Society Awards

The Human Behavior and Evolution Society Early Career Award and Lifetime Career Award recognizes individuals for their contributions to the field. Beginning in 2023, we introduced the Rising Star Award, HBES Fellows, and the Don Symons Adaptationism Award. In addition, each year the editors of Evolution and Human Behavior, the official journal of the society, award the Margo Wilson Award for best paper published in Evolution and Human Behavior. Also, each year at the annual HBES meeting there are the conference awards: New Investigator Award, Postdoctoral Award, and Poster Award.

The HBES Rising Star Award

The HBES Rising Star Award is presented to outstanding HBES members in the earliest stages of their research careers post-PhD. This designation recognizes researchers whose innovative work has already advanced the field and signals great potential for their continued contributions.

Khandis Blake, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Daniel Conroy-Beam, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, UC Santa Barbara, USA

Jaimie Arona Krems, Department of Psychology, UCLA (formerly OCEAN, Oklahoma State University), USA

Michael Muthukrishna, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, LSA, UK

Patrick Savage, Department of Environmental and Information Studies, Keio University, Japan

Individuals being considered for the HBES Rising Star designation are evaluated for their promise of excellence in research based on the following criteria:

  • significant discoveries, methodological innovations, or theoretical or empirical contributions
  • work with potentially broad impact
  • significant publications
  • significant recognitions
  • demonstrated independence from mentors

Nominations for the HBES Rising Star Award should include the nominee’s curriculum vita and a one-page (maximum) statement about the nominee’s worthiness. Statements must be on university letterhead with 12-point Times New Roman font and 1″ margins. This nomination letter should include the following information:

  • What are the general themes of the nominee’s major lines of research?
  • What are the important research findings discovered by the nominee?
  • To what extent have the nominee’s contributions generated research in the field?

Please note: The award is subject to the following limitation: The nominee must be an HBES member and must be no more than eight years post-PhD by May of the year of their nomination.

Nominations will be due online yearly on March 1. This was a new award for HBES that began in 2023.

The Rising Star Award is not necessarily awarded every year. When it is awarded, it will be given to at most five outstanding individuals per year. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

The HBES Fellow Award

This Award will confer Fellow status upon HBES members who have made sustained outstanding contributions to the study or teaching of evolution and human behavior, or to the service of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. 

David Puts, Department of Anthropology, Penn State University, USA

Daniel Sznycer, OCEAN, Oklahoma State University, USA

Joshua Tybur, Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU Amsterdam, Netherlands

Starting in 2023, HBES Fellow status has been awarded to HBES members who have made sustained outstanding contributions to the study and/or teaching of evolution and human behavior, and/or to the service of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society.

Nominations for HBES Fellows should include the nominee’s curriculum vita and a short nomination letter (1,500 words, max) answering up to three prompts regarding the nominee’s worthiness based upon some combination of their research excellence, teaching excellence, and/or excellence in service to HBES. Statements should be on university letterhead. Nomination letters can outline contributions to multiple areas or to a single area, wherein nominators explain the nominee’s:

  • sustained, outstanding scientific contributions to the study of evolution and human behavior and/or
  • sustained, outstanding teaching contributions in the area of evolution and human behavior and/or
  • sustained, outstanding service contributions to the Human Behavior and Evolution Society.

Please note: The award is subject to the following limitation: The nominee must be an HBES member and must at least 10 years post-PhD by of the year of their nomination. Self-nominations are welcome.

Nominations will be due online yearly on March 1.

This award is not necessarily conferred every year. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution

The Early Career Award recognizes excellent young scientists who have made distinguished theoretical and/or empirical contributions to the study of evolution and human behavior.

2023 Michael Muthukrishna
Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science
LSE
London, UK

2022 Damian Murray
Department of Psychology
Tulane University
2021 Willem Frankenhuis
Department of Psychology
Utrecht University, Utrecht
2020 Katherine McAuliffe
Department of Psychology
Boston College
2019 Brendan Zietsch
School of Psychology
The University of Queensland
2018 Josh Tybur
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
2017 Coren Apicella
Department of Psychology
University of Pennsylvania, USA
2016 Marco Del Giudice
Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico, USA
barclay2015 Pat Barclay
Department of Psychology
University of Guelph, Canada
griskevicius2014 Vladas Griskevicius
Carson School of Management
University of Minnesota
puts2013 David A. Puts
Department of Anthropology
Pennsylvania State University, USA
debruine2012 Lisa DeBruine
Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology
University of Glasgow, UK
gurven2010 Michael Gurven
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
henrich2009 Joseph Henrich
Department of Psychology
University of British Columbia, Canada
kurzban2008 Rob Kurzban
Department of Psychology
University of Pennsylvania

The nomination letter should include the following information:

  • What are the general themes of the nominee’s major lines of research?
  • What are the important research findings discovered by the nominee?
  • To what extent have the nominee’s contributions generated research in the field?

Nominations for the HBES Early Career Award should include a statement about the worthiness of the nominee, curriculum vita of the nominee, a recent complete bibliography, and no more than five reprints representative of the nominee’s contributions. Statements should be no more than one page, with 12-point Times New Roman font and 1″ margins, and should be on university letterhead.

Please note: The award is subject to the following limitation: The nominee must be an HBES member and must be no more than ten years post-Ph.D.

Nominations should be submitted ONLINE yearly by February 1.

Notes: the Early Career Award is not necessarily awarded every year. When it is awarded, it will be given to at most one person per year. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Lifetime Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution

The HBES Lifetime Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution is awarded to HBES members who have made distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to basic research in evolution and human behavior.

2023 Joseph Carroll
Department of English
University of Missouri – St. Louis
St. Louis, MO, USA

2022 Douglas Kenrick
Department of Psychology
Arizona State University, USA
2021 Hillard Kaplan
Economic Science Institute
School of Pharmacy
The George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics
Chapman University, USA
2020 David Perrett
School of Psychology & Neuroscience
University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK
2019 Bobbi Low
School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
David Buss2018 David Buss
Department of Psychology
University of Texas, Austin, USA
boydricherson2017 Robert Boyd & Peter Richerson
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University, USA
Department of Environmental Science and Policy
University of California Davis, USA
ToobyCosmides2016 Leda Cosmides & John Tooby
Center for Evolutionary Psychology
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
nesse2015 Randy Nesse
Center for Evolution and Medicine
Arizona State University, USA
2014 (no award made)
hrdy2013 Sarah Hrdy
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Davis, USA
lancaster2012 Jane Lancaster
Department of Anthropology
University of New Mexico, USA
irons2011 William Irons
Department of Anthropology
Northwestern University, USA
chagnon2010 Napoleon Chagnon
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
daly_wilson2009 Martin Daly and Margo Wilson
Department of Psychology
McMaster University, Canada
alexander2008 Richard Alexander
Museum of Zoology
University of Michigan, USA

Nominations are open for the HBES Lifetime Career award. If you wish to nominate an HBES member, please follow these guidelines. Nominations for these awards should include a letter of nomination, a curriculum vita, a recent complete bibliography, up to five representative reprints and the names and addresses of several scientists familiar with the nominee’s work.

  • What has been the significant and enduring influence of the nominee’s research?
  • What historical contribution has the nominee’s research made to the field?
  • Compare the nominee with others in her/his field.
  • What influence has the nominee had on students and others in the same field of study?
  • Where possible, please identify the nominee’s students by name.

Nominations should be submitted ONLINE yearly by February 1.

Notes: the Lifetime Career Award is not necessarily awarded every year. When it is awarded, it will be given to at most one person per year or, in rare cases, to a collaborative team whose joint, lifetime work constitutes a Distinguished Scientific Contribution. The same person can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Don Symons Adaptationism Award

Created in 2023, the Don Symons Adaptationism Award is bestowed for the best paper exemplifying the adaptationist program.  Papers written or published by HBES Members in the last three years are eligible. To be considered, the paper and a letter nominating it (preferably from someone other than the authors) should be submitted online by March 1. Nomination letters must be no more than one page (12-point Times New Roman font and 1″ margins). The same paper can be nominated in multiple years, but to ensure that nominations are up to date, they must be resubmitted each year.

Submit nomination materials here by March 1.

Annie Wertz

Wertz, A. E. (2019). How plants shape the mindTrends in cognitive sciences23(7), 528-531.

Joshua Schrock et al.

Schrock, J. M., Snodgrass, J. J., & Sugiyama, L. S. (2020). Lassitude: The emotion of being sickEvolution and Human Behavior41(1), 44-57.

James Roney

Roney, J. R. (2023). Hormones and human mating. In D.M. Buss (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of human mating, Oxford University Press.

Margo Wilson Award

An annual award made by the editors of Evolution and Human Behavior for best paper published in the journal in the previous year.

2023 Singh, M., & Glowacki, L. (2022). Human social organization during the Late Pleistocene: Beyond the nomadic-egalitarian modelEvolution and Human Behavior, 43(5), 418-431.

2022 Gerdemann, S. C., & Wertz, A. E. (2021). 18-month-olds use different cues to categorize plants and artifactsEvolution and Human Behavior42(4), 304-315.

2021 Schrock, J. M., Snodgrass, J. J., & Sugiyama, L. S. (2020). Lassitude: The emotion of being sickEvolution and Human Behavior, 41, 44-57.

2020 Conroy-Beam, D., Roney, J. R., Lukaszewski, A. W., Buss, D.M., Asao, K., Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., et al. [105 others] (2019). Assortative mating and the evolution of desirability covariation. Evolution & Human Behavior, 40 (5), 479-491.

2019 Kyweluk, M. A., Georgiev, A. V., Borja, J. B., Gettler, L. T., & Kuzawa, C. W. (2018). Menarcheal timing is accelerated by favorable nutrition but unrelated to developmental cues of mortality or familial instability in Cebu, Philippines. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(1), 76-81.

2018 Coren Apicella, Alyssa C. Crittenden, & Victoria A. Tobolsky (2017). Hunter-gatherer males are more risk-seeking than females, even in late childhood. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(5), 592-603.

2017 Adar B. Eisenbruch, Rachel L. Grillot, Dario Maestripieri & James R. Roney (2016). Evidence of partner choice heuristics in a one-shot bargaining game. Evolution and Human Behavior, 37(6), 429-439.

2016 Rachel Kendal, Lydia M. Hopper, Andrew Whiten, Sarah F. Brosnan, Susan P. Lambeth, Steven J. Schapiro & Will Hoppitt (2015). Chimpanzees copy dominant and knowledgeable individuals: implications for cultural diversity. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(1), 65-72.

2015a Casey J. Roulette, Hayley Mann, Brian M. Kemp, Mark Remiker, Jennifer W. Roulette, Barry S. Hewlett, Mirdad Kazanji, Sébastien Breurec, Didier Monchy, Roger J. Sullivan & Edward H. Hagen (2014). Tobacco use vs. helminths in Congo basin hunter-gatherers: self-medication in humans? Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(5), 397-407.

2015b James Holland Jones & Rebecca Bliege Bird (2014). The marginal valuation of fertility. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(1), 65-71.

2014 Jeffrey Winking & Nicholas Mizer (2013). Natural-field dictator game shows no altruistic giving. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(4), 288–293.

2013 Maciej Chudek, Sarah Heller, Susan Birch & Joseph Henrich (2012). Prestige-biased cultural learning: bystander’s differential attention to potential models influences children’s learning. Evolution and Human Behavior,  33, 46–56.

2012 Alex Mesoudi (2011). An experimental comparison of human social learning strategies: Payoff-biased social learning is adaptive but under-used. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 334–342.

2011 David A. Puts (2010). Beauty and the beast: mechanisms of sexual selection in humans. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 157–175.

2010 Andreas Wilke & Clark Barrett (2009). The hot hand phenomenon as a cognitive adaptation to clumped resources. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 161-169.

Conference Awards

The Human Behavior and Evolution Society also recognizes scholarly contributions during the annual conference. The HBES Conference Awards include the Post-Doctoral Award, the New Investigator Award, and the Best Poster Award.

One is eligible for the Post-Doctoral Award up to five years post-Ph.D. One is eligible for the New Investigator Award if they were a graduate student at the time of the work (see below).

Additionally, to be eligible for the New Investigator or Post-Doctoral Awards, individuals must submit a manuscript corresponding with the abstract they have submitted for a talk. Your manuscript can have co-authors, but you must be the first author on the manuscript, and the manuscript must predominantly describe your own work. Note that the manuscript can be “in prep” (e.g., a pre-print), under review, or accepted for publication. Submission will occur via conference organizers yearly.

All posters will be eligible for the Best Poster Award. You need not contact conference organizers to be considered for the Best Poster Award.