Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (0)341 3550 - 315
fax: +49 (0)341 3550 - 333
e-mail: cissewski@eva.mpg.de
Richard McElreath

Director
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 341 3550 301
fax: +49 341 3550 333
e-mail: richard_mcelreath@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
office: level 1, room u1.10
personal web page: http://xcelab.net/rm/
I am an evolutionary ecologist who studies humans. My main interest is in how the evolution of fancy social learning in humans accounts for the unusual nature of human adaptation and extraordinary scale and variety of human societies. Humans are more widespread and successful than any other vertebrate. Simultaneously, humans are unlike any other animal in that we cooperate in very large groups of unrelated individuals. I and my colleagues use formal evolutionary models, experiments and ethnographic fieldwork to address these puzzles.
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Information
Address | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Deutscher Platz 6 04103 Leipzig Germany |
richard_mcelreath@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de | |
Born | April 18, 1973 in Landstuhl, Germany |
Citizenship | United States |
Education and Employment
2015–present | Director, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig |
2014–present | Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis |
2006–2014 | Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis |
2002–2006 | Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis |
2001–2002 | Post-doctoral researcher, Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin |
2001 | Ph.D. Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles |
1995 | B.S. Anthropology and Human Biology, Emory University, Atlanta GA |
Professional Activities
2014–2015 | Chair, Evolutionary Anthropology, UC Davis |
2007–2009 | Strategic Planning Committee, UCD Letters and Science |
2007– | Field researcher, AHRC Culture and the Mind project |
2006–2012 | Trainer, CLIMB (Collaborative Learning at the Intersection of Math and Biology) undergraduate training program, UC Davis |
2006– | Member and PhD advisor, Population Biology Graduate Group, UC Davis |
2004– | Chair, Human Ecology Area of Emphasis, Graduate Group in Ecology, UC Davis |
2002– | Member, Animal Behavior Graduate Group, UC Davis |
2001– | Member, Graduate Group in Ecology, UC Davis |
Software
GameWeb | A bundle of code for running multi-participant experiments, with process-tracing, based on Mouselab Web. Used in a number of laboratories, as well as in field locations, using handheld computers. |
rethinking | An R package for conducting custom Bayesian data analysis, using MAP estimation as well as Hamiltonian Monte Carlo. Allows for arbitrarily complex multilevel models. |
glmer2stan | This R package provides a function, glmer2stan, to build a Stan (mc-stan.org) model from a glmer/glm formula or list of formulas. Available model families are "gaussian", "binomial", "poisson", "gamma", "ordered" (ordered logit), as well as any combinations of these. For example, combining binomial with poisson produces a zero-inflated poisson multilevel model. Computes DIC and WAIC. |
Grants and Awards
2015 | NSF grant (co-PI Jeremy Koster) to fund analytical work on foraging lifespan data |
2014 | NSF grant to fund collaboration with Dr. Tom Flamson, doing field research in Brazil on the micro-foundations of group formation and cooperation. |
2013 | NSF DDIG awarded to PhD student Karl Frost for field research in Canada. |
2012 | NSF grant to fund field research with Dr. John Bunce on the formation and maintenance of ethnic boundaries in the Peruvian Amazon. |
2010 | NSF post-doctoral research grant, in support of Dr. Kari Schroeder |
2009 | NSF grant for pilot ethnographic work in the Faroe Islands, Denmark. |
2008 | NSF DDIG awarded to PhD student Timothy Waring for fieldwork in India. |
2007 | Elected UCD Chancellor’s Fellow, $25,000 research award. |
2005 | Small grant in aid of research, Committee on Research, UC Davis, $2000. |
2005 | Studying cultural dynamics in laboratory microsocieties, NSF, ($140,000; Co-PIs Peter J. Richerson and Mark Lubell) |
2004 | Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models: Studying cultural evolution in laboratory microsocieties, NSF, ($80,000; Co-PIs Peter J. Richerson and Mark Lubell) |
2003 | Junior faculty research improvement grant, $3000. |
2002-2005 | NSF grant, “Foundations of human sociality”, supporting ethnographic work ($8500) |
2001-2002 | Max Planck Institute post-doctoral fellowship, MPI for Human Development, Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Berlin |
2000-2001 | Chancellor’s dissertation year fellowship, UCLA |
2000 | MacArthur Foundation grant in experimental economics, $19070 |
2000 | International Studies and Overseas Programs (Ford Foundation) doctoral research grant, $5000 |
1998 | MacArthur Foundation grant for economic field research, $8000 |
1996 | Pre-doctoral research grant, International Studies and Overseas Programs (ISOP), UCLA, $6000 |
1995 | National Science Foundation pre-doctoral research grant, $5000 |
Past PhD Students and Post-Doctoral Trainees
Tim Waring | PhD Ecology, focusing on common pool resource management in irrigation systems in Southern India. Now Assistant Professor of Social-Ecological Systems, University of Maine. |
Adrian Bell | PhD Ecology, focusing on cultural transmission within ongoing Polynesian diaspora. Fieldwork in Tonga. Now Assistant Professor, University of Utah. |
Bret Beheim | PhD Ecology, focusing on population dynamics and demography of cultural transmission. Regional focus Japan and China. Now post-doctoral researcher at University of New Mexico, Tsimane Health and Life History Project. |
Kari Britt Schroeder | Post-doctoral trainee, focusing on urban ethnography, survey, and laboratory experiments and biomarkers for cooperation and punishment behavior. Now post-doctoral researcher at Boston University. |
Matthew Zimmerman | PhD Ecology, focusing on large-scale institutional dynamics and evolutionary ecology. Now post-doctoral scholar at NIMBioS. |
Ryan Baldini | PhD Ecology, focusing on mathematical life history theory and cultural transmission. Now post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University, working on the evolution and dynamics of human birth weight. |
John Bunce | Post-doctoral trainee, focusing on dynamics of ethnic identity and cultural variation among Matsigenka of Peruvian Amazon. Now Visiting Assistant Professor at Indiana Bloomington. |
Paul Smaldino | Post-doctor trainee, focusing on population dynamics of scientific discovery. |
Publications
In press
McCune, K., McElreath, R., & Logan, C. J. (in press). Investigating the use of learning mechanisms in a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range (In principle acceptance by PCI Ecology of the version on 11 Oct 2019). Peer Community in Ecology, 100032. ![]() |
2021
Wood, B. M., Harris, J. A., Raichlen, D. A., Pontzer, H., Sayre, K., Sancilio, A., Berbesque, C., Crittenden, A. N., Mabulla, A., McElreath, R., Cashdan, E., & Jones, J. H. (2021). Gendered movement ecology and landscape use in Hadza hunter-gatherers. Nature Human Behaviour. ![]() |
2020
Deffner, D., Kleinow, V., & McElreath, R. (2020). Dynamic social learning in temporally and spatially variable environments. Royal Society Open Science,7. ![]() | |
Deffner, D., & McElreath, R. (2020). When does selection favor learning from the old? Social Learning in age-structured populations. OSF Preprints. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Koster, J., Mcelreath, R., Hill, K., Yu, D., Shepard, G., Vliet, N. V., Gurven, M., Kaplan, H., Trumble, B., Bird, R. B., Bird, D., Codding, B., Coad, L., Pacheco-Cobos, L., Winterhalder, B., Lupo, K., Schmitt, D., Sillitoe, P., Franzen, M., Alvard, M., Venkataraman, V., Kraft, T., Endicott, K., Beckerman, S., Marks, S. A., Headland, T., Pangau-Adam, M., Siren, A., Kramer, K., Greaves, R., Reyes-García, V., Guèze, M., Duda, R., Fernández-Llamazares, Á., Gallois, S., Napitupulu, L., Ellen, R., Ziker, J., Nielsen, M. R., Ready, E., Healey, C., & Ross, C. (2020). The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation. Science Advances,6(26): eaax9070. ![]() | |
Minocher, R., Atmaca, S., Bavero, C., McElreath, R., & Beheim, B. A. (2020). Reproducibility of social learning research declines exponentially over 63 years of publication. PsyArXiv. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Broesch, T., Crittenden, A. N., Beheim, B. A., Blackwell, A. D., Bunce, J. A., Colleran, H., Hagel, K., Kline, M., McElreath, R., Nelson, R. G., Pisor, A. C., Prall, S., Pretelli, I., Purzycki, B., Quinn, E. A., Ross, C., Scelza, B., Starkweather, K. E., Stieglitz, J., & Borgerhoff Mulder, M. (2020). Navigating cross-cultural research: Methodological and ethical considerations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B,287: 20201245. ![]() | |
Deffner, D., & McElreath, R. (2020). The importance of life history and population regulation for the evolution of social learning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences,375(1803). ![]() | |
Ross, C. T., Winterhalder, B., & McElreath, R. (2020). Racial disparities in police use of deadly force against unarmed individuals persist after appropriately benchmarking shooting data on violent crime rates (advance online). Social Psychological and Personality Science. ![]() | |
Scelza, B. A., Prall, S. P., Swinford, N., Gopalan, S., Atkinson, E. G., McElreath, R., Sheehama, J., & Henn, B. M. (2020). High rate of extrapair paternity in a human population demonstrates diversity in human reproductive strategies. Science Advances,6(8): eaay6195. ![]() |
2019
Scelza, B. A., Prall, S. P., Blumenfield, T., Crittenden, A. N., Gurven, M., Kline, M., Koster, J., Kushnick, G., Mattison, S. M., Pillsworth, E., Shenk, M. K., Starkweather, K., Stieglitz, J., Sum, C.-Y., Yamaguchi, K., & McElreath, R. (2019). Patterns of paternal investment predict cross-cultural variation in jealous response. Nature Human Behaviour. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Perry, A. C., Krakauer, A. H., McElreath, R., Harris, D. J., & Patricelli, G. L. (2019). Hidden Markov models reveal tactical adjustment of temporally clustered courtship displays in response to the behaviors of a robotic female. The American Naturalist,194(1), 1-16. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Trimmer, P. C., Barrett, B. J., McElreath, R., & Sih, A. (2019). Rapid environmental change in games: Complications and counter-intuitive outcomes. Scientific Reports,9: 7373. ![]() | |
Rahwan, I., Cebrian, M., Obradovich, N., Bongard, J., Bonnefon, J.-F., Breazeal, C., Crandall, J. W., Christakis, N. A., Couzin, I. D., Jackson, M. O., Jennings, N. R., Kamar, E., Kloumann, I. M., Larochelle, H., Lazer, D., McElreath, R., Mislove, A., Parkes, D. C., Pentland, A. S., Roberts, M. E., Shariff, A., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Wellman, M. (2019). Machine behaviour. Nature,568(7753), 477-486. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Koster, J., & McElreath, R. (2019). The life history of hunting skill: Cross-cultural and individual variation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology,168(S68), 130-130. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Scelza, B., Prall, S., Swinford, N., Gopalan, S., Atkinson, E., McElreath, R., Sheehama, J., & Henn, B. (2019). Husband, lover, pater, genitor: Concurrency and paternity in Himba pastoralists. American Journal of Physical Anthropology,168(S68), 218-218. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2018
Chmura, H. E., Krause, J. S., Perez, J. H., Asmus, A., Sweet, S. K., Hunt, K. E., Meddle, S. L., McElreath, R., Boelman, N. T., Gough, L., & Wingfield, J. C. (2018). Late-season snowfall is associated with decreased offspring survival in two migratory arctic-breeding songbird species. Journal of Avian Biology,49(9): e01712. ![]() | |
Purzycki, B. G., Pisor, A. C., Apicella, C., Atkinson, Q., Cohen, E., Henrich, J., McElreath, R., McNamara, R. A., Norenzayan, A., Willard, A. K., & Xygalatas, D. (2018). The cognitive and cultural foundations of moral behavior. Evolution and Human Behavior,39(5), 490-501. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, M. B., Boesch, C., Kühl, H. S., & McElreath, R. (2018). Complex dynamics from simple cognition: The primary ratchet effect in animal culture. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences,12(3), 191-202. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Ross, C., Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Oh, S.-Y., Bowles, S., Beheim, B. A., Bunce, J. A., Caudell, M., Clark, G., Colleran, H., Cortez, C., Draper, P., Greaves, R. D., Gurven, M., Headland, T., Headland, J., Hill, K., Hewlett, B., Kaplan, H. S., Koster, J., Kramer, K., Marlowe, F., McElreath, R., Nolin, D., Quinlan, M., Quinlan, R., Revilla-Minaya, C., Scelza, B., Schacht, R., Shenk, M., Uehara, R., Voland, E., Willführ, K., Winterhalder, B., & Ziker, J. (2018). Greater wealth inequality, less polygyny: Rethinking the polygyny threshold model. Journal of the Royal Society Interface,15(144): 20180035. ![]() | |
McElreath, R. (2018). Sizing up human brain evolution. Nature,557(7706), 496-497. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Smaldino, P. E., Flamson, T. J., & McElreath, R. (2018). The evolution of covert signaling. Scientific Reports,8: 4905. ![]() | |
Bunce, J. A., & McElreath, R. (2018). Sustainability of minority culture when inter-ethnic interaction is profitable. Nature Human Behaviour,2(3), 205-212. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Ross, C. T., Winterhalder, B., & McElreath, R. (2018). Resolution of apparent paradoxes in the race-specific frequency of use-of-force by police. Palgrave Communications,4(1): 61. Retrieved from 10.1057/s41599-018-0110-z. ![]() |
2017
Bunce, J. A., & McElreath, R. (2017). Interethnic interaction, strategic bargaining power, and the dynamics of cultural norms: A field study in an Amazonian population. Human Nature,28(4), 434-456. ![]() | |
Johnston, M. E., Kelly, J. T., Lindvall, M. E., McElreath, R., & Klimley, A. P. (2017). Experimental evaluation of the use of vision and barbels as references for rheotaxis in green sturgeon. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology,496(Supplement C), 9-15. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Koster, J., & McElreath, R. (2017). Multinomial analysis of behavior: Statistical methods. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology,71(9): 138. ![]() | |
Barrett, B. J., McElreath, R., & Perry, S. E. (2017). Pay-off-biased social learning underlies the diffusion of novel extractive foraging traditions in a wild primate. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,284(1856): 20170358. ![]() | |
Aplin, L. M., Sheldon, B. C., & McElreath, R. (2017). Conformity does not perpetuate suboptimal traditions in a wild population of songbirds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,114(30), 7830-7837. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2016
Smaldino, P. E., & McElreath, R. (2016). The natural selection of bad science. Royal Society Open Science,3(9): 160384. ![]() | |
Bauch, C. T., & McElreath, R. (2016). Disease dynamics and costly punishment can foster socially imposed monogamy. Nature Communications,7: 11219. ![]() | |
Durand, J., Fleenor, W., McElreath, R., Santos, M. J., & Moyle, P. (2016). Physical controls on the distribution of the submersed aquatic weed egeria densa in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta and implications for habitat restoration. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science,14(1): 4. ![]() | |
Weinersmith, K. L., Hanninen, A. F., Sih, A., McElreath, R., & Early, R. L. (2016). The relationship between handling time and cortisol release rates changes as a function of brain parasite densities in California killifish Fundulus parvipinnis. Journal of Fish Biology,88(3), 1125-1142. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R. (2016).Statistical rethinking: A bayesian course with examples in R and Stan. Boca Raton: CRC Press. BibTeX Endnote |
2015
Bunce, J. A., & McElreath, R. (2015).Cross-cultural perceptions of norm distributions at an Amazonian ethnic boundary: Causes and consequences of cultural dynamics. Talk presented at Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Denver, CO. 2015-11-17 - 2015-11-22. BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., & Smaldino, P. E. (2015). Replication, communication, and the population dynamics of scientific discovery. PLoS One,10(8): e0136088. ![]() | |
Arsnoe, I. M., Hickling, G. J., Ginsberg, H. S., McElreath, R., & Tsao, J. I. (2015). Different populations of blacklegged tick nymphs exhibit differences in questing behavior that have implications for human lyme disease risk. PLoS One,10(5): e0127450. ![]() | |
Stevens, N. E., & McElreath, R. (2015). When are two tools better than one? Mortars, millingslabs, and the California acorn economy. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology,37, 100-111. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Beheim, B. A., Ross, C., Thigpen, C., & McElreath, R. (2015).Cultural evolution in games of chess and go. Talk presented at Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological association. Denver, CO. 2015-11-17 - 2015-11-22. BibTeX Endnote | |
Wallin, A., & McElreath, R. (2015). Strategies for advice taking: The role of epistemic social information. Economics and Philosophy,31, 67-91. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2014
Bunce, J. A., & McElreath, R. (2014).Ethnic boundaries, norms, and cultural change in an Amazonian population. Talk presented at Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Washington, DC. 2014-12-02 - 2014-12-07. BibTeX Endnote | |
Beheim, B. A., Thigpen, C., & McElreath, R. (2014). Strategic social learning and the population dynamics of human behavior: The game of Go. Evolution and Human Behavior,35(5), 351-357. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., & Koster, J. (2014). Using multilevel models to estimate variation in foraging returns effects of failure rate, harvest size, age, and individual heterogeneity. Human Nature,25(1), 100-120. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Beheim, B. A., Thigpen, C., & McElreath, R. (2014).Evolutionary dynamics in the game of Go. Talk presented at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics. University of California, Los Angeles. BibTeX Endnote |
2013
House, B. R., Silk, J. B., Henrich, J., Barrett, H. C., Scelza, B. A., Boyette, A. H., Hewlett, B. S., McElreath, R., & Laurence, S. (2013). Ontogeny of prosocial behavior across diverse societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,110(36), 14586-14591. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Smaldino, P. E., Schank, J. C., & McElreath, R. (2013). Increased costs of cooperation help cooperators in the long run. The American Naturalist,181(4), 451-463. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Schroeder, K. B., McElreath, R., & Nettle, D. (2013). Variants at serotonin transporter and 2A receptor genes predict cooperative behavior differentially according to presence of punishment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,110(10), 3955-3960. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2012
Iglesias, T., McElreath, R., & Patricelli, G. (2012). Western scrub-jay funerals: Cacophonous aggregations in response to dead conspecifics. Animal Behaviour,84(5), 1103-1111. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Baum, W. M., Paciotti, B., Richerson, P., Lubell, M., & McElreath, R. (2012). Cooperation due to cultural norms, not individual reputation. Behavioural Processes,91(1), 90-93. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Dawes, C. T., Loewen, P. J., Schreiber, D., Simmons, A. N., Flagan, T., McElreath, R., Bokemper, S. E., Fowler, J. H., & Paulus, M. P. (2012). Neural basis of egalitarian behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,109(17), 6479-6483. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Henrich, J., Boyd, R., McElreath, R., Gurven, M., Richerson, P. J., Ensminger, J., Alvard, M., Barr, A., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., Camerer, C. F., Cardenas, J.-C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H. M., Gil-White, F., Gwako, E. L., Henrich, N., Hill, K., Lesorogol, C., Patton, J. Q., Marlowe, F. W., Tracer, D. P., & Ziker, a. J. (2012). Culture does account for variation in game behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,109(2), E32-E33. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., Wallin, A., & Fasolo, B. (2012). The evolutionary rationality of social learning. In R. Hertwig, U. Hoffrage, & ABC Research Group ( DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2011
Cordes, C., Richerson, P., McElreath, R., & Strimling, P. (2011). How does opportunistic behavior influence firm size? An evolutionary approach to organizational behavior. Journal of Institutional Economics,7(1), 1-21. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Paciotti, B., Richerson, P., Baum, B., Lubell, M., Waring, T., McElreath, R., Efferson, C., & Edsten, E. (2011). Are religious individuals more generous, trusting, and cooperative? An experimental test of the effect of religion on prosociality. In L. Obadia, & D. C. Wood ( DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Patricelli, G. L., Krakauer, A. H., & McElreath, R. (2011). Assets and tactics in a mating market: Economic models of negotiation offer insights into animal courtship dynamics on the lek. Current Zoology,57(2), 225-236. Retrieved from http://www.currentzoology.org/paperdetail.asp?id=11836. BibTeX Endnote |
2010
Henrich, J., Ensminger, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., Cardenas, J. C., Gurven, M., Gwako, E., Henrich, N., Lesorogol, C., Marlowe, F., Tracer, D., & Ziker, J. (2010). Markets, religion, community size, and the evolution of fairness and punishment. Science,327(5972), 1480-1484. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Mulder, M. B., Fazzio, I., Irons, W., McElreath, R., Bowles, S., Bell, A., Hertz, T., & Hazzah, a. L. (2010). Pastoralism and wealth inequality: Revisiting an old question [Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and Inequality in Premodern Societies]. Current Anthropology,51(1), 35-48. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Sih, A., Stamps, J., Yang, L. H., McElreath, R., & Ramenofsky, M. (2010). Behavior as a key component of integrative biology in a human-altered world. Integrative and Comparative Biology,50(6), 934-944. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Smirnov, O., Dawes, C. T., Fowler, J. H., Johnson, T., & McElreath, R. (2010). The behavioral logic of collective action: Partisans cooperate and punish more than nonpartisans. Political Psychology,31(4), 595-616. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2009
McElreath, R. (2009). Linking the micro and macro in cultural evolution [Review of "Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution" by Stephen Shennan (Ed.)]. Trends in Ecology and Evolution,24(11), 588-589. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Bowles, S., Hertz, T., Bell, A., Beise, J., Clark, G., Fazzio, I., Gurven, M., Hill, K., Hooper, P. L., Irons, W., Kaplan, H., Leonetti, D., Low, B., Marlowe, F., McElreath, R., Naidu, S., Nolin, D., Piraino, P., Quinlan, R., Schniter, E., Sear, R., Shenk, M., Smith, E. A., von Rueden, C., & Wiessner, P. (2009). Intergenerational wealth transmission and the dynamics of inequality in small-scale societies. Science,326(5953), 682-688. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R. (2009). The coevolution of genes, innovation, and culture in human evolution. In P. M. Kappeler, & J. Silk ( DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McEachern, M., McElreath, R., Van Vuren, D. H., & Eadie, J. M. (2009). Another genetically promiscuous ‘polygynous’ mammal: Mating system variation in Neotoma fuscipes. Animal Behaviour,77(2), 449-455. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Bell, A. V., Richerson, P. J., & McElreath, R. (2009). Culture rather than genes provides greater scope for the evolution of large-scale human prosociality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,106(42), 17671-17674. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Johnson, T., Dawes, C. T., Fowler, J. H., McElreath, R., & Smirnov, O. (2009). The role of egalitarian motives in altruistic punishment. Economics Letters,102(3), 192-194. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2008
McElreath, R., Bell, A. V., Efferson, C., Lubell, M., Richerson, P. J., & Waring, T. (2008). Beyond existence and aiming outside the laboratory: Estimating frequency-dependent and pay-off-biased social learning strategies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences,363(1509), 3515-3528. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Cordes, C., Richerson, P. J., McElreath, R., & Strimling, P. (2008). A naturalistic approach to the theory of the firm: The role of cooperation and cultural evolution. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization,68(1), 125-139. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., & Strimling, P. (2008). When natural selection favors imitation of parents. Current Anthropology,49(2), 307-316. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Marlowe, F. W., Berbesque, J. C., Barr, A., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., Cardenas, J. C., Ensminger, J., Gurven, M., Gwako, E., Henrich, J., Henrich, N., Lesorogol, C., McElreath, R., & Tracer, D. (2008). More ‘altruistic’ punishment in larger societies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,275(1634), 587-590. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Efferson, C., Lalive, R., Richerson, P. J., McElreath, R., & Lubell, M. (2008). Conformists and mavericks: The empirics of frequency-dependent cultural transmission. Evolution and Human Behavior,29(1), 56-64. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., Boyd, R., Gigerenzer, G., Glöckner, A., Hammerstein, P., Kurzban, R., Magen, S., Richerson, P. J., Robson, A., & Stevens, J. R. (2008). Individual decision making and the evolutionary roots of institutions. In C. Engel, & W. Singer ( BibTeX Endnote |
2007
Efferson, C., Takezawa, M., & McElreath, R. (2007). New methods in quantitative ethnography: Economic experiments and variation in the price of equality. Current Anthropology,48(6), 912-919. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., Luttbeg, B., Fogarty, S. P., & Sih, T. B. A. (2007). Evolution of animal personalities. Nature,450, E5-E6. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Dawes, C. T., Fowler, J. H., Johnson, T., McElreath, R., & Smirnov, O. (2007). Egalitarian motives in humans. Nature,446, 794-796. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Henrich, J., & McElreath, R. (2007). Dual-inheritance theory: The evolution of human cultural capacities and cultural evolution. In L. Barrett, & R. Dunbar ( DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., & Henrich, J. (2007). Modelling cultural evolution. In L. Barrett, & R. Dunbar ( DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., & Boyd, R. (2007).Mathematical models of social evolution: A guide for the perplexed. Chicago: The Univ. of Chicago Pr. BibTeX Endnote | |
Efferson, C., Richerson, P. J., McElreath, R., Lubell, M., Edsten, E., Waring, T. M., Paciotti, B., & Baum, W. (2007). Learning, productivity, and noise: An experimental study of cultural transmission on the Bolivian Altiplano. Evolution and Human Behavior,28(1), 11-17. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Newson, L., Postmes, T., Lea, S., Webley, P., Richerson, P. J., & McElreath, R. (2007). Influences on communication about reproduction: The cultural evolution of low fertility. Evolution and Human Behavior,28(3), 199-210. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2006
McElreath, R., & Strimling, P. (2006). How noisy information and individual asymmetries can make ‘personality’ an adaptation: A simple model. Animal Behaviour,72(5), 1135-1139. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Henrich, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Ensminger, J., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., Cardenas, J. C., Gurven, M., Gwako, E., Henrich, N., Lesorogol, C., Marlowe, F., Tracer, D., & Ziker, J. (2006). Costly punishment across human societies. Science,312(5781), 1767-1770. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Bettinger, R. L., Winterhalder, B., & McElreath, R. (2006). A simple model of technological intensification. Journal of Archaeological Science,33(4), 538-545. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Eerkens, J. W., Bettinger, R. L., & McElreath, R. (2006). Cultural transmission, phylogenetics, and the archaeological record. In C. P. Lipo, M. J. O'Brien, M. Collard, & S. J. Shennan ( BibTeX Endnote |
2005
Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H., McElreath, R., Alvard, M., Barr, A., Ensminger, J., Henrich, N. S., Hill, K., Gil-White, F., Gurven, M., Marlowe, F. W., Patton, J. Q., & Tracer, D. (2005). “Economic man” in cross-cultural perspective: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences,28(6), 795-815. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R. (2005). Perspectives on Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed [CA Forum on Anthropology in Public]. Current Anthropology,46(S5), S96-S97. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., Lubell, M., Richerson, P. J., Waring, T. M., Baum, W., Edsten, E., Efferson, C., & Paciotti, B. (2005). Applying evolutionary models to the laboratory study of social learning. Evolution and Human Behavior,26(6), 483-508. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Stamps, J., McElreath, R., & Eason, P. (2005). Alternative models of conspecific attraction in flies and crabs. Behavioral Ecology,16(6), 974-980. DOI BibTeX Endnote |
2004
McElreath, R. (2004). Social learning and the maintenance of cultural variation: An evolutionary model and data from East Africa. American Anthropologist,106(2), 308-321. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C. F., Fehr, E., Gintis, H., & McElreath, R. (2004). Overview and synthesis. In Foundations of human sociality (pp. 8-54). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford University Pr. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R. (2004). Community structure, mobility, and the strength of norms in an African society: The Sangu of Tanzania. In Foundations of human sociality (pp. 335-355). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford University Pr. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., & Camerer, C. (2004). Appendix: Estimating risk-aversion from ultimatum game data. In J. Henrich, R. Boyd, S. Bowles, C. Camerer, E. Fehr, & H. Gintis ( BibTeX Endnote |
2003
Gigerenzer, G., & McElreath, R. (2003). [Comment] Social intelligence in games. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics,159(1), 188-194. Retrieved from http://www.digizeitschriften.de/dms/resolveppn/?PID=PPN34561688X_0159|log24. BibTeX Endnote | |
Henrich, J., & McElreath, R. (2003). The evolution of cultural evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology,12(3), 123-135. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R. (2003). Reputation and the evolution of conflict. Journal of Theoretical Biology,220(3), 345-357. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., & Boyd, R. (2003). Shared norms and the evolution of ethnic markers. Current Anthropology,44(1), 122-129. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
McElreath, R., Clutton-Brock, T. H., Fehr, E., Fessler, D. M. T., Hagen, E. H., Hammerstein, P., Kosfeld, M., Milinski, M., Silk, J. B., Tooby, J., & Wilson, M. I. (2003). Group report: The role of cognition and emotion in cooperation. In P. Hammerstein ( BibTeX Endnote |
2002
Henrich, J., & McElreath, R. (2002). [Reply]: On risk‐prone peasants: Cultural transmission or Sigmoid utility maximization? Current Anthropology,43(5), 787-789. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Henrich, J., & McElreath, R. (2002). Are peasants risk-averse decision makers? Current Anthropology,43(1), 172-181. BibTeX Endnote |
2001
Soltis, J., & McElreath, R. (2001). Can females gain extra paternal investment by mating with multiple males? A game theoretic approach. The American Naturalist,158(5), 519-529. DOI BibTeX Endnote | |
Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H., & McElreath, R. (2001). In search of homo economicus: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies. The American economic review,91(2), 73-78. BibTeX Endnote |