Human Behavior

U of A Anthropology Hosts Fifth Annual Open House Today – University of Arkansas Newswire

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Do you ever wonder what makes us human?

Come join theDepartment of Anthropologyin exploring this question and more during their Open House event between 4 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, on the first floor of Old Main.

This is the fifth year for this event, which is sponsored by the U of A's Department of Anthropology in theJ. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Visitors will have the opportunity to talk with faculty and students about ongoing research and teaching in the department. Many topics will be covered, including primate anatomy and evolution, remote sensing and GIS, understanding how human cultures vary, and how dental patterns and wear can reveal secrets of human behavior.

Exhibits and artifacts will also be presented by the Arkansas Archaeological Survey and the University of Arkansas Museum.

"We're always excited to make our space open to the public and be able to talk about what anthropology is and how we can better understand what it means to be human," said Claire Terhune, assistant professor of anthropology and organizer of the event.

The event will offer a variety of activities for children and adults of all ages and will also include a prize drawing for those interested in learning more about anthropology. Everyone from the community is invited to attend.

Terhune said the event also recognizes and celebrates theAmerican Anthropological Association's Anthropology Day.

For more information, visit theDepartment of Anthropologywebsite andcheck out this interview with KUAF.

About the Department of Anthropology:TheDepartment of Anthropologyexamines similarities and differences among people, lifestyles and world views through time by the study of artifacts and material remains, the evolution of humankind and other primates, and issues such as ethnicity, gender, class, social inequity, and religion. Courses help students explore many approaches to the various subfields.

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U of A Anthropology Hosts Fifth Annual Open House Today - University of Arkansas Newswire

Human Behavior

Demystifying feline behavior – Penn: Office of University Communications

One study of cat behavior showed that cats recognize their names, and another showed they can bond securely to their owners. Overall, however, there seem to be a lot more studies of dog behavior. Why is that?

Siracusa: Even though I consider myself a cat person, most of the work that Ive done is on dogs because thats where the funding is. In our behavior clinics we see many fewer cats than dogs, Im talking like 95% dogs and 5% cats. I think this is related in part to the fact that there is much less expectation for cat behaviors. If you have a dog growl and bark at everyone who comes to your apartment, thats a major problem, but if your cat hisses and then runs and hides, nobody cares.

Serpell: Studies show that people are on average less attached to their cats and spend less money on their cats. Cats are numerically more common than dogs in the United States, but there are fewer cat-owning households than dog-owning households, which means that people may be owning more than one cat and thus have less to spend on each one.

But recently the Morris Animal Foundation sent a survey to veterinarians around the country and asked what they consider to be areas of primary importance that they needed help with. Almost at the top of the list was cat behavior problems.

So, I think people are getting on board slowly with the idea that pet owners are becoming more attached to their cats and that they are becoming much more significant members of peoples social groups.

Is there something intrinsic to cats that explains this lack of attention to behavioral science compared to dogs?

Siracusa: Dogs evolved from a social species, whereas cats come from an ancestor that was solitary. I dont think theyve evolved a social behavior as complex as dogs social behavior. And maybe as a result its harder for people to understand cats social behavior since its mostly based on distance and nonprolonged contact. Thats why when you put cats in a small environment, like an urban apartment, especially with other cats, you may run into problems.

Serpell: But cats have lived with humans now for about 9,500 years. Thats a long time, and theyve evolved to be more tolerant of living in close proximity with people and with other cats.

Theres all this evidence now coming out about dogs having a gene mutation equivalent to Williams syndrome in humans, which causes hypersociality. I suspect that we might find some of that in domestic cats. These animals are much more sociable than their wild ancestors.

You have a wealth of data about cat behavior from Fe-BARQ [the Feline Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire, developed by Serpell]. What are some of the things that the data tell you about cats and their relationship with people?

Serpell: From our Fe-BARQ data we see that a surprising number of owners are reporting moderate to severe behavioral problems in a cat when separated from its owner. So much for the theory that cats dont really care about their owners, that theyre only there for their food; these cats really do seem to be distressed from being away from their human buddies.

Siracusa: We see this in clinics. For example, cats may eliminate or vomit if theyre left alone for more hours than usual. So, I think they are definitely attached to people. But the way theyre showing theyre attached is very different from dogs. Dogs make a lot of prolonged physical contact, whereas cats may stay close to the person they like, but they dont necessarily engage. Some cats may engage a littleone of my cats plays fetch with mebut only for a short time, and then shes like, Oh, Ive had enough of this.

Do you think that cats are more varied in their sociability than dogs?

Serpell: I do. Some cats, as soon as you sit down, theyll be on your lap, and theyll monopolize you, but others wont at all. One of my cats loves people; when you arrive at the door, she rushes to the door, and she rubs against you. But she hates being picked up, and she does not want to sit on you ever. Whereas her brother is much more physically affectionate. He wants to be held; he wants to sit on people.

There are very few dogs I've met that are standoffish the way a cat is often.

Cat behavior can be puzzling. Is the problem that people just arent good at interpreting their cats behavior?

Siracusa: People really do need help understanding their cats behavior, and they dont know where to go or who to ask about these problems. In a recent survey, somewhere between 50 and 60% of cat owners said, I have problems bringing my cat to the vet, or My vet doesnt understand the problems of my cat, or I will only bring my cat to the vet when its strictly necessary. For many cat owners, just picking a cat up and putting it in the crate is a major drama.

Serpell: Of course, many dogs also dont like to go to the vet, but dogs are more biddable; theyll just go along with it. But cats, boy. I had to bring both of my cats in a week ago, and it was an ordeal.

Siracusa: I do think cats are very sensitive to changes in their environment.

Serpell: Some of it may relate to the fact that cats are a prey species as well as being a predator. Being in an unfamiliar environment is potentially very unsafe for them, so its natural for them to go, Oh, crikey, where am I, and whats going to come at me next?

What are some of the big myths or misperceptions about cat behavior?

Siracusa: Many people want a cat to be a surrogate for a dog, like a low-maintenance dog, and its not.

Another misperception is that because cats are so fluffy and soft, people like to touch them a lot, but cats dont necessarily like this. Some dosome that Ive had were always on top of mebut others were like, Ok, were friends, but you stay there, and I stay here. So, its a matter of respecting their desire for distance in those cases.

Also, people often fail to provide cats with enough stimulation. Its important to give them opportunities to show their natural feeding behavior, for instance. So instead of simply putting their food in a bowl, give them a chance to stalk it, to toss it in the air and pounce, and reproduce the whole sequence of events that they would do when they hunt.

How do you try to correct clients misguided impressions about cats?

Siracusa: [Laughing] This is the reason our behavior appointments are very long. We try to set realistic expectations, and we provide them with alternative strategies. For example, if you want a nice interaction with your cat, use something cats like. Teach them to do a trick to get a treat. Use a stick-and-feather toy.

Serpell: Some cats will play for hours. My cats, they exhaust me. Theyll run all around the house for hours with a piece of string.

Siracusa: Sometimes I say, If you need to hug something, get a stuffed toy. Dont do that to your cat if she doesnt like it.

The one recent study about cats showed the same or an even greater degree of attachment to their owners as dogs have. You seem skeptical about those findings.

Serpell: Carlo is more than I am.

Siracusa: I think the methodology is rigorous. But Im skeptical because the study assumed that the vocalization of the cats indicated separation distress. I think its very likely to be distress from being in an unfamiliar environment, but Im not convinced that its separation distress.

Serpell: Speaking on behalf of the article, I would say that there is a perception out there another one of these myths, if you likethat cats arent really attached to their owners, that theyre only there to get fed. I think this study is a demonstration that cats respond similarly to this experimental paradigm as do dogs and for that matter as do human infants, and that's interesting, just in itself.

What about the study suggesting cats recognize their name?

Siracusa: I think this study is similar; the experiments seem rigorously done, but the results are prone to overgeneralization. For cats its not, Oh, my name is Jack. Its, Usually when I hear this word something is about to happen.

Serpell: Its a demonstration that the cat has some kind of association with this sound. I think thats right; my cats respond to their names. But its different from what weve seen in dogs, some of which have amazing vocabularies and can discriminate between more than a thousand different words.

Have you seen the cat whisperer quiz thats going around, based on a recent publication about cat facial expressions?

Serpell: It sounds dubious. Cats lack the facial muscles that dogs have so theyre limited in the expressions they can make.

Siracusa: Because cats in general were solitary animals evolutionarily, staying at a distance from one another, the facial expressions wouldnt have been so important in communicating. If I want to communicate with someone who is far away, I wouldnt show it on my face but in my body, my posture.

Serpell: The sense of smell.

Siracusa: Smell, definitely. Pheromones are very important. Also, they leave visual signs. The scratching of a cat is a visual sign to leave a message for someone who didnt find them but will find the scratch.

It sounds like the book you have coming out soon might also help pet owners interpret their cats.

Siracusa: Yes, Decoding Your Cat is coming out in June. Its a project of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, and all the chapters are written by diplomates of the College and edited by myself and two of my colleagues. Our goal was to make sure as much as possible was science-based, and the information that hasnt been studied was based on our clinical experience.

What is on the horizon in terms of cat behavior research?

Siracusa: Cat cognition studies will be the next big thing.

Serpell: Yes, there are some groups now that are starting to get interested in cat cognition, but its still way behind dogs. There are so many dog cognition groups now around the world its almost funny.

How might studies of cat cognition be helpful?

Serpell: Well, it would be interesting to see whether the process of domestication has shifted the cat cognitively in the way that people say its shifted the dog.

Siracusa: It may help with the animals welfare, too, because if we understand them better, we can make sure we create an environment for them that will make them happier in their homes.

Link:
Demystifying feline behavior - Penn: Office of University Communications

Human Behavior

Minke whales are struggling to communicate over the din of ocean noise – Science Magazine

An adult minke whale off the coast of Australia. As the ocean becomes louder, minke calls are being drowned out.

By Katherine KorneiFeb. 18, 2020 , 1:05 PM

Imagine a frog call, but with a metallic twangand the intensity of a chainsaw. Thats the boing of a minke whale. And its a form of animal communication in danger of being drowned out by ocean noise, new research shows.

By analyzing more than 42,000 minke whale boings, scientists have found that, as background noise intensifies, the whales are losing their ability to communicate over long distances. This could limit their ability to find mates and engage in important social contact with other whales.

Tyler Helble, a marine acoustician at the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, and colleagues recorded minke whale boings over a 1200-square-kilometer swathof the U.S. Navys Pacific Missile Range Facility near the Hawaiian island of Kauai from 2012 to 2017. By measuring when a single boing arrived at various underwater microphones, the team pinpointed whale locations to within 10 to 20 meters. The researchers then used these positions, along with models of how sound propagates underwater, to calculate the intensity of each boing when it was emitted.

The team compared these measurements with natural ambient noise, including waves, wind, and undersea earthquakes. (No military exercises were conducted nearby during the study period.)They found that minke whale boings grew louder in louder conditions. Thats not surprisingcreatures across the animal kingdom up their volume when theres background noise. (This phenomenon, dubbed the Lombard effect, holds true for humans, toothink of holding a conversation at a loud concert.)

But minke whales responses differ from those of other whales, the team found. Orcas and humpbacks seem to compensate fully for increasing noisethe intensity of their calls grows in lockstep with ambient noise levels. The calls of minke whales, on the other hand, increased only marginally in the presence of loud noise. Thats similar to the responses of bottlenose dolphins and even some terrestrial animals, such as bats and frogs.

The minkes relatively quieter calls mean that population estimates of the small, elusive whalestypically conducted using acoustic surveysare probably inaccurate, the researchers suggest. The animals arent endangered, but very little is known about them, says team member Regina Guazzo, a marine ecologist at the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. Sound is the primary way whales sense and understand their environment.

Helble and hiscolleagues estimate that minke whales calling in a relatively low-noise environment could be heard by others as far as 114 kilometers away; as noise levels increased, that range dropped to just 19 kilometers, they report this month in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Its an order of magnitude change in communication range, Guazzo says. [Because] its hard to know how far they need to be able to communicate, this could have a really negative impact.

The researchers say humanmade noisecaused by shipping activity or military exercises, for examplewould likely have the same effect as natural noise. Thats significant, as the ocean has been getting louder by roughly 3 decibels per decade, primarily because of commercial shipping.

As prolific noisemakers, we have an obligation to limit the potentially harmful sounds permeating the ocean, says Cornell University marine ecologist Michelle Fournet, who was not involved in the work. If we start to understand where the inability to communicate kicks in, we can change our human behavior.

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Minke whales are struggling to communicate over the din of ocean noise - Science Magazine

Human Behavior

Come see some great authors at UntitledTown 2020 and donate to help the cause – UWGB

UntitledTown is getting closer! UW-Green Bay has many organizers and partners. Events will take place from Thursday, April 23 to Sunday, April 26, 2020. In order to bring top talent to the community for free, the festival relies on generous donations from the community. A Leap Day fundraiser starts on Saturday, Feb. 29, and the goal is to raise $15,000. Please donate if you can.

The 2020 Festival theme is community, which raises questions of identity, art, citizenship, caretaking and craft-making for readers and writers in Northeastern Wisconsin.Programming will include stories of adoptive families, domestic violence survivors and immigrant experiences.

In anticipation for the full schedule of 100+ readings, workshops, panels and discussion for all ages to be revealed in March, heres a reminder of the headliners that will be at UntitledTown for this years festival:

Top Ten Headliners of 2020For Young Readers

Rosemary Wells: illustrator and writer creator of Max & Ruby series about quarrelsome sibling bunnies published 120 childrens books over 40 years

Jonah Larson: seventh grader from La Crosse, Wisconsin crochet prodigy author of Hello, Crochet Friends!: Making Art, Being Mindful, Giving Back: Do What Makes You Happy appearances on The Today Show, NPR youngest-ever UntitledTown Festival headliner

-Adult NonfictionLulu Miller: science journalist co-founder Invisibilia, an NPR program about unseen forces of human behavior founding producer of Radiolab podcast first book, Why Fish Dont Existabout nature, science, history, and Millers experiences debuts in April 2020

Donna Hylton: author, A Little Piece of Light: A Memoir of Hope, Prison, and a Life Unbound advocate for incarcerated women and girls and the impact of prison on communities featured speaker at 2017 Womens March

Adult FictionTayari Jones: novelist, author of An American Marriage, which was selected for Barack Obamas 2018 year-end reading list and Oprahs Book Club, and won the international 2019 Womens Prize for Fiction

Laila Lalami: novelist, author of The Other Americans, a 2019 finalist for the National Book Award forthcomingnonfiction exploration of immigrant and American identity, Conditional Citizens, debuts in April 2020

Lisa Wingate: author, historical fiction novel about black-market adoption, Before We Were Yours, sold over 2 million copies and spent 54 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list next novel, The Book of Lost Friends, debuts in April 2020

Peter Geye: novelist, author of Minnesota-set family epics novel, Wintering, won the Minnesota Book Award and the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award final book in Lake Superior trilogy, Northernmost, debuts in April 2020

Poetry/Spoken-Word PerformanceDasha Kelly Hamilton: Poet Laureate of Milwaukee Arts Envoy for the US Embassy performed on HBOs Def Poetry Jam commissioned production, Makin Cake, is making a national tour author of four books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry

Jos Olivarez: debut collection, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award, winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize, and selected by the New York Public Library and National Public Radio as a best book of 2018 next book, BreakBeat Poets: Latinext, re-mixes the soundtrack of the Latinx diaspora in poetry, and debuts in April 2020

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Come see some great authors at UntitledTown 2020 and donate to help the cause - UWGB

Human Behavior

In Split Vote, WeHo City Council Bans Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products – WEHOville

West Hollywoods City Council approved on Tuesday night a proposal that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco products. The flavor ban would cover smoking tobacco (cigarettes, pipes, cigars), smokeless tobacco (snuff, snus and chewing tobacco) and nicotine solutions in vape forms (e-cigarettes).

The flavor ban was presented as a public health initiative intended to prevent people from becoming addicted to nicotine, the drug contained in tobacco products.

In its vote, the Council directed staff to bring back an ordinance to ban these products. As of right now, there is no ban and until it passes on second reading whenever a draft ordinance comes to Council these are still allowed to be sold in WeHo.

Studies have shown the vast majority of people who become addicted to nicotine first try it before the age of 18 and many of those young people are first introduced via flavored products. E-cigarette vapes come in dozens of flavors including cotton candy, chocolate, and bubble gum, flavors particularly appealing to young people. Use of tobacco products has been shown to cause cancer, heart disease and other health problems.

We have a community-wide commitment to helping people with addiction and this falls in that category, said Councilmember Lindsey Horvath who authored the proposal along with Mayor John DAmico.

Additionally, the proposal would ban the use of coupons and discounts on tobacco products since they make it cheaper for people to buy tobacco products.

The item was passed with three votes from DAmico, Horvath and Councilmember John Heilman. Meanwhile, Councilmember John Duran voted against it and Councilmember Lauren Meister abstained from the vote.

Duran spoke vehemently against the ban, pointing out that West Hollywood is an adult city with less than 10% of its residents under age 18. He also noted federal law already bans people under age 21 from buying any form of tobacco. Duran suggested that people who want flavored tobacco products will just go outside the city to buy it so this ban will not deter use.

Sometimes I think government can go too far intruding into the private lives of people when we try to regulate human behavior, said Duran.

Duran further noted that West Hollywood is a city known for its adult nightlife and that passing such a nanny-state item as this goes against the culture of the city.

Meister suggested the proposal should first go to the citys Business License Commission for input before the Council voted on it. She also criticized the lack of clarity about several points of the proposal.

It this targeting youth or is this targeting our 21+ adult population? asked Meister.

She also asked if flavored vapes that do not contain nicotine will be included and if flavored cannabis vapes will be included but got no answer.

However, when Meister asked if menthol cigarettes will be banned, Horvath said they would. Horvath explained her proposal was modeled after a Los Angeles County ban, passed in October 2019, on flavored tobacco products that included menthol cigarettes.

Menthol has been used as a flavoring in cigarettes for decades. Menthol brands such a Newport or Salem or Kool are particularly popular with African-American smokers as well LGBT smokers. Meister suggested banning menthol cigarettes that are popular with minority groups could be viewed as discriminatory.

Duran and Meister also questioned the hypocrisy of the city recently approving smoking lounges for cannabis, but now trying to ban flavored tobacco products.

It is inconsistent for us to support the creation of smoking lounges, hookah bars for our Middle Eastern community and then attempt to do this to our ma and pa retailers, said Duran.

Heilman responded that public health is more important than business.

The point of this is to protect our residents from the dangerous impact of tobacco and Im going to support that over the interests of the business community, said Heilman.

Heilman also suggested that city staff return with a date for implementing it, saying that waiting until the end of the year would give tobacco retailers time to adapt,

During the public comment period, several store owners criticized the proposal, noting they received no advance notice from the city about the item. Typically, the city seeks input from business owners and the Chamber of Commerce on matters that will impact their business prior to proposing an item like this.

Donny Cacy, who owns the 7-Eleven convenience store on Santa Monica Boulevard at Curson Avenue, suggested the city should work on enforcing the ban of sales to minors rather than initiating this.

Mani Merabi, owner of Smoke for Less tobacco shop at 8205 Santa Monica Blvd., at La Jolla, said he is a responsible shop owner who has never been cited for selling to minors. He said the ban could put him out of business and the city should work to help keep stores open rather than add to the many empty storefronts in town.

Meanwhile, Arthur Corona, speaking for a group of shop owners, suggested the city shouldnt ban flavored tobacco products but instead regulate them like cannabis.

Banning this in one fatal swoop leads to perhaps a slippery slope. I think if were looking at the fact its flavored, we have to look at flavored alcohol, we have to look at other flavored things that are perhaps are damaging to ones health, said Corona.

Resident John Hall said the city shouldnt change the rules on how a business can operate and suggested grandfathering in existing businesses.

Meanwhile two employees of Equality California spoke in favor of the ban, noting that tobacco use is higher in the LGBT community than the general population and preventing LGBT youth from getting addicted is a good thing.

Horvath and DAmico initially placed their proposal on the consent calendar, which is where the Council approves multiple items in a single vote without any discussion. However, Duran removed it from the consent calendar so it could be discussed.

This is not the first time a Councilmember has tried to pass a tobacco-related item via the consent calendar. In Dec. 2009, then Councilmember Abbe Land proposed a ban on smoking in outdoor areas of bars and restaurants and initially placed it on the consent calendar. However, Duran also removed that item from the consent calendar for discussion, which ultimately caused the creation of a smoking task force to study the matter. The end result was the city ended up banning smoking on patios of restaurants but not nightclubs.

Two other smoking related items are tentatively scheduled to be on the Councils agenda in the coming months a ban on smoking in the citys parks and a ban on smoking in apartment buildings.

Link:
In Split Vote, WeHo City Council Bans Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products - WEHOville

Human Behavior

Siri Co-Inventor: The Internet Is a Vast Psychology ExperimentAnd It Scares Me – Observer

The amazing success of Siri and the resulting stranglehold AI-powered technology has on humans day-to-day lives makes Siri co-inventor Tom Gruber extremely nervous. Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Tom Gruber is a vastly successful psychologistpossibly one of the most successful of all time. This is because a creation of his happens to be a very large, very ongoing and continuously expanding experiment. If you have an iPhone in your pocket or in your hand, you co-exist with his creation. You may not be able to live without it. And that, Gruber recently told Willamette Week, isnt good!

Gruber is a co-inventor of Siri, the artificial intelligence-powered assistant that uses machine learning to answer billions of queries every week, according to the Computer History Museum. Gruber and his partners sold Siri, a Norse term that roughly translates as beautiful woman who leads you to victory, in 2010 to Apple for a reported $200 million.

SEE ALSO: Flea-Sized Robots Can Crawl Inside YouAnd Maybe Control Your Mind

In the years since, Siri has become near-ubiquitous. And where you cannot find Siri, you may find a clone, like Amazons Alexa or whatever Android-powered genie you summon with the magic words, Hey, Google.

The amazing success of Siri and the resulting stranglehold AI-powered technology has on humans day-to-day lives makes Gruber extremely nervous, he recently told the Portland-based alt-weekly. Like a digital Dr. Frankenstein, Gruber is increasingly wary and horrified at what he hath wrought, a science experiment gone wrong, according to the paper.

In certain areas, AI can already demonstrably outperform humans, hes said before, according to a talk he gave last year in London. And its one thing to create a product, but its another thing to have an entire generation transformed by this technology.

Former chief of the Siri digital assistant team at Apple Tom Gruber speaks at the TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada, on April 25, 2017. GLENN CHAPMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Our millennials check their phones 150 times a day, he noted in a recent interview he gave WW ahead of a lecture on AI he plans to deliver at TechfestNW. (Since his exit from Apple in 2018, Gruber has spent much of his time on the lecture circuit, delivering a 2017 TED talk as well.) So far, rather than fix humanitys illsliteral or spiritualAIs main contribution to the species is that it has shown that if you want to get two billion people addicted to something thats not good for them, you can do it, he told the paper.

The analogy may not be perfect, but Gruber compared the devotees of the worlds religions, whoat maximumpray five times a day, or merely attend services once a weekto the adherents of technology companies, with their billions of users logging on throughout the day, every day. That makes Google or Facebook the worlds biggest religions. So who does that make Godand who are the prophets? And which of them are machinesand if theyre all machines, what does it all mean?

The uncanny valley is the term coined to describe the gulf between human behavior and a machine that uses AI and machine learning to behave like a human. By some metrics, the valley has narrowed, perhaps to a mere chasm. As Gruber has pointed out (and many agree), AI-powered medical diagnostics are outperforming human doctorsand AI-powered marketing is very, very good at getting humans to buy things.

More recently, AI creep has appeared in the humanities. An AI-drawn picture was sold at auction at Christies last year for $432,500. One of Grubers recent projects, an AI music startup called LifeScore of which he is co-founder and CTO, promises to make music that sounds just like a human created it. Yet another is Humanistic AI, in which Gruber is attempting to help companies use machine learning to harmlessly cooperate with humans rather than supplant or dominate the species.

Despite all this, Gruber remains an AI optimistbecause, he pointed out, hes a human optimist. Facebooks programming is bad at discerning real news from fake newsbut its employees are pretty good at it. Twitter is policed by people, not machines.

While it seems, very clearly, that the endgame for most large tech firms is to eliminate the human factorself-driving cars, digital assistantsit seems clear that people are the best option to police social networks. And likewise, if people use AI as a prosthesis or a supplement rather than a replacement, there may be hope for the future of both.

The ways in which AI is abused, he told WW, is to benefit humanscertain humans, those concerned with advertising dollars going up or human-resource costs going down.

Thus, the only real problem with artificial intelligence appears to be human nature. And what could go wrong there?

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Siri Co-Inventor: The Internet Is a Vast Psychology ExperimentAnd It Scares Me - Observer

Human Behavior

A Viral Coyote-Badger Video Demonstrates The Incredible Complexity Of Nature – Longmont Observer

Jennifer Campbell-Smith High Country News

Somewhere in the Southern Santa Cruz Mountains of California, a coyote playfully bows to an American badger just before both duck into a culvert under a highway, the coyote casually trotting along with the badger waddling close behind. When thePeninsula Open Space TrustandPathways For Wildlifeshared a remote video of the crossing online in early February, it went viral. The video is part of a project to help wild animals move around safely in high-traffic, dangerous areas, something critical to maintaining populations genetic health. I greatly admire this work. However, what makes this particular crossingexceptional,to me, as abehavioral ecologist, are the deeper implications of the video itself.

The first thing that excites me is that it allows the charisma of this partnership to reach a broad audience. Scientists have observed coyotes and badgersworkingtogetherbefore;one studyeven demonstrated that both species have an easier time catching prey when they hunt together. But the more the general public sees the playful, social side of twoextremely persecutedcarnivores, the better. I will never stop sharing videos of coyotesplaying with dog toysordomestic animal companions, orscaling crab-apple trees for a snack.

The second thing that excites me is what the video means for animal research, management and behavioral ecology. Thereisnt a consistentnatural rulethat coyotes and badgers get along; in fact, the two species sometimeskill and eat one another. This demonstrates theflexibilityin natural processes. Humans (many scientists included) are often guilty of thinking animal behavior must follow hard and fast rules: Stimulus A elicits Behavior B, always. I see this a lot when people ask me about canine behavior or crow calls; a wagging tail doesnt always indicate a happy dog, for instance, and certain crow calls mean very different things in different circumstances, much the way the intention behind a humans use of the word hey varies with tone, inflection and context.

Experiments and rules that eliminate context often end up framing animal behavior and ecological associations as coded, robotic and inflexible. People tend to think of animal actions as simply instinct, denying the role of thinking, plasticity and decision-making in other creatures lives.

Scientifically, we arefinally emergingfrom a dark period of studying nature simply as a stimulus-and-instinct-driven movie that humans can observe the kind of thinking used to justifygovernment-funded culls and mass indiscriminate killing of native species.Recent researchdemonstrates the cognitive and cultural capabilities of non-human animals, as well as the importance of their proclivities and personalities, and more data keep piling up. Some individual animals, for example, have the right combination of bold, exploratory traits to do well in human-dominated landscapes, while more cautious ones may flourish in relatively rural and wild landscapes. In fact, researchers have observedpopulation-level genetic changesin city-dwellers compared to their country cousins of the same species, in everything from coyotes toanolesandblack widow spiders.

Different animals alsohold different social statuses within an ecosystem. Much like what can happen within a human community, the death of a specific individual may have a large impact on social structure. Ive watched whole regions of crows restructure their social dynamics and movements due to the death of a single key individual, and Ive seen how age and experience shape individuals and the behavior they pass on to others. Wildlife managers must take all of this into account rather than relying on the traditional, numbers-only management style that treats all individuals of a species as if they have equal weight in an ecosystem.

In the viral video, I see an elegant demonstration of how complex and flexible nature is. How intelligent these two animals are not simply two animal-robots reacting solely to stimuli. How the body language and ease between them suggests that they know each other as individuals, and that those individuals matter.

While its scientifically prudent to acknowledge only the data that exist in peer-reviewed studies, we humans must broaden our lens and see the metaphorical forest before we get lost in the trees. We must hold each other, management agencies and policymakers accountable for the broader picture that the evidence is highlighting and use it to better relate to the world we live in, and the organisms that exist alongside us.Stay up to date on the West with our free newsletter

The key struggle is getting these ideas into the zeitgeist of modern human culture, a mission that social media has greatly enhanced. So here I am, a behavioral ecologist who is grateful that a single 12-second viral video of a coyote and badger sauntering through a culvert together can help more people observe and consider what I and many in my scientific generation see: A thinking, complex, dynamic, individual nature that demands our respect and mindfulness as we move through this world.

Jennifer Campbell-Smith has a Ph.D. in behavioral ecology from Binghamton University. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado, where she is working to get high school students involved in urban wildlife research. You can find her on Twitter@drcampbellsmith.EmailHigh Country Newsateditor@hcn.orgor submit aletter to the editor.

Originally published on High Country News. See original story by Clicking Here.

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A Viral Coyote-Badger Video Demonstrates The Incredible Complexity Of Nature - Longmont Observer

Human Behavior

Want to make your brand psychologically capturing? Try using the power of ritual. – Business Insider – Business Insider

Whether it's tech or retail or any other niche industry, brand value is the crux of a company's continued success. Just ask Apple.

For years, various market and consumer reports have hinted at the things that matter most for building good brand value. Things like commitment, novelty, authenticity, trust, presence.

With these, there's an underlying psychology at play. So how do you design products and experiences to make a brand psychologically capturing?

In all the trade secrets of brand strategy, one piece has been overlooked: rituals.

There's a growing science and psychology of ritual that's started to shed light on many of the puzzling aspects of human behavior. Ritual, as we've come to learn, is the basis of all human culture and a core feature in the evolutionary history of the human species. Rituals emerge as a byproduct of physical interactions between people and the external environment.

Nick Hobson. Courtesy of Nick Hobson

They start small. But, in time, mere physical actions get transformed into a symbolic ritual that stands for something big, something sacred.

While most recognize this to be true of religious life (think ritual prayer), research tells us it's the same underlying psychology and neurobiology for how consumers relate to their most cherished brands. It's been shown that when people look at their favorite brand logos, there's an activation in the brain's reward circuitry not unlike that with cultural and religious symbols.

Kelly Peters. Courtesy of Kelly Peters

So, whether Apple, Amazon, Google, or Mercedes, we worship our most beloved brands. We become fanatical in our loyalty and following. That feeling of emotionally connecting to a brand and having that shared social identity comes from and through ritual.

If your brand or company wants a true fan, you need to get your customers to ritualize your offering.

Nathaniel Barr. Courtesy of Nathaniel Barr

Below are the three unique features of ritual that, if properly applied and integrated into design strategy, have the capacity to truly transform brand value for your customers.

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Want to make your brand psychologically capturing? Try using the power of ritual. - Business Insider - Business Insider

Human Behavior

For the Birds: Area is home to different species of hawks – McDowell News

In recent weeks, Ive enjoyed some observations of the regions larger raptors, including red-tailed hawks and red-shouldered hawks.

Anyone who travels along the regions Interstate Highway System has probably noticed hawks perched in trees or on utility lines adjacent to the roadway. The section of Interstate 26 that runs between Unicoi and Johnson City is often a productive area for keeping alert for raptors. The raptor I have most often observed along this stretch of road is the Red-tailed Hawk, although I have also observed Coopers Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and American Kestrel. In the time of spring and fall migration, its also possible to observe Broad-winged Hawks.

The Red-tailed Hawk is named for its prominent red tail. However, only adults show the characteristic red tail. The affinity for Red-tailed Hawks for roadsides is a double-edged sword. Viewing a large hawk from your car is an easy way to watch birds. For inexperienced or careless raptors, however, roadside living is often rife with the chance for a collision with a car or truck. The Red-tailed Hawk, which prefers open countryside, is attracted to the margins of roads and highways because these locations also attract their favorite prey, which includes rodents like rats, squirrels, mice and other small mammals such as rabbits.

Human behavior contributes to some of the problems that hawks encounter in the zone that brings them too close for comfort to motorized vehicles. When people toss trash from a car, the scent of the litter will lure curious and hungry rodents. In turn, hunting hawks are brought to the edges of roads in search of their preferred prey, increasing the likelihood of colliding with automobiles.

In recent days, I have also noticed a Red-shouldered Hawk lurking among the branches of the large weeping willow next to the fish pond. The Red-shoulder Hawk typically prefers wetland habitats and is less likely to haunt roadsides. According to a factsheet published by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, this raptor breeds in moist woodlands, riverine forests, the borders of swamps, open pine woods and similar habitats. Nesting almost always occurs near water, such as a swamp, river or pond.

The Red-shouldered Hawk produces a distinctive, piercing whistle that reminds me of the shrill call of a Killdeer. The visiting Red-shouldered Hawk has been silent so far, perhaps not wishing to draw attention. The few times the local crows have noticed the presence of any sort of raptor, theyve flocked together to mob the unfortunate hawk. Its also not the right time of year; during courtship and the subsequent nesting period, these hawks are vocal, but at other times of the year, they are rarely heard. Its also possible to mistakenly think you have heard one of these large hawks. Blue Jays have apparently learned to imitate the kee-yar call of this hawk, often working a flawless rendition of the whistled notes of this large raptor.

In contrast to the related Red-tailed Hawk, the Red-shouldered Hawk soars less and prefers to perch hidden in the cover of trees. This hawks name comes from the reddish-brown shoulder patches in the birds wings. Adults show a tail marked with vivid bands of black and white that is quite distinctive. The Red-shouldered Hawk belongs to the same genus of raptors as its larger relative, the Red-tailed Hawk. The genus, buteo, includes about two dozen large raptors that are often the dominant avian predators in their respective habitats.

Some of the buteo species have adapted to life on islands, including the Galapagos Hawk and the Hawaiian Hawk. Some of these hawks have quite descriptive names, including the White-throated Hawk, Gray-lined Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk and Short-tailed Hawk. Outside the United States, raptors in the buteo genus are often known as buzzards. When the first European colonists came to the New World, they applied the term buzzard to both types of native vultures as well as the large raptors like Swainsons Hawk and Broad-winged Hawk that reminded them of the ones back in Europe.

All too often, our large hawks dont receive the love they deserve from the public. They may even run afoul of misinformed individuals who may regard all predatory birds as bad. The reality is that all hawks are valuable components of a healthy, working ecosystem, with each species filling a certain niche.

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For the Birds: Area is home to different species of hawks - McDowell News

Human Behavior

Jennifer Aniston’s Advice to Her 30-Year-Old Self is Great for Anyone – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Jennifer Aniston rose to fame on the hit 90s sitcom, Friends. Though the show has been off the air for nearly two decades, fans still remember Aniston as her iconic character, Rachel Green.

Now starring in Apples The Morning Show, the 51-year-old is taking time to reflect on her life and what she would do differently.In an interview with Glamour Magazine, Aniston discussed what advice she would give her 30-year-old self. Though her remarks reflect on her personal experience, its advice that anyone could benefit from.

Aniston seems to have it all. Shes beautiful. Shes successful. And she just seems to exude confidence.

But recently, The Marley and Me actress opened up about her childhood and revealed that it wasnt as stable and happy as the actress appears to be now.Though the actress has talked about her parents before, in a recent interview with Interview, Aniston revealed that watching her parents as she grew up taught her who she didnt want to be.

She told Sandra Bullock, who was conducting the interview that she considered her childhood home destabilized and unsafe. She says she thinks thatseeing adults be mean to each other and witnessing certain things about human behavior, made her decide that thats not what she wants. Thats not who she wants to be.

In 2013, Aniston sat down for an interview with Glamour magazine. This time the interviewer was her Were the Millers co-star Jason Sudeikis.

During the interview, the pair discussed their lives and where they are today. But Sudeikis also asked his co-star to reflect on the past.

Midway through the interview, Sudeikis asked the actress what she would tell her teenage self. The response was typical and something we all wish we would have known: Dont try so hard. Pay attention. Do your homework. Go to class.

For her 20s, her advice was a little more insightful. She says she would tell her 20-year-old self: Not to fret so much.

But the advice she would give her 30-year-self is advice that we should all listen to. At this age, its a time where you have a better understanding of yourself and are carving out your future.

Aniston says, to her 30-year-old self, she would say: Go to therapy. Clean up all of the sh-t. Clean up all of the toxins and the noise. Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self.

This isnt the only time the star has discussed how therapy has helped her. In 2015, the actress did a revealing interview with The Hollywood Reporter. In the interview, she discussed a lot of the drama that surrounded her life.

She brought up her relationship with her mother, her infamous split from fellow actor Brad Pitt, and also revealed that she suffers from dyslexia.

To help her through some of her toughest times, Aniston has turned to therapy. In fact, at the time of the interview, it was a regular part of her routine.

During therapy, her favorite therapist, who tragically died while the actress was going through her divorce, helped her face her anger issues. The star discussed how she had a tendency to bottle things up and how this would cause her problems on set.

Through therapy, the actress has learned to recognize her anger and understand how to assert herself. She is now open with her emotions and her feeling about what is going on.

In addition to therapy, her therapist helped her integrate other therapeutic activities in her life. One of her favorites: mediation.

Aniston told The Hollywood Reporter that she would start her day with meditation, right after coffee and right before the days chaos began. It sounds like shes got things figured out.

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Jennifer Aniston's Advice to Her 30-Year-Old Self is Great for Anyone - Showbiz Cheat Sheet