Daniel M.T. Fessler
   
     
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Daniel M.T. Fessler
Department of Anthropology
341 Haines Hall
Box 951553
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553

Phone +1 310.794.9252

Email: dfessler "at" anthro.ucla.edu (Place an @ in place of the "at")
 

 


Select Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLES | BOOK CHAPTERS | OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Note: these materials are for the personal use of visitors to this web site, and are not intended for widespread dissemination.


Journal Articles

Fessler, D.M.T., Holbrook, C., and Snyder, J.K. (2012) Weapons make the man (larger): Formidability is represented as size and strength in humans. PLoS ONE 7(4): e32751. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032751 Direct link to article via PLoS ONE (open access to all)

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Fessler, D.M.T., Stieger, S., Asaridou, S.S., Bahia, U., Cravalho, M., de Barros, P., Delgado, T., Fisher, M.L., Frederick, D., Giraldo Perez, P., Pisor, A., Goetz, C., Haley, K., Jackson, J., Kushnick, G., Lew, K., Pain, B., Peixinho Florindo, P., Sinaga, E., Sinaga, L., Smolich, L., Mei Sun, D., and Voracek, M. (2012) Testing a postulated case of intersexual selection in humans: The role of foot size in judgments of physical attractiveness and age. Evolution & Human Behavior 33(2): 147-164. Download PDF.

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Quintelier, K. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2012) Varying versions of moral relativism: The philosophy and psychology of normative relativism. Biology and Philosophy 27(1): 95-113. Download PDF.

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Gneezy, A. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2011) Conflict, sticks, and carrots: War increases prosocial punishments and rewards. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0805. Download PDF.(http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/06/03/rspb.2011.0805.abstract)

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Kushnick, G. and Fessler, D.M.T. (in press) Karo Batak cousin marriage, cosocialization, and the Westermarck Hypothesis. Current Anthropology. Download PDF.

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Fleischman, D.S. and Fessler, D.M.T. (in press) Progesterone's effects on the psychology of disease avoidance: Support for the Compensatory Behavioral Prophylaxis Hypothesis. Hormones and Behavior. Download PDF.

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Snyder, J.K., Fessler, D.M.T., Tiokhin, L., Frederick, D.A., Lee, S.W., and Navarrete, C.D. (2011) Trade-offs in a dangerous world: Women's fear of crime predicts preferences for aggressive and formidable mates. Evolution & Human Behavior 32(2):127-137. Download PDF.

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Schnall, S., Roper, J., and Fessler, D.M.T. (2010) Elevation leads to altruistic behavior, above and beyond general positive affect. Psychological Science 21(3)315-320. Download PDF.

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2009) Return of the lost letter: Experimental framing does not enhance altruism in an everyday context. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 71(2):575-578. Download PDF.

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Navarrete, C.D., Fessler, D.M.T., Fleischman, D.S., and Geyer, J. (2009) Race bias tracks conception risk across the menstrual cycle. Psychological Science 20(6):661-665. Download PDF.

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2007) Neglected natural experiments germane to the Westermarck Hypothesis: The Karo Batak and the Oneida Community. Human Nature 18(4):355-364. Download PDF.

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Fleischman, D.S. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2007) Differences in dietary intake as a function of sexual activity and hormonal contraception. Evolutionary Psychology 5(3): 642-652.  Download PDF
 
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Voracek, M., Fisher, M.L, Rupp, B., Lucas, D., and Fessler, D.M.T.  (2007) Sex differences in relative foot length and the perceived attractiveness of female feet: The relationships between anthropometry, physique, and preference ratings.  Perceptual and Motor Skills 104:1123-1138.  Download PDF

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Kelly, D., Stich, S.P., Haley, K.J., Eng, S.J., and Fessler, D.M.T. (2007) Harm, affect and the moral / conventional distinction.  Mind & Language  22(2):117–131.  Download PDF

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Navarrete, C.D., Fessler, D.M.T., & Eng, S.J. (2007) Elevated ethnocentrism in the first trimester of pregnancy. Evolution and Human Behavior 28(1):60-65.  Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2006) A burning desire: Steps toward an evolutionary psychology of fire learning.  Journal of Cognition and Culture 6(3-4):429-451.  Download PDF

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Navarrete, C.D. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2006) Disease avoidance and ethnocentrism: The effects of disease vulnerability and disgust sensitivity on intergroup attitudes. Evolution and Human Behavior 27(4):270-282.  Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. and Haley, K.J. (2006) Guarding the perimeter: The outside-inside dichotomy in disgust and bodily experience. Cognition and Emotion 20(1):3-19.  Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2005) Never eat alone: The meaning of food sharing in a Sumatran fishing village. People and Culture in Oceania 20:51-67. Download PDF

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Navarrete, C.D. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2005) Normative bias and adaptive challenges: A relational approach to coalitional psychology and a critique of Terror Management Theory. Evolutionary Psychology 3:297-325. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. and Navarrete, C.D. (2005) The effect of age on death disgust: Challenges to Terror Management perspectives. Evolutionary Psychology 3:279-296. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T., Eng, S.J., and Navarrete, C.D. (2005), Elevated disgust sensitivity in the first trimester of pregnancy: Evidence supporting the compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis. Evolution and Human Behavior 26(4):344-351. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T., Nettle, D., Afshar, Y, de Andrade Pinheiro, I., Bolyanatz, A., Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Cravalho, M., Delgado, T., Gruzd, B., Oliveira Correia, M., Khaltourina, D.,  Korotayev, A. Marrow, J., Santiago de Souza, L., and Zbarauskaite, A. (2005) A cross-cultural investigation of the role of foot size in physical attractiveness.  Archives of Sexual Behavior 34(3):267-276. Download PDF    Correction to the preceding paper Download PDF

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Haley, K.J. and Fessler, D.M.T. (2005) Nobody’s watching? Subtle cues affect generosity in an anonymous economic game. Evolution and Human Behavior 26(3):245-256. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T., Navarrete, C.D., Hopkins, W., and Izard, M.K. (2005) Examining the terminal investment hypothesis in humans and chimpanzees: Associations between maternal age, parity, and birth weight.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology 127(1):95-104. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T., Haley, K.J., and Lal, R.D. (2005) Sexual dimorphism in foot length proportionate to stature. Annals of Human Biology 32(1):44-59. Download PDF

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Frederick, D.A., Fessler, D.M.T., and Haselton, M.G. (2005) Do representations of male muscularity differ in men’s and women’s magazines? Body Image 2(1)81-86. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. and A.P. Arguello (2004) The relationship between susceptibility to nausea and vomiting and the possession of conditioned food aversions.  Appetite 43(3):331-334. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. and E.T. Abrams (2004) Infant mouthing behavior: The immunocalibration hypothesis.  Medical Hypotheses 63(6):925-932. Download PDF

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Navarrete, C.D., Kurzban, R., Fessler, D.M.T., and Kirkpatrick, L.A. (2004) Anxiety and intergroup bias: Terror management or coalitional psychology? Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 7(4):370-397. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. and Navarrete, C.D. (2004) Third-party attitudes toward sibling incest: Evidence for Westermarck’s Hypotheses. Evolution and Human Behavior 25(5):277-294. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2004) Shame in two cultures: Implications for evolutionary approaches. Journal of Cognition and Culture 4(2):207-262. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T., Pillsworth, E.G., and Flamson, T.J. (2004) Angry men and disgusted women: An evolutionary approach to the influence of emotions on risk taking. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 95(1):107-123. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2003) Rape is not less frequent during the ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle.  Sexualities, Evolution & Gender 5(3):127-147. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. and Navarrete, C.D. (2003) Domain-specific variation in disgust sensitivity across the menstrual cycle. Evolution and Human Behavior 24(6):406–417. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2003) The implications of starvation-induced psychological changes for the ethical treatment of hunger strikers. Journal of Medical Ethics 29:243-247. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2003) An evolutionary explanation of the plasticity of salt preferences: Prophylaxis against sudden dehydration. Medical Hypotheses 61(3):412-415. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T., Arguello, A.P., Mekdara, J.M., and Macias, R. (2003) Disgust sensitivity and meat consumption: A test of an emotivist account of moral vegetarianism. Appetite 41(1):31-41. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. and Navarrete, C.D. (2003) Meat is good to taboo: Dietary proscriptions as a product of the interaction of psychological mechanisms and social processes. Journal of Cognition and Culture 3(1):1-40. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2003) No time to eat: An adaptationist account of periovulatory behavioral changes. Quarterly Review of Biology 78(1):3-21. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2002) Starvation, serotonin, and symbolism: A psychobiocultural perspective on stigmata. Mind & Society 6(3):81-96. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2002) Dimorphic foraging behaviors and the evolution of hominid hunting. Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum 95(3):429-454. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2002) Windfall and socially distributed willpower: The psychocultural dynamics of rotating savings and credit associations in a Bengkulu village. Ethos 30(1/2):25-48. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2002) Pseudoparadoxical impulsivity in restrictive anorexia nervosa: A consequence of the logic of scarcity.  International Journal of Eating Disorders 31(4):376-388. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2002) Reproductive immunosuppression and diet: An evolutionary perspective on pregnancy sickness and meat consumption. Current Anthropology 43(1):19-39;48-61. Download PDF

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Fessler, D.M.T. (2001) Luteal phase immunosuppression and meat eating. Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum 94(3):403-426. Download PDF


Book Chapters

Fessler, D.M.T. and Quintelier, K. (in press) Suicide Bombings, weddings, and prison tattoos: An evolutionary perspective on subjective commitment and objective commitment. In Signaling, Commitment, and Emotion, R. Joyce, K. Sterelny, and B. Calcott, eds. MIT Press. Download PDF.

Fessler, D.M.T. (in press) Twelve lessons (most of which I learned the hard way) for evolutionary psychologists. In Thus Speak Evolutionary Psychologists, X.T. Wang and Y.-J. Su, eds. Peking University Press. Download PDF.

Fessler, D.M.T. and Machery, E. (in press) Culture and cognition. In The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Cognitive Science, E. Margolis, R. Samuels, and S. Stich, eds. Oxford University Press. Download PDF.

Fessler, D.M.T. (2010) Madmen: An evolutionary perspective on anger and men’s violent responses to transgression. In Handbook of anger: Constituent and concomitant biological, psychological, and social processes, M. Potegal, G. Stemmler, and C.D. Spielberger, eds., pp. 361-381. Springer. Download PDF.

Fessler, D.M.T., and Gervais, M. (2010) From whence the captains of our lives: Ultimate and phylogenetic perspectives on emotions in humans and other primates. In Mind the Gap: The Origins of Human Universals, P. Kappeler & J.B. Silk, eds., pp. 261-280. Springer. Download PDF.

Fessler, D.M.T. (2007) From appeasement to conformity: Evolutionary and cultural perspectives on shame, competition, and cooperation.  In The Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research, J.L. Tracy, R.W. Robins, & J.P. Tangney, eds.
Guilford Press.  Download PDF

Fessler, D.M.T. (2006) Steps toward the evolutionary psychology of a culture-dependent species. In Innateness and the Structure of the Mind, Vol. II, P. Carruthers, S. Laurence & S. Stich, eds., pp. 91-117. Oxford University Press. Download PDF

Fessler, D.M.T. (2006) Violent response to transgression as an example of the intersection of evolved psychology and culture.  In Missing the Revolution: Darwinism for Social Scientists, J. Barkow, ed., pp. 101-117.  Oxford University Press. Download PDF

Fessler, D.M.T. and Haley, K.J. (2003) The strategy of affect: Emotions in human cooperation. In The Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation, P. Hammerstein, ed., pp. 7-36.  Dahlem Workshop Report.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Download PDF

McElreath, R., Clutton-Brock, T.H., Fehr, E., Fessler, D.M.T., Hagen, E.H., Hammerstein, P., Kosfeld, M., Milinski, M., Silk, J.B., Tooby, J., and Wilson, M.I. (2003) The role of cognition and emotion in cooperation.  In The Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation, P. Hammerstein, ed., pp. 125-152.  Dahlem Workshop Report.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Algaze, G.and Fessler, D.M.T. (2001) A reconsideration of the origins of human settlement and social differentiation.  In Studies in the Archeology of Israel and Neighboring Lands in Memory of Douglas L. Esse, Sam Wolff, ed., pp. 9-28.  Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization Series No. 59.  Chicago: Oriental Institute/University of Chicago Press.

Fessler, D.M.T. (2001) Emotions and cost/benefit assessment: The role of shame and self-esteem in risk taking.  In Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox, R. Selten & G. Gigerenzer, eds. pp.191-214. Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press. Download PDF

Mellers, B., Erev, I., Fessler, D.M.T., Hemelrijk, C.K., Hertwig, R., Laland, K.N., Scherer, K.R., Seeley, T.D., Selten, R., and Tetlock, P.E. (2001) Effects of emotions and social processes on bounded rationality. In Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox, R. Selten & G. Gigerenzer, eds. 263-79.  Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press.

Fessler, D.M.T. (1999) Toward an understanding of the universality of second order emotions. In Beyond Nature or Nurture:  Biocultural Approaches to the Emotions, A. Hinton, ed. pp.75-116.  New York: Cambridge University Press. Download PDF



Other Publications

Stich, S. Fessler, D.M.T., and Kelly, D. (2010) On the morality of harm: A response to Sousa, Holbrook and Piazza. Cognition 113(1):93-97. Download PDF.

Fessler, D.M.T. (2010) Cultural congruence between investigators and participants masks the unknown unknowns: Shame research as an example (commentary on Henrich, Heine, and Noranzayan's The Weirdest People in the World?). Behavioral & Brain Sciences 33(2/3):32. Download PDF.

Fleischman, D.S., Navarrete, C.D., and Fessler, D.M.T Oral contraceptives suppress ovarian hormone production (commentary on Sprengelmeyer et al.’s The Cutest Little Baby Face: A Hormonal Link to Sensitivity to Cuteness in Infant Faces). Psychological Science. Download PDF.

Fessler, D.M.T. and Moya, C.M. Crying (evolutionary perspectives) (2009). In The Oxford Companion to the Affective Sciences, Klaus Scherer and David Sander, eds., pp.105-106. New York: Oxford University Press. Download PDF

Fessler, D.M.T. (2006) Contextual features of problem-solving and social learning give rise to spurious associations, the raw materials for the evolution of rituals. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29(6):617-618. [Commentary on Boyer & Lienard's 'Why ritualized behavior? Precaution systems in developmental, pathological, and cultural rituals'].  Download PDF (this file contains the target article and all of the commentaries)

Fessler, D.M.T. (2003) The Neolithic Revolution did not increase the adaptive value of pregnancy sickness [discussion/reply]. Current Anthropology 44(5):709-711. Download PDF

Fessler, D.M.T. (2003) Book review of Harriet Whitehead’s Food Rules: Hunting, Sharing, and Tabooing Game in Papua New Guinea. Journal of Ritual Studies 17(2):105-111. Download PDF (this file contains the entire review forum; scroll to page 105 for my contribution)

Fessler, D.M.T. (2002) Are mothers battling embryos or pathogens? [corresp.] Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17(8):360. Download PDF

Fessler, D.M.T. (2002) Emotions and self-knowledge. Oxford Encyclopedia of Evolution, M. Pagel, ed. Vol. 1, pp. 296-299.  New York: Oxford University Press. Download PDF

Fessler, D.M.T. (1997) Commentary on why polyandry fails.  Current Anthropology 38(3): 391-392.

Fessler, D.M.T. (1997) Arbitrary values [corresp.]. Anthropology Newsletter 38(2):2.

Fessler, D.M.T. (1996) Anthropology in Wonderland, or, the virtues of shifting levels and frames [essay].  Anthropology Newsletter 37(8):44-42.

Fessler, D.M.T. (1996) The next frontier: Anthropology and evolutionary psychology [essay].  Anthropology Newsletter 37(9):7.

JOURNAL ARTICLES | BOOK CHAPTERS | OTHER PUBLICATIONS