[Science And Human Behavior
Addison Mauldin
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Genome-wide analyses reveal a deep history of musical instruments and specialized vocabulary among Central African hunter-gatherers and the long-term cultural interconnectivity of these groups before and after the Bantu expansion.
By combining advanced mathematical modelling with data from a rare sample of patients with brain damage, the authors show that a specific part of the brain in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is associated with putting in effort to help other people.
Testing two families of large language models (LLMs) (GPT and LLaMA2) on a battery of measurements spanning different theory of mind abilities, Strachan et al. find that the performance of LLMs can mirror that of humans on most of these tasks. The authors explored potential reasons for this.
Coastal communities are growing rapidly and face the challenge of climate change with its implications for resource and livelihood sustainability. Raha et al. advocate for collaboration and co-creation of solutions to mitigate these urgent issues.
The rapid development of generative AI has brought about a paradigm shift in content creation, knowledge representation and communication. This Focus explores the new opportunities AI tools offer for science and society. Our authors also confront the numerous challenges intelligent machines pose and explore strategies to tackle them.
Lack of diversity, equity and inclusion is harmful both for individual scientists and the scientific enterprise as a whole. The contributions in this collection highlight problems and propose solutions on how to make science more equitable, inclusive and diverse for the benefit of all.
A mathematical model of the evolution and development of hominin brain size suggests that the evolution of a larger brain size in humans may have been driven by changes in developmental constraints rather than selection for brain size.
A randomized controlled trial of a nurse-led 911 triage programme in Washington, DC, by Wilson et al. finds that the programme improves the use of ambulance services and helps connect non-emergency callers with primary care.
Damage to a specific part of the brain in the frontal cortex reveals its necessity in effortful actions that help other people. These findings could have implications for understanding and treating disorders of social behaviour.
The impetus behind the development of various Chinese dialects is as yet unknown. In a comprehensive quantitative coanalysis of linguistic and genetic data across China, Yang et al. find evidence to suggest that demographic diffusion, cultural diffusion and linguistic assimilation all contributed to the expansive diversity of Chinese dialects.
Causal inference is needed to understand whether conservation is working. There is a substantial role for behavioural science, as interventions often depend on behaviour change. A focus on design over data, embracing mixed methods and support from funders will help to provide the evidence needed to reverse biodiversity loss.
As an international student and academic, Thuy-vy T. Nguyen experienced the importance of culturally relevant mentoring first hand. In this World View, she shares her learnings for mentors and mentees.
The combination of general anaesthesia and neuroimaging holds unique potential for catalysing integrative and translational discovery about human brains and consciousness. By spanning molecular, cognitive and clinical neuroscience, anaesthesia provides a bridge from molecules to mind across species.
Behavioral science describes the study of human behavior through the use of systematic experimentation and observation. Behavioral scientists study when and why individuals engage in specific behaviors by experimentally examining the impact of factors such as conscious thoughts, motivation, social influences, contextual effects, and habits.Several disciplines fall under the broad label of behavioral science, including:
In order to understand the full complexity of human behavior, some behavioral scientists synthesize theories, concepts, and methodologies across some of these disciplines. For example, the field of behavioral economics emerges from bringing insights from psychology to bear on economic behavior, thereby predicting and explaining behavior that is not anticipated by standard economic theories.
In the video, participants try to determine whether or not others are telling the truth on the basis of speech patterns and visual cues. They ultimately realize that collaborative work improves their ability to distinguish truth from lies.
In fall 2018, PIMCO and the Roman Family Center for Decision Research announced a partnership in support of the center's behavioral science research. In recognition of this investment in research, the center's laboratories were renamed the PIMCO Decision Research Laboratories. The PIMCO Decision Research Laboratories will yield scientific discoveries with the potential to improve individual and social welfare.
The persistent failure to integrate the social, behavioral, and cognitive sciences with ecological and geophysical sciences is a critical friction point reducing the viability and effectiveness of sustainability solutions. Therefore, a degree program that combines training in psychology with the ecological and geophysical sciences will produce boundary-breaking scholars who can accelerate sustainability solutions that are robustly informed by the results of scientific research. The proposed curriculum integrates degree requirements from existing PhD programs in psychology and marine and environmental sciences (sustainability sciences concentration), with the addition of a set of specialized core courses and integrated cross-disciplinary research training. It also allows students broad latitude in designing their specialty within the parameters of the program.
The PhD in Human Behavior and Sustainability Sciences program provides students with the following advanced coursework and training. Students must pass two examinations during the course of their graduate studies to achieve candidacy:
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It is time for a paradigm shift in the science of applied behavior analysis. Our current approach to applied research perpetuates power imbalances. We posit that the purpose of applied behavior analysis is to enable and expand human rights and to eliminate the legacies of colonial, oppressive social structures. We report the findings from our examination of the content of our flagship applied research journal. We reviewed 50 years of applied experiments from the standpoint of respect, beneficence, justice, and the participation of individuals and communities. Although there is some promise and movement toward inclusion, our findings indicate that we have not prioritized full participation across all segments of society, especially persons and communities that are marginalized. Social justice rests on the belief that human life is to be universally cherished and valued. In this article, we suggest that policies, strategies, and research practices within our field be interwoven with a commitment to social justice, including racial justice, for all. We offer recommendations to neutralize and diffuse power imbalances and to work toward a shift from colonial to participatory practices in the methods and aims of our applied science.
This program is designed to train students who have an undergraduate degree in a core behavioral science (e.g., Psychology, Economics, Sociology) to use modern data-science tools to address questions regarding human behavior. These skills are highly in demand by business, government and non-profit organizations to better understand how people act and interact with products, advertisement and societal policies. The program is designed to be completed in four semesters of full-time study. It culminates in one semester of placement with companies or other organizations to conduct an applied capstone project.
Graduate admissions is a two-step process between academic programs and the Graduate School. Applicants must meet the minimum requirements of the Graduate School as well as the program(s). Once you have researched the graduate program(s) you are interested in, apply online.
Applicants holding a bachelor's degree in the social sciences and a strong statistics and/or behavioral science research background are encouraged to apply for admission to the graduate program in data science in human behavior.
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