In 2015, the revelation that Volkswagen had been gaming emissions tests shook the corporate world. The deception involved 11 million diesel cars being fitted with a ‘defeat device’, which masked the emissions released by these vehicles when they detected they were undergoing testing, but otherwise polluted at levels flagrantly beyond legal limits. Since being busted, …
The sneakiness of the novel coronavirus virus has wreaked havoc worldwide. Although the coronavirus is a global pandemic, what's striking is how the pathogen’s destruction has varied across regions. Whilst East Asia has largely got a grip on the virus, Europe is still reeling. The United Kingdom recently pipped Italy to claim Europe's highest death …
Continue reading How culture explains our weak response to the coronavirus
It’s a well-established fact that size influences our choice of leaders. For example, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are disproportionately over 6 feet tall. Similarly, the height of presidential candidates can partially predict the outcome of an election. Since the start of the 20th century, over 70% of US elections between the two parties have …
People in general are overconfident, excessively optimistic and think of themselves as superior to others. How can I say such a thing? Ask anyone with a license to rate their driving abilities, and most people will tell you that they are above average. However, this is not just an isolated case of cocky drivers. The …
Ranking people by their social status seems to come naturally to us humans. Indeed, social hierarchies are ubiquitous across cultures and throughout human history. Social hierarchies have allowed humans to coordinate effectively, and enabled large groups to make decisions and address collective action problems. Whether small-scale societies or industrialised nations, one can think of various …
A defining aspect of our species' success is our unusually high levels of cooperation. In particular, our ability to cooperate with others who are not related to us.The scale of cooperation among humans is rare in the animal kingdom, and is strongly at odds with our closest primate relatives. Presented with this puzzle, scientists are …
Continue reading Competition can encourage prosocial behaviour to spread
We modern humans live in a world surrounded by ever evolving technology. Whether it's the combustion engine or the modern computer, these technologies are ubiquitous and have radically altered the world we live in. What's no so obvious is how complex the technologies of traditional societies are too. Bow and arrows and clothing are just a …
Continue reading We don’t need to understand how technology works for it to evolve
Despite increasing public debate over the appropriateness of sex in advertising, sexual imagery and high status individuals continue to be used by marketers to sell products. However, answering why sexual imagery has proven so influential in advertising receives conflicting answers. Social constructionists argue that these consumer preferences are primarily shaped by people's experiences within particular …
One of the defining attributes of humans is that we are champion cooperators, surpassing levels of cooperation far beyond what is observed in other species across the animal kingdom. Understanding how cooperation is sustained, particularly in large-scale societies, remains a central question for both evolutionary scientists and policy makers. Social scientists frequently use behavioural game …
Continue reading Why anti-corruption strategies may backfire
Almost 63 million Americans voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump's victory defied experts' predictions, and shocked the world. How could a man widely dismissed as a joke, a conspiracy theorist and an impulsive narcissist with no political experience whatsoever, capture the world’s most powerful political position? Not only did Trump …
Continue reading The Appeal of the Primal Leader: Human Evolution and Donald Trump
Darwinian Business 