PETER DESCIOLI
Research Interests My research aims to understand how the human mind uses principles of strategy to solve problems in the social world. Much of my work focuses on moral condemnation, especially the functions of third party judgment, moralistic punishment, and moral impartiality. Another research program concerns the functions of friendship and involves looking at how people distribute loyalties across close friends (friend ranking) and how people try to obscure their loyalties (rank masking). I have also been investigating the psychological foundations of property and ownership by using a virtual environment to observe resource disputes in the laboratory.
Publications DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (in press). The company you keep: Friendship decisions from a functional perspective. In Krueger, J. I. (Ed.), Social Judgment and Decision Making. New York: Psychology Press. Kurzban, R., DeScioli, P., & Fein, D. (in press). Hamilton vs. Kant: Pitting adaptations for altruism against adaptations for moral judgment. Evolution and Human Behavior. **DeScioli, P., & Wilson, B. J. (2011). The territorial foundations of human property. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 297-304. [pdf] DeScioli, P., Christner, J., & Kurzban, R. (2011). The omission strategy. Psychological Science, 22, 442-446. [pdf] DeScioli, P., Bruening, R., & Kurzban. R. (2011). The omission effect in moral cognition: Toward a functional explanation. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 204-215. [pdf] DeScioli, P., Kurzban, R., Koch, E. N., & Liben-Nowell, D. (2011). Best friends: Alliances, friend ranking, and the MySpace social network. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 6-8. [pdf] DeScioli, P. (2010). Heavy hearts and heads held high - A review of Glimpses of Creatures in Their Physical Worlds [by Steven Vogel]. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 304-306. [pdf] Weisbord, R. K., & DeScioli, P. (2010). The effects of donor standing on philanthropy: Insights from the psychology of gift-giving. Gonzaga Law Review, 45, 225-289. [pdf] **DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2009). Mysteries of morality. Cognition, 112, 281-299. [pdf] **DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2009). The alliance hypothesis for human friendship. PLoS ONE, 4, e5802. [pdf] 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 Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P. (in prep.). Adaptationist punishment in humans. [draft] DeScioli, P., Asao, K., & Kurzban. R. (in prep.). Omissions and byproducts across moral domains. DeScioli, P., Gilbert, S., & Kurzban, R. (in prep.). The indelible victim in moral cognition. DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (in prep.). A solution to the mysteries of morality. DeScioli, P., & Krishna, S. (in prep.). Giving to whom? Altruism in different types of relationships. DeScioli, P., Kurzban, R., & Todd, P. (in prep.). Evolved Decision Makers in Organizations. To appear in Arvey, R. D., & Colarelli, S. M. (Eds.) Biological Foundations of Organizational Behavior.
Invited Talks DeScioli, P. (2011, September). Strategy and Counter-Strategy in Moral Cognition. Boston University, Boston Area Moral and Social Cognition Group. DeScioli, P. (2011, September). The Omission Strategy. Brandeis University, Department of Psychology. DeScioli, P. (2011, February). Strategy and Counter-Strategy in Moral Cognition. University of Maryland, Developmental Science Colloquium. DeScioli, P. (2010, November). Mysteries of Morality. Yale University, Mind and Development Lab. DeScioli, P. (2010, October). Property Intuitions. Brandeis University, Department of Psychology. DeScioli, P. (2010, October). Who Owns What? Understanding How People Think About Property. Brandeis University, Department of Economics. DeScioli, P. (2010, May). Mine and Thine: The Foundations of Human Property. Fourth Annual 3UC Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior Conference, San Luis Obispo, CA. DeScioli, P. (2010, March). Mysteries of Morality. Occidental College, The Cognitive Science Program, Remsen Bird Speaker Series. DeScioli, P. (2010, March). Mine and Thine: The Foundations of Human Property. Brandeis University, Psychology and Economics Colloquium. Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P. (2009, May). Adaptationist Morality. Plenary Address, Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Fullerton, CA. DeScioli, P. (2009, January). The Alliance Hypothesis for Human Friendship. Chapman University, Economic Science Institute. [video] DeScioli, P. (2008, December). The Alliance Hypothesis for Human Friendship. UCLA, Behavior, Evolution, and Culture Series. [video]
Conference Presentations DeScioli, P. & Wilson, B. (2011, April). The Territorial Foundations of Human Property. Talk given at the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society Conference, Binghamton, NY. Hailey, S., & DeScioli, P. (2011, January). Moral Intuitions About Self Defense. Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference, San Antonio, TX. Wilson, B., & DeScioli, P. (2010, November). Mine and Thine: The Territorial Foundations of Human Property. Talk given at the Economic Science Association Conference, Tucson, AZ.
**DeScioli, P., & Wilson, B. (2010, June). Mine and Thine: The Foundations of Human Property. Talk given at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Eugene, OR. DeScioli, P., Bruening, R., & Kurzban, R. (2009, May). The Omission Effect and the Design of Moral Psychology. Talk given at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Fullerton, CA. Christner, J., DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2009, May). Strategic Omissions in a Reverse Dictator Game. Talk given at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Fullerton, CA. 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 Evolutionary Psychology Experimental Economics Cognitive Development Human Sexuality: An Evolutionary Approach
Societies
In The News The New York Times. October, 2008. “Civil enforcers take aim at Wall Street.” [link] The Globe and Mail. June, 2009. “How highly do your friends rate you?” [link] Los Angeles Times. June, 2009. “You saw it on ‘survivor’: Alliances matter.” [link] Science Daily. June, 2009. “Be your best friend if you'll be mine: Alliance hypothesis for human friendship.” [link] Daily Pennsylvanian. June, 2009. "Friends' opinions do matter." [link] Penn SAS Frontiers. August, 2009. “That’s what friends are for?” [link] Skeptic Magazine, 15:2. October, 2009. Kurzban, R. & DeScioli, P. "Why religions turn oppressive." [link] ScienceDirect Top 25. "Mysteries of morality" is the most downloaded paper from the journal Cognition for July-September 2009. [link] Psychology Today. December, 2009. Kenrick, D. T. “In "Defense" of Tiger Woods, AND of his critics." [link] Psychology Today. June, 2010. Kenrick, D. T. "Is opposition to pot-smoking really just fear of sex?" [link] Physorg.com. February, 2011. "Friendships are built on alliances, research shows." [link] Brandeis Now. March, 2011. "Social media study shows how we choose friends." [link] Science Daily. March, 2011. "People would rather let bad things happen than cause them, especially if someone is watching." [link] Greater Boston, WGBH TV. October, 2011. "How social media changes friendships." [video]
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