Research

My research focuses on the evolution of specialized cognitive capacities.

In my empirical work I examine children’s and adults’ understanding of the biological world, specifically, predators, prey, and other animate agents.

My theoretical work seeks to develop more precise and realistic models of how domain-specific capacities evolve, how they function in information-processing terms, and how they develop during the lifespan.

For a copy of my CV, click here.

Selected papers available for download in PDF format:

Barrett, H. C. (in press). Evolved cognitive mechanisms and human behavior. In Crawford, C. & Krebs, D. (eds.) Foundations of evolutionary psychology: Ideas, issues, applications and findings. (2nd Ed.) Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.	Request PDF
Bryant, G. A., & Barrett, H. C. (in press). Recognizing intentions in infant-directed speech: Evidence for universals.  Psychological Science.	Request PDF
Machery, E., and Barrett, H. C. (in press). Debunking Adapting Minds. Philosophy of Science.	Request PDF
Hagen, E., and Barrett, H. C. (2007). Perinatal sadness among Shuar women: Support for an evolutionary theory of psychic pain. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 21, 22-40.	Request PDF
Barrett, H. C., and Kurzban, R. (2006). Modularity in cognition: Framing the debate. Psychological Review, 113, 628-647.	Request PDF
Barrett, H. C., Frederick, D., Haselton, M., & Kurzban, R. (2006). Can manipulations of cognitive load be used to test evolutionary hypotheses? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 513-518.	Request PDF
Henrich, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Ensminger, J., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., Cardenas, J. C., Gurven, M., Gwako E., Henrich, N., Lesorogol, C., Marlowe, F., Tracer, D., and Ziker, J. (2006). Costly punishment across human societies. Science, 312, 1767-1770.	Request PDF
Barrett, H. C. (2005). Enzymatic computation and cognitive modularity. Mind and Language, 20, 259-287.	Request PDF
Barrett, H. C. & Behne, T. (2005). Children’s understanding of death as the cessation of agency: A test using sleep versus death. Cognition, 96, 93-108.	Request PDF
Barrett, H.C., Todd, P.M., Miller, G.F., and Blythe, P. (2005). Accurate judgments of intention from motion alone: A cross-cultural study. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 313-331.	Request PDF Supplementary materials
German, T.P., & Barrett, H.C. (2005). Functional fixedness in a technologically sparse culture. Psychological Science, 16, 1-5.	Request PDF
Barrett, H. C. (in press). Modularity and design reincarnation. In Carruthers, P., Laurence, S., & Stich, S. (Eds.), The innate mind: Culture and cognition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.	Request PDF