Employment
- Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Miami. 2008–
- Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Hawaii, Manoa. 2003–2008
- Teaching Assistant/Associate, University of California, Santa Barbara. 1995–1997, 1999–2003
- Graduate Student Researcher, University of California, Santa Barbara. 1997–1998, 1998–1999
Education
- Ph.D. in Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara. September, 2003
- B.S. in Biochemistry (cum laude), State University of New York at Binghamton. May, 1995
Summer Institutes / Special Training
- Center for Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences: Summer Institute on Emotion and Decision–Making. Stanford University, California. July 6– August 6, 2004
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development: Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality in Psychology and Economics: Emotions as Foundations of Bounded Rationality. Berlin, Germany. August 13–21, 2002
- Positive Psychology Summer Institute. The Sea Ranch, San Francisco, CA. August 16–23, 2001
Grants, Awards, and Fellowships
- Provost Research Award. University of Miami, 2010.
- U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation Grant. Inbreeding avoidance and kin-directed altruism in Israeli Kibbutz members. Co-PI with Thalma Lobel, Tel-Aviv University, 10/2008–9/2012.
- Bergmann Memorial Research Award. Supplement to the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation Grant, 2008.
- College of Social Sciences Research Council Grant. University of Hawaii, 2008.
- Social Science Research Institute Travel Grant, University of Hawaii, 2006.
- Research Relations Fund Award, University of Hawaii Research Council, 2005–2006
- University Research Council Grant, 2005
- Summer Stipend Research Grant, 2005
- Top Four Finalist in the Council of Graduate Schools Distinguished International Dissertation Competition, 2004
- Lancaster Social Sciences Dissertation Award, University of California Santa Barbara, 2004
- New Investigator Competition, Human Behavior & Evolution Society. Second place. 14th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Rutgers, New Jersey, June 2002
- Social Science Research Council Award, Sexuality Research Dissertation Fellow, 2000–2001
- Positive Psychology Fellowship, 2000–2001
- Dissertation Research Fellowship, University of California Santa Barbara, Graduate Division, 2000
- Humanities and Social Science Research Grant, University of California Santa Barbara, 1999
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Research Grant, Summer 1994
Memberships / Affiliations
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society, 1994– (Council Member at Large: 2005–2011)
- Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California Santa Barbara, 1995–
- American Psychological Society, 1999–
- American Psychological Association, 1999–
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2003–
- Cognitive Science Society, 2004–2006
- Society for the Evolutionary Analysis in Law, 2006–
Publications
Lieberman, D., Tybur, J., & Latner, J. (in press, Obesity). Disgust sensitivity and obesity stigma: How anti-fat attitudes relate to different disgust domains for men and women.
Lieberman, D. & Lobel, T. (in press, Evolution and Human Behavior). Kinship on the Kibbutz: Coresidence duration predicts altruism, personal sexual aversions, and moral attitudes among communally reared peers.
Lieberman, D., Fessler, D.M.T., & Smith, A. (2011). The Relationship Between Familial Resemblance and Sexual Attraction: An Update on Westermarck, Freud, and the Incest Taboo. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1229–1232.
Tybur, J.M., Bryan, A.D., Lieberman, D., Caldwell Hooper, A.E., & Merriman, L.A. (2011). Sex differences and sex similarities in disgust sensitivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 343–348.
Oum, R. E., Lieberman, D., & Aylward, A. (2011). A feel for disgust: Tactile cues to pathogen presence. Cognition and Emotion, 25,717–725.
Lieberman, D., Pillsworth, E. G., & Haselton, M. G. (2011). Kin affiliation across the ovulatory cycle: Females avoid fathers when fertile. Psychological Science, 22, 13–18.
Cope, L.M., Schaich Borg, J., Harenski, C. L., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., Lieberman, D., Nyalakanti, P.K., Calhoun, V.D., & Kiehl, K.A. (2010). Hemispheric asymmetries during processing of immoral stimuli. Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, 2(110), 1–14.
Lieberman, D. & Gangestad, S. (2010). Evolution and human behavior. In D. F. Westneat & C. W. Fox (Eds.) Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology (pp. 531–548). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
DeBruine, L. M., Jones, B. C., Tybur, J. M., Lieberman, D., & Griskevicius, V. (2010). Women’s preferences for masculinity in male faces are predicted by pathogen disgust, but not moral or sexual disgust. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 69–74.
Tybur, J., Lieberman, D., & Griskevicius, V. (2009). Microbes, mating, and morality: Individual differences in three functional domains of disgust. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 103–122.
Lieberman, D. (2009). Rethinking the Taiwanese minor marriage data: Evidence the mind uses multiple kinship cues to regulate inbreeding avoidance. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 153–160.
Lieberman, D. & Haselton, M. (2009). Darwinian psychology: Where the present meets the past. Psychological Science Agenda, May Issue Special Section, 8–9.
Lieberman, D. (2009). Incest. In H. T. Reis & S.K. Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Human Relationships: Vol 2 (pp. 123–456). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Lieberman, D., Haselton, M., von Hippel, B. (2009). Kin selection. In H. T. Reis & S.K. Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Human Relationships: Vol 2 (pp. 954–957). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Lieberman, D., Oum, R. E., & Kurzban, R. (2008). Does the family of fundamental social categories include kinship? European Journal of Social Psychology.
Schaich Borg, J., Lieberman, D., & Kiehl, K. A. (2008). Infection, Incest, and Iniquity: Investigating the neural correlates of disgust and morality. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 1529-1546.
Tooby, J., Cosmides, L., Sell, A., Lieberman, D., & Sznycer, D. (2008). Internal regulatory variables and the design of human motivation: A computational and evolutionary approach. In A. Elliot (Ed.), Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation (pp. 251–272). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Tal, I. & Lieberman, D. (2007). Kin detection and the development of sexual aversions: Towards an integration of theories on family sexual abuse. In C. A. Salmon & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), Family Relationships: An Evolutionary Perspective (pp. 205–229). Oxford University Press.
Lieberman, D. & Linke, L. (2007). The effect of social category on third party punishment. Evolutionary Psychology, 5, 289-305.
Lieberman, D. (2007). Darwinian psychology: A modern-day Hercules. Evolution & Human Behavior, 28, 211-213.
Lieberman, D., Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (2007). The architecture of human kin detection. Nature, 445, 727-731.
Lieberman, D. (2007). Evolutionary psychology and developmental systems theory. In S. Gangestad & J. Simpson (Eds.), The Evolution of Mind: Fundamental Questions and Controversies (pp. 193-202). New York: Guilford Press.
Oum, R. E. & Lieberman, D. (2007). Emotion as cognition: An information processing view of the mind. In K. D. Vohs, R. F. Baumeister, & G. Loewenstein (Eds.),Do Emotions Help or Hurt Decision Making? A Hedgefoxian perspective (pp.133–154). New York: Russell Sage.
Lieberman, D. (2007). Moral sentiments relating to incest: Discerning adaptations from by–products. In W. Sinnott–Armstrong (Ed.), Moral Psychology Volume 1: The Evolution of Morality (pp.165–208). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lieberman, D. (2007). Cognitive programs regulating inbreeding avoidance: Categorization, decision-rules, and emotions. In J. Forgas, M. Haselton, & B. von Hippel (Eds.), The Evolution of the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Social Cognition (pp. 179-194). New York: Psychology Press.
Lieberman, D. (2006). Causal explanations of human behavior: From culture to psychology or from psychology to culture? Psychological Inquiry, 17, 109–115.
Lieberman, D. (2006). An evolutionary perspective of mate selection: Adaptive problems and cognitive programs. In P. Noller and J. A. Feeney (Eds.), Frontiers of Social Psychology: Close Relationships (pp. 245–266). New York: Psychology Press.
Lieberman, D. & Hatfield, E. (2006) Lust and disgust: Cross–cultural and evolutionary perspectives. In R.J. Sternberg & K.Weis (Eds.), The Psychology of Love (2nd ed) (pp. 274-297). Cambridge, MA: Yale University Press.
Lieberman, D. (2004). Mapping the cognitive architecture of systems for kin detection and inbreeding avoidance: The Westermarck Hypothesis and the development of sexual aversions between siblings. Lieberman, Debra Lyn; Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, Vol 64(8–B), 2004. pp. 4110.
Lieberman, D., Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (2003). Does morality have a biological basis? An empirical test of the factors governing moral sentiments regarding incest. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London B, 270, 819–826.
Lieberman, D. & Symons, D. (1998). Sibling Incest Avoidance: From Westermarck to Wolf. Quarterly Review of Biology, 73 (4), 463–466.
Invited Colloquia, Panels, and Workshops
- Association for Psychological Science (APS). Invited Symposium on Evolutionary Psychology. Chicago, May 24-27, 2012.
- The Evolution of Disgust: From Oral to Moral. ZiF Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld, Germany, January 4-7, 2012.
- Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP). Invited symposium “Hormones and Women’s Social Behavior: Testing Evolutionary Hypotheses”. Washington DC, October 13-15, 2011.
- Annual Meeting of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology, workshop on the Psychology and Philosophy of Morality. Portland, Oregon, June 9th, 2010.
- Emotion Preconference, Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Las Vegas, Nevada, January 28th, 2010.
- Evolution of Brain, Mind, & Culture, Center for Mind, Brain, & Culture, Emory University. November 12–13, 2009.
- Behavior, Evolution, and Culture Colloquium, UCLA. May 7, 2008
- Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel. March 17, 2008
- Liberty, Darwinism and Political Economy. Liberty Fund Colloquium. The Beach House Hotel, Hermosa Beach, CA, February 22-25, 2007
- Vanderbilt University, Law and Behavioral Biology Speaker Series. January 29, 2007
- The Moral Brain: Towards an Integration of Evolutionary and Neurological Perspectives on Human Morality. Ghent University, Belgium, October 20–21, 2006
- Sydney Society for Social Psychology. University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, March 14–16, 2006
- Workshop on Cultural Transmission. Washington University, MO, January 13–15, 2006
- University of Tokyo Lecture Series on Evolutionary Cognitive Science. Tokyo, Japan, November 9th, 2005
- Darwinism and Political Liberty. Liberty Fund Colloquium, New Orleans, LA, April 14–17, 2005
- Emotion and Decision–Making. Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Summer Institute, Stanford University, CA, July 6–August 6, 2004
- Men Are From Mars, Women Are From You Know Where: A Debate About the Nature of Gender Differences. Invited panel participant for Presidential Symposium at the 112th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. Honolulu, HI, July 28– August 1, 2004
- Institute on the Psychology and Biology of Morality. Dartmouth College, NH, May 2004
- Liberty in the Evolution of the Human Brain. Liberty Fund Colloquium. The Westward Look Resort, Tucson, AZ, April 1–4, 2004
- Behavior, Evolution, and Cognition Colloquium, University of California, Los Angeles. Oct. 22, 2002. Paper presented: "Does morality have a biological basis? An empirical test of the factors governing moral sentiments regarding incest"
- Cognitive Psychology Colloquium, California State University, Long Beach. Oct. 16, 2002. Paper presented: "Mapping the architecture of human kin recognition systems through patterns of moral sentiments, sexual aversions, and altruism"
- Positive Psychology Summer Institute. The Sea Ranch, San Francisco, CA.. August 20, 2001. Paper presented: "Cognitive mechanisms mediating kin–directed altruism"
- Biology, Morality, and Responsibility. Liberty Fund Discovery Institute Panel. The Rex Ranch, Tucson, AZ, March 1–4, 2001
- Marriage, Morality, and Emotions – Updating Edward Westermarck. An International Symposium. Helsinki, Finland, Nov. 19–22, 1998. Paper presented: "A Closer Look at the Westermarck Hypothesis: The cognitive mechanisms mediating sibling incest avoidance"
Conference Papers
- Society for Evolutionary Analysis in Law. Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA, February 11-12, 2011. Personal sexual aversions shape moral attitudes regarding sex: Evidence from the coreared peers of Israeli Kibbutzim. D Lieberman & T Lobel
- International Association for Relationship Research. Herzliya, Israel July 27–31, 2010.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, June 2010.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, May 27–31, 2009. The twin effects of exposure on attraction and disease avoidance. A Aylward, D Lieberman, & R Oum.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, May 27–31, 2009. Kin affiliation across the menstrual cycle: Evidence for incest avoidance near ovulation. EG Pillsworth, MG Haselton, & D Lieberman.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, May 27–31, 2009. T-shirt and genes: The role of MHC in human kin recognition and mating preferences. I Tal, A Watson, & D Lieberman.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, May 27&31, 2009. Women’s preferences for masculinity in male faces are predicted by pathogen disgust, but not moral or sexual disgust. LM Debruine, BC Jones, JM Tybur, D Lieberman, & V Griskevicius.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, June 2–8, 2008. Different domains of disgust predict stigmatization of different groups. With Josh Tybur.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, June 2–8, 2008. Microbes, Mating, and Morality: Individual Differences in Three Functional Domains of Disgust. With Josh Tybur.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, May 30–June 3, 2007. Sibling kin recognition: Predicting altruism and incest aversion among sibling pairs. With Ilanit Tal.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, May 30–June 3. Exploring three domains of disgust. With Josh Tybur.
- Neural Systems of Social Behavior. Austin, TX, May 11–13, 2007. The neural correlates of the functional domains of disgust. With Jana Shaich Borg & Kent Kiehl.
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Memphis TN, January, 2007. Symposium on emerging themes and issues in evolutionary science. Organizer: Jeff Simpson.
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, June 7–11, 2006. "Kinship as another primitive dimension in social categorization" with Robert E. Oum
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, June 7–11, 2006. "Westermarck Rulings: The Influence of Evolved Mechanisms for Inbreeding Avoidance on Jury and Judicial Decisions Involving Incest" with John Lanou
- Society for the Evolutionary Analysis in Law. Vanderbilt University School of Law, Nashville, TN, April 1–2, 2006. "Westermarck Rulings: The Influence of Evolved Mechanisms for Inbreeding Avoidance on Jury and Judicial Decisions Involving Incest" with John Lanou
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. University of Texas, Austin, TX, June 2005. "Cognitive programs for human kin detection regulate patterns of incest avoidance and altruism"
- The Psychology and Biology of Morality. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, May 20–23, 2004. "Does morality have a biological basis?"
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology Pre–Conference. Austin, TX, January 29, 2004. "Investigating the cues mediating kin detection: Disgust and the development of sexual aversions"
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, June 19–23, 2002. "Factors Governing the Development of Moral Sentiments Regarding Third Party Sibling Incest"
- American Psychological Society. New Orleans, LA, June 6–9, 2002. "The Psychological Mechanisms Mediating the Development of a Sexual Aversion Between Siblings"
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. University College London. London, England, June 13–17, 2001. "Does it pay to interfere? An investigation into whether individuals are sensitive to the costs of inbreeding within the family"
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, June 7–11, 2000. Paper presented: "Investigating the Cognitive Mechanisms Governing Kin Recognition and Incest Avoidance"
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. UC Davis, Davis, California, July 9–12, 1998. Paper presented: "The Psychological Mechanisms Mediating Incest Avoidance"
Conference Posters
- Society for Personality and Social Psychology Evolutionary Psychology Pre–Conference. Memphis, TN, January 25, 2007. Emotional contagion: A mechanism underlying mental state attribution or a mechanism signaling cooperation? With R. E. Oum.
- The Organization for Human Brain Mapping. Florence, Italy, June 11–15, 2006. "Pathogen, Sexual, and Moral Disgust – Distinct or Common Neural Networks?" J. Schaich–Borg, D. Lieberman, & K. A. Kiehl
- Cognitive Neuroscience Society. Hyatt Regency San Francisco, CA, April 8–11, 2006. "Pathogen, Sexual, and Moral Disgust: An fMRI Investigation" J. Schaich–Borg, D. Lieberman, & K. A. Kiehl
- Human Behavior and Evolution Society. University of Texas, Austin, TX, June 1–5, 2005. "Social categorization: Kinship as another primitive dimension encoded by the psychological architecture" R.E. Oum & D. Lieberman
Media Attention
- Women’s Health Magazine. October, 2011. “Why Smart Men Do Such Stupid Things” by Lisa DePaulo.
- Word of Mouth Interview. December 7, 2010. New Hampshire Public Radio. On female avoidance of male kin during peak fertility.
- Social Science Palooza. December 6, 2010. The New York Times, Op-Ed Column by David Brooks.
- LiveScience.Com. September 17, 2010, “Freud Was (Half) Right About Incest” by JR Minkel.
- Science Magazine. August 13, 2010, Volume 329, p. 733. “Ick Factor”.
- University of Miami Arts and Sciences Magazine. April 15, 2010, p.14-15. “When Disgusting is Good.”
- Glamour Magazine. February, 2010, p. 165. “How many more millions of years until men evolve to be monogamous?”
- CNN.com. October 2, 2009. Interviewed for article entitled, "“Phillips’ incest claim draws attention to taboo” by Madison Park.
- Financial Times.com. September 3, 2008. Interviewed for article entitled, “Parental template for partners” by Emma Byrne.
- Kiwi FM Radio. July 7, 2008, Interview on New Zealand Radio Station on Disgust.
- New Scientist Magazine. July 2, 2008, "Disgust Comes in Three Revolting Flavours" by Bob Holmes.
- Scientific American. February 15, 2007, "Evolving a Mechanism to Avoid Sex with Siblings" by David Biello.
- ABC News On-line. February 15, 2007, "Scientists Explain Why Incest Revolts Us" by Maggie Fox, Reuters.
- Nature Podcast. February 15, 2007, discussing Nature publication on kin detection.
- Fox News On-line. February 14, 2007, "Kinship Detectors' Prevent Brother-Sister Incest — Most of the Time" by Ker Than.
- Esquire Magazine. Why brothers don’t want to sleep with their sisters.
- Glamour Magazine. On factors that govern mate selection.
- Cosmopolitan Magazine. May, 2005, on how make-up enhances attraction.
- Elle Magazine. June, 2004, on an evolutionary perspective of eating disorders.