– by Soyeon Choi Much of the research on friendship focuses on its benefits. Friends are a major source of support, and people with closer, more supportive friendships tend to report better health and well-being. But friendship also has costs, including one that is easy to overlook: time spent with other people is also time spent […]

– by Haneul Jang For decades, the phrase Man the Hunter has occupied a central place in discussions of human evolution. Today, however, the phrase sounds outdated, evoking a familiar image of men hunting large game while women gathered plants and cared for children. The phrase is often seen as representing overly simplistic and male-centered […]

– by Ana María Fernandez, María Barbato, Michele Dufey Jealousy is often portrayed as irrational, possessive, or simply unpleasant. Yet from an evolutionary and developmental perspective, jealousy may be better understood as a socially intelligent alarm system: an emotion that becomes activated when a valued relationship appears to be threatened by a third party. In […]

– by Yago Moraes Imagine two strangers meeting for the first time. Instead of making small talk, they either play an ancient strategy game or role-play a mild disagreement between friends. Weeks later, their impressions of one another have changed, but not in the way many theories about games would predict. This puzzle lies at […]

– by Tobias L. Kordsmeyer When we form impressions of others, we rarely rely on just one cue. Faces provide one stream of information, bodies provide another, and voices add yet another layer. In everyday life, these cues are usually perceived together – so it is tempting to assume they are redundant. If someone has […]

– by Irene Delval and Solimary García Hernández Traditionally, scientific and popular assumptions about sexual behavior have struggled to decouple it from its reproductive purpose. From primates to nematodes, sexual behaviors that didn’t lead to conception were often dismissed as errors, curiosities, byproducts, or evolutionary leftovers. Recently, however, this perspective has shifted. In Western societies, […]

– by Stuart West & Max Burton-Chellew Replication or repeating of experiments is a key part of the scientific methodology. It increases your trust in that result. It shows that the result was not just due to some unnoticed bias or a particular setup. This helps to filter out false positives and expose questionable research […]

– by Diego Guevara Beltran English Imagine you live in a small community where food is often scarce; storms, droughts, pests, and fires can destroy crops, disease and injuries can keep you from working, and help is often the difference between getting by and going hungry. Every day, you face decisions about cooperation: Whom should […]

– by Dražen Domijan Agent-based simulations offer valuable insights into processes that are difficult or impossible to observe directly. They enable systematic variation of relevant factors and examination of their influence on the behavior of simulated agents. For example, one can examine and compare how the same trait evolves under favorable conditions in an environment […]

– by Thomas Felesina The male nipple is a classic conversation starter (at least in the evo biology faculty lounge). The nipple is a feature that is functional and essential for reproductive success in females,[1] yet non-functional in males, perhaps decorative at best. We don’t spend much time agonizing over the “evolutionary function” of the […]

– by Martina Francesconi & Elisabetta Palagi Sex is often thought of as a purely physical activity, driven by movements, touch, and physiological arousal. Yet in humans, sexual interactions are also deeply communicative. Eye contact, facial expressions, and subtle emotional cues shape how partners experience intimacy, influencing feelings of pleasure, connection, and satisfaction. Nonverbal communication, […]

The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) at the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) offers jobs for Postdoctoral Researchers with a PhD in psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, or related disciplines. Two 2-year positions, fully based in Toulouse (fixed-term contract; full-time basis) Starting date: September 2026 and deadline for application: January 23, 2026 For more information, […]

– by Andreas Wilke People often see patterns in completely random data sets, expecting streaks and clumps where none exist. Maybe you’ve recently felt like you’re “on a roll,” or spotted an interesting pattern that later turned out to be non-existent. Here’s the fascinating twist: This tendency isn’t just found in adults. Our new research […]

The evolve-D lab, under the direction of Siobhán Cully in the Department of Anthropology seeks a postdoctoral researcher to join interdisciplinary projects addressing evolutionary medicine and human behavior. This is a calendar year position. Candidates with experience in quantitative, laboratory, or field-based methods and/or theoretical expertise in the evolution of kinship, gendered labor divisions, or […]

https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30783 Position Description The Pontzer Lab in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University seeks two Postdoctoral Associates for research in human ecology and health. These two positions are: Human Ecology, Energetics, and Climate: This postdoc will work as part of a team investigating the impacts of climate, physical activity, and market integration on […]

Postdoctoral Researcher in Social Psychology (2 years, full-time, research-only) Host: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Oslo, Norway Project: ERC StG Com2Civ (PI: Júlia Palik) Deadline: 26 January 2026 Apply/Info: https://www.prio.org/about/careers/28   Role (brief): Lead survey design, piloting, and implementation with ex-combatants in Colombia and the Philippines; develop and embed a survey experiment; contribute to theory-building […]

— by Jun-Hong Kim Over 95% of placental mammals are polygynous, with females bearing sole responsibility for rearing offspring. This stems from the reproductive characteristics of placental mammals. Female placental mammals are the default egg producers and are responsible for pregnancy and lactation. In other words, the default reproductive costs borne by female placental mammals […]

– by Kaitlyn Harper As evolutionary psychologists, we love a good story about sexual selection. They usually go like this: humans have evolved to prefer a given trait (e.g. intelligence, facial symmetry, waist-to-hip ratio) because it offers an evolutionary benefit, either directly or indirectly. Over time, people who prefer and therefore mate with partners who […]

– by Lasse Laustsen & Mark van Vugt Across the globe and throughout history, people have repeatedly turned to dominant, authoritarian leaders—figures like Julius Caesar, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump. While democracy advocates may scratch their heads, evolutionary psychology offers a compelling explanation: during times of intergroup conflict—war, terrorism, or intense rivalry—our ancestral instincts kick […]

– by Michael McBride Imagine a world where the biggest, strongest individual gets to eat first, mate first, and make decisions while everyone else cowers in submission. This was the reality for our ancient ancestors millions of years ago, just as it is for many animals today. It was a social life dominated by bullies—mostly […]

– by Bas van Boekholt & Simone Pika. Photo credit by Bas van Boekholt The complexity of human language has no counterpart in the animal kingdom, even though some basic building blocks can be found in animal communication. However, there is not “one” human language, with great variability in languages across the world and cultures. […]

– by Caroline B. Smith & Edward H. Hagen Humans are sexually dimorphic, meaning there tend to be differences between men and women on traits like height and weight. In our study we focused on the sexual dimorphism in muscle mass: men have more muscle mass than women. Why? The standard story is that higher […]

– By Ángel Luis González Esteban & Francisco Marco-Gracia For centuries, scientists have pondered a fundamental question: is there a biological trade-off between reproduction and longevity? In simpler terms, does having more children mean a shorter lifespan for mothers? This is a core idea in evolutionary theory, suggesting that bodies have limited resources, and investing […]

– by Jakub Fořt & Jan Havlíček Why do some individuals direct their sexual behavior exclusively toward individuals of the same sex? This is often viewed as an “evolutionary conundrum” or “evolutionary enigma” because same-sex attraction does not lead to reproduction – and yet it persists. Robust evidence from all around the world shows that […]

– by Lindsie Arthur Competition is woven into nearly every aspect of human life, often in ways we don’t consciously notice. Whether striving for promotions, signalling status in social groups, or competing in dating markets, competition shapes our interactions and decisions. But what fuels these competitive processes? One possibility is that hormonal fluctuations influence competition […]

– by Robin Dunbar Friends are the single most important resource we have. There is now vast quantities of evidence to show that the single best predictor of our psychological health and wellbeing and our physical health and wellbeing is the number and quality of close friendships we have.  The optimal number of friends (including […]

The Department of Psychology at Oakland University invites applications for a tenure-track appointment with expertise in QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS at the Assistant Professor level beginning Fall, 2025. Area of specialization is open, but primary research interests should complement those of existing faculty in one or more of our graduate program areas: Community and Behavioral Health, Social/Personality, […]

– by Carlos Hernández Blasi and David F. Bjorklund It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that a major theme in evolution is “save the children,” especially for a slow-developing species that invests much in few offspring, such as humans. However, although a child’s survival is in the best interest of both […]

– by Elic Weitzel, Kurt Wilson, & Rich Sosis (Image credit: John Shaver) Alloparental care—investment in offspring that are not one’s own—takes many diverse forms. Alloparenting can look like an older sister watching over a younger brother while their parents are out. It can look like an aunt or uncle helping to pay for their […]

– by Deb Lieberman, Editor-in-Chief of Evolution & Human Behavior I am pleased to announce a formal call for research papers to be part of two upcoming special issues/sections in Evolution & Human Behavior (EHB). The first special issue is focused on evolved adaptations that function in the domains of physical contact, contagion, and intimacy. […]

– by Adar Eisenbruch Photo credits: Hadza hunter (top) by Kristopher Smith; Tsimane hunter (middle) by Michael Gurven Many of us were taught as children not to judge a book by its cover, meaning not to make assumptions about people based on their appearance. Yet we do it anyway. For example, people whose faces look […]

– by Maija-Eliina Sequeira, Narges Afshordi, & Anni Kajanus Social hierarchies are an inherent part of human social life, and children learn to recognise and navigate them from infancy, suggesting a universal tendency to do so. But how does our environment shape our preferences for who to learn from, or who should lead? In our […]

– by Adam Tratner, Nechumi Malovicki-Yaffe, & Melissa McDonald Researchers have consistently documented sex differences in heterosexual mate preferences, indicating that women tend to prefer wealthier partners, and men tend to prefer young and attractive partners. This is one of the most robust findings in the evolutionary psychology literature on mate preferences and has stood […]

– by Adi Wiezel & Doug Kenrick Women make up slightly over 50 percent of the U.S. population. Why then are only a quarter of U.S. Senators and a tenth of Fortune 500 CEOs women? Why have none of 45 American Presidents been a woman? According to some experts on leadership, the explanation involves two […]

– By Tran Dinh and Steve Gangestad Why do humans vary in their willingness to have multiple sexual relationships or tendency to form long-term bonds with a single partner? Evolutionary-minded researchers often look at patterns observed in nonhuman animals to gain insight into human nature. Indeed, much research has been done to explain the array […]

Photo credit: Zachary Garfield. Hamar women gather for a community meeting – by Zachary Garfield How do we resolve conflicts? Who helps resolve conflicts and why? To answer these questions, my colleague Luke Glowacki and I analyzed data from ongoing long-term fieldwork among Hamar pastoralists in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, now published in Evolution and Human […]

Image: A vintage and somewhat unscientific map of mental functions. But how fine grained are these adaptations? – by Thomas J. H. Morgan From the outside, the brain is a medium sized, pinkish-grey blob. At the microscopic level, it’s a densely woven mesh of countless neurons. In between these two extremes is the brain’s functional […]