HeyJaredLiving Fossils
The purpose of The Living Fossils is to communicate how the application of evolutionary ideas can help explain the sources of psychological suffering and well-being, in the service of improving our understanding of mental health.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 30, 2026
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- Jul 15, 2026
Latest issues
All the Feels Is Now Available (opens the original)
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Hi all.My book, All the Feels: The Evolved Function of Every Human Emotion and Sensation, is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. <so
Signal Inflation (!) (opens the original)
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When people hear the word “inflation,” they mostly think about the economy. But money is not the only thing that inflates. Take Uber ratings. In theory, a five-star system should describe a spectrum of quality: one star means terrible, five stars means excellent, and three or four stars should mean something in between.That’s more or less how Uber ratings used to work, but not anymore. A five-star rating no longer means exceptional so much as acceptable, while a four-star rating has stopped mean
Frequencies & Whole Objects (opens the original)
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Let’s face it, most research in psychological science has little to no bearing on the real world.The study of how people reason about frequencies and probabilities is an exception.Consider this problem, drawn from a paper by two psychologists in 1995.1The probability of breast cancer is 1% for a woman at age forty who participates in routine screening. If a woman has breast cancer, the probability is 80% that she will get a positive mammography. If a woman does not have brea
Thinking Wrong for the Right Reasons (opens the original)
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has made a handful of so-called “cognitive distortions” central to its project of helping clients think—and therefore feel and act—differently.The problem is that, from an evolutionary perspective, many of these distortions are features, not bugs, which complicates any attempt to change or “fix” them.Take a look: <a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IorO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2
Why I Avoid the Word “Innate” (opens the original)
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The word “innate” irritates me. In this post, I’ll explain why without getting too deep into the philosophical and semantic weeds.Let’s consider three things:A) Definitions of “innate.”B) The opposite of “innate.”C) Traits that people think, intuitively, are “innate.”Definitions of InnateOne definition of “innate,” from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “existing from the time a person or animal is born.
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