Nicole Hess

Nicole Hess is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University Vancouver, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a BA from UCLA (1997), MA and PhD from UCSB (1999, 2006), and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Humboldt University Berlin. Her research focuses on cross-cultural studies of gossip, friendship, cooperation, and coalitional competition, with fieldwork in Central African Republic and U.S. college communities.

Dr. Hess employs mixed-methods approaches including psychological experiments, surveys, and ethnography to explore human sociality and cognition. Key projects investigate 'Informational Warfare' theory, which examines how coalitions leverage information to gain competitive advantages in reputational contests. She also advises undergraduates in Neuroscience, Anthropology, and related fields, specializing in transfer student support and undergraduate research opportunities.

Her work spans theoretical contributions (e.g., Oxford Handbook of Gossip and Reputation) to empirical studies across diverse populations. Current research emphasizes cross-cultural comparisons of resource allocation, sorority dynamics, and mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflicts. Hess teaches courses on general anthropology, primate behavior, evolutionary psychology, and human origins.

Lab affiliations include the Bioanthropology Lab at WSU. She collaborates internationally on topics like hunter-gatherer aggression and coalition strategies, with recent projects analyzing MTurk data alongside fieldwork findings. Future work plans include expanding comparative studies to include urban/rural dynamics and digital communication's impact on coalition formation.