Cultural Animal

How we find meaning in life.

by Roy F. Baumeister

The Reality of the Male Sex Drive

The problem of recognizing the reality of the male sex drive was brought home to me in a rather amusing experience I had some years ago. I was writing a paper weighing the relative influence of cultural and social factors on sexual behavior, and the influence consistently turned out to be stronger on women than on men. Read More

Do the Laws of Physics Permit Any Exceptions?

If meaning, symbolism, and social reality are real AND are not physical things, then not all reality is physical. Read More

John Bargh and Some Misunderstandings About Free Will

Bargh and Baumeister debated free will for 90 minutes at the giant SPSP convention in Tampa. These are Baumeister's thoughts after the debate.

Free Will at the Tampa SPSP Conference: The Great Debate

Do human beings have free will? Or is every human action the inevitable result of prior events and external causes? Or both? Read More

Determinism Is Not Just Causality

Determinism is the belief in the 100 percent inevitability of everything that happens. That requires a huge leap of faith.

Determinism is not just causality. Determinism goes far beyond causality, and certainly much farther than psychological science requires. Read More

Should Football Penalize Celebrating and Taunting?

Should psychological expressions be penalized in sports?

The past two months have seen many high points of the recent football season, as both colleges and the professional league matched their top teams in postseason clashes. The results have often been entertaining, with ample suspense, surprise, drama, subplots, and feats of remarkable athleticism. Read More

Languages Are Vanishing: So What?

Most of the world's seven thousand languages will no longer be spoken by the end of this century. So what? Should we moan, resist, or say "Good riddance!"? This post was stimulated by a story in the news magazine The Economist on the extinction of languages. It notes that 200 African languages have recently died and another 300 are endangered. Read More

Why I Don’t Vote

People are usually surprised to hear I don't vote. I think many have an initial reaction of curiosity and disapproval. People who vote are often self-righteous. I have heard instructors say they give their students extra points if they vote in the election. On voting day, those who say they voted are often congratulated and praised, as if they had donated blood or something. Read More

Prejudice and the Election

Social psychologists interested in prejudice might usefully turn their attention to a rampant and destructive set of prejudices, namely the way Republicans and Democrats regard each other. Read More

Single Sex Schools?

This year my research on gender got me invited to speak at the annual conference of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education (NASSPE). I had not heard of this organization previously, but I attended with an open mind. I must say it was all rather inspiring. Read More

Because She’s a Woman: Glass Ceilings, Female Politicians, and Hate Speech

Both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin referred to their candidacies as breaking glass ceilings. Must we regard such remarks as male-bashing hate speech?

Now that both major parties have fielded major female candidates, this nonpartisan blog can say a few words about common concerns. One is sexism. Read More

Sex and Politicians

The John Edwards confession should nudge us to realize that we cannot afford to disqualify political candidates based on sex. Read More

Will Companies Discriminate Against Children of Single Parents?

Suppose companies find they can increase profits by preferentially hiring people raised by two parents. What should psychology, and society, do? Read More

That's Just Fkingly Great: If "Fking" Is an Adjective, What Is the Adverb?

To allow our language’s communicative efficacy to deteriorate would be f**kingly stupid. What should be the adverb form of f**king? And what does it mean? If something is ridiculous but not f**kingly ridiculous, how would one express that? Read More

The Evolution of Economic Rationality: Do Monkeys Understand Money?

monkey To gain perspective on human financial decisions, one may ask, what would monkeys do? Read More

Narcissism and Celebrity Relationships

Why do celebrity relationships fail? Narcissism is a likely culprit. It is good for starting but not for sustaining relationships. Read More

One Ideal Image of Manliness

Seeing a quiet, gentle man thrown into a desperate situation and taking heroic responsibility to care for others might just inspire some of our boys to become better men. Read More

Fathers Who Leave

How could a man leave his wife and children for another woman? Read More

Why Does Money Matter? The Psychological Meaning of Money

Money enables the owner to move the social system, to give him what he wants. Read More

Nature Against Culture in the 22nd Century

Nature vs. culture over population Read More

Searching for Behavior in Behavior Science

A recent conference highlighted the dwindling presence of behavior in psychology, the so-called science of behavior.
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Winning the War, Losing the Peace in Iraq: Implications for Psychology

The outcome in Iraq presents challenges and opportunities for psychology. Read More

Roy F. Baumeister is Eppes Eminent Scholar, Professor of Psychology, and head of the social psychology graduate program at Florida State University.

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