PETER DESCIOLI
Research Interests My research seeks to identify features of evolved cognition that have been shaped by game theoretic forces. My primary investigation regards morality and friendship. Within morality, I am particularly interested in third party condemnation, especially the evolutionary puzzles posed by third party judgment, moralistic punishment, and moral impartiality. My studies of friendship examine distributions of loyalties across close friends (friend ranking), as well as people’s attempts to obscure their loyalties (rank masking). My secondary investigation regards the development of common knowledge representation, and how this ability facilitates coordination among children.
Publications Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P. (2008). Reciprocity in groups: Information-seeking in a public goods game. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 139-158. [pdf] DeScioli, P. (2008). Beyond selfish and selfless [Review of Moral sentiments and material interests by H. Gintis, S. Bowles, R. Boyd, and E. Fehr (Eds.)]. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 67, 524-528.[pdf] DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2008). Cracking the superhero’s moral code. In R. Rosenberg (Ed.), The Psychology of Superheroes (pp.245-259). Dallas, TX: BenBella Books. [amazon] Kurzban, R., DeScioli, P., & O'Brien, E. (2007). Audience effects on moralistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28, 75-84. [pdf] DeScioli, P. (2007). Peering underneath the hood of morality [Review of Moral minds by M. D. Hauser]. Evolutionary Psychology, 5, 306-312. [pdf] DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2007). The games people play. In S. Gangestad & J. Simpson (Eds.), Evolution of Mind: Fundamental Questions and Controversies (pp. 130-136). New York: Guilford. [pdf ] [amazon]
Unpublished Manuscripts DeScioli, P. & Kurzban, R. (submitted). The alliance hypothesis for human friendship.
Conference Presentations DeScioli, P., Kurzban, R., Nagaraja, C. (2007, June). Divided Loyalties and Rank-Masking Among Friends. Talk given at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Williamsburg, VA. Jayawickreme, E. R., Schueller, S. M., & DeScioli, P. (2007, May). Divided Loyalties and Happiness. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science 19th Annual Convention, Washington, DC. DeScioli, P. (2006, June). The Four Basic Games. Talk given at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Philadelphia, PA. DeScioli, P. (2005, June). Characterizing Reciprocity in Groups: Information-Seeking in a Public Goods Game. Talk given at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Austin, TX.
Teaching Psyc 181 Cognitive Development Psyc 168 Human Sexuality: An Evolutionary Approach
Societies
Dissertation Committee
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