Harold Clark Barrett

 

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

University of California, Los Angeles

341 Haines Hall, Box 951553
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553

Tel: 310-267-4260

Email: barrett@anthro.ucla.edu

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/barrett

 

Born: May 24, 1969

 

Interests: Evolutionary psychology, biological anthropology, cognitive development, hunter-gatherer ecology; South America.

 

Research: Evolution and domain-specific cognition, the role of predators and prey in human evolution, intuitive understanding of living things and intentionality, social cognition and social exchange, South American foraging societies.

 

Education

 

1999-2001     Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

1999             Ph.D., Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara

1995             M.A., Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara

1991             B.A., Biology, Harvard University

 

Publications

 

Barrett, H. C. (2005). Enzymatic computation and cognitive modularity. Mind and Language, 20, 259-287.

 

Barrett, H. C. (in press). Adaptations to predators and prey. In D. M. Buss (Ed.). The handbook of evolutionary psychology. New York: Wiley.

 

Barrett, H. C. & Behne, T. (in press). Children’s understanding of death as the cessation of agency: A test using sleep versus death. Cognition.

 

Barrett, H.C., Todd, P.M., Miller, G.F., and Blythe, P. (in press). Accurate judgments of intention from motion alone: A cross-cultural study. Evolution and Human Behavior.

 

Boyer, P. & Barrett, H. C. (in press). Domain specificity and intuitive ontology. In Buss, D.M. (ed.). Handbook of evolutionary psychology. Wiley.

 

Hagen, E. H., Barrett, H. C. and Price, M. E. (in press). Do human parents face a quantity-quality tradeoff? Evidence from a Shuar community. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

 

Tooby, J., Cosmides, L., & Barrett, H. C. (in press). Resolving the debate on innate ideas: Learnability constraints and the evolved interpenetration of motivational and conceptual functions. In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence, & S. Stich (Eds.). The innate mind: Structure and content. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

German, T.P., & Barrett, H.C. (2005). Functional fixedness in a technologically sparse culture. Psychological Science, 16, 1-5.

 

Barrett, H. C. (2004). Cognitive development and the understanding of animal behavior. In Ellis, B., & Bjorklund, D. (Eds.) Origins of the social mind. New York: Guilford.

 

Barrett, H. C. (2004). Descent versus design in Shuar children’s reasoning about animals. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 4, 25-50.

 

Barrett, H. C. Dispelling rumors of a gene shortage. Science, 304, 1601-1602. (2004).

 

Barrett, H. C. Rise of the humans. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. (2004).

 

Perry, S., Barrett, H.C., and Manson, J. (2004). White-faced capuchin monkeys exhibit triadic awareness in their choice of allies. Animal Behaviour, 67, 165-170.

 

Tooby, J., Cosmides, L., and Barrett, H.C. (2003). The second law of thermodynamics is the first law of psychology: Evolutionary developmental psychology and the theory of tandem, coordinated inheritances: Comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 858–865.

 

Barrett, H.C. (2003). Review of  Forde, E., and Humphreys, G., Category Specificity in Brain and Mind. Perception, 32, 513-515.

 

Barrett, H. C. (2002). Review of Jolly, A., Lucy’s Legacy: Sex and Intelligence in Human Evolution. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 2, 349-350.

 

Barrett, H.C. (2001). On the functional origins of essentialism. Mind and Society, 3, Vol. 2, pp. 1-30.

 

Barrett, H.C. (2001). Is category specificity in the world or in the mind? (Commentary). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(4), pp. 478-479.

 

Fiddick, L., & Barrett, H.C. (2001). Evolution of cognition: An adaptationist perspective. In N.J. Smelser & P.B. Baltes (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 7. (pp. 4996-5000). New York, NY: Elsevier.

 

Todd, P.M., Gigerenzer, G., and the ABC Research Group (2000).  How can we open up the adaptive toolbox? (Reply to commentaries). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 767-777.

 

Barrett, H.C., and Fiddick, L. (1999). Evolution and risky decisions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 251-252.

 

Barrett, H. C. (1999). Human cognitive adaptations to predators and prey. PhD Dissertation, University of California at Santa Barbara. UMI Microform number 9986870.

 

Barrett, H.C., and R.R. Warner. (1996). Female influences on male reproductive success. In Gowaty, P., ed. Feminism and Evolutionary Biology. Chapman & Hall.

 

Invited talks

 

2004   Evolved intuitive ontology and the living versus dead distinction. Third Annual Arts and Humanities Research Board Conference on Innateness and the Structure of the Mind, Sheffield, UK.

2004   Evolutionary psychology: What is the proper role of evolution in psychology? Colloquium on “Evolutionary psychology and its philosophical critics,” Annual meetings of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Berlin, Germany.

2003   Life, death and meat: Intuitive ontology and death understanding. Social Colloquium, UCLA.

2003   The enzyme model of cognitive modularity. Cognitive Psychology Colloquium, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz.

2002   Predator-prey interactions and the evolution of human cognition. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.

2002   Using Monte Carlo simulations to test models of cognitive architecture. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.

2002   Social heuristics in capuchin monkeys. Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.

2001   The evolutionary and developmental building blocks of mindreading. Developmental Forum, UCLA Department of Psychology, Nov 2001.

2001   The evolutionary origins of mindreading. UCLA Cognitive Science Lecture Series, Nov 2001.

2001   Danger and the social transmission of information. Meetings of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, Atlanta, GA, October 2001.

2001   Do humans have cognitive adaptations to predators and prey? Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin.

2000   Evolution and biological inference. German-American Frontiers of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Symposium, Atlanta, March, 2000.

1999   Biological roles and causal reasoning.  1st International “Philosophy, Mind, and Society” Colloquium on Categories and Beliefs. Fondazione Rosselli, Turin, Italy, November, 1999.

 

Conference papers

 

2004   Barrett, H. C. Death understanding in a meat-eating primate. 16th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Berlin, Germany.

2003   Barrett, H.C. Hunting and theory of mind. 15th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Lincoln, NE.

2003   Barrett, H.C. Descent versus design in children’s reasoning about animals. 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.

2002   Barrett, H.C. Enzymatic computation: A new model of cognitive modularity. 14th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Brunswick, NJ.

2002   Hagen, E.H., and Barrett, H.C. Is postpartum depression an adaptation? Evidence from Shuar mothers. 14th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Brunswick, NJ.

2002   Hagen, E.H., Barrett, H.C., and Price, M.E. The negative impact of family size on nutrition and development in a Shuar village: evidence of a quantity-quality tradeoff. 71st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Buffalo, New York.

2001   Barrett, H.C., and Behne, T. Understanding death as the cessation of intentional action: a cross-cultural developmental study. CogSci 2001: Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Edinburgh.

2001   Barrett, H.C. Sleep, death, and danger: has natural selection shaped young children's judgment and decision-making abilities? 13th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, London.

2001   Hagen, E.H., Barrett, H.C., and Price, M.E. Social correlates of health and nutrition in a Shuar village. 13th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, London.

2001   Wichary, S., Keller, M., Takezawa, M., and Barrett, H.C. Emotional adaptations for social exchange: The role of guilt and anticipated anger. 13th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, London.

2000   Barrett, H.C. Evidence for two modes of biological reasoning. 12th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Amherst, MA.

2000   Todd, P.M., and Barrett, H.C. Judgment of domain-specific intentionality based solely on motion cues. 12th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Amherst, MA.

1999   Barrett, H.C. Guilty minds: How perceived intent, incentive, and ability to cheat influence social contract reasoning. 11th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Salt Lake City, Utah.

1998   Barrett, H.C. Currencies of social exchange, specialized friendships, and perceived reciprocal intent among the Shuar. 97th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA.

1998   Barrett, H.C. Children’s early understanding of death: an evolutionary approach. 10th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Davis, California.

1997   Barrett, H.C. Venatic cognition and the origins of theory of mind. 9th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Tucson, Arizona.

 

Fellowships and honors

 

1999             Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin.

1997             Elman Service Fellowship, University of California, Santa Barbara.

1995             McDonnell Summer Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience Fellowship.

1991-1995     Special Regents Fellowship, University of California.

1991             Harvard College Scholar, Harvard University.

 

Last revised: Feb 2, 2005