Nick talks to Elizabeth Hobson, PhD, whose lab studies the evolution of decision-making, social cognition, social networks, and dominance hierarchies using a combination of naturalistic field observations of animal behavior combined with computational modeling and network analysis.
They discuss social behavior in animals, including when and why members of a group display aggression, how animal dominance hierarchies form and change, and how changes in the environment can cause sudden “tipping points” where group behavior suddenly changes. We also discussed whether human societies may be near tipping points today, and how changes due to COVID have impacted remote learning.
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ABOUT Nick Jikomes:
Nick is a neuroscientist and podcast host. He is currently Director of Science & Innovation at Leafly, a technology startup in the legal cannabis industry. He received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University and a B.S. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Elizabeth Hobson: Social Networks, Dominance Hierarchies & Animal Behavior | #13