Sarah Caldwell

I’m a cross-cultural and comparative psychologist studying variation in cognitive flexibility within the primate lineage and across human cultures. Specifically, my research explores the contexts in which familiar strategies block better ones from being adopted. My work combines demographic, observational, and empirical approaches to understand how both flexible and inflexible behavior contributes to cultural evolution.

I am currently cultivating two research projects exploring variation in cognitive flexibility in nonhuman and human primates. The first project focuses on species differences in optimal strategy-use in nonhuman apes and is based out of the Leipzig Zoo. My second project is a cross-cultural assessment of the developmental trajectory and impact of subsistence style on cognitive flexibility. My primary field site is in the Likouala region of the Republic of the Congo, working with both BaYaka foragers and Bondongo farmers.

Personal webpage: https://sarahmichellepope.com

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zF9kJLaC130zQ86hDudhAjlOfZdawSYa/view