UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara How the mind builds evolutionarily new concepts A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology by Michael Barlev Committee in charge: Professor Leda Cosmides, Co-Chair Professor Tamsin German, Co-Chair Professor Michael Gurven Professor Ann Taves Professor John Tooby January 2018 The dissertation of Michael Barlev is approved. ________________________________________ Michael Gurven ________________________________________ Ann Taves ________________________________________ John Tooby ________________________________________ Tamsin German, Committee Co-Chair ________________________________________ Leda Cosmides, Committee Co-Chair December 2017 How the mind builds evolutionarily new concepts Copyright © 2018 by Michael Barlev iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been fortunate to have several mentors who have guided me through graduate school. While I learned much from each, each stands out in mind for a particular important lesson or two. Tamsin German taught me how to be a thorough experimental psychologist, how to always stay close to my data, and how to decide whether to send an angry email only the day after writing it (who’s to say whether I always follow that last teaching). Leda Cosmides and John Tooby taught me how to think like an adaptationist, which is at the very core of my theorizing about the structure and function of the mind (psychology really does make no sense except for in the light of evolutionary biology). Moreover, the Center for Evolutionary Psychology they built, with its open and highly stimulating intellectual atmosphere, where nothing is sacred and where every hypothesis must be explained from first principles, is none like I’ve seen before or since, and I’m thankful to have been a part of it. Ann Taves taught me how to think like a humanist, and how to listen to (and build bridges with) people with different – often radically so – theoretical orientations. I have been particularly inspired by Ann’s unique ability to look past disciplinary boundaries and to extract valuable insights from texts others would be all to ready to dismiss. Of equal importance, I would like to thank Cameron Brick, Adam Cohen, Adar Eisenbruch, Netta Engelhardt, Rachel Grillot, Max Higgins, Erin Horowitz, Michael Kinsella, Spencer Mermelstein, Celeste Pilegard, Tadeg Quillien, Niva Ran, Joni Sasaki, and Daniel Sznycer, and many others, for years of close friendship, adventure, collaboration, and commiseration, for being exceptional housemates (particular shout-out to Adar, who has weathered me for five long years), for many intellectually stimulating conversations (my iv favorite kind), for motivating me to be the best scientist I can be, for frequent Shabbat dinners (which I really like but like pretending I don’t like), and for much more. Lastly but most importantly, I would like to thank my family, Leonid, Yana, Danny, Monica, and Naomi, for teaching me the importance of education (a time-honored Jewish tradition), for instilling in me a deep interest in the pursuit of knowledge, and for loving and believing in me though they still don’t quite understand exactly what it is I study (I’ll find better ways to explain it in future). v Michael Barlev ___________________________________________________________________________ Department of Psychology Email: [email protected] College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of California, Santa Barbara Tempe, AZ 85287-1104 Academic Positions 2017 – Present Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University PI: Steven Neuberg Education Ph.D. (2017) Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara Developmental & Evolutionary Psychology area, with a Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences emphasis Dissertation: How the mind builds evolutionarily new concepts Dissertation Committee: Leda Cosmides (advisor), Tamsin German, Michael Gurven, Ann Taves, John Tooby M.A. (2017) Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara Advisor: Ann Taves M.A. (2015) Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara Developmental & Evolutionary Psychology area Thesis: Core intuitions about persons coexist and interfere with acquired Christian beliefs about God Advisor: Tamsin German B.S. (2010) Psychology (Highest Honors), University of California, Davis Biological Psychology area Honor’s Thesis: Attitudes toward gay men as a function of their same-sex sexual behavior and gender role presentation Advisor: Gregory Herek B.A. (2010) History (Honors), University of California, Davis vi Broad research interests I take an adaptationist approach to my research, which combines foundational insights from the theory of evolution by natural selection and the computational theory of mind. I am primarily interested in psychological mechanisms for social decision making, and in theories of learning. External Funding, Awards, and Honors 2013-15 Title: The role of near-death experiences in the emergence of a movement The Science, Philosophy, and Theology of Immortality Project at the University of California, Riverside (funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation) Co-Investigator with Michael Kinsella, Ann Taves, and Tamsin German Total award: $250,000 Internal Funding, Awards, and Honors 2016 Contribution to Excellence in Teaching Award, Department of Psychological & Brain Science, University of California, Santa Barbara Total award: $4,000. 2015 Doctoral Student Travel Grant, University of California, Santa Barbara Total award: Funding to present at the International Convention of Psychological Science, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 2014-15 Crossroads Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Research and Teaching, University of California, Santa Barbara Total ward: One academic year of full financial support. 2010 Highest Honors in Psychology, University of California, Davis 2010 Departmental citation for outstanding academic achievement, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis 2010 Honors in History, University of California, Davis 2010 Departmental citation for outstanding academic achievement, Department of History, University of California, Davis Publications Barlev, M., Mermelstein, S., & German, T. (Accepted). Representational co-existence in vii the God concept: Core knowledge intuitions of God as a person are not revised by Christian theology despite lifelong experience. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Barlev, M., Mermelstein, S., & German, T. (2017). Core intuitions about persons coexist and interfere with acquired Christian beliefs about God. Cognitive Science, 41(S3), 425-454. Taves, A., & Barlev, M. (2015). [Review of the book Past Minds: Studies in Cognitive Historiography, by L. H. Martin & J. Sørensen (Eds.)]. Numen, 62(4), 474–480. Invited Talks Anomalous experiences and paranormal attributions in a new spiritual movement. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality Preconference at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Long Beach, CA. (February, 2015) [Also under Conference Presentations.] The Science of Immortality Project Capstone Conference, University of California, Riverside (with Michael Kinsella; June, 2015) The Science of Immortality Project Midpoint Conference, University of California, Riverside (with Michael Kinsella; June, 2014) Southern California Working Group on Culture, Cognition, and Religion (2012, 2013, 2014) Conference Presentations (Selected) Barlev, M., Arai, S., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2017). Willingness to physically protect in romantic and cooperative partner choice. Paper presented at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Boise, Idaho. Arai, S., Barlev, M., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2017). Willingness to Share with YOU Matters: Why Generosity is Attractive in Romantic and Cooperative Partner Choice. Paper presented at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Boise, Idaho. Mermelstein, S., Barlev, M., German, T. (2017). Adults’ reasoning about the properties of God suggests intuitive inferences are not subject to belief revision. Poster presented at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Boise, Idaho. Barlev, M. & Grillot, R. (2016). One concern regarding the use of phylogenetic methods to study transmitted culture. Paper presented at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Vancouver, Canada. viii Arai, S., Barlev, M., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2016). Willingness to physically protect affects mate choice decisions. Poster presented at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Vancouver, Canada. Barlev, M. & Grillot, R. (2016). A domain-specific psychological perspective can inform phylogenetic analyses of transmitted culture. Poster presented at the California Workshop on Evolutionary Social Sciences, San Luis Obispo, CA. Barlev, M., German, T. (2015). Anomalous experiences and paranormal attributions in a new spiritual movement. Poster presented at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Columbia, MO. Barlev, M., German, T. (2015). Inferences of causal relationships and patterns in ambiguous information predict reports of anomalous experiences. Poster presented at the California Workshop on Evolutionary Social Sciences, San Luis Obispo, CA. Mermelstein, S., Barlev, M., German, T. (2015). Despite lifelong practice, reflective religious beliefs do not replace conflicting intuitive inferences in representations of religious concepts. Poster presented at the California Workshop on Evolutionary Social Sciences, San Luis Obispo, CA. Barlev, M., Mermelstein, S., German, T. (2015). Core knowledge