RESEARCH STATEMENT

My research experience in anthropology is very diverse. During my undergraduate career, I participated in archeological digs in Central NY, including supervising excavations of the largest Iroquois longhouse ever discovered. I also analyzed and wrote a paper on skeletal remains of three individuals discovered along the bank of the Erie Canal. After graduation, I moved to Durham, North Carolina and spent 18 months volunteering at the Duke Primate Center, learning about different prosimian species. The physical anthropology masters program at Arizona State University was rigorous and comprehensive. While at ASU, I conducted research and wrote papers on the effects of cradle boarding on a hydrocephalic Native American child’s cranium and the osteological evidence in the fossil record for continuity of Neanderthal phenotypic characteristics in modern Europeans (prior to DNA evidence proving continuity). In Primate Behavior Lab I created an ethogram and conducted observations over several months on a population of captive Ring Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) located on an island at the Phoenix Zoo. I was studying thermoregulatory behaviors such as huddling and sunning. The most interesting finding, however involved aggression, where one female in particular was systematically targeted for aggression and continuously prevented access to food resources by other group members over the course of the study. This individual continued to exhibit thermoregulatory behaviors well beyond the threshold established for the group, indicating a significant cost was being inflicted on this female by collective group behavior. The result of this research was presented at the Annual Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting and published in the Journal of Physical Anthropology. Exploring the adaptive nature of aggressive behavior and the ecological and social conditions that precipitate it would go on to inform and inspire my later research interests in aggression and social behavior. The following semester in Comparative Primate Anatomy, I had the opportunity to dissect a lemurs from my behavioral study who had died of natural causes. I took this opportunity to test the hypothesis that Lemur catta hind-limb anatomy was adapted for locomotion via vertical clinging and leaping (VCL) based on my prior behavioral observations. Traditionally, Lemur catta are classified as terrestrial quadrupeds. My findings provided evidence that hind limb musculature and osteological characteristics of Lemur catta fall within the range of primates whose locomotor anatomy are identified as adapted to VCL. While pursuing my Masters degree at ASU, I also was employed at the Primate Foundation of Arizona (PFA), a breeding colony of over 80 captive chimpanzees. I participated in many research protocols at PFA involving enrichment and social behavior. My thesis research involved developing observational tools that would allow for accurate assessment and evaluation of the psychological well being of captive Chimpanzees in order to validate and inform the enrichment programs in the colony. The Ph.D. program at Rutgers exposed me to areas of biological anthropology that complemented my strong foundation in physical anthropology from ASU. I entered the program with the intention of conducting fieldwork on mountain gorillas, but the genocide in Rwanda intervened. At that point I became involved with the Jamaican Symmetry Project and had the opportunity to work with one of the world’s preeminent evolutionary theorists, Robert Trivers. Working with Dr. Trivers for the past 20 years has given me deep insights into human behavior and evolutionary logic. The Symmetry project is a longitudinal study on 285 Jamaican children aged 5-11 that began in 1996 in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. Various anthropometric measurements were recorded at several intervals including, height, weight, waist/hip ratio (WHR), dental casts and 2D:4D ratio. Data was also collected on academic performance, preferences for various characteristics, aggression, athletic ability, handedness, hearing, vision, maternal questionnaires, health, reproductive success and religiosity, to name a few. I began working on the project and have been managing the field site and maintaining the databases and research materials since 1997. There have been over a dozen articles published based on the data collected by the project. My dissertation research at Rutgers examined the role an individual’s own attributes play in mitigating their preferences for attractiveness, fluctuating asymmetry (FA), and waist to hip ratio. I also investigated the relationship between an individual’s own FA and its effect on social and psychological affect in terms of peer associations, self-perception, self-esteem and self-deception. This was the first time that a study of assessing attractiveness was conducted with individuals know to each other in multiple dimensions. By collecting assessment data of subjects by unknown Jamaicans as well as American college students, I was able to show an association between “somatic distance” and attractiveness preferences across cultures. Results also provided additional support for condition-dependent mate choice because symmetrical males preferred females with lower WHR and FA levels. The final chapter of my dissertation was a cross-cultural study examining female preferences for morphed male faces from the UK, Japan and Jamaica. Based on good genes theory, it was predicted that females would prefer more masculinized male faces as they represent males with higher genetic quality according to the handicap principal (e.g. higher testosterone levels, more developed male secondary sex characteristics). However in Western societies, women preferred the slightly more feminized male faces. Except for a subset of females who were not on birth control, and were within +/- 3 days of ovulation (actually fertile) – who went right for the most masculinized male faces - as predicted. Female subjects assigned adjectives to the morphed faces and it was discovered that the feminized male faces were perceived as good investors (e.g. kind, caring). So it was hypothesized that perhaps in Western societies, where male parental investment is critical to child rearing, females may be making an evolutionary trade-off between genetic quality and male parental investment. In rural Jamaica, due to socioeconomic conditions where there are very few opportunities for males to earn an income, males are rarely able to contribute to raising their biological children. Women tend to become sexually active early and mate promiscuously, often having several children by different fathers. Given high parasite loads in the tropics, it is expected that female choice for good genes should be very strong. As predicted, our results showed that Jamaican women consistently preferred more masculinized male faces and that both ecological and cultural factors may alter the balance of trade-offs leading to populational differences in attractiveness preferences. In 2016 former undergraduate student, Megan Williams and I published our research findings involving exposing males to synthetic copulin (a volatile fatty acid excreted by the vaginal lining at peak fertility). Research had shown that under the influence of copulin, males lose the ability to discriminate attractiveness in female faces, experience a spike in testosterone, as well as a decrease in the tendency to participate in cooperative behavior. Our results showed that under the influence of copulin, males consistently and significantly over estimated female sexual interest in them. These findings, coupled with recent research on changes in female behavior during ovulation have serious implications for mate choice, as well as consequences for both male and female sexual behavior (e.g. avoidance of date rape scenarios). This research was published in the Journal ofEvolutionary Psychology, rated as one ofthe top 10 evolutionary psychology articles of 2016 and was referred to in popular media outlets. I am currently writing a textbook on Human Aggression. When I first began teaching the course I quickly discovered that there was no adequate text that covered the topic in the way that I thought it should be presented. Having taught the course several times, it continued to evolve and become refined to the point where I felt it was best served by generating a comprehensive accounting of the topic from an evolutionary perspective. The goal of the book is to provide a general understanding of evolutionary social theory and its application to the behavioral phenomenon of aggression. The book will cover the basic underlying physiological, neuro-anatomical and environmental factors associated with aggressive behavior. It will examine models of aggressive behavior in animals and non-human primates to investigate the adaptive function and social implications of environmental influences on behavioral strategies. Evolutionary biology will be used to interpret data regarding sex differences in aggression, the biological basis for these differences and the ecological variables that effect behavioral strategies from conception to death. Historical trends in data regarding violence and its decline as morality evolved and humans proceeded through identifiable progressive stages will be analyzed. Context-specific and demographic conditions that select for aggressive behavior as an adaptive strategy will be identified and it will be discussed how we can use this information to help shape public policy and aid in reducing violence by altering ecological variables within our control. Alternative strategies to aggression that have evolved will be examined, including pro-social behaviors such as empathy, sympathy, self-control and compassion. These adaptive behaviors have been successful in decreasing violence by giving an advantage to individuals who cooperate and engage in positive sum interactions with “others” as well as cooperatively punish those who engage anti-social behavior. Finally, the book will address the power and implications of an evolutionary approach to aggression and violence and how it might help better understand conflict and inform public policy moving forward to help create a sustainable future for humanity.