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Ed Hagen

Ed Hagen

I'm an anthropologist specializing in evolutionary medicine

Professor at Washington State University

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Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University. Faculty page: https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/hagen/

Views expressed are my own and do not reflect those of my employer or other organizations I'm affiliated with.

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Career: 1

Professor

Washington State University

Full-time

Publications: 97

Publication1 article

Academic papers should become Bluesky accounts (yes, really)

Mar 2026

Other publications

The Natural History of Child Signals of Need in Utila, Honduras

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-025-09495-9

Michael R. Gaffney, Jessica K. Hlay, Izabel Rodríguez James, Kristen L. Syme, Steven A. Arnocky, Aaron D. Blackwell, Carolyn R. Hodges-Simeon, Edward H. Hagen

Jun 2025

The Meanings and Dividends of Man the Hunter

Preprint
doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/gawbt_v1

Vivek Vasi Venkataraman, Edward H Hagen, Duncan Stibbard Hawkes, Raymond Hames, Sheina Lew-Levy, Haneul Jang, Luke Glowacki, Jordie Hoffman, Karen Kramer, Helen Elizabeth Davis, Katie Starkweather, Barry Hewlett, Zachary H Garfield, Robert L. Kelly

Apr 2025

Vocalizations are ideal identity signals

Preprint
doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/c3dz4

Juliet Barry, Edward H Hagen, Samuel A Mehr

Jun 2024

Woman the Hunter? Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are real

Preprint
doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.23.581721

Vivek Venkataraman, Jordie Hoffman, Raymond B. Hames, Duncan N.E. Stibbard-Hawkes, Karen Kramer, Robert Kelly, Kyle Farquharson, Edward H. Hagen, Barry S. Hewlett, Helen Elizabeth Davis, Luke Glowacki, Haneul Jang, Kristen Syme, Katie Starkweather, Sheina Lew-Levy

Feb 2024

Ethnomedical Specialists and their Supernatural Theories of Disease

Review of Philosophy and Psychology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s13164-021-00589-8

Aaron D. Lightner, Cynthiann Heckelsmiller, Edward H. Hagen

Jun 2023

Homo medicus: The transition to meat eating increased pathogen pressure and the use of pharmacological plants in Homo

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24718

Edward H. Hagen, Aaron D. Blackwell, Aaron D. Lightner, Roger J. Sullivan

Apr 2023

In need-based sharing, sharing is more important than need

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.010

Aaron D. Lightner, Anne C. Pisor, Edward H. Hagen

Mar 2023

Response to: "Are depression and suicidality evolved signals? Evidently, no"

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.003

Michael R. Gaffney, Kai H. Adams, Kristen L. Syme, Edward H. Hagen

Mar 2023

The impact of gossip, reputation, and context on resource transfers among Aka hunter-gatherers, Ngandu horticulturalists, and MTurkers

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.013

Nicole H. Hess, Edward H. Hagen

Mar 2023

Bargaining and interdependence: common parent-offspring conflict resolution strategies among Chon Chuuk and their implications for suicidal behavior

American Anthropologist

Journal Article
doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/7q32s

Syme, Kristen L., Hagen, Edward H.

2023

The Biological Roots of Music and Dance

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-022-09429-9

Edward H. Hagen

Aug 2022

Religion: the WEIRDest concept in the world?

Religion, Brain & Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.1991460

Aaron D. Lightner, Zachary H. Garfield, Edward H. Hagen

Jul 2022

Correction to: Ethnomedical Specialists and their Supernatural Theories of Disease

Review of Philosophy and Psychology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s13164-022-00633-1

Aaron D. Lightner, Cynthiann Heckelsmiller, Edward H. Hagen

Jun 2022

The hungry, striving, sociable, parasitized, and slightly buzzed monkey

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24481

Edward H. Hagen

Jun 2022

Depression and suicidality as evolved credible signals of need in social conflicts

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.02.004

Michael R. Gaffney, Kai H. Adams, Kristen L. Syme, Edward H. Hagen

May 2022

Strength is negatively associated with depression and accounts for some of the sex difference

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoac007

Caroline B Smith, Tom Rosenström, Edward H Hagen

Jan 2022

All Models Are Wrong, and Some Are Religious: Supernatural Explanations as Abstract and Useful Falsehoods about Complex Realities

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-022-09437-9

Aaron D. Lightner, Edward H. Hagen

2022

Middle-earth wasn't built in a day: How do we explain the costs of creating a world?

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X21002296

Aaron D. Lightner, Cynthiann Heckelsmiller, Edward H. Hagen

2022

Competitive gossip: the impact of domain, resource value, resource scarcity and coalitions

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0305

Nicole H. Hess, Edward H. Hagen

Nov 2021

Toward a productive evolutionary understanding of music

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x21000030

Samuel A. Mehr, Max M. Krasnow, Gregory A. Bryant, Edward H. Hagen

Sep 2021

Ethnoscientific expertise and knowledge specialisation in 55 traditional cultures

Evolutionary Human Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2021.31

Aaron D. Lightner, Cynthiann Heckelsmiller, Edward H. Hagen

2021

Origins of music in credible signaling

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20000345

Samuel A. Mehr, Max M. Krasnow, Gregory A. Bryant, Edward H. Hagen

2021

The impact of information about tobacco-related reproductive vs. general health risks on South Indian women's tobacco use decisions

Evolutionary Human Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.61

Caitlyn D. Placek, Renee E. Magnan, Vijaya Srinivas, Poornima Jaykrishna, Kavitha Ravi, Anisa Khan, Purnima Madhivanan, Edward H. Hagen

Nov 2020

In Memoriam

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-019-09362-4

Edward H. Hagen, Lawrence S. Sugiyama

Jan 2020

Mental Health Is Biological Health: Why Tackling ``Diseases of the Mind'' Is an Imperative for Biological Anthropology in the 21st Century

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23965
Nov 2019

Gossip, Reputation, and Friendship in Within-Group Competition: An Evolutionary Perspective

The Oxford Handbook of Gossip and Reputation

Book Chapter
doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190494087.013.15
Aug 2019

Household Composition and the Infant Fecal Microbiome: The INSPIRE Study

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23843
Jul 2019

The Prehistory of Psychoactive Drug Use

Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology

Book Chapter
doi.org/10.4324/9780429488818-25
Jul 2019

Investigating Evolutionary Models of Leadership among Recently Settled Ethiopian Hunter-Gatherers

The Leadership Quarterly

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2019.03.005
May 2019

Evolutionary Models of Leadership: Tests and Synthesis

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-019-09338-4
Mar 2019

When Saying ``Sorry'' Isn't Enough: Is Some Suicidal Behavior a Costly Signal of Apology?: A Cross-Cultural Test

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-018-9333-3
Mar 2019

The Evolutionary Anthropology of Political Leadership

The Leadership Quarterly

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.09.001
Feb 2019

Mapping the Terra Incognita of Economic Cognition Will Require an Experimental Paradigm That Incorporates Context

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X18000444

Edward H Hagen, Aaron D. Lightner

Aug 2018

Social Networks, Cooperative Breeding, and the Human Milk Microbiome

American Journal of Human Biology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23131
Jul 2018

The Evolutionary Significance of Drug Toxicity Over Reward

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Science of Addiction

Book Chapter
doi.org/10.4324/9781315689197-10
Jun 2018

DHEAS Patterning across Childhood in Three Sub-Saharan Populations: Associations with Age, Sex, Ethnicity, and Cortisol

American Journal of Human Biology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23090
Mar 2018

Innate Food Aversions and Culturally Transmitted Food Taboos in Pregnant Women in Rural Southwest India: Separate Systems to Protect the Fetus?

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.08.001
Nov 2017

Adaptive and Non-Adaptive Models of Depression: A Comparison Using Register Data on Antidepressant Medication during Divorce

PLOS ONE

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179495
Jun 2017

Persistence of Infant Care Patterns Among Aka Foragers

Hunter-Gatherers in a Changing World

Book Chapter
doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42271-8_12
2017

Radical Framing Effects in the Ultimatum Game: The Impact of Explicit Culturally Transmitted Frames on Economic Decision-Making

Royal Society Open Science

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170543
2017

Testing the Psychological Pain Hypothesis for Postnatal Depression: Reproductive Success versus Evidence of Design

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1093/emph/eow032
2017

A Biocultural Investigation of Gender Differences in Tobacco Use in an Egalitarian Hunter-Gatherer Population

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-016-9255-x
Jun 2016

Testing the Bargaining vs. Inclusive Fitness Models of Suicidal Behavior against the Ethnographic Record

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.10.005
May 2016

Explaining the Sex Difference in Depression with a Unified Bargaining Model of Anger and Depression

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1093/emph/eow006
Feb 2016

High Prevalence of Cannabis Use among Aka Foragers of the Congo Basin and Its Possible Relationship to Helminthiasis: CANNABIS USE AMONG AKA FORAGERS OF THE CONGO BASIN

American Journal of Human Biology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22740
Jan 2016

The Low Prevalence of Female Smoking in the Developing World: Gender Inequality or Maternal Adaptations for Fetal Protection?

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1093/emph/eow013
2016

Fetal Protection: The Roles of Social Learning and Innate Food Aversions in South India

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-015-9239-2
Sep 2015

Evolutionary Psychology and Its Critics

The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology

Book Chapter
2015

Tobacco Use vs. Helminths in Congo Basin Hunter-Gatherers: Self-Medication in Humans?

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.05.005
Sep 2014

A Test of Three Hypotheses of Pica and Amylophagy among Pregnant Women in Tamil Nadu, India: A Test of Three Hypotheses of Pica and Amylophagy

American Journal of Human Biology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22456
Nov 2013

Living with Kin in Lowland Horticultural Societies

Current Anthropology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1086/668867
Feb 2013

Explaining Human Recreational Use of `Pesticides': The Neurotoxin Regulation Model of Substance Use vs. the Hijack Model and Implications for Age and Sex Differences in Drug Consumption

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Journal Article
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00142
2013

What Can Evolution Do for Us?

Evolution and the Mechanisms of Decision Making

Book Chapter
2012

Evolutionary Theories of Depression: A Critical Review

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1177/070674371105601203
Dec 2011

Why Do We Take Drugs? From the Drug-Reinforcement Theory to a Novel Concept of Drug Instrumentalization

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X11000847
Dec 2011

Interpersonal Aggression among Aka Hunter-Gatherers of the Central African Republic: Assessing the Effects of Sex, Strength, and Anger

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-010-9094-0
Oct 2010

Human Natures — A Review of The 10,000 Year Explosion

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.07.006
Nov 2009

Cooperative Breeding and Adolescent Siblings: Evidence for the Ecological Constraints Model?

Current Anthropology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1086/605328
Oct 2009

Did Neanderthals and Other Early Humans Sing? Seeking the Biological Roots of Music in the Territorial Advertisements of Primates, Lions, Hyenas, and Wolves

Musicae Scientiae

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1177/1029864909013002131
Sep 2009

The Dopamine Puzzle

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0905153106
Jul 2009

Ecology and Neurobiology of Toxin Avoidance and the Paradox of Drug Reward

Neuroscience

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.077
Apr 2009

Gestures of Despair and Hope: A View on Deliberate Self-Harm From Economics and Evolutionary Biology

Biological Theory

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1162/biot.2008.3.2.123
Jun 2008

Nonbizarre Delusions as Strategic Deception

Medicine and Evolution

Book Chapter
doi.org/10.1201/9781420051377.ch9
Jun 2008

Revealing the Paradox of Drug Reward in Human Evolution

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.1673
Jun 2008

New Genealogy: It's Not Just for Kinship Anymore

Field Methods

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1177/1525822X07314034
May 2008

The East Indian Diaspora in Costa Rica: Inbreeding Avoidance, Marriage Patterns, and Cultural Survival

American Anthropologist

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1525/aa.2007.109.2.330
Jun 2007

Perinatal Sadness among Shuar Women: Support for an Evolutionary Theory of Psychic Pain

Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1525/maq.2007.21.1.22
Mar 2007

Natural Psychology: The Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness and the Structure of Cognition

The Evolution of Mind: Fundamental Questions and Controversies

Book Chapter
2007

Psychological Adaptations for Assessing Gossip Veracity

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-006-1013-z
Sep 2006

Do Human Parents Face a Quantity-Quality Tradeoff?: Evidence from a Shuar Community

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20272
Jul 2006

The Strategic View of Biological Agents

Biological Theory

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1162/biot.2006.1.2.191
Jun 2006

Game Theory and Human Evolution: A Critique of Some Recent Interpretations of Experimental Games

Theoretical Population Biology

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.tpb.2005.09.005
May 2006

Sex Differences in Indirect Aggression

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.11.001
May 2006

EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS: Broken Cogs or Strategic Agents?

Science

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1126/science.1125754
Apr 2006

Robustness: A Key to Evolutionary Design

Biological Theory

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1162/biot.2006.1.1.90
Mar 2006

The Strategy Concept and John Maynard Smith's Influence on Theoretical Biology

Biology & Philosophy

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9022-6
Mar 2006

The Second Wave of Evolutionary Economics in Biology

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2005.07.012
Nov 2005

Controversial Issues in Evolutionary Psychology

The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology

Book Chapter
2005

Evolutionary Biology and the Strategic View of Ontogeny: Genetic Strategies Provide Robustness and Flexibility in the Life Course

Research in Human Development

Journal Article
2005

Music and Dance as a Coalition Signaling System

Human Nature

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1007/s12110-003-1015-z
Mar 2003

The Bargaining Model of Depression

Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation

Book Chapter
2003

Psychotropic Substance-Seeking: Evolutionary Pathology or Adaptation?

Addiction

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00024.x
Apr 2002

Depression as Bargaining The Case Postpartum

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
2002

PARENTAL INVESTMENT AND CHILD HEALTH IN A YANOMAMÖ VILLAGE SUFFERING SHORT-TERM FOOD STRESS

Journal of Biosocial Science

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/S002193200100503X
Oct 2001

Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts - J. Burnham, J. Phelan, Cambridge, MA:Perseus Publishing, 2000, 263 Pp. ISBN 0-738-20230-4. Perseus Publishing, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.

Politics and the Life Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/S0730938400005554
Sep 2001

Sweet Savage Love: FA, BO, and SES in the EEA

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0042337X
Aug 2000

The Functions of Postpartum Depression

Evolution and Human Behavior

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(99)00016-1
Sep 1999

Synthesis and Photochemistry of Sulfonium Ion Polymers. Arylated and Alkylated Poly(p-Phenylene Sulfide) Derivatives

Journal Article
doi.org/10.1021/ma00085a054
1994

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