Robert Kurzban

Robert Kurzban spent more than 15 years as a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and recently served as the Editor-in-Chief of Evolution and Human Behavior. He has published work in areas such as social categorization and race, social stigma, cooperation in groups, trust, mate choice, social networks, emotions, and morality. You can learn more about him on his web page.

For additional information, you can check out his Amazon Author Page, facebook page, goodreads page, Google Scholar page, YouTube page, LinkedIn page, and web pages that include biographies.

Selected writings:

  • Weeden, J., & Kurzban, R. (2014). The hidden agenda of the political mind: How self-interest shapes our opinions and why we won’t admit it. Princeton University Press. [link]
  • Kurzban, R. (2010). Why everyone (else) is a hypocrite: Evolution and the modular mind. Princeton University Press. [link]
  • Weeden, J., & Kurzban, R. (2017). Self-interest is often a major determinant of issue attitudes. Advances in Political Psychology. [link]
  • Weeden, J., Kurzban, R., & Kenrick, D. T. (2016). The elephant in the pews: Reproductive strategy and religiosity. In The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Religion (eds. J. R. Liddle & T. K. Shackelford). Oxford University Press. [link]
  • Kurzban, R. (2016). The sense of effort. Current Opinion in Psychology, 7, 67-70.
  • Weeden, J., & Kurzban, R. (2016). Do people naturally cluster into liberals and conservatives? Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2, 47-57. [link]
  • Kurzban, R., Burton-Chellew, M.N., & West, S.A. (2015). The evolution of altruism in humans. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 575-599.
  • DeScioli, P., Massenkoff, M., Shaw, A., Petersen, M., & Kurzban, R. (2014). Equity or equality? Moral judgments follow the money. Proceedings of the Royal Society - B, 281.
  • Kurzban, R., Duckworth, A., Kable, J., & Myers, J. (2013). An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 661-679.
  • Weeden, J., & Kurzban, R. (2013). What predicts religiosity? A multinational analysis of reproductive and cooperative morals. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34, 440-445. [link]
  • DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2013). A solution to the mysteries of morality. Psychological Bulletin, 139(2), 477-496.
  • Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P. (2013). Adaptationist punishment in humans. Journal of Bioeconomics, 15, 269-279. [link]
  • Pedersen, E. J., Kurzban, R., & McCullough, M. E. (2013). Do humans really punish altruistically? A closer look. Proceedings of the Royal Society – B, 280, 1-8.
  • Quintelier, K. J. P., Ishii, K., Weeden, J., Kurzban, R., & Braeckman, J. (2013) Individual differences in reproductive strategy are related to views about recreational drug use in Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. Human Nature, 24, 196-217.
  • DeScioli, P., Asao, K. & Kurzban, R. (2012). Omissions and byproducts across moral domains. PLoS ONE, 7(10): e46963.
  • DeScioli, P., Gilbert, S., & Kurzban, R. (2012). Indelible victims and persistent punishers in moral cognition. Psychological Inquiry, 23, 143-149.
  • Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P., & Fein (2012). Hamilton vs. Kant: Pitting adaptations for altruism against adaptations for moral judgment. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32(4), 323-333.
  • DeScioli, P., Bruening, R. & Kurzban, R. (2011). The omission effect in moral cognition: Toward a functional explanation. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 204-215
  • DeScioli, P., Christner, J., & Kurzban, R. (2011). The omission strategy. Psychological Science, 22(4), 442-446.
  • Kurzban, R., Dukes, A., & Weeden, J. (2010). Sex, drugs, and moral goals: Reproductive strategies and views about recreational drugs. Proceedings of the Royal Society – B, 277, 3501-3508. [link]
  • Li, Y. J., Cohen, A.B., Weeden, J., & Kenrick, D.T. (2010). Mating competitors increase religious beliefs. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 46, 428-431.
  • Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P. (2009). Why religions turn oppressive — A perspective from evolutionary psychology. Skeptic, 15(2), 38-41.
  • DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2009). Mysteries of morality. Cognition, 112, 281-299.
  • DeScioli, P., & Kurzban, R. (2009). The alliance hypothesis for human friendship. PLoS ONE, 4(6): e5802.
  • Kurzban, R., & DeScioli, P. (2008). Reciprocal cooperation in groups: Information-seeking in a public goods game. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 139-158.
  • Ishii, K., & Kurzban, R. (2008). Public goods games in Japan: Cultural and individual differences in reciprocity. Human Nature: An Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective, 19(2), 138-156.
  • Robinson, P. H., Kurzban, R., & Jones, O. D. (2008). The origins of shared intuitions of justice. Vanderbilt Law Review, 60, 1633-1688.
  • Kurzban, R., & Aktipis, C. A. (2007). Modularity and the social mind: Are psychologists too self-ish? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(2), 131-149.
  • Kurzban, R., & Weeden, J. (2007). Do advertised preferences predict the behavior of speed daters? Personal Relationships, 14, 623-632. [link]
  • Kurzban, R., DeScioli, P., & O’Brien, E. (2007). Audience effects on moralistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28(2), 75-84.
  • Robinson, P. H., & Kurzban, R. (2007). Concordance and conflict in intuitions of justice. Minnesota Law Review, 91, 1829-1907.
  • Barrett, H. C., & Kurzban, R. (2006). Modularity in cognition: Framing the debate. Psychological Review, 113(3), 628-647.
  • Kurzban, R., & Weeden, J. (2005). HurryDate: Mate preferences in action. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(3), 227-244. [link]
  • Kurzban, R. & Houser, D. (2005) An experimental investigation of cooperative types in human groups: A complement to evolutionary theory and simulations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(5), 1803-1807.
  • Cosmides, L., Tooby, J. & Kurzban, R. (2003). Perceptions of race. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(4), 173-179.
  • Kurzban, R., & Leary, M. R. (2001). Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: The functions of social exclusion. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 187-208.
  • Kurzban, R., Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2001).  Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(26), 15387-15392.

Social science for the pleeps