The third annual Darwin Day Colloquium took place Thursday in honor of Charles Darwin’s 206th birthday.
Sarah Duncan, a doctoral candidate in the department of biological sciences, gave the first lecture of the day about research she collaborated on studying UA students’ acceptance of evolution. Her research looks at what factors either increase or decrease their acceptance.
“The University is a really special institution in that we actually have speakers come and talk about how important the theory of evolution actually is and the contributions that Darwin made to science,” she said.
The Philosophy Club, the Secular Student Alliance, the Journal of Science and Health at UA and the Evolutionary Studies Club were all in attendance for the Darwin Day celebration.
Taylor Burbach, president of the Evolutionary Studies Club, said they had a good variety of speakers ranging from recent graduates to former faculty members.
“I think putting more emphasis on the interdisciplinary aspect of our program has brought more people in this year that we wouldn’t have reached otherwise,” she said.
Kilian Garvey, a psychology professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, was the keynote speaker. Garvey met Christopher Lynn, co-director of the Evolutionary Studies Program at Alabama, at a conference in New York. At the conference they discussed Garvey’s research and Lynn invited him to speak at Darwin Day.
Garvey’s research focuses on why people reject concepts that are very strongly supported or why they accept concepts for which there is no evidence, including horoscopes and crystals. The keynote speech focused on what factors determine people’s beliefs.
“I call it the ‘Darwinian Irony’ and it’s basically how the concept of biological evolution by natural selection is very complicated and it can be pretty existentially threatening,” he said.
Garvey uses the example of how people accept concepts like light, gravity and black holes that are just as complex as evolution, but the vast majority of people choose not to accept evolution. He said he believes it is because of the existential questions that come up when people contemplate evolution.
“Evolution can bother us on many, many levels, maybe the least of which is religious,” he said. “It tells us we’re not that special, and humans really like to think they’re special.”
He said the fact that people are capable of understanding the facts but just aren’t comfortable with the results is key. It has nothing to do with people’s ability and everything to do with what they want to hear, he said.
While Duncan is studying the biological side of evolution, she found Garvey’s address helpful in understanding the psychological side of evolution.
“I thought it was wonderful,” she said. “Dr. Garvey really provides that psychological insight into why people are more accepting of evolution, some more than others.”
Garvey is a cognitive psychologist. In school he studied the laterality of memory, but he said he soon found he gravitated towards more provocative subjects.
“I was very interested in how people form beliefs about the world, and one of the most controversial beliefs that you can get anywhere in this country is evolution,” he said. “I’m also interested in things like people who accept and reject things like vaccines and global warming.”
