The Evolution and Human Adaptation Program
Supported by the Office of the Provost, ISR, and the Department of Psychiatry

Presents a Spring Symposium with generous funding provided by
The Templeton Foundation, The Russell Sage Foundation, and The Gordon Getty Foundation

The Biology of Belief and Trust:
Has Natural Selection Shaped a Capacity for Subjective Commitment?

Friday, April 9th, 1999
8:30 AM- 5:30 PM, Room 1324 East Hall

All University of Michigan faculty and students are welcome

Our understanding of social relationships has been revolutionized by evolutionary approaches based on kin selection and reciprocity theory. Some aspects of human relationships, however, seem to be based on the social benefits of signaling a commitment to a future course of action that would decrease the individual’s inclusive fitness. A commitment to altruism in future situations, when reciprocal benefits are unlikely, can make valuable partnerships possible. A commitment to future attack, when that would likely result in a net loss, can be a strategic deterrent or coercion.

The possibility that such benefits might have shaped mental mechanisms has been widely discussed, but has not yet been systematically assessed and tested, nor have its implications been considered in the wide variety of fields where it may be important. This Conference brings together a group of distinguished scholars and researchers who have studied commitment strategies from diverse perspectives to address the question of whether natural selection has shaped a capacity for strategic subjective commitment. If it has, this may provide insights on issues of major importance, including the mechanisms that make deep human relationships possible, the capacity for "basic trust," the dynamics of suicide threats, human capacities for indoctrination, subjectivity and emotional commitment, the importance of ideologies to cultures, war, the role of trust and suspicion in shaping societies, and the origins of religions and the moral passions.

Morning

8:30 Randolph Nesse, Psychiatry & ISR, UM
The Biology of Belief and Trust
8:50 Thomas Schelling, Econ., Univ. MD
The Idea of Commitment

9:15 Jack Hirshleifer, Economics, UCLA
The Affections and the Passions

9:40 Robert Axelrod, Political Science, UM
Discussion

10:00 Break

10:30 Robert Frank, Economics, Cornell
Emotions that Facilitate Commitment

11:00 Richard Nisbett, RCGD & Psychology UM
Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South

11:25 Dov Cohen, Psychology
University of Illinois
Internalizing and "Faking" Honorability

11:50 John Holland, Computer Science, UM
Discussion

12:20 Break

Afternoon

1:30 Joan Silk, Anthropology, UCLA
Signals of Benign Intent

2:00 Eldridge Adams, Ecol & Evol. Biology University of Connecticut
Threat Displays as Commitment Mechanisms in Animal Communication

2:30 Stefano Parmigiani, Ethology & Evol. Biology University of Parma, Italy
Discussion

3:00 Break

3:30 Elinor Ostrum, Political Science
Indiana University
Communication and Commitment in the Commons

4:00 David Sloan Wilson, Biology
SUNY at Binghamton
Is a Religious Belief System a Blueprint for a Community Superorganism?

4:30 Peter Richerson, Env. Science and Policy
University of California, Davis
The Evolution of Tribal Social Instincts

5:00 Helena Cronin, Philosophy & Evolution
London School of Econ., Discussion

Additional participants/discussants include:
Richard Alexander, Evolutionary Biology; UM; Robert Boyd, Anthropology, UCLA; Lee Dugatkin, Biology; U. of Louisville; Ursula Goodenough, Biology, Washington U.; John Holland, Psychology, UM; William Irons, Anthropology; Northwestern U.; Geoffrey Miller, Psychology, University College London; Michael Ruse, Philosophy, U. of Guelph; Jeffrey Schloss, Biology; Westmont College; Eric Alden Smith, Anthropology; U. of Washington.