Letter from the Editorial Board
Human Ethology Bulletin, Volume 33, No 2, 1-4, published June 30, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22330/heb/332/001-004
Just over a year ago, ISHE held its most recent summer institute in Boise, Idahoe. The meeting was hosted wonderfully by John Ziker, who made us feel welcome in the potato capital. The scientific program and so much more were handled by our president Craig Roberts with the help of past president Tom Alley and the program committee. Their combined efforts made for a inspiring and fun meeting.
The main speakers, Elisabeth Cashdan on sex differences in spatial behaviour and spatial cognition, Colin Hendrie on ethology, psychology and embracing the “return to nature”, and Randy Thornhill on the parasite-stress theory of cultural values and sociality represented the breadth of the sciences of evolved human behavior. The workshop on ethological methods has already been documented in a special issue in HEB with contributions by all presenters. This special issue reflects the challenges observing humans brings about and highlights the different ways one can approach the subject methodologically. (Fisher, M.L., 2017; Hendrie, C., 2017; Oberzaucher, E., 2017; Richer, J. et al.; 2017, Richter, J., 2017; Segal, 2017).
The workshop on Meta-theoretical foundations and statistical procedures for the study of causal mediation was held by the former editor of HEB, Aurelio Jose Figueredo and Heitor B.F. Fernandes. The workshop on facial image processing was hosted by Michal Kandrik, Iris J. Holzleitner, Amanda C. Hahn and Lisa M. DeBruine (Fig. 1a). Lastly, the workshop on data visualisation with the use of ggplot was held by Gert Stulp (Fig. 1b).
Figure 1: (a) Workshop on facial image processing, (b) workshop on data visualisation with the use of ggplot
One of the highlights of every ISHE meeting is the poster session (Fig. 2). Last year, three poster awards were given away, to Olga Semenova for her poster titled “Parental care and grandparenting in modern Russia as a reflection of discriminant parental investment theory”, Espen Sjoberg for his work on “Sex differences on the Go/No-Go test of inhibition” and César Maya, “Searchers by Nature and Experience: Experience in Search Improves Searching Performance through Decision-Making” (Fig. 3). Espen Sjoberg contributed to the current issue (Sjoberg & Johansen, 2018)).
Figure 2: Poster session
The additional contributions in this issue cover a broad range for scientific questions and methodological approaches. Kruger (2018a) and Kruger (2018b) wonderfully illustrate how observing behaviour can lead to insights about societally relevant behaviour, and how looking complements asking. Wade & Hompe (2018) asks questions about how women build and maintain relationships using behaviour called girl flirting. Lastly, Masuch and colleagues (2018) used eye-tracking methodology to investigate visual preferences.
Figure 3: Winners of the poster award: Olga Semenova, César Maya and Espen Sjoberg
This special issue, as diverse its contents, reflects but a small fraction of the various methodological and theoretical approaches in ISHE.
In the end, I have to share sad news. Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, or Renke, as many of you used to call him, passed away early this month. He was one of the founders of ISHE and Colin Hendrie, the editor in chief of HEB is currently putting together a special issue in his honour, that will be published in September. We will also take time to honour him at the conference in Santiago de Chile, that will be taking place in the first week of September this year. Check out our website for details that are continuously updated.
See you in September!
Elisabeth Oberzaucher
Vice President International Society for Human Ethology
REFERENCES
Fisher, M.L.(2017). Where To Start With Ethology Research: A Student-Centered Primer With Examples. Human Ethology Bulletin, 32(4), Human Ethology Bulletin, 32(4), 27-34. DOI
Hendrie, C. (2017). Developing Skills. Human Ethology Bulletin, 32(4), 15-20. DOI
Kruger, D.J., Juhasz, D., Saunders, C., Misevich, S., Duan, A., Heyblom, A. & Phaneuf, C. (2018a). Factors Prdicting Observed Cellphone Use in a Midwestern USA University Campus Area. Human Ethology Bulletin, 33(2), 5-12. DOI
Kruger, D.J, Falbo, M., Gazoul, C., Cole, E., Nader, N., Blanchard, S., Duan, A., Murphy, S., Juhasz, D., Saunders, C., Sonnega, P., Kruger, J., Elhai, J. (2018b). Counting Blue(tooth) Cars: Assessing Cellphone Use Among Vehicle Drivers in the Midwestern USA. Human Ethology Bulletin, 33(2), 48-57. DOI
Masuch, K., Einenkel, K.E., Weninger, M.J. , Schwarzl, C., Girsovics, V. & Oberzaucher, E. (2018). Nature Catches the Eye – Human Gaze Behaviour as a Detector of Spontaneous Visual Attention. Human Ethology Bulletin, 33(2), 13-21. DOI
Oberzaucher, E. (2017). Why We Do It The Hard Way: Observational Studies Tell A Different Story From Questionnaires. Human Ethology Bulletin, 32(4), 21-26. DOI
Segal, N. (2017). Ethological Studies Using Twins: Doing What Comes Naturally. Human Ethology Bulletin, 32(4), 35-43. DOI
Sjoberg, E.A. & Johansen, E.B. (2018). Impulsivity or Sub-optimal Reward Maximization in Delay Discounting? A Critical Discussion. Human Ethology Bulletin, 33(2), 22-36. DOI
Richer, J., Hendrie, C., Oberzaucher, E., Fisher, M.L. & Segal, N. (2017). Direct Observation of Human Behaviour: What It Is and Why It Must Be Done. Human Ethology Bulletin, 32(4), 3-5. DOI
Richer, J. (2017). Direct Observation: Impediments And Approaches. Human Ethology Bulletin, 32(4), 6-14. DOI
Wade, T.J. & Hompe, C. (2018). Women’s Friendship: Allomothering, Cooperative Breeding , and Exogamy as Bases For Effective Strategies For Friendship Formation. Human Ethology Bulletin, 33(2), 37-47. DOI
ISSN: 2224-4476
