Skip to content

Group

Evolution and Social Interaction Research Group

Unit(s) of assessment: Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Research theme(s): Health Innovation

School: School of Social Sciences

Overview

The Evolution and Social Interaction Research Group’s aim is to further our understanding of human and non-human animal social interaction and how and why these behaviours have been moulded by evolution. We want to understand the adaptive value, constraints and mechanisms of social interaction in human and non-human animal social systems. In doing so, we will also help understand the consequences of changing or restricting social interaction, and how important social contact is to our species.

Key topics include comparative cognition and communication, the evolution of social group processes, and primatology.  Members use both experimental and observational methods and come from multiple disciplinary perspectives such as psychological science, biology, and evolutionary anthropology. Funding has been awarded from a range of national and international funding bodies including The Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, NIH, European Research Council, Wenner-Gren Foundation and The Leakey Foundation.

The group sits within the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Interaction.

Members

Faculty

Research Staff

PhD Students

  • Alisa Balabanova
  • Olivia O'Callaghan
  • Julia Machado
  • Eric Ndayishimiye
  • Lisa Buck
  • Alanna Brownell
  • Rachel Robinson
  • Matthew Ball
  • Michelle Dodd
  • Dubheasa Mullins
  • Sajjad Sojoudi

PhD studentships currently available, please contact a potential supervisor to discuss ideas before applying:

Key projects

FACEDIFF

Find out more about the ERC Consolidator Project FACEDIFF (Individual differences in facial expressivity: Social function, facial anatomy and evolutionary origins)

AnimalFACS

Find out more about Facial Action Coding Systems for comparative facial expression analysis (AnimalFACS).

Swebeswebe Primate Project

Richard McFarland directs an established research and teaching facility in South Africa where he studies wild primates, including baboons and vervet monkeys.

Selected publications

MCFARLAND, R., HENZI, S.P., FULLER, A., HETEM, R.S., YOUNG, C. and BARRETT, L., 2024. Mother–offspring conflict and body temperature regulation during gestation and lactation in a wild primate. Functional Ecology. ISSN 0269-8463

KAWAGUCHI, Y., NAKAMURA, K., TAJIMA, T. and WALLER, B.M., 2023. Revisiting the baby schema by a geometric morphometric analysis of infant facial characteristics across great apes. Scientific Reports, 13 (1): 5129. ISSN 2045-2322

ZENG, G., SIMPSON, E.A. and PAUKNER, A., 2023. Maximizing valid eye tracking data in human and macaque infants by optimizing calibration and adjusting areas of interest. Behavior Research Methods. ISSN 1554-351X

KUPFER, T.R., SIDARI, M.J., ZIETSCH, B.P., JERN, P., TYBUR, J.M. and WESSELDIJK, L.W., 2022. Why are some people more jealous than others? Genetic and environmental factors. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43 (1), pp. 26-33. ISSN 1090-5138

YOUNG, C. and ROBBINS, M.M., 2023. Association patterns of female gorillas. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378 (1868): 20210429. ISSN 0962-8436

TUNÇGENÇ, B., VAN MULUKOM, V. and NEWSON, M., 2023. Social bonds are related to health behaviors and positive well-being globally. Science Advances, 9 (2). ISSN 2375-2548

WHITEHOUSE, J., CLARK, P.R., MICHELETTA, J., LIEBAL, K., SLOCOMBE, K.E. and WALLER, B.M., 2023. Pseudoreplication in primate communication research: 10 years on. International Journal of Primatology. ISSN 0164-0291

WALLER, B.M., KAVANAGH, E., MICHELETTA, J., CLARK, P.R. and WHITEHOUSE, J., 2022. The face is central to primate multicomponent signals. International Journal of Primatology. ISSN 0164-0291

Howard, E., Ropar, D., Newport, R., & Tunçgenç, B. (2021). Social context facilitates visuomotor synchrony and bonding in children and adults. Nature: Scientific Reports, 11, 22869

Paukner, A., Slonecker, E. M., & Wooddell, L. J. (2021). Effects of dominance and female presence on secondary sexual characteristics in male tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella). Ecology and Evolution, 11(11), 6315-6325.

Kupfer, T. R., Fessler, D. M., Wu, B., Hwang, T., Sparks, A. M., Alas, S., Samore, T., Lal, V., Sakhamuru, T.P. & Holbrook, C. (2021). The skin crawls, the stomach turns: ectoparasites and pathogens elicit distinct defensive responses in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 288(1955), 20210376.

Whitehouse, J., & Meunier, H. (2020). An understanding of third-party friendships in a tolerant macaque. Scientific reports, 10(1), 1-11.

Waller, B. M., Julle-Daniere, E., & Micheletta, J. (2020). Measuring the evolution of facial ‘expression’ using multi-species FACS. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 113, 1-11.

Whitehouse-Tedd, K., Abell, J. & Dunn, A. K. (2020). Evaluation of the use of psychometric scales in human-wildlife interaction research to determine attitudes and tolerance towards wildlife. Conservation Biology, 35(2), 533–547.

Staff profiles