Leading Authority on Animal Intelligence to Present at UA’s Next ALLELE Lecture

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Daniel J. Povinelli, one of the world’s leading authorities on animal intelligence, will present his lecture, “Humanizing the Human Mind,” Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Biology Building auditorium on The University of Alabama campus.

He is fifth in a series of six speakers in the 2009-2010 Alabama Lectures on Life’s Evolution, known as ALLELE.  The lectures are made possible, in large part, by private gifts from Lou Perry of La Jolla, Calif., Eric Hopkins of Austin, Texas and The Barbara and Frank Peters Foundation of Corona del Mar, Calif. Povinelli’s visit is co-sponsored by the UA department of psychology.

Povinelli is a professor and director of the Cognitive Evolution Group at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The research group uses simple behavioral tests to contrast how humans and chimpanzees of all ages understand the world around them.

“I have come to see that we have distorted our own true nature – human nature – by conceiving of the minds of other species like chimpanzees as smaller, duller, less talkative versions of our own,” he wrote in an abstract about his lecture. “Casting aside these insidious assumptions has been difficult, but it has allowed me to see more clearly that the human mind is not the gold standard against which other minds must be judged.”

Povinelli’s numerous honors include a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, an American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology and a $1 million Centennial Fellowship from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

In 2000, he was named one of “20 Scientists to Watch in the Next 20 Years” by Discover magazine. Povinelli received his undergraduate degree in physical anthropology and zoology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his doctorate degree from Yale University.

He is the author of “Folk Physics for Apes: The Chimpanzee’s Theory of How the World Works,” and co-author of the monograph, “What Young Chimpanzees Know about Seeing.”

Along with private support, the ALLELE lecture series is supported by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of anthropology, biological sciences, geological sciences, philosophy and psychology.

“We are excited at the prospect of hearing from Dr. Povinelli, who is a leading expert on cognitive evolution in general and chimpanzee understanding of self in particular,” said Dr. David B. Boles, a professor in UA’s department of psychology.

The lectures are designed for a non-technical audience and are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.bama.ua.edu/~evolution/alleleindex.html.

The ALLELE lecture series is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.