Research Overview
My research investigates the cognitive mechanisms mediating kin detection in humans and the emotive and decision–making programs that guide kin–directed behavior (e.g., altruism and inbreeding avoidance). Other research interests include social categorization, the neuroscience of emotions (e.g., disgust), and applications of evolutionary psychology and biology in law and medicine.
Selected papers
Schaich Borg, J., Lieberman, D., & Kiehl, K. (under review). The common and distinct neural correlates of pathogen and socio-moral disgust.
Lieberman, D., Oum, R. E. & Kurzban, R. (under review). Does the family of fundamental social categories include kinship?
Lieberman, D., Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (2007). The architecture of human kin detection. Nature, 445, 727-731.
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. (2006). Causal explanations of human behavior: From culture to psychology or from psychology to culture? Psychological Inquiry, 17, 109–115.
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.