Cartoons about our research on shame, by Cara Gormally. Part I. Part II. Part III.

Shame

Press

• Rolling Stone –  4/2021 – Being Distanced and Maskless Outside Is Safe. So Why Are We Fighting Over It?

• Revista Capital (Chile) –  9/2011 – El doctor de la vergüenza

• Prensa Libre (Guatemala) – 3/2014 – Especialista de la vergüenza

• BBC – 3/2020 – Coronavirus: How to go for a walk safely, without getting shamed

• BBC – 3/2020 – Coronavirus: cómo salir a caminar con cautela sin que te increpen o estigmaticen

• Cumhuriyet (Turkey) – 7/2020 – Insan hobisini sergilemekten utanır mı?

• The Week –  11/2021 – How shame makes us better people

• Donna Moderna (Italy) –  1/2025 – Il senso di colpa è femmina

• Paper: Shame closely tracks the threat of devaluation by others, even across cultures

Press

• • • The Boston Globe –  3/2016 – Shame on you—and others

    • Daily Mail (UK) – 3/2016 – Shame isn't necessarily a bad thing

    • The Washington Post –  10/2016 – Feel ashamed? Good for you!

    • The Huffington Post –  3/2016 – The Unexpected Reason It’s Healthy To Feel Shame

    • Finnish Broadcasting Company (Finland) –  10/2017 – Häpeän tunne on opittua – ilman sitä emme tulisi toimeen keskenämme

    • Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) – Häpeää sanotaan syyllisyyden myrkylliseksi serkuksi – ahdistusta aiheuttava tunne saattaa silti kääntyä hyväksi

    • Die Zeit (Germany) –  5/2020 – Du darfst dich schämen

    • Republika (Indonesia) –  3/2016 – Penjelasan Ilmiah Mengenai Rasa Malu

    • How Stuff Works –  3/2016 – There's an Evolutionary Reason Humans Developed the Ability to Feel Shame

    • Quartz –  3/2016 – The evolutionary advantage of feeling ashamed of yourself

    • Psychology Today –  7/2017 – The Ordinary Courage of Being Our Selves

    • Sapiens –  2/2016 – There’s No Shame in Shame

    • The Science Explorer –  2/2016 – Shame is Actually Critical for Our Survival, Researchers Argue

    • Science Alert –  2/2016 – Shame is a survival mechanism that reins in behaviour across cultures, scientists say

    • Applied Evolutionary Psychology Society –  3/2016 – The Evolution Of Shame: Why Shame Is Adaptive

    • UCSB Press Release –  2/2016 – For Shame

Radio

• • • Inside Higher Ed –  4/2016 – Shame and Social Devaluation

• Paper: Cross-cultural invariances in the architecture of shame

  • • Wiener Zeitung (Austria) –  9/2018 – Warum wir Scham empfinden

    • La Repubblica (Italy) –  9/2018 – Perché proviamo vergogna? Per difenderci

    • BBC (Russia) –  10/2018 – О пользе стыда

    • El Periódico Digital (Bolivia) –  12/2018 – La vergüenza tiene una sorprendente (y humillante) función social

    • Quartz –  10/2018 – Psychologists who studied shame around the world say it’s an essential part of being human

    • Big Think –  10/2018 – Shame has an evolutionary purpose, say researchers

    • Psychology Today –  5/2019 – Profiles in (everyday) courage

    • Association for Psychological Science (APS) – 11/2018 – Psychologists who studied shame around the world say it’s an essential part of being human

    • UCSB Press Release –  9/2018 – The universality of shame

    • Université de Montréal Press Release –  10/2018 – Éviter la honte, chercher la fierté: un système universel

• Paper: The true trigger of shame: Social devaluation is sufficient, wrongdoing is unnecessary

  • • Slate (France) –  7/2018 – Peut-on avoir honte si nous n'avons rien à nous reprocher?

    • Cerveau & Psycho (France) –  11/2018 – Annie Ernaux ou la honte des innocents

    • Psychology Today –  7/2020 – Undeserved Shame: Why Does It Occur?

    • Dong-A Ilbo (South Korea) – 12/2018 – [내 마음은 왜 이럴까?] 결백한 자의 죄책감

Pride

Press

• Down To Earth (India) –  8/2024 – Seven sins

• Cerveau & Psycho (France) –  2/2024 – Être fier, et pourquoi pas?

• Paper: Cross-cultural regularities in the cognitive architecture of pride

  • • La Nación (Argentina) –  3/2017 – La aprobación de los otros y la psicología de la sociabilidad

    • World Economic Forum –  2/2017 – Pride has a bad reputation, but here's why it might be a good thing

    • Ars Technica –  2/2017 – Feeling proud is probably a sign that people think you’re great

    • UCSB Press Release –  2/2017 – Pride — Sin or Incentive?

    • University of Oxford Press Release –  2/2017 – Is pride a sin or an incentive?

• Paper: Invariances in the architecture of pride across small-scale societies

Press

• • • BBC (UK) –  10/2018 – Why we shouldn't be too modest

    • BBC (Turkey) –  10/2018 – Neden fazla mütevazı olmamak gerek?

    • BBC (LatAm) –  1/2019 – Por qué no es bueno ser demasiado modesto

    • El Comercio (Peru) - 1/2019 - ¿Por qué no es bueno ser demasiado modesto? Esto dice la ciencia

    • HuffPost (Brazil) –  8/2018 – Orgulho é mesmo um pecado? Estudo analisa como o sentimento impacta a evolução humana

    • UOL notícias (Brazil) –  11/2018 – O papel do orgulho na evolução humana

    • Dilema veche (Romania) –  5/2019 – Lauda de sine

    • World Economic Forum –  9/2018 – How pride actually benefits the greater good

    • Yahoo! –  8/2018 – Evolution Study Shows Why Feeling Proud Is Key to Human Survival

    • UCSB Press Release –  8/2018 – The value of pride

    • Université de Montréal Press Release –  10/2018 – Éviter la honte, chercher la fierté: un système universel

Radio

• • • KCLU - NPR for the California Coast –  8/2018 – South Coast Researchers Say Pride Is More Than Narcissism; They Call It Evolutionary Survival Tool

Criminal law

• Paper: The origins of criminal law       

  • • Die Presse (Austria) – 2/2020 – Ist gerecht nur das, was besser überleben lässt?

    • Epoch times – 3/2020 – 研究找到法律本源：人類普世的直覺

    • StudyFinds – 5/2020 – How Did Law Become Part Of Human Civilization? Study Shows It May Be Natural ‘Instinct’

    • The Conversation –  10/2022 – Intuitions about justice are a consistent part of human nature across cultures and millennia – Yahoo! – Bozeman Daily Chronicle – Albany Times Union – Salon – Idaho Press – San Antonio Express-News – Seattle Post-Intelligencer

    • The National Interest – 11/2023 – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Seventy-Five

Video

• Emotions in History: Boundary-Crossing Adventures symposium, University of California, Santa Barbara - 8/2023 - Value, emotion, and the origins of criminal justice (1:12:15 - 1:29:35).

Laws about bodily damage

• Paper: Laws about bodily damage originate from shared intuitions about the value of body parts  

  • • The Conversation – 1/2025 – An eye for an eye: People agree about the values of body parts across cultures and eras

    • The Conversation – 1/2025 – “Olho por olho”: estudo analisa o valor de partes do corpo ao longo da história e entre culturas

    • Idaho Press - 1/2025 - An eye for an eye: People agree about the values of body parts across cultures and eras

    • O Globo (Brazil) - 1/2025 - Quanto valeria em dinheiro cada pedaço do seu corpo? Veja tabela

    • O Sul (Brazil) - 1/2025 - Quanto valeria em dinheiro cada pedaço do seu corpo? Entenda

    • Atlantico (France) - 1/2025 - Œil pour oeil, dent pour dent : plus qu’une construction civilisationnelle, l’expression d’une intuition commune de tous les groupes humains sur la valeur relative des différentes parts du corps humain

    • Deutsches Ärzteblatt (Germany) - 1/2025 - Wert von Körperteilen: Ein kulturübergreifendes Phänomen

    • Bild der Wissenschaft (Germany) - 1/2025 - Welche Körperteile sind uns am wichtigsten?

    • OSU Press Release –  3/2025 – Eye for an Eye: Psychology’s Sznycer and Wee publish work on laws about bodily damage

Radio

• • • Deutschlandfunk (Germany) –  1/2025 – Auge um Auge, Daumen um Daumen: Menschen bewerten Körperteile universell [audio]

Economic redistribution

• Paper: Support for redistribution is shaped by compassion, envy, and self-interest, but not a taste for fairness       

Press

• • • Marginal Revolution – 8/2017 – Support for Redistribution is Shaped by Compassion, Envy and Self-Interest not Fairness

    • Reason – 8/2017 – Support for Redistribution Shaped by Compassion, Self-Interest, Envy

    • Cato Institute – 9/2019 – What Americans Think About Poverty, Wealth, and Work

    • El Cronista (Argentina) – 12/2017 – Por que apoyamos la redistribucion de ingresos... pero no toda?

    • Gazeta Prawna (Poland) – 8/2017 – Dlaczego kochamy Janosika? Pomysły na redystrybucję dochodów wciąż żywe 

    • The European (Germany) – 1/2018 – Warum sind Menschen für Umverteilung?

    • HumanProgress – 8/2017 – Compassion, Self-Interest and Envy Shape Redistribution 

    • UCSB Press Release – 7/2017 – Sharing the Wealth

    • Université de Montréal Press Release – 8/2017 – Qu’est-ce qui nous motive réellement à appuyer la redistribution de la richesse? 

Video

• • • Talk –  10/2018 – Lecture given at the Symposium on Evolutionary Consumption held at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University

    • Steven Hayward –  1/2019 – The endless quest for social equality (Support for redistribution paper featured at 50:30)

• Paper: The ancestral logic of politics: Upper body strength regulates men's assertion of self-interest over economic redistribution

Press

• • • La Nación (Argentina) –  4/2017 – Escrito en el cuerpo: Ideas que se niegan a desaparecer

    • The Economist (UK) –  10/2012 – Political strength

    • The Wall Street Journal –  10/2012 – Week in Ideas

    • Daily Mail (UK) –  5/2013 – Men who are physically strong are more likely to have right wing political views

    • Los Angeles Times –  5/2013 – Do Obama's small biceps explain his liberal politics?

    • Le Monde (France) –  5/2013 – Plus un homme est musclé, moins il partage

    • The Huffington Post –  10/2012 – Policy and Prowess: Did Ancient Humans Diss the 47%?

    • Reason –  5/2013 – Bicep Size Predicts Politics

    • Salon –  10/2012 – Muscular men have self-interested politics, says study

    • La Nación (Argentina) –  7/2013 – El cerebro y la política

    • Tiscali (Czech Republic) - 10/2012 - O politickém přesvědčení mužů rozhoduje také to, jaké mají svaly

    • Smithsonian.com –  5/2013 – Wealthy Economic Liberals Actually Are Wimps

    • Association for Psychological Science –  5/2013 – Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links to Physical Strength

    • Psychology Today –  5/2013 – Physical Strength and Attitudes Toward Economic Policies

    • UCSB The Current –  5/2013 – UCSB Researchers Find Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links to Physical Strength

Video

• • • Universidad Francisco Marroquín (Guatemala) –  2/2014 – Envidia, uso de la fuerza y políticas de redistribución

Physical formidability

• Paper: Adaptations in humans for assessing physical strength from the voice

  • • CNN –  6/2010 – Men's voices may predict strength

    • New Scientist –  6/2010 – Male voices reveal owner’s strength

• Paper: Human adaptations for the visual assessment of strength and fighting ability from the body and face

  • • The Indian Express (India) –  10/2008 – Boxing opponent's face tells about his fighting ability

    • Science Daily –  10/2008 – Physical Strength, Fighting Ability Revealed In Human Faces

    • Slate –  10/2009 – Facial profiling

    • e Science News –  10/2008 – UCSB study finds physical strength, fighting ability revealed in human faces

Welfare Tradeoff Ratio

• Paper: Cognitive foundations for helping and harming: Making welfare tradeoffs in industrialized and small-scale societies 

  • • HBES –  5/2023 – How the mind decides to help and harm: Welfare tradeoffs among US and Argentine students and members of the Shuar and Tsimane of the Amazon

Fairness

• Paper: The implicit rules of combat reflect the evolved function of combat: An evolutionary-psychological analysis of fairness and honor in human aggression

  • • HBES –  8/2022 – The evolutionary origins of fair fights

Morality

• Paper: A moral trade-off system produces intuitive judgments that are rational and coherent and strike a balance between conflicting moral values

  • • UCSB Press Release –  10/2022 – The World According to GARP

    • OSU Press Release –  10/2022 – OSU psychology professor advances novel theory about moral judgment

Emotional tears

• Paper: Emotional tears: What they are and how they work. 

Press

• • • University of Miami Press Release –  1/2025 – What are emotional tears?

    • Women Online (Netherlands) - 1/2025 - Wat zijn emotionele tranen?

    • Diário da Saúde (Brazil) - 1/2025 - Lágrimas emocionais são mais do que sentimentos

Relationships

• Paper: Sometimes we want vicious friends: An embedded dyad framework predicts target-specificity in friend preferences

  • • Daily Mail –  3/2023 – The Mean Girls effect: Women enjoy it when their friends are nasty towards people they dislike, study finds

• Paper: Trust in humans and robots: Economically similar but emotionally different

  • • TechXplore –  4/2020 – Trust in humans and robots

• Paper: Trustworthiness: An adaptationist account

  • • News 9 Live –  1/2025 – Study finds why people trust those who cheat for their benefit

    • Di Lei (Italy) –  1/2025 – Riesci a perdonare chi ti ha tradito? Ecco cosa dice la scienza

    • Hindustan Times –  1/2025 – Betrayal is not the ultimate deal breaker of trust? 

    • Press Turk (Turkey) –  1/2025 – Araştırma sonucu: Her ihanet eden 'hain' olmayabilir

    • Quest (Netherlands) –  1/2025 – Eens een vreemdganger, altijd een vreemdganger? Dit zegt de wetenschap

Others

Press

• • Connect – Magazine of the College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State University - 9/2022 – Broadening our view (pp. 18-19)

  • OSU News and Media - 10/2022 - OSU touts world-leading center for the study of human nature

  • OSU News and Media – 4/2025 – 65 OSU faculty ranked among the best researchers

  • El Periódico (Guatemala) –  5/2019 – Investigadores reciben Honoris Causa de la UFM

  • BrainFacts.org –  9/2019 – Your Brain on Guilt and Shame

  • OSU Research Matters –  4/2023 – The value we put on our emotions

  • OSU Research Matters – 9/2023 – Intuitions about justice are a consistent part of human nature across cultures and millennia (pp. 10-11)

Video

• • The Dissenter –  9/2019 – The Evolutionary Psychology of Emotions

  • Omar Navarro's Sin miedo, sin límites –  4/2024 – Introducción a la psicología evolutiva: La naturaleza humana ancestral con Daniel Sznycer

Radio

• • Libertópolis (Guatemala) –  5/2019 – Interview (begins at 12:40)

  • Converging Dialogues #112 - Recalibrating Our Views on Anger and Shame: A Dialogue with Daniel Sznycer –  2/2022