Daniel M.T. Fessler

Daniel M.T. Fessler is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he is affiliated with the Department of Anthropology in the College of Letters and Science. He serves as the Director of the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute and is a core member of the UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture (BEC). His research integrates anthropological, psychological, and biological perspectives to understand human behavior from an evolutionary standpoint.

Fessler's educational background includes a Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego (1995). His academic journey has positioned him as a leading figure in evolutionary anthropology, with significant contributions to understanding how evolutionary processes shape human behavior, cognition, and social organization.

Fessler's research spans multiple domains of human behavior and cognition, with particular emphasis on the evolutionary foundations of emotions, morality, and social behavior. His work investigates how evolved psychological mechanisms interact with cultural systems to produce the rich diversity of human experience. Key areas of focus include disease avoidance behaviors, prosociality and cooperation, aggression and risk-taking, cultural transmission processes, food-related behaviors, and reproductive strategies. His approach is characterized by methodological pluralism, incorporating experimental, ethnographic, and comparative approaches to test evolutionary hypotheses about human nature.

His publication record demonstrates consistent productivity across evolutionary psychology, biological anthropology, and evolutionary medicine. His work often appears in high-impact interdisciplinary journals, reflecting the breadth of his research interests and the relevance of evolutionary perspectives to multiple domains of human inquiry. Fessler's research program has evolved to address increasingly complex questions about the interplay between evolved psychological mechanisms and cultural systems.

• Live fast, die young, and sleep later: Life history strategy and human sleep behavior (2021)
• Elevation, an emotion for prosocial contagion (2019)
• An evolutionary account of vigilance in grief (2018)
• Ectoparasite defence in humans (2018)
• Political orientation predicts credulity regarding putative hazards (2017)

Fessler has established significant collaborations with researchers across multiple institutions including Clark Barrett, Rob Boyd, Greg Bryant, Martie Haselton, Joe Henrich, Colin Holbrook, Rob Kurzban, Joan Silk, and Stephen Stich. His work bridges disciplinary boundaries, connecting evolutionary theory with practical applications in health, medicine, and social policy.

As an advisor, Fessler currently mentors graduate student Theo Samore, whose research focuses on political psychology, traditionalism, and evolutionary approaches to emotion and medicine. His FessLab provides undergraduate students with hands-on research experience in systematic experimental social science, serving as an apprenticeship model where students progressively take on greater research responsibilities. Many FessLab participants have earned co-authorship on publications through their significant contributions to research projects.

Fessler leads the FessLab research group, which has operated continuously since at least 2011. The lab provides undergraduate students with hands-on experience in experimental social science research through an apprenticeship model where students begin with simple tasks and gain additional responsibilities as they demonstrate skills and potential. The lab environment emphasizes collaborative research and has produced numerous publications with student co-authors. FessLab has developed a strong community identity, as evidenced by photos of lab members spanning multiple years from 2011 through 2018.