Donald Symons (1942–2024) was an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

best known as one of the founders of

evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regard to the ancestral problems they evolved ...

, and for pioneering the study of

human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

from an evolutionary perspective. He is one of the most cited researchers in contemporary sex research. His work is referenced by scientists investigating an extremely diverse range of sexual phenomena. Harvard psychologist

Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychology, cognitive psychologist, psycholinguistics, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psycholo ...

describes Symons' '' The Evolution of Human Sexuality'' (1979) as a "groundbreaking book" and "a landmark in its synthesis of evolutionary biology, anthropology, physiology, psychology, fiction, and cultural analysis, written with a combination of rigor and wit. It was a model for all subsequent books that apply evolution to human affairs, particularly mine." Symons is

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in the Department of Anthropology at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. His most recent work, with Catherine Salmon, is ''Warrior Lovers'', an evolutionary analysis of

slash fiction Slash fiction (also known as "m/m slash" or slashfic) is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on Romance (love), romantic or sexual attraction, sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.Bacon-Smith, Camille. "Spock Among ...

References

Selected publications

*Symons, D. (1978) '' Play and Aggression: A Study of Rhesus Monkeys''. Columbia University Press *Symons, D. (1979) '' The Evolution of Human Sexuality''. New York: Oxford University Press. *Symons, D. (1987) "If we're all Darwinians, what's the fuss about?" in Crawford, Smith & Krebs, ''Sociobiology and Psychology'', 121–146. *Symons, D. (1989) "A critique of Darwinian anthropology," in ''Ethology and Sociobiology'', 10: 131–144. *Symons, D. (1990) "Adaptiveness and adaptation," in ''Ethology and Sociobiology'', 11: 427–444. *Symons, D. (1992) "On the use and misuse of Darwinism in the study of human behavior" in Barkow, J., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (eds) (1992) ''The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture'' (New York: Oxford University Press) *Symons, D. (1993) "The stuff that dreams aren't made of: Why wake-state and dream-state sensory experiences differ." Cognition, 47: 181–217. *Symons, D. (1995) "Beauty is in the adaptations of the beholder: The evolutionary psychology of human female sexual attractiveness" pp. 80–120 in Abramson, P.R. and Pinkerton, S.D. (eds.) Sexual Nature/Sexual Culture, The University of Chicago Press. *Salmon, C. and Symons, D. (2003) ''Warrior Lovers''. Yale University Press.

External links

* HBES Interview Series - Don Symons. of Symons describing his career. American anthropologists American anthropology writers American male non-fiction writers Anthropology educators Evolutionary psychologists Psychological anthropologists University of California, Santa Barbara faculty 1942 births 2024 deaths {{sex-stub