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    • Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab

      Department of Anthropology | University of California, Santa Barbara

    • Our research considers the behavioral ecology of the human family and the application of evolutionary anthropology to efforts to improve human wellbeing. We carry out field research in collaboration with the National Institute for Medical Research in Mwanza, Tanzania. We also conduct research using secondary demographic surveys, online surveys and on campus with UCSB students. Active foci include: (i) the evolution of gender norms, (ii) the impact of marriage practices on wellbeing, and (iii) coevolution of parental care and fertility. You can view press releases on our recent research here, and a full list of publications below.

    • Lab Members

      The AEA lab is headed by Dr David Lawson, Associate Professor of Anthropology at UCSB. If you are a student interested in joining our lab, or a researcher interested in collaborating, please get in touch! For mentoring opportunities see here.

      David W

      Lawson

      Lab PI

      Originally from Northern Ireland, David joined UCSB in 2016. He was previously based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and at University College London.

      Email: dlawson@ucsb.edu

      Twitter: @DavidWLawson

      Joseph

      Kilgallen

      Graduate Student

      Joseph is interested in sexual conflict, gender equality and understanding why some men are more supportive of women than others.

       

      Email: jkilgallen@ucsb.edu

      Twitter: @JosephKilgallen

      Zhian

      Chen

      Graduate Student

      Zhian has broad interests in human behavioral ecology & social learning, but especially shifts in parental investment and attitudes.

       

      Email: zhian@ucsb.edu

      Twitter: @ZhianChen4

      Pietro

      Mascot

      Pietro's research interests include food, more food, long walks on the beach and chasing geckos. Emotional support hugs available on request.

       

      Instagram: @pietro_enriquezlawson

    • Collaborators & Lab Alumni

      We have a long list of collaborators (see publications below). Featured below are key collaborators at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mwanza, Tanzania, along with recent graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

      Mark
      Urassa

      Collaborator

      NIMR, Tanzania

      Jitihada

      Baraka

      Collaborator

      NIMR / Ifakara Health Institute

      Joyce

      Wamoyi

      Collaborator

      NIMR. Tanzania

      Susan Schaffnit

      Lab Alumni

      Postdoc (2017-2020)

      Anushé

      Hassan

      Lab Alumni

      PhD 2021

      Sophie Hedges

      Lab Alumni

      PhD 2019
    • Fieldwork

      Anthropology is vital for understanding human diversity. It also has a troubled history of extractive research that fails to benefit participants and host nations. Best practice will vary by context, but in addition to ensuring ethical standards for human subjects research, our lab is committed to the following principles: (i) only conducting primary data collection overseas in collaboration and co-authorship with local researchers; (ii) whenever possible, allocating grant funding via local institutions with appropriate overheads; (iii) combining research with investment in mentoring and capacity-building activities.

      Below are some pictures of fieldwork in Mwanza, north western Tanzania - where we have been working since the mid 2010s with rural communities to better understand relationships between family structure, living arrangements and wellbeing. More recently, we have begun to study shifting gender norms in the face of market integration.

    • Publications

      See also Google Scholar (can't find a PDF? Email us!)

      We are currently editing a special collection of papers on 'Gendered Conflict in the Human Family'  with the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences. The volume is co-edited with Kathrine Starkweather, Oluwaseyi Somefun, and Sarah Alami. 

       

      Working papers / in review

      Baraka J, Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Wamoyi, J, Urassa M (in review).  What drives early marriage? Parental influence, female agency and gendered conflict in Mwanza, Tanzania. 

       

      in press

      Lawson DW. Parental care. (in press). In Koster J, Scelza B, Shenk M (Eds). Human Behavioral Ecology.

       

      Lawson DW & Gibson MA. (in press). Evolutionary Approaches to Population Health: Insights on Polygynous Marriage, ‘Child Marriage’ and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. In Burger O, Lee R & Sear, R. (Eds). Human Evolutionary Demography.

       

      2021

      Urassa M, Lawson DW, Wamoyi J, Gurmu E, Gibson MA, Madhivanan P, Placek C. (2021). Cross-cultural research must prioritize equitable collaboration. Nature Human Behaviour. 5:668-671.

       

      >> Commentary: Lawson DW. (2021). Fostering an inclusive and equitable global research community in cross-cultural social science. Author Aid Blog.

       

      Kilgallen JA, Schaffnit SB, Kumogola Y, Galura A, Urassa M. Lawson DW, (in press). Positive correlation between women’s status and intimate partner violence suggests violence backlash in Mwanza, Tanzania. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

       

      Lawson DW. (2021). Book Review: Are Men Animals? How modern masculinity sells men short. Men and Masculinities.

       

      Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Kilgallen JA, Kumogola Y, Galura A & Urassa M. (2021). He for She? Variation and exaggeration in men’s support for women’s empowerment in northern Tanzania. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 3: E27.

       

      Schaffnit SB & Lawson DW. (2021). Married too young? The behavioral ecology of 'child marriage'. Social Sciences. 10: 161.

       

      Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, & Urassa M. (2021). Shared interests or sexual conflict? Spousal age gap, women’s wellbeing and fertility in rural Tanzania. Evolution and Human Behavior. 42: 165-175

       

      >> Commentary: Lawson DW. (2021). When is marriage harmful to women? Human Behavior and Evolution Society Newsletter.

       

      Schaffnit SB, Urassa M, Wamoyi J, Dardoumpa M, & Lawson DW. (2021). “I have never seen something like that”: Discrepancies between lived experiences and the global health concept of child marriage in northern Tanzania. PLOS ONE. 16(4): e0249200

       

      Schaffnit SB, Wamoyi J, Urassa M, Dardoumpa M, & Lawson DW. (2021). When marriage is the best available option: perceptions of opportunity and risk in female adolescence in Tanzania. Global Public Health. 16: 1820–1833

       

      2020

      >> Commentary: Lawson DW, Urassa M & Schaffnit SB. (2020). Using mixed methods to correct stubborn misconceptions about child marriage. Nature Behavioural and Social Sciences Forum.

       

      Lawson DW, Lynes R, Morris A & Schaffnit SB. (2020). What does the American public know about 'child marriage'? PLOS ONE 15(9):e0238346.

       

      Berg V, Lawson DW, Rotkirch A. (2020). Financial opportunity costs and deaths among close kin are independently associated with reproductive timing in a contemporary high-income society. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 287: 20192478.

       

      2019

      Schaffnit SB, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). ‘Child marriage’ in context: Exploring local attitudes towards early marriage in rural Tanzania. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. 27:1–13

       

      Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). Parent-offspring conflict unlikely to explain ‘child marriage’ in northwestern Tanzania. Nature Human Behaviour. 3:346-353.

       

      >> Commentary: Stark L. (2019). Why daughters may choose early marriage. Nature Human Behaviour 3:325–326

       

      >> Commentary: Lawson DW & Schaffnit SB. (2019). Distinguishing reality from stereotype in the end child marriage movement. Nature Behavioural and Social Sciences Forum.

       

      >> Press: What if 'child marriage' means older teens making choices? Futurity.

       

      Hedges S, Lawson DW, Todd J, Urassa M & Sear R. (2019). Sharing the load: the influence of co-resident children on the allocation of work and schooling in north-western Tanzania. Demography. 56:1931–1956

       

      Hedges S, Sear R, Todd J, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). Earning their keep? Fostering, children’s education and work in north-western Tanzania. Demographic Research. 41:263-292.

       

      >> Commentary: Hedges S, Sear R, Todd J, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). Earning their keep? Fostering, education and work in Tanzania. IUSSP online news magazine.

       

      Hassan A, Schaffnit SB, Sear R, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). Fathers favour sons, mothers don’t discriminate: sex-biased parental care in north-western Tanzania. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 1, e13.

       

      2018

      Lawson DW& Gibson MA. (2018). Understanding ‘Harmful Cultural Practices.’ Anthropology News 59:3; e219-e222.

       

      Hedges S, Sear R, Todd J, Urassa M, & Lawson DW. (2018). Trade-offs in time allocation: Mixed support for embodied capital models of the demographic transition in rural Tanzania. Current Anthropology 59: 644-654.

       

      Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2018). Population issues in development. International Encyclopaedia of Anthropology. Wiley.

       

      Lawson DW & Gibson MA. (2018). Polygynous marriage and child health in Sub-Saharan Africa: What is the evidence for harm? Demographic Research 39:177–208.

       

      2017

      Lawson DW, Núñez-de la Mora A, Cooper GD, Prentice AM, Moore SE, Sear R. (2017). Marital status and sleeping arrangements predict salivary testosterone levels in rural Gambian men. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 3: 221-240.

       

      Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, James S, Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2017). Father absence but not fosterage predicts food insecurity, relative poverty, and poor child health in northern Tanzania. American Journal of Human Biology 29 e22938.

       

      2016

      Sear R, Lawson DW, Kaplan H, Shenk M. (2016). Understanding variation in human fertility: What can we learn from evolutionary demography? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371, 20150144

       

      Lawson DW & Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2016). The offspring quantity-quality trade-off and human fertility variation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371, 20150145.

       

      Lawson DW, Sear R, Shenk M, Stearns S & Kaplan H. (Editors). (2016). Understanding Variation in Human Fertility: What Can We Learn From Evolutionary Demography? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 371(1692).

       

      Lawson DW, James S, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2016). Reply to Rieger and Wagner: Context matters when studying purportedly harmful cultural practices. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113(13), E1771-E1772

       

      2015

      Lawson DW, James S, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2015). No evidence that polygynous marriage is a harmful cultural practice in northern Tanzania. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 112(45), 13827-13832.

       

      >> Interview: Polygynous marriage can benefit women and children. (2015). Capioca.

       

      >> Press: Does poverty, not polygamy, harm women? (2015). Futurity.

       

      Lawson DW& Hedges S. (2015). The costs and benefits of child labour. Current Anthropology 56, 545-568.

       

      Hedges S, Borgerhoff Mulder M, James S & Lawson DW. (2015). Sending children to school: rural livelihoods and parental investment in child education in northern Tanzania. Evolution & Human Behavior 37:142-151.

       

      Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2015). Applying evolutionary anthropology. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News and Reviews 24(1): 3-14.

       

      2014

      Lawson DW, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Ghiselli ME, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, Hartwig K. & James S. (2014). Ethnicity and child health in northern Tanzania: Maasai pastoralists are disadvantaged compared to neighbouring ethnic groups. PLOS ONE 9: e110447.

       

      >> Press: Lawson DW& James S. (2014). Maasai in Tanzania: World fame but empty stomachs. Improving Nutrition and Food Security: Guardian Global Development Professionals Network. Dec 2014.

       

      Pound N, Lawson DW, Toma, A.M & Richmond, R. Penton-Voak, I. (2014). Facial asymmetry is not associated with childhood ill-health in a large British cohort study. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282:20141639.

       

      Lawson DW & Uggla C. (2014). Family structure and health in the developing world: What can evolutionary anthropology contribute to population health science. In Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (Eds) Applied Evolutionary Anthropology: Darwinian Approaches to Contemporary World Issues. New York: Springer.

       

      Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2014). Applying evolutionary anthropology to a changing world. In Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (Eds) Applied Evolutionary Anthropology: Darwinian Approaches to Contemporary World Issues. Springer.

       

      Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (Editors). (2014). Applied Evolutionary Anthropology: Darwinian Approaches to Contemporary World Issues. New York: Springer.

       

      2013

      Lawson DW, Makoil A & Goodman A. (2013). Sibling configuration predicts individual and descendant socioeconomic success in a modern post-industrial society. PLOS ONE 8: e73698.

       

      Nettle D, Gibson MA, Lawson DW& Sear, R. (2013). Human behavioural ecology: Current research and future prospects. Behavioural Ecology 24: 1031-1040.

       

      Nettle D, Gibson MA, Lawson DW, & Sear R. (2013). How much you need to engage with mechanism depends on what you are trying to do. Behavioral Ecology 24: 1046-1047

       

      Alvergne A. Lawson DW, Clarke P & Mace, R. (2013). Fertility, parental investment and the early adoption of modern contraception in rural Ethiopia. American Journal of Human Biology 25: 107-15.

       

      2012

      Lawson DW, Alvergne A. & Gibson MA. (2012). The life history trade-off between fertility and child survival. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279: 1748 4755-4764.

       

      Goodman A, Koupil I & Lawson DW. (2012). Low fertility increases descendant socioeconomic position but reduces long-term fitness in a modern post-industrial society. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279:4342-4351.

       

      >> Press: Macleod M (2013). Population Paradox. New Scientist.

       

      2011

      Lawson DW& Mace R. (2011). Parental investment and the optimization of human family size. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366, 333-343.

       

      Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2011). ‘Modernization’ increases parental investment and sibling resource competition: evidence from a rural development initiative in Ethiopia. Evolution & Human Behavior 32, 97-105.

       

      Lawson DW. (2011). Life history theory and human reproductive behaviour. In Swami, V. (Ed) Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction pp. 183-214. BPS: Blackwell.

       

      Lawson DW.(2011). A review of ‘Animal homosexuality: a biosocial approach’ by A. Poiani. Animal Behaviour 81, 499.

       

      2010

      Lawson DW& Mace R. (2010). Siblings and childhood mental health: evidence for a later-born advantage. Social Science and Medicine 70, 2061-2069.

       

      Lawson DW& Mace R. (2010). Optimizing modern family size: trade-offs between fertility and the economic costs of reproduction. Human Nature 21, 39-61.

       

      2009

      Lawson DW& Mace R. (2009). Trade-offs in modern parenting: a longitudinal study of sibling competition for parental care. Evolution & Human Behavior 30, 170-183.

       

      2008

      Lawson DW& Mace R. (2008). Sibling configuration and childhood growth in contemporary British families. International Journal of Epidemiology 37, 1408-1421.

       

      >> Press: How older siblings stunt your growth. (2007). BBC News.

       

      Lawson DW, Jordan FM & Magid, K. (2008). On sex and suicide bombing: an evaluation of Kanazawa’s ‘Evolutionary Psychological Imagination’. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 6, 73-84.

       

      2007

      Sear R, Lawson DW& Dickins T. (2007). Synthesis in the human evolutionary behavioural sciences. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 5 3-28.

       

      Lawson DW. (2007). Frustrated felines and excited ungulates: a review of ‘Homosexual behaviour in animals – an evolutionary perspective’ Edited by V. Sommer and P. Vasey. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 5, 257-260.

       

      Scott BE, Lawson DW& Curtis V. (2007). Hard to handle: understanding mother’s handwashing behaviour in Ghana. Health Policy & Planning 22 216-224

    • Funding

    © 2019

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