My research focuses on the role of culture in human evolution. Unlike other organisms, humans acquire a rich body of information from others by teaching, imitation, and other forms of social learning, and this culturally transmitted information strongly influences human behavior. Culture is an essential part of the human adaptation, and as much a part of human biology as bipedal locomotion or thick enamel on our molars. I am interested in the psychological mechanisms that give rise to and shape human culture, how these mechanisms evolved, and how they interact with population dynamic processes to shape human cultural variation. 

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Much of this work was done in collaboration with Pete Richerson.  I also work with Joe Henrich and Sarah Mathew.

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This work is described in three books Culture and the Evolutionary Process , Not by Genes Alone, and A Different Kind of Animal and in papers listed in the Publications section of this webpage.