Daniel M.T. Fessler
Professor
Please see my personal website for complete information on research, publications, and teaching, including course evaluations.
Combining anthropological, psychological, and biological theories and methods, I approach a variety of aspects of human behavior, experience, and health from an integrative perspective in which humans are viewed as both the products of complex evolutionary processes and the possessors of acquired cultural idea systems and behavioral patterns.
When colleagues are being polite, they refer to my research interests as “eclectic”. Labels applied to my work include evolutionary psychology, biological anthropology, and evolutionary medicine.
My research, itself an ever-evolving process, currently focuses on a number of domains, including: emotions; disease avoidance; morality; prosociality and cooperation; conflict, aggression, and risk-taking; cultural transmission; food and eating; and sex and reproduction.
I have the great privilege of serving as the inaugural Director of the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute, and hold the Bedari Kindness Institute Endowed Chair.
Degrees
Ph.D., University of California San Diego (1995)
Selected Publications
White, C. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2018) An evolutionary account of vigilance in grief. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 1(1):34-42.
Kupfer, T.R. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2018) Ectoparasite defence in humans: Relationships to pathogen avoidance, and clinical implications. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373(1751): 20170207.
Soh, M., Shaner, A., Gelberg, L., Kopelson, K., Stuber, M., Fessler, D., & Warde, C. (2018) Using the Humanism Pocket Tool for patients with challenging behaviors. Annals of Family Medicine 16(5):467.
Fessler, D.M.T., Pisor, A.C., and Holbrook, C. (2017) Political orientation predicts credulity regarding putative hazards. Psychological Science 28(5):651-660.
Gervais, M.M. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2017) On the deep structure of social affect: Attitudes, emotions, sentiments, and the case of “contempt”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 40:e225.
Clint, E. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2016) Insurmountable heat: The evolution and persistence of defensive hyperthermia. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 91(1)25-46.
Fessler, D.M.T., Barrett, H.C., Kanovsky, M., Stich, S., Holbrook, C., Henrich, J., Bolyanatz, A.H., Gervais, M.M., Gurven, M., Kushnick, G., Pisor, A.C., von Rueden, C., & Laurence, S. (2015) Moral parochialism and contextual contingency across seven societies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Fessler, D.M.T., Pisor, A.C., and Navarrete, C.D. (2014) Negatively-biased credulity and the cultural evolution of beliefs. PLOS ONE 9(4), e95167.
Fessler, D.M.T., Tiokhin, L.B., Holbrook, C., Gervais, M.M., and Snyder, J.K. (2014) Foundations of the Crazy Bastard Hypothesis: Nonviolent physical risk-taking enhances conceptualized formidability. Evolution & Human Behavior 35(1):26-33.
Research
Evolutionary psychology, biological anthropology; emotions, cooperation, aggression, social control, risk taking, ingestive and reproductive behaviors, morality, cultural evolution; Indonesia
Graduate Students
- Edward Clint (evolutionary medicine; he is stuck with me as Chair)
- Theo Samore (emotions, interpersonal assessment; Clark Barrett Co-Chair)
Collaborators
Some of the folks with whom I collaborate and/or argue:
- Clark Barrett
- Rob Boyd
- Greg Bryant
- Erica Cartmill
- Jason Clark
- Valerie Curtis
- Diana Fleischman
- Matt Gervais
- Jon Haidt
- Martie Haselton
- Joe Henrich
- Moshe Hoffman
- Colin Holbrook
- Ben Jones
- Rob Kurzban
- Geoff Kushnick
- Cristina Moya
- Carlos D. Navarrete
- Daniel Nettle
- Elizabeth Pillsworth
- Anne Pisor
- Katinka Quintelier
- Paul Rozin
- Joan Silk
- Brooke Scelza
- Jeffrey K. Snyder
- Adam Sparks (currently my postdoctoral fellow)
- Stephen Stich
- Claire White
Current Courses by Term
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Honors Contracts
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Experimental Biological Anthropology
Teaching Apprentice Practicum
Experimental Biological Anthropology
Previous Courses by Term
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Human Evolution
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Selected Topics in Biological Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Behavior, Evolution, and Culture
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Behavior, Evolution, and Culture
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Behavior, Evolution, and Culture
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Journal Club Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Journal Club Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Journal Club Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Current Problems in Biological Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Current Problems in Biological Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Current Problems in Biological Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Journal Club Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Journal Club Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Journal Club Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Biological Anthropology Colloquium
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Some Like It Hot: Evolution and Psychology of Food Preferences
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
Current Problems in Biological Anthropology
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Current Problems in Biological Anthropology
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Human Evolution
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Human Evolution
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Human Evolution
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Biological Anthropology Colloquium
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Human Evolution
Biological Anthropology in Review
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
Biological Anthropology in Review
Previous Courses by Course
Research Group Seminars: Anthropology
2019 Spring Quarter
2019 Winter Quarter
2018 Fall Quarter
2018 Spring Quarter
2018 Winter Quarter
2017 Fall Quarter
2017 Spring Quarter
2017 Winter Quarter
2016 Fall Quarter
2016 Spring Quarter
2016 Winter Quarter
2015 Fall Quarter
2015 Spring Quarter
2015 Winter Quarter
2014 Fall Quarter
2014 Spring Quarter
2014 Winter Quarter
2013 Fall Quarter
2013 Spring Quarter
2013 Winter Quarter
2012 Fall Quarter
2012 Spring Quarter
2012 Winter Quarter
2011 Fall Quarter
2011 Spring Quarter
2011 Winter Quarter
Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars
2019 Spring Quarter
2018 Fall Quarter
2018 Spring Quarter
2017 Fall Quarter
2017 Spring Quarter
2017 Winter Quarter
2016 Spring Quarter
2015 Fall Quarter
2015 Spring Quarter
2015 Winter Quarter
2013 Fall Quarter
2012 Fall Quarter
2011 Fall Quarter
2009 Fall Quarter
2006 Spring Quarter
Human Evolution
2019 Winter Quarter
Behavior, Evolution, and Culture
Selected Topics in Biological Anthropology
2018 Spring Quarter
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
2017 Fall Quarter
Journal Club Seminars: Anthropology
2017 Spring Quarter
2017 Winter Quarter
2016 Fall Quarter
2012 Spring Quarter
2012 Winter Quarter
2011 Fall Quarter
Selected Topics in Anthropology
2017 Spring Quarter
2017 Winter Quarter
2016 Fall Quarter
2012 Spring Quarter
2012 Winter Quarter
2011 Fall Quarter
2005 Fall Quarter
2002 Fall Quarter
Evolution of Human Sexual Behavior
2017 Winter Quarter
2016 Winter Quarter
2014 Fall Quarter
2014 Spring Quarter
2013 Winter Quarter
2011 Fall Quarter
2010 Fall Quarter
2009 Fall Quarter
2008 Fall Quarter
2007 Fall Quarter
2007 Spring Quarter
2006 Spring Quarter
2005 Spring Quarter
2004 Winter Quarter
2001 Winter Quarter
2000 Spring Quarter
1999 Winter Quarter
Current Problems in Biological Anthropology
2016 Winter Quarter
2014 Winter Quarter
2013 Winter Quarter
2011 Winter Quarter
2005 Spring Quarter
Biological Anthropology Colloquium
2011 Fall Quarter
2000 Fall Quarter
Some Like It Hot: Evolution and Psychology of Food Preferences
2011 Spring Quarter
Human Evolution
2003 Fall Quarter
2002 Winter Quarter
2001 Winter Quarter
2000 Winter Quarter
Selected Topics in Anthropology
Biological Anthropology in Review