop a multiplex network approach to model how adherence to health-protective behaviours that impact COVID-19 spread are shaped by perceived risks and resulting community norms. We focus on three synergistic dynamics governing individual behavioural choices: (i) social construction of concern, (ii) awareness of disease incidence, and (iii) reassurance by lack of disease. We show why policies enacted early or broadly can cause communities to become reassured and therefore unwilling to maintain or adopt actions. Public health policies for which success relies on collective action should therefore exploit the behaviourally receptive phase; the period between the generation of sufficient concern to foster adoption of novel actions and the relaxation of adherence driven by reassurance fostered by avoidance of negative outcomes over time.
Journal Article