Jan Verplaetse - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Jan Verplaetse
Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 2010
... Anyhow, it is interesting to notice that we could not replicate the cooperators bias found in... more ... Anyhow, it is interesting to notice that we could not replicate the cooperators bias found in the original ... we see this research as an initial impetus for more cross-cultural research on cheater/cooperator detection ... Emotion judgments do not differ as a function of perceived nationality ...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2013
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2007
Evolution-inspired research assumes the existence of brain mechanisms that scan for information t... more Evolution-inspired research assumes the existence of brain mechanisms that scan for information that might signal noncooperative behavior. In this study, we demonstrate an automatic attention bias for threatening social interactions involving untrustworthy partners. Using a dot probe classification task, we found that, compared to unknown cooperators, attention was oriented significantly more toward the faces of unknown players who decided not to cooperate during a Prisoner's Dilemma Game. The present results thus suggest that an automatic, preconscious focus of attention underlies our ability to identify noncooperative players in social exchange situations. D
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2007
In accordance with evolutionary models of social exchange, we suggest the possible existence of a... more In accordance with evolutionary models of social exchange, we suggest the possible existence of a limited predictive cheater detection module. This module enables humans, to a certain extent, to predict how willing another might be to cooperate or not. Using unknown target subjects who had played a one-shot prisoner's dilemma game earlier, we asked participants in two experiments to rate how cooperative these target subjects were. Pictures were taken of the target subjects at three different moments: a neutral-expression picture taken prior to the game, an event-related picture taken during the decision-making moment of a practice round, and an event-related picture taken during the decision-making moment of a proper round. We found that participants in the experiments could accurately discriminate noncooperative pictures from cooperative ones, but only in response to those taken during the proper round. In both neutral-expression pictures and practiceround pictures, identification rates did not exceed chance level. These findings leave room for the existence of a predictive cheater detection module that deduces someone's decision to cooperate from event-related facial expressions.
Annals of Human Biology, 2012
Research indicating the effects of real blood or of its iconic representation on human behaviour ... more Research indicating the effects of real blood or of its iconic representation on human behaviour has thus far concentrated on phobia and aggressiveness. Little is known about other responses or, more fundamentally, about the biological basis of all such responses. In this study it is examined whether or not humans are able to detect real blood. Human subjects (n = 89) were asked to distinguish different kinds of blood from red control fluids under varying visual and choice conditions. Relevant differences between subjects were tested for through written questionnaires, including standardized scales for disgust sensitivity (DS-R) and blood phobia (MBPI) and performance on two clinical olfactory tests. Analysis of variance shows that humans are excellent detectors of animal blood (in casu pig blood), whereas the ability of detecting human blood is much less developed. Surprisingly, differences in olfactory capacities and personal experience with blood have no effect on blood detection, while blood fear lowers and disgust sensitivity ameliorates this performance. This study allows further mapping of the exact role of disgust sensitivity in human behaviour, as well as a deliberate choice of materials in blood-related experiments. It is imperative for further research on the behavioural and psychological impact 'blood' resorts on humans.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2014
ABSTRACT Research on human inbreeding avoidance has uncovered at least two central cues to the de... more ABSTRACT Research on human inbreeding avoidance has uncovered at least two central cues to the detection of siblings: witnessing an infant being taken care of by one's mother (i.e. maternal perinatal association) and growing up in close proximity to a child (the so-called Westermarck effect). Both cues have been supported by fieldwork in populations under specific cultural conditions, and by survey research mainly in student populations. Both types of research have relied often on self-reporting. Unfortunately, this method is frequently colored by ceiling effects and notions of social desirability. In order to circumvent this problem, we explored a complementary method for investigating incest aversion that involved measuring psychophysiological responses during an imagery task. As such, we analyzed data on 63 heterosexual female students who viewed pictures of sexual and non-sexual activities while imagining performing these activities with either their partner or their brother. In female subjects with only (one or more) older brothers—a proxy for lacking maternal perinatal association with an opposite-sex sibling—the duration of coresidence with brother(s) predicted activity in the mm. levator labii superioris and alaeque nasi, facial muscles that are highly active when a subject expresses facial disgust. The strength of these responses was also predicted by the frequency of having bathed and shared a bedroom with a brother in early childhood; two activities that may serve as additional cues for relatedness as it can be expected that they are typically performed with genetically related children. As a result, the psychophysiological approach not only complements the use of self-reports in recent research on incest aversion, but also has the potential to fine-tune well-established cues for sibling detection, or to uncover additional ones.
Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 2010
... Anyhow, it is interesting to notice that we could not replicate the cooperators bias found in... more ... Anyhow, it is interesting to notice that we could not replicate the cooperators bias found in the original ... we see this research as an initial impetus for more cross-cultural research on cheater/cooperator detection ... Emotion judgments do not differ as a function of perceived nationality ...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2013
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2007
Evolution-inspired research assumes the existence of brain mechanisms that scan for information t... more Evolution-inspired research assumes the existence of brain mechanisms that scan for information that might signal noncooperative behavior. In this study, we demonstrate an automatic attention bias for threatening social interactions involving untrustworthy partners. Using a dot probe classification task, we found that, compared to unknown cooperators, attention was oriented significantly more toward the faces of unknown players who decided not to cooperate during a Prisoner's Dilemma Game. The present results thus suggest that an automatic, preconscious focus of attention underlies our ability to identify noncooperative players in social exchange situations. D
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2007
In accordance with evolutionary models of social exchange, we suggest the possible existence of a... more In accordance with evolutionary models of social exchange, we suggest the possible existence of a limited predictive cheater detection module. This module enables humans, to a certain extent, to predict how willing another might be to cooperate or not. Using unknown target subjects who had played a one-shot prisoner's dilemma game earlier, we asked participants in two experiments to rate how cooperative these target subjects were. Pictures were taken of the target subjects at three different moments: a neutral-expression picture taken prior to the game, an event-related picture taken during the decision-making moment of a practice round, and an event-related picture taken during the decision-making moment of a proper round. We found that participants in the experiments could accurately discriminate noncooperative pictures from cooperative ones, but only in response to those taken during the proper round. In both neutral-expression pictures and practiceround pictures, identification rates did not exceed chance level. These findings leave room for the existence of a predictive cheater detection module that deduces someone's decision to cooperate from event-related facial expressions.
Annals of Human Biology, 2012
Research indicating the effects of real blood or of its iconic representation on human behaviour ... more Research indicating the effects of real blood or of its iconic representation on human behaviour has thus far concentrated on phobia and aggressiveness. Little is known about other responses or, more fundamentally, about the biological basis of all such responses. In this study it is examined whether or not humans are able to detect real blood. Human subjects (n = 89) were asked to distinguish different kinds of blood from red control fluids under varying visual and choice conditions. Relevant differences between subjects were tested for through written questionnaires, including standardized scales for disgust sensitivity (DS-R) and blood phobia (MBPI) and performance on two clinical olfactory tests. Analysis of variance shows that humans are excellent detectors of animal blood (in casu pig blood), whereas the ability of detecting human blood is much less developed. Surprisingly, differences in olfactory capacities and personal experience with blood have no effect on blood detection, while blood fear lowers and disgust sensitivity ameliorates this performance. This study allows further mapping of the exact role of disgust sensitivity in human behaviour, as well as a deliberate choice of materials in blood-related experiments. It is imperative for further research on the behavioural and psychological impact 'blood' resorts on humans.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2014
ABSTRACT Research on human inbreeding avoidance has uncovered at least two central cues to the de... more ABSTRACT Research on human inbreeding avoidance has uncovered at least two central cues to the detection of siblings: witnessing an infant being taken care of by one's mother (i.e. maternal perinatal association) and growing up in close proximity to a child (the so-called Westermarck effect). Both cues have been supported by fieldwork in populations under specific cultural conditions, and by survey research mainly in student populations. Both types of research have relied often on self-reporting. Unfortunately, this method is frequently colored by ceiling effects and notions of social desirability. In order to circumvent this problem, we explored a complementary method for investigating incest aversion that involved measuring psychophysiological responses during an imagery task. As such, we analyzed data on 63 heterosexual female students who viewed pictures of sexual and non-sexual activities while imagining performing these activities with either their partner or their brother. In female subjects with only (one or more) older brothers—a proxy for lacking maternal perinatal association with an opposite-sex sibling—the duration of coresidence with brother(s) predicted activity in the mm. levator labii superioris and alaeque nasi, facial muscles that are highly active when a subject expresses facial disgust. The strength of these responses was also predicted by the frequency of having bathed and shared a bedroom with a brother in early childhood; two activities that may serve as additional cues for relatedness as it can be expected that they are typically performed with genetically related children. As a result, the psychophysiological approach not only complements the use of self-reports in recent research on incest aversion, but also has the potential to fine-tune well-established cues for sibling detection, or to uncover additional ones.