Mark Schaller
Encyclopedia
Mark Schaller is a psychological scientist who has made many contributions to the study of human psychology, particularly in areas of social cognition
, stereotyping, evolutionary psychology
, and cultural psychology
. He is Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia
.
Schaller was born on November 27, 1962, in Palo Alto, California
. His father is the well-known zoologist and animal conservationist George Schaller
. During his childhood he lived in India
, Pakistan
, and Tanzania
, as well as in the United States
. He graduated from the University of North Carolina
in 1984 and obtained a PhD in Psychology at Arizona State University
in 1989, mentored by Robert Cialdini
. Early in his academic career he held faculty positions at the University of Texas at Arlington
and at the University of Montana. In 1996 he moved to his current position at the University of British Columbia
.
, focused on the ways in which specific kinds of perceived threats (e.g., threat of interpersonal violence), and contextual cues connoting vulnerability to those threats (e.g., ambient darkness), trigger specific kinds of prejudices against specific categories of people.
Within his program of research on threats and prejudices, Schaller developed a broader line of research on the perceived threat of infectious disease and its implications for psychological functioning. It this context, he coined the term "behavioral immune system
" to refer to a suite of evolved psychological mechanisms that serve as a crude first line of defense against infectious diseases. The behavioral immune system includes sensory mechanisms that allow people to detect the presence of pathogens in objects (including people) in their immediate environment, as well as stimulus-response mechanisms that trigger aversive affective, cognitive, and behavioral reactions to those things (and persons). Schaller and his colleagues, as well as other behavioral scientists, have documented many implications that the behavioral immune system has for emotion, for prejudice, for human social cognition and social behavior more generally, for the origins of cross-cultural differences, and for actual immunological functioning.
Schaller has also published scientific research on a variety of other topics pertaining to human psychological functioning. These topics include: the implications of evolutionary fundamental human motives on social behavior, the psychology of kin recognition
, and the psychological consequences of fame.
Social cognition
Social cognition is the encoding, storage, retrieval, and processing, in the brain, of information relating to conspecifics, or members of the same species. At one time social cognition referred specifically to an approach to social psychology in which these processes were studied according to the...
, stereotyping, evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional...
, and cultural psychology
Cultural psychology
Cultural psychology is a field of psychology which assumes the idea that culture and mind are inseparable, and that psychological theories grounded in one culture are likely to be limited in applicability when applied to a different culture...
. He is Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
Schaller was born on November 27, 1962, in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. His father is the well-known zoologist and animal conservationist George Schaller
George Schaller
George Beals Schaller is an American mammalogist, naturalist, conservationist and author. Schaller is recognized by many as the world's preeminent field biologist, studying wildlife throughout Africa, Asia and South America. Born in Berlin, Schaller grew up in Germany, but moved to Missouri as a...
. During his childhood he lived in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, as well as in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He graduated from the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
in 1984 and obtained a PhD in Psychology at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
in 1989, mentored by Robert Cialdini
Robert Cialdini
Robert B. Cialdini is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University.He is best known for his popular book on persuasion and marketing, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Influence has sold over 2 million copies and has been translated into twenty-six...
. Early in his academic career he held faculty positions at the University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university located in Arlington, Texas, United States. The campus is situated southwest of downtown Arlington, and is located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The university was founded in 1895 and served primarily a military...
and at the University of Montana. In 1996 he moved to his current position at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
Research
Much of Schaller's psychological research has examined the subtle cognitive processes that contribute to stereotypes and prejudices. One line of research focused on intuitive statistical reasoning processes. This work revealed that people form erroneous stereotypes when they engage in overly simplistic statistical reasoning, but that these erroneous stereotypes are less likely to emerge if people can be trained to engage in a more sophisticated reasoning process (analogous to a statistical analysis of covariance). Another line of research focused on communication processes as they relate to the emergence and change of group stereotypes. Additional lines of research, informed by the adaptationist reasoning characteristic of evolutionary psychologyEvolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional...
, focused on the ways in which specific kinds of perceived threats (e.g., threat of interpersonal violence), and contextual cues connoting vulnerability to those threats (e.g., ambient darkness), trigger specific kinds of prejudices against specific categories of people.
Within his program of research on threats and prejudices, Schaller developed a broader line of research on the perceived threat of infectious disease and its implications for psychological functioning. It this context, he coined the term "behavioral immune system
Behavioral immune system
The behavioral immune system is a phrase coined by the psychological scientist Mark Schaller to refer to a suite of psychological mechanisms that allow individual organisms to detect the potential presence of disease-causing parasites in their immediate environment, and to engage in behaviors that...
" to refer to a suite of evolved psychological mechanisms that serve as a crude first line of defense against infectious diseases. The behavioral immune system includes sensory mechanisms that allow people to detect the presence of pathogens in objects (including people) in their immediate environment, as well as stimulus-response mechanisms that trigger aversive affective, cognitive, and behavioral reactions to those things (and persons). Schaller and his colleagues, as well as other behavioral scientists, have documented many implications that the behavioral immune system has for emotion, for prejudice, for human social cognition and social behavior more generally, for the origins of cross-cultural differences, and for actual immunological functioning.
Schaller has also published scientific research on a variety of other topics pertaining to human psychological functioning. These topics include: the implications of evolutionary fundamental human motives on social behavior, the psychology of kin recognition
Kin recognition
Kin recognition is animals' abilities to distinguish between close genetic kin and non-kin. In evolutionary biology and in psychology, such capabilities are presumed to have evolved to serve the adaptive functions of kin altruism and inbreeding avoidance...
, and the psychological consequences of fame.
Books
- Schaller, M., Norenzayan, A., Heine, S. J., Yamagishi, T., & Kameda, T. (2010). Evolution, culture, and the human mind. New York: Psychology Press.
- Schaller, M., Simpson, J. A., & Kenrick, D. T. (2006). Evolution and social psychology. New York: Psychology Press.
- Crandall, C. S., & Schaller, M. (2005). Social psychology of prejudice: Historical and contemporary issues. Lawrence KS: Lewinian Press.
- Schaller, M. & Crandall, C. S. (2004). The psychological foundations of culture. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Selected articles
- Schaller, M., & Murray, D. R. (2008). Pathogens, personality and culture: Disease prevalence predicts worldwide variability in sociosexuality, extraversion, and openness to experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 212-221.
- Park, J. H., Schaller, M., & Van Vugt, M. (2008). Psychology of human kin recognition: Heuristic cues, erroneous inferences, and their implications. Review of General Psychology, 12, 215-235.
- Maner, J. K., DeWall, C. N., Baumeister, R. F., & Schaller, M. (2007). Does social exclusion motivate interpersonal reconnection? Resolving the "porcupine problem." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 42-55.
- Ackerman, J. M., Shapiro, J. R., Neuberg, S. L., Kenrick, D. T., Becker, D. V., Griskevicius, V., Maner, J., & Schaller, M. (2006). They all look the same to me (unless they're angry): From out-group homogeneity to out-group heterogeneity. Psychological Science, 17, 836-840.
- Maner, J. K., Kenrick, D. T., Becker, D. V., Robertson, T. E., Hofer, B., Neuberg, S. L., Delton, A. W., Butner, J., & Schaller, M. (2005). Functional projection: How fundamental social motives can bias interpersonal perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 63-78.
- Schaller, M., Park, J. H., & Faulkner, J. (2003). Prehistoric dangers and contemporary prejudices. European Review of Social Psychology, 14, 105-137
- Conway, L. G., III, & Schaller, M. (2002). On the verifiability of evolutionary psychological theories: An analysis of the psychology of scientific persuasion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 152-166.
- Schaller, M., Conway, L. G., III, & Tanchuk, T. L. (2002). Selective pressures on the once and future contents of ethnic stereotypes: Effects of the communicability of traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 861-877.
- Schaller, M. (1997). The psychological consequences of fame: Three tests of the self-consciousness hypothesis. Journal of Personality, 65, 291-309.