Evolutionary and biological approaches to behaviour research group
EBAB encompasses the core research interests of seven faculty members from the Division of Psychology. This involves taking an evolutionary and biological approach to the study of behaviour, covering a wide range of behaviour in humans and other animals. It also encompasses the wider scope of 'biological and evolutionary influences' with the aim of looking at how these factors fit into other areas of study. The group has the unifying theme of examining the role that hormones play in the expression of behaviour in both humans and animals. We aim to apply this to a whole range of behaviour including human-computer interactions, personality, health, mate choice, animal welfare and to become a major force in this area in the UK and beyond.
Dr Scott Hardie - Research group leader
My research interests are varied but cover animal behaviour (primates and other animals), biological psychology, evolutionary psychology, and more recently laterality and emotional processing. Current work includes looking at Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and how this relates to handedness and other biological markers.
email: Scott Hardie
My research interests centre on the evolutionary progression of cognitive abilities. Particular areas of interest are social and technical intelligence (tool-use) and their potential contributions to the enlarged brain size characteristic of the primate order and how experience during critical development stages affects cognitive development in humans and non-humans. I am also interested in the evolution of human-specific cognitive capacities such as language, creativity and religion and how they relate to sociality and mate-choice.
Email: Clare Cunningham
I am interested in an evolutionary perspective on language learning and processing including individual differences in language development in children and adults. This encompasses looking at cognitive and emotional factors that may influence linguistic behaviour. Recently, part of my research is also devoted to exploring the evolution of language.
Email: Vera Kempe
My main research interest is in the human menstrual cycle and more specifically the role of hormones in enhancing cognitive performance. I am also interested in where ovulation takes place in a natural cycle and am currently examining the efficacy of the count-back method to predict ovulation accurately.
Email: Noelle McAra
I am interested in hormonal models of sexual signalling as well as trade offs in reproductive decision making. At the moment I am working on identifying roles of stress in reproductive behaviour (e.g. how stress hormones affect secondary sexual signals and sexual behaviour) and cross cultural analyses of the effects of socioeconomic factors on mate choice trade offs.
Email: Fhionna Moore
My area of research is human mate choice, with a particular focus on : face, voice, and odour attractiveness; the development of attractiveness judgments during childhood and adolescence; and hormonal influences on attraction.
Email: Tamsin Saxton
My primary research interest is laterality (particularly handedness) focussing on response style differences between left- and right-handers. Other research interests include digit ratio, anxiety and the evolution of children's drawing. My current research examines aspects of personality and handedness in the context of revised reinforcement sensitivity theory.
Email: Lynn Wright
Mari McLeod - PhD Student
My interests lie in the evolutionary explanations of human and non-human social behaviour. Specifically investigating the function of social play comparatively across children, adults and non-human primates.
Email: Mari McLeod
Postgraduate Research Opportunities
We are keen to supervise students in any of our main, or closely related, research areas and we offer the following research degrees: one-year MSc by Research, two-year MPhil or three-year PhD. For more information please email individual group members of the Director of Research Degrees (Dr Scott Hardie, tel: 01382 308587)
Example Publications
Cunningham, C.L., Anderson, J.R. & Mootnick, A.R. (2011). A sex difference in effect of prior experiences on object mediated problem solving in gibbons. Animal Cognition (Available to download through Online First)
Kempe, V. & Heffernan, E. (2011). Digit ratio is linked to affective empathy in women. Personality and individual Differences, 50, 430-433
Majolo, B., Ventura, R., Koyama, N.F., Hardie, S.M., Jones, B.M., Knapp, L.A. and Schino, G. (2009). Food competition within and between groups: effects on Japanese macaque social relationships. Behaviour, 146, 113-137
McAra, N. & Wright, L. (2011). I don't want to talk about it: Why are young women reluctant to participate in menstrual cycle research? Psychology of Women Review, 13(1), 17-22
Moore, F.R, Cornwell, R.E., Law Smith, M.J., Al Dujaili, E.A.S., Sharp, M. & Perret, D.I. (2011). Evidence for the stress-linked immunocompetence handicap hypothesis in human male faces. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 278, 774-780. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2008.08.019
Saxton, T.K., DeBruine, L.M., Jones, B.C, Little, A.C. & Roberts, S.C. (2011). A longitudinal study of adolescents' judgments of the attractiveness of facial symmetry, averageness and sexual dimorphism. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9(1), 43-55
Wright, L., Hardie, S.M. & Wilson, K. (2009). Handedness and Behavioural Inhibition: Left-handed females show most inhibition as measured by BIS/BAS self-report. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 20-24. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2008.08.019
