monkeys – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Unlike people, monkeys aren’t fooled by expensive brands

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2014Scienceanne barlow, capuchin monkeys, celeste nelson, humans, laurie santos, monkeys, organ development, yale study

In at least one respect, Capuchin monkeys are smarter than humans — they don’t assume a higher price tag means better quality, according to a new Yale study appearing in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology.

People consistently tend to confuse the price of a good with its quality. For instance, one study showed that people think a wine labeled with an expensive price tag tastes better than the same wine labeled with a cheaper price tag. In other studies, people thought a painkiller worked better when they paid a higher price for it. (more…)

Better Outlook for Dwindling Black Macaque Population in Indonesia

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2013Naturealaska fairbanks, biodiversity, black macaque population, bogor agricultural university, canada, endangered, entang iskandar, evidence, falk huettmann, groups of macaques, habitat loss, indonesia, indonesian nature, macaca nigra, monkeys, north sulawesi, one earth institute, primate research center; jane onibala, primatology, randall kyes, reserve, sam ratulangi university, seattle, sulawesi black macaques, survey, survey period, sylvia laatung, tangkoko nature reserve, umar paputungan, united states, university, university of washington, woodland park zoo

Since at least the 1970s, the population of critically endangered Sulawesi black macaques living in an Indonesian nature reserve has been dropping. But a new study by researchers at the University of Washington and in Indonesia shows that the population has stabilized over the past decade.

The findings, published in the January issue of the American Journal of Primatology, are from the longest ongoing survey of Macaca nigra and are among the first evidence that the monkeys may be in better shape. (more…)

Human Prejudice Has Ancient Evolutionary Roots

By Guest PostMarch 19, 2011Sciencecoast of puerto rico, common ancestor, evolution, evolutionary theorists, human, human culture, human nature, iat, implicit attitudes, ingenious experiments, island, laurie santos, mahzarin banaji, margaret martinez, monkeys, natashya gutierrez, neha mahajan, primate, psychologist, sequence of photos, us versus them

The tendency to perceive others as “us versus them” isn’t exclusively human but appears to be shared by our primate cousins, a new study led by Yale researchers has found.

In a series of ingenious experiments, Yale researchers led by psychologist Laurie Santos showed that monkeys treat individuals from outside their groups with the same suspicion and dislike as their human cousins tend to treat outsiders, suggesting that the roots of human intergroup conflict may be evolutionarily quite ancient. (more…)

People Aren’t Born Afraid of Spiders and Snakes: Fear Is Quickly Learned During Infancy

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2011Culturearachnophobia, arne ohman, children, electric shock, elephant, hollywood, humans, infants, monkeys, movies, poisonous, scary objects, snakes, snakes on a plane, spiders, susan mineka, toddlers, vanessa lobue

There’s a reason why Hollywood makes movies like Arachnophobia and Snakes on a Plane: Most people are afraid of spiders and snakes. A new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reviews research with infants and toddlers and finds that we aren’t born afraid of spiders and snakes, but we can learn these fears very quickly.

One theory about why we fear spiders and snakes is because so many are poisonous; natural selection may have favored people who stayed away from these dangerous critters. Indeed, several studies have found that it’s easier for both humans and monkeys to learn to fear evolutionarily threatening things than non-threatening things. (more…)

Google turned evil :-)

By ShamsMay 20, 20092 commentsScienceapes, evolutionary history, fossil, Frankfurt, Germany, humans, monkeys

It looks like. With this logo, it says something like this:

‘If you don’t search here, then I am going to jump on you’. 🙂

(more…)

The macaque rampant

By ShamsJune 12, 2008CultureBuddhist temple of Borobudur, Java, monkeys

Monkeys rampaged – destroyed hundreds of acres farmland and stole crops. The incident occurred in Java, and the complex of centuries old Buddhist Temple of ‘Borobudur’ was not either left from their aggressive move. The Temple is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.