In recent years evolutionary theory has been productively applied to study human behaviour, and change in human societies. Darwinian evolution (the idea of 'descent with modification') has the potential to be the same kind of unifying principle for studies of human diversity across space and time that it is in understanding biological diversity, and to enable researchers in what are now quite disparate disciplines to interact more productively.

A particular foucs of my research has been the application of phylogenetic (or "tree-based") methods to investigate cultural evolution. "Tree-thinking" is an integral part of modern biology, and recently has also been applied to address questions about cultural evolution. Phylogenetic methods allow us understand how societies are historically related to one another, and to provide rigorous tests of questions relating to how, why, when and where different social and cultural traits evolved (see below).

I have also used an evolutionary perspective to understand human mate choice decisions. In particular I examined how and why humans use a number of different traits when assessing a potential partner.

By mapping trait data onto the tips of a phylogenetic tree it is possible make inference about the evolutionary process that gave rise to that data. Here the proposed evolutionary sequence (white to yellow to green) fits the data in scenario A much better than in scenario B

  Relevant publications

Currie, T.E. & Mace, R. (2011) Mode and Tempo in the Evolution of Socio-Political Organization: Reconciling ‘Darwinian’ and ‘Spencerian’ Evolutionary Approaches in Anthropology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 366: 1108 - 1117.

Currie, T.E., Greenhill, S.J., and Mace, R. (2010) Is horizontal transmission really a problem for phylogenetic comparative methods? A simulation study using continuous cultural traits. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 365: 3903 - 3912

Greenhill, S.J., Currie, T.E., and Gray, R.D. (2009) Does horizontal transmission invalidate cultural phylogenies? Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 276:2299-2306

Currie, T.E., and Little, A.C. (2009) The Relative Importance of the Face and Body in Judgments of Human Physical Attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior 30: 409-416

Currie, T.E. (in press) Using phylogenetic comparative methods to test hypotheses about the pattern and process of human social and political evolution. to appear in N.Minaka & H.Nakao Ed.s

Currie, T.E. (2010) Tests in Time: A Review of Natural Experiments of History, edited by Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson. Cliodynamics 1: 116-121 http://escholarship.org/uc/item/368956r6

Currie, T.E., Jordan, F.J. & Martelli S. (2009) Modern Approaches to Investigating Cultural Evolution. Human Behavior & Evolution Society Newsletter, Winter 2009