- BERG - University of Stirling Mailing Lists

26.04.2017: Paxton Culpepper- assortative social features of the behavioural immune system
by Eoin O'Sullivan 24 Apr '17

24 Apr '17

Dear BERGers, This Wednesday, 26th, we have PhD candidate Paxton Culpepper giving a talk entitled: "Experimentally testing the main assortative social features of the behavioural immune system." After Paxton's talk we will be going to the Allanwater Brewhouse to celebrate the end of semester (http://bridgeofallan.co.uk/) so please do join us?. All are welcome! I look forward to seeing you then! Eoin? The Relationship between the Behavioural Immune System, Assortative Sociality and Religiosity Throughout evolutionary history humans have evolved psychological mechanisms fashioned to solve adaptive problems of survival. Parasite-stress has been a major adaptive problem throughout the evolutionary history of all animals, including humans. Evidence suggests that humans have evolved a behavioural immune system, which includes the emotion disgust, to motivate avoidance of potential threats of infectious microorganisms and individuals who may carry them. Throughout ancestral history out-group individuals were most likely carrying pathogens to which the locals were not immunologically adapted, thus leading to in-group-out/group bias via assortative social behaviours such as philopatry, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia. It is argued that these behaviours facilitated isolation between groups, which led not only to genetic divergence, but to a divergence in beliefs, practices and values - the 'genesis' of religion and religious diversity. Correlational evidence supports this theory - I am currently experimentally testing the theory.

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European Student Conference on Behaviour & Cognition meeting
by Hannah Buchanan-Smith 22 Apr '17

22 Apr '17

Message from Michaela Másílková to MSc and PhD students. Feel free to forward. Registration is FREE Dear students, On behalf of student organisational team, I am pleased to invite you to participate in 4th European Student Conference on Behaviour & Cognition. The conference will be held at University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic on 7-8 September 2017. The aim of the conference is to bring together early-career researchers (MSc and PhD students) to present and discuss their work in the fields of animal and human behaviour and cognition. The program will offer 2 keynote speakers: Dr. Alecia Carter (University of Montpellier) and Prof. Thomas Bugnyar (University of Vienna). The call for abstracts is now open! The closing date for abstracts is 10 July 2017. Registration is free! For more details regarding the conference, visit our website (https://escbc2017.wordpress.com) facebook (https://www.facebook.com/escbc2017) or contact us (behave.cog2017(a)gmail.com<mailto:behave.cog2017@gmail.com>). We are looking forward to meeting you all in České Budějovice! Sincerely, Michaela Másílková Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice -- Michaela Másílková PhD student Department of Zoology Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice Czech Republic tel: +420 602 226 692 [https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-anima…]<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Bez virů. www.avast.com<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…>

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No BERG tomorrow; Pub next week!
by Eoin O'Sullivan 18 Apr '17

18 Apr '17

Dear all, There will be no BERG meeting this week, but we are back on the 26th when PhD candidate Paxton Culpepper will discuss his ongoing research on the assortative social features of the behavioural immune system. After next week's BERG meeting we are planning on visiting the Allanwater Brewhouse (http://bridgeofallan.co.uk/) to mark the end of another semester, so please do join us?. All are welcome! I hope you have a good week! Eoin?

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Extra BERG meeting on Wed 10th May: Claire Watson
by Christine Caldwell 12 Apr '17

12 Apr '17

Dear all, As you probably know, semester is winding down now and our BERG meetings will soon be doing the same (definitely still on tonight though!). However, in case anyone wanted to put it in their calendars I thought I would let you know that we will be holding an extra meeting on Wednesday 10th May. We will have Dr Claire Watson visiting us from the University of Kyoto, where she has been doing postdoctoral work since finishing her PhD here in Stirling. Claire is planning to talk to us about various research projects - old and new - that she has been working on, mostly on the topic of social learning in nonhuman primates. You can find Claire's website at: http://www.cicasp.pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/people/claire-f-i-watson We will send out reminders closer to the time of course. Anyway, I hope that people will be able to make it for Claire's talk, and I hope to see lots of you tonight for Lesley's as well! Christine.

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BERG 12.04.17: Lesley Craig - attitudes to ape conservation and welfare
by Eoin O'Sullivan 11 Apr '17

11 Apr '17

Dear BERGers, Tomorrow, we have our penultimate BERG meeting of the semester, with PhD researcher Lesley Craig giving a talk entitled: "Impact of species interpretation on attitudes to great ape conservation and welfare". As usual, we will be meeting from 5:30pm in the psychology common room for drinks and nibbles. See you then! Eoin

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BERG: 05.04.2017 - Josephine Smit discusses the behavioural responses of elephants to human-mediated risks
by Eoin O'Sullivan 03 Apr '17

03 Apr '17

?Dear BERGers, This Wednesday we have PhD student Josephine Smit presenting a talk entitled: "Elephant behavioural responses to human-mediated risks". We will be meeting in room 2A54 this week from 5:30 pm, and as usual, drinks and nibble will be provided. I look forward to seeing you there! All the best, Eoin

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29.03.2017 - Kieran Lee: Auditory enrichment for captive chimpanzees
by Eoin O'Sullivan 28 Mar '17

28 Mar '17

Dear all, ?Tomorrow we have final year student Kieran Lee talking to us about his dissertation project with the Blair Drummond chimpanzees. As well as giving a talk on his project he will be hosting a discussion on the question of animal consciousness. The title of his talk is: "Auditory enrichment for captive chimpanzees and the question of animal consciousness." As usual, we will be meeting in the Psychology Common Room from 5:30pm for drinks and nibbles. See you then! All the best, Eoin

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BERG - 22.03.2017: Undergraduate Research Projects at Blair Drummond
by Eoin O'Sullivan 21 Mar '17

21 Mar '17

Dear all, This week our BERG meeting will be of particular interest to 3rd year undergraduate students who are thinking about doing a dissertation project on animal behaviour next semester. Blair Drummond's Research Coordinator, Alasdair Gillies, and others will be speaking to us about dissertation projects that will be available at the Safari Park. As usual, we will be meeting from 5.30pm in the Psychology Common Room, for drinks and nibbles. All the best, Eoin

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Professor Matsuzawa - Today @ 4pm - 2A73
by Hannah Buchanan-Smith 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

Just a final reminder that Professor Tetsuro Matsuzawa will be giving the seminar titled SAGA: An attempt to promote the welfare of chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates in Japan. 4pm in room 2A73 in Cottrell. It will be great so please come along if you can! Hannah

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Re: [BERG] BERG talks this week: Jim Anderson (15th) and Tetsuro Matsuzawa (16th) - dinner
by Hannah Buchanan-Smith 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

Dear all Just to add to Eoin’s message, we shall be going out for an early dinner on Thursday 16th March following Professor Matsuzawa’s talk. Those of us at the weekend SPRG meeting at the Burn have already heard him speak, and he gives a fantastic presentation! We look forward to hearing him present on a different topic. Please let me know by Wednesday noon if you would like to join us on Thursday so I can make a dinner reservation. E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Thanks, Hannah From: BERG [mailto:berg-bounces@lists.stir.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Eoin O'Sullivan Sent: 13 March 2017 11:30 To: berg Mailing List <berg(a)lists.stir.ac.uk> Subject: [BERG] BERG talks this week: Jim Anderson (15th) and Tetsuro Matsuzawa (16th) Dear BERGers, We are very lucky this week to have two wonderful speakers! On Wednesday in our usual BERG slot we have Prof Jim Anderson visiting from Kyoto University to present a talk entitled: "Outbreak of cooperative punishment in a wild, multilevel primate society (Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys, Rhinopithecus roxellana)". As usual, we will be meeting in the psychology common room from 5:30pm for drinks and nibbles. On Thursday, as part of Psychology's seminar series we have Prof Tetsuro Matsuzawa, also from Kyoto University. His talk is titled: "SAGA: An attempt to promote the welfare of chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates in Japan". This talk will be taking place in room 2A73 at 4pm, and an informal reception will follow (please follow this link for more information: http://www.stir.ac.uk/events/calendarofevents/2017/march/sagaanattempttopro…)<http://www.stir.ac.uk/events/calendarofevents/2017/march/sagaanattempttopro…> All the best, Eoin

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