As the next in my series on evolutionary psychology I wanted to highlight the unusual take that Satoshi Kanazawa gave on the subject of polygamy over at his blog. Here are some excerpts:

Contrary to popular belief, most women benefit from polygynous society, and most men benefit from monogamous society. This is because polygynous society allows some women to share a resourceful man of high status. George Bernard Shaw (who was one of the founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science where I teach) put it best, when he observed, “The maternal instinct leads a woman to prefer a tenth share in a first rate man to the exclusive possession of a third rate one.”

In contrast, most men benefit from monogamous society. Given a 50-50 sex ratio, monogamous society virtually guarantees a wife for every man, even a third-rate one. Under polygyny, some third-rate men may not find a wife at all, or, even if they are lucky enough to find one, their wife will not be as desirable as the one they can secure for themselves under monogamy, because under polygyny more desirable women would have become the second, third, or tenth wife of more desirable men.

The exceptions to this rule are highly desirable women, who benefit from monogamous society, and highly desirable men, who benefit from polygynous society. A highly desirable woman can marry a highly desirable man under any circumstances, but under polygyny she’d have to share her desirable husband with other women, whereas under monogamy she can monopolize him. A highly desirable man can acquire multiple wives under polygyny, but must confine himself to only one wife (albeit a highly desirable one) under monogamy.

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I have been fascinated by the theories and posts at this guy’s blog. I didn’t know much at all about evolutionary psychology before this week, though I was not surprised that such a field existed. Here is the definition of evolutionary psychology we get from the wiki:

Evolutionary psychology (EP) is a pseudoscience that attempts to explain mental and psychological traits—such as memory, perception, or language—as adaptations, that is, as the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection. Adaptationist thinking about physiological mechanisms, such as the heart, lungs, and immune system, is common in evolutionary biology. Evolutionary psychology applies the same thinking to psychology.

Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior is generated by psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments. They hypothesize, for example, that humans have inherited special mental capacities for acquiring language, making it nearly automatic, while inheriting no capacity specifically for reading and writing. Other adaptations, according to EP, might include the abilities to infer others’ emotions, to discern kin from non-kin, to identify and prefer healthier mates, to cooperate with others, and so on. Consistent with the theory of natural selection, evolutionary psychology sees organisms as often in conflict with others of their species, including mates and relatives. For example, mother mammals and their young offspring sometimes struggle over weaning, which benefits the mother more than the child. Humans, however, have a marked capacity for cooperation as well. (more…)

Satoshi Kanazawa is an evolutionary psychologist and he blogs over at Psychology Today. Earlier this week he published a post called “How to be happy” (Hat tip to the BCC sideblog). Here are some relevant excerpts:

What can evolutionary psychology say about how to be happy? …

I would say that the best thing for people to do to become happier is to get in touch with their animal nature … Recognize and accept that we are animals. We are all designed by evolution to be certain way, and no amount of denial or fighting will change our evolutionary legacy and its implications.

One of the things that evolution has done is to make men and women very different. … One of the ways that men and women are different is in what makes them happy.

Forget what feminists, hippies, and liberals have told you in the last half century. They are all lies based on political ideology and conviction, not on science. Contrary to what they may have told you, it is very unlikely that money, promotions, the corner office, social status, and political power will make women happy. Similarly, it is very unlikely that quitting their jobs, dropping out of the rat race, and becoming stay-at-home dads to spend all their times with their children will make men happy.
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So have you seen Yo Gabba Gabba yet? If not this is some must see TV for toddlers and hipsters alike. Here are some excerpts from the Yo Gabba Gabba wiki:

Yo Gabba Gabba! is a children’s television series currently airing on the Nick Jr. and Noggin cable networks in the United States and the Nick Jr. networks in the United Kingdom and Australia. [It was] created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz

And here is a quote from the Christian Jacobs wiki (so you can see why I am posting on this here instead of somewhere else like, say, Kulturblog):

Christian Richards Jacobs (born January 11, 1972 in Rexburg, Idaho) is an American musician, voice actor, and former child actor. Jacobs has been the lead singer of The Aquabats since the band formed in 1994 and is known by the stage name The MC Bat Commander, often abbreviated as MCBC. He is also the co-creator of the Nick Jr. children’s television series Yo Gabba Gabba!.

For his role in The Aquabats he uses a marker to draw a mustache on his upper lip and black out one of his front teeth. He also performs various stunts on stage, including backflips, and spitting fire…

Jacobs is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two-year mission in Japan. Part of the time, his assignment was that of assistant to the Mission President. He is the great-grandson of prominent Mormon leader LeGrand Richards.

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Teacher: “So the Brother of Jared saw the finger of the Lord”

Boy #1: “Did he pull it?”

Boy #2 (pensively): “That would have, like, destroyed a mountain”

(Seriously — I was there)

The BYU Men’s Hoop team improved to 8-0 tonight taking down a solid Utah State squad on a neutral floor (the ES Arena in SLC) by the score of 68-63. Since there are so many games in the basketball season I figured this discussion thread could be the place to talk about the team and the various games until I feel like posting again.

Here is my take on the hoops team this year: (more…)

Hey fellow bloggers — if you are using WordPress for your blog beware of hackers getting you like they got several of my blogs last week.

The scheme is pretty clever. Apparently what they do is hack into your WordPress site via FTP somehow or other (likely via a vulnerability in older versions of WP), then they modify your wp-blog-header.php file. The purpose of the hack is to siphon off all of your search engine traffic to their spam sites. The way it works is the new code placed in your header file reads the source of the incoming traffic and if the visitor is coming from a search engine the script directs that visitor to their spam sites before the visitor ever sees your site at all. (more…)

Our scriptures tell us that there is only one God.

32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. (Mark 12: 32-34)

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2: 5)

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Cor. 8: 6)

for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth. (1 Ne. 13: 41)

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Ok, game’s over and BYU got crushed. Here’s my conclusion: Live by the Max, Die by the Max. BYU had six turnovers and Max Hall was credited for all of them. That isn’t a good way to win a big game.

Congrats to the Utes (and to the MWC) for another pending BCS game invite.

And congrats to the Cougs for a third straight 10-win regular season.

And best wishes to Mike Reed who looked like he was seriously injured at the end of the game.

I was reminded of the bestest, coolest, awesomest chord in our hymnal in sacrament meeting today. It is a v7 chord, aka minor v chord with a flat/dominant 7 added. It is found in the tune Press Forward Saints (Hymn #81) in the last stanza. You’ll recognize it immediately. It is the “le” is that great “Alleluia” near the end of the song. Have a listen here or here.

Of course the coolness of that v7 chord is enhanced by the second coolest chord in the hymnal, the Dominant VII Maj7 chord that immediately follows it as the “lu”. So that turnaround progression goes I – v7 – Dominant VII Maj7 – I, or more specifically, F – c7 – Eflat Maj7 – F. I can’t think of a better turnaround in the book and the v7 must be the very best chord of all. Can you think of any challengers?

BYU football took care of the Air Force Falcons in impressive fashion today out in Colorado Springs. The final score was 38-24. With a solid win like this the Cougars appear ready to give Utah all they can handle next week in Salt Lake City. Plus, the BCS ranking for the Cougs ought to jump nicely this week with a win against an 8-2 team. BYU needs a win next week and a Boise State loss to have a legitimate chance at a BCS bowl — not out of the question but not likely either.

In other BYU sports news, the Men’s Basketball team beat Long Beach State last night in the season opener. Most of the team played poorly but senior star Lee Cummard put the team on his back and carried it to victory. BYU is hoping this will be the year they finally win a game in the NCAA tournament again.