Lawrence Sugiyama

Lawrence Sugiyama is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oregon’s College of Arts and Sciences. A bio-cultural anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist, he co-directs the Shuar Health and Life History Project and serves as Field Research Director for the Human Universals Project (Center for Evolutionary Psychology, UCSB). His work integrates evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, and ethnographic fieldwork to understand human life-history trade-offs, health, and culture.

Education:

• B.A. Psychology, UC Santa Barbara (1985)
• M.A. Cultural Anthropology, UC Santa Barbara (1991)
• Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology, UC Santa Barbara (1996)

Research Interests:
His research focuses on evolutionary psychology (cooperation, exchange, attractiveness, parental investment), human behavioral ecology & life-history theory (growth, reproduction, immune trade-offs), and cognitive anthropology (art, narrative, cultural transmission). Long-term fieldwork with Amazonian forager-horticulturalists (Shuar, Achuar, Shiwiar, Zaparo, Yora, Yanomamö) provides natural-fertility populations to test hypotheses on evolved psychological mechanisms and their health and cultural consequences.

Grant Support & Collaborations:

• NSF Physical Anthropology
• NIH via Center for Evolutionary Psychology
• Wenner-Gren Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Sasakawa Fund, Evonuk Foundation
• Collaborations with UCSB (Cosmides, Tooby), Northwestern (McDade), Harvard, Chapman, and others

Scientific Awards:

• 2014 Nick Norgan Award for best paper in Annals of Human Biology

Lab & Field Team:
Current and former graduate students and post-docs include Felicia Madimenos, Melissa Liebert, Aaron Blackwell, Josh Snodgrass, and many others working on the SHLHP, Human Universals Project, SCAN spatial cognition project, and Cognitive Cultural Studies Project.