Research

The Human Behavioral Ecology Research Group (HBERG) is a convergence of the models of practice I learned as a graduate student from biomedical anthropologist Larry Schell, evolutionary psychologist Gordon Gallup, and cultural anthropologist Walt Little, among many others. My goals with HBERG is to provide a forum for collaboration, training, and esprit d’corps with regard the opportunities available in the UA Anthropology Department and throughout the campus and community.

HBERGers engage in several ongoing and overlapping projects based in human behavioral ecology, neuroanthropology, and evolutionary psychology. Our studies involve mixed methods approaches to research with a focus on training graduate and undergraduate students. While we are always open to developing ideas members bring in, we have several long-term projects to which everyone in the lab contributes. Most importantly, WE ARE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR NEW STUDENTS INTERESTED IN GETTING INVOLVED.

All projects are approved by the University of Alabama Institutional Review Board, and all HBERG personnel have received human subjects research training and certification.

Current Studies

Anthropology is Elemental Project (AiEP)

As service to the Department and discipline of Anthropology, HBERGers have participating in developing lessons and teaching anthropology to local elementary school students. This opportunity is available to proven juniors and seniors and a great way to demonstrate and reinforce their training. Additionally, in conjunction with the Evolutionary Studies program, we are studying the utility of evolution as unifying theme in evolution. We collaborated in conducting two studies of the efficacy of Baba Brinkman’s “Rap Guide to Evolution” in influencing evolutionary attitudes and literacy. We are currently developing a tool to assess student knowledge of evolution as a set of principles that transcend disciplines.

Click here to learn more about our education outreach projects.

Belongingness & Religious Ecology Study (BRES)

We have a number of studies that focus on human cooperation and belongingness. We are specifically interested in testing multi-level selection models by examining the dynamic interactions between group success and individual wellbeing. Specific projects include the Belongingness & Religious Ecology Study Tuscaloosa (BREST), the Costa Rican Religious Ecology Study (CoRRES), and Glossolalia Influences on Stress Response among Apostolic Pentecostals (in New York).

Learn more about our belongingness projects.

Sexuality, Sex Behavior, & Sociality Studies (SSBSS)

Another evolutionary model posits that forms of dissociation like self-deception may have been “exapted”—i.e., pre-existing or evolved for another purpose but now selectively preserved or enhanced for another purpose. Self-deception is simultaneously knowing contradictory information in the unconscious. Self-deception arguably helps in mating strategies by enabling individuals to deceptively self-promote without displaying the “tells” that are indicative of lying. The Cultural Knowledge and Mating Success compares various indicators of mating-relevant self-deception and self-awareness to proxies of mating success. Students from Dr. Lynn’s Anthropology of Sex course have also joined HBERG to collaborate on studies of the phylogenetic roots of oral sex, campus rape culture, and the relationship between sexuality fluidity and prosociality.

Click here to learn more about our sexuality and sex behaviors projects.

Fireside Relaxation & Social S ynergy Study (FRSSS)

Our fireside projects take up HBERG’s interest in focused attention and stress reduction by investigating cognitive mechanisms associated with relaxation response that may underlie proclivity for religious experience. Hearth and campfires are multi-sensory phenomena that have played an important role in human evolution, including possible effects on cognition. Our project tests the role of the elements of fire on blood pressure, sociality, and skin conductance through use of simulated and real fires and analogous media conditions. All HBERGers participate as experimenters as part of their neuroanthropology training.

Click here to learn more about our fireside studies.

Teaching & Being an Anthropologist Studies (TaBS)

There are numerous impediments to success in any discipline that are as diverse as the students who encounter them. Yet, we believe there is a culture model within anthropology that helps overcome some of those hurdles and creates others. In developing a lab in what is essentially “neuroanthropology,” HBERG was an experiment in how to train students, particularly undergrads in the early days, simultaneously in ethnography and neuroscience. We have developed a working model for this and turned our attention to other issues. For instance, our newest project looks inward at the discipline of anthropology. There are many obstacles to a professional career in research and academia that are not addressed in courses or research papers. Among them are the demands of parenting that can make field-based research disciplines difficult. This study investigates the cultural attitudes and issues within anthropology currently and over time regarding going to graduate school and establishing a career while having children.

Click here to learn more about our reflexivity projects.

Inking of Immunity Study (IoIs)

The HBERG study of signaling theory was extended through an examination of the immunological implications and cultural models surrounding the increased popularity of tattooing. We hypothesized that individuals with more tattoo experience advertise their quality via general health, including healing quickly from tattoos. Additionally, we are interested in the social implications of tattooing. Tattooing not only stresses the body, but is only marginally acceptable in some social circles, and being tattooed may literally “mark” an individual in the eyes of others, resulting in associations with risk behavior and other socially unacceptable qualities. We examined the extent these possible social implications reflect reality by focusing on Southern U.S. women in Tuscaloosa. We have also theorized about the convergence of Native American and colonial tattooing styles and functions. Future research plan include retesting a revised model in Samoa.

Click here to learn more about our tattoo projects.

HBERG continues to be involved in and to develop numerous other studies, as listed in our publications and presentations. For more information about these other studies, please contact us.