David Lawson BSc MSc PhD

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Background

I joined the Centre for Population Studies in 2009 following the award of an Economic and Social Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. I have a PhD in Anthropology from University College London, an MSc in Evolutionary Psychology (University of Liverpool) and a BSc in Biological Sciences (University College London).

Research

I have broad interests in the evolutionary behavioural sciences, focusing on the evolutionary ecology of the human family. In particular, my research considers patterns of resource competition and cooperation between siblings, and related socioecological influences on desired and achieved family size. This includes consideration of the evolved physiological and psychological mechanisms regulating reproductive behaviour and parental care.

PUBLICATIONS

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

• Lawson, D.W. & Gibson, M. (in prep). The trade-off between fertility and offspring survival in Sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-national study.
• Gibson, M. & Lawson, D.W. (under review). ‘Modernization’ increases parental investment and sibling resource competition: evidence from a rural development initiative in Ethiopia.
• Lawson, D.W. & Mace R. (in press). Parental investment and the optimisation of human family size. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
• Lawson, D.W. & Mace, R. (2010). Siblings and childhood mental health: evidence for a later-born advantage. Social Science and Medicine 70, 2061-2069
• Lawson, D.W. & Mace, R. (2010). Optimizing modern family size: Trade-offs between fertility and the economic costs of reproduction. Human Nature 21, 39-61.
• Lawson, D.W. & Mace, R. (2009). Trade-offs in modern parenting: a longitudinal study of sibling competition for parental care. Evolution & Human Behavior 30, 170-183.
• Lawson, D.W. & Mace, R. (2008). Sibling configuration and childhood growth in contemporary British families. International Journal of Epidemiology 37, 1408-1421.
• Sear, R., Lawson, D.W. & Dickins, T. (2007). Synthesis in the human evolutionary behavioural sciences. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 5, 3-28.
• Scott, B.E., Lawson, D.W. & Curtis, V. (2007). Hard to handle: understanding mother’s handwashing behaviour in Ghana. Health Policy & Planning 22, 216-224.
  

BOOK CHAPTERS

• Lawson, D.W. (in press). Life history theory and human reproductive behaviour. In Swami, V. (Ed) Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell

COMMENTARIES/BOOK REVIEWS

• Lawson, D.W., Jordan, F.M. & Magid, K. (2008). On sex and suicide bombing: an evaluation of Kanazawa’s ‘Evolutionary Psychological Imagination’. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 6, 73-84.
• Lawson, D.W. (2007). Frustrated felines and excited ungulates: a review of ‘Homosexual Behaviour in Animals – An Evolutionary Perspective’. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 5, 257-260.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

EDITING/REVIEWING

• Book Review Editor: Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 2007-present
• Reviewing for journals: American Journal of Human Biology, Biology Letters, Current Anthropology, Evolution and Human Behaviour, Human Nature, Journal of Biosocial Science, Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, PloS ONE, Public Health
• Reviewing for publishers: Wiley-Blackwell

SOCIETY MANAGEMENT

• In 2008, I co-founded the European Human Behaviour & Evolution Association (www.ehbea.com: 230+ members) with Professor Kevin Laland (St Andrews), Dr Tom Dickins (UEL) and Dr Rebecca Sear (LSE). I serve on the steering group as Secretary. Through the organisation of annual conferences, EHBEA is committed to providing a broad, pluralistic and interdisciplinary European research forum for researchers studying evolutionary models of human behaviour.

CONFERENCE ORGANISATION

• Co-organiser of the 2007 European Human Behaviour & Evolution (EHBE) Conference, London School of Economics, London, UK