Dr Geoff Kushnick

Our study found no support for the strong version of the Moral Intent Hypothesis.

Striking another person with intent to harm is wrong, we’d almost all certainly agree. But, if it was done in self-defense, we might reconsider that judgment. We might think that it was necessary and, thus, not quite as bad as a blindsided sucker punch thrown for no apparent reason. But, we might also consider that person a hero for standing up to a bully.

In the US, where I grew up, it’s pretty standard to take into account mitigating factors and intent when judging whether something’s wrong . In fact, its codified into law throughout the US and is thus considered by judges and juries when sentencing those who have perpetrated such behavior.

The role of mitigating factors and intent in shaping moral judgments has been called a universal feature of human moral psychology. Meaning that our brain just works this way and thus we should see similar moral reasoning in all people, in all societies from the simplest to the most complex. (1)

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They say love is worth fighting for, and it appears men in some small-scale societies have to do exactly that to play the mating game. Tara-Lyn Carter, a master’s student in biological anthropology at The Australian National University, and I conducted a study of behaviour and beliefs related to male aggression in 78 societies from around the world.

We found support for our hypothesis that, if these aspects of male aggression have been shaped by sexual selection—that they arise and stick around in societies because they offer an advantage in competing for mates—they will be more prevalent in societies where the intensity of mating competition is higher.

We were able to rule out alternative hypotheses, such as the notion that these behaviours and beliefs are simply due to socialization to a warlike society, or that shared environments and shared cultural histories may account for the associations.

The paper is now published:

Carter TL, Kushnick G (2018) Male aggressiveness as intrasexual contest competition in a cross-cultural sample. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 72, 83. Link

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Photo Source:

Photograph of warrior from Nias (North Sumatra, Indonesia)
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence
Attribution: Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures

I’m always looking for advice to share with students and colleagues about academic writing. One of my favorite blogs, The Impact Blog from the London School of Economics and Political Science, has recently published a number of excellent pieces:

• Writing the Introduction to a Journal Article: Say What the Reader is Going to Say and Why it is Important, by Pat Thomson
• Write as if You Don’t Have the Data: The Benefits of a Free-Writing Phase, by Howard Aldritch
• Five Strategies to Get your Academic Writing “Unstuck”, by Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega
• How to Write a Blogpost from your Journal Article in Eleven Easy Steps, by Patrick Dunleavy

All four of these articles are part of the blog’s Academic Writing Series. You can find out more or contribute to the conversation at Twitter using #AcWri2016.

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And, if you’re looking for great resource, there’s no replacement for Strunk & White’s classic The Elements of Style.

Its time sexual harassment and misconduct is eliminated from academia! Please, academic community, join hands with concerned colleagues.

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The UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded “Culture and the Mind” research group has published a rebuttal to criticism of our 2015 paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B where we showed, using data from an experiment conducted in a handful of societies around the world, that moral judgment is not universal, but parochial. In other words, human judgments of moral transgressions are different when local and immediate, and the word of local authority is able to temper these judgments.

Fessler DMT, Holbrook C, Kanovsky M, Barrett HC, Bolyanatz AH, Gervais MM, Gurven M, Henrich J, Kushnick G, Pisor AC, Stich S, von Rueden C, Laurence S (2016) Moral parochialism misunderstood: A reply to Piazza and Souza. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 283, 20152628.

Click here for a PDF copy of the paper.

You can find a full list of my publications, including links to some of the original datasets from which the analyses were taken on my Publications page.

As you may know, for more than 125 years, National Geographic Society has been awarding grants to talented, innovative individuals working on research, conservation and exploration projects around the world. We are reaching out to you as a former National Geographic grantee and a member of our family to let you know that back in July 2015, we launched our new grant program across Asia. Watch this video to find out more about this fund. We are delighted to share that our first round of grant reviews, held in November, resulted in the support of 23 projects, with 8 projects supporting Young Explorers (ages 18-28*).

We are now preparing for our spring review and would like your help in attracting qualified applicants to our program. If you’re interested in applying to us for funding or know of colleagues or friends who might be interested in applying, please go to our website for more information.

Grants will support legal residents of Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesa, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam working in the natural, social and physical sciences, as well as photography, journalism and exploration. We especially encourage multi-disciplinary and international collaboration to arrive at cross-cutting, multi-perspective, and regional solutions.

The program will award professional grants of up to USD 30,000 and Young Explorers Grants for aspiring professionals (ages 18-28*) of up to USD 5,000 for field research, conservation and exploration projects, including those that investigate unproven approaches. A committee comprised of experts from around the region will evaluate grant proposals.

We are currently accepting applications online, and we encourage you to share this information with your colleagues, students and greater network. National Geographic is very excited to be able to bring this program to the region, and we hope you or your colleagues will also consider applying for a grant.  Please note the deadline for pre-application submission for Spring 2016 is January 29, 2016.

Additional information about National Geographic Science and Exploration in Asia and how to apply for a grant is available at www.nationalgeographic.org/asia

We will continue to share information on this program in the coming months, but if you have questions, please feel free to contact us at natgeoasia@ngs.org.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Rob Lee, Ph. D.
Director, Science & Exploration
National Geographic Society

*This age range applies only to Asia Young Explorer Grants. Please disregard the 18-25 age range on our official Young Explorer Grant webpage.

2016 STUDENT RESEARCH GRANT SCHEME

The Wet Tropics Management Authority invites proposals from postgraduate students from across Australia to support environmental, social and cultural research which will benefit Wet Tropics World Heritage Area management, policy development and operational decision making.

Well- conceived research projects that are aligned with the key research areas outlined in the ‘Australia’s Wet Tropics, an outstanding learning landscape’ document and which demonstrate scientific rigour and innovative research will be viewed favourably.

Funding of up to $4,000 is available for PhD and masters research projects, and up to $1,500 for honours projects.

Closing date for the next round is Friday 26 February 2016.

To submit your application and for further information:

Download guidelines for funding

Download research grant application form

www.wettropics.gov.au

www.facebook.com/WetTropicsWorldHeritageArea

Enquiries

For further information phone 07 4241 0500 or email wettropics@wtma.qld.gov.au

This word cloud, created using the most commonly used words in the abstracts of my published work, provides a flavor for what I study.