Sarah E. Hill |
![[picture]](hill.jpg) |
My overall research objective is to understand human social behaviors and the social and cognitive processes that guide them (e.g. emotions, decision-making heuristics, etc). In carrying out this objective, I take a theoretically-driven, multi-method approach with an emphasis on integrating knowledge across traditional topical and disciplinary boundaries. I combine the theoretical grounding made available by evolutionary theory and its focus on adaptive function with social psychological theory and its emphasis on interpersonal relationships and social cognition. In conducting research, I favor not only the use of the tried-and-true research tools developed by social psychologists, but also incorporate analytical tools from other disciplines such as behavioral ecology and economics. To date, the primary foci of my research have been: 1) mate choice and 2) social competition for access to limited resources (e.g., mates, wealth, and status).
Selected Publications:
Hill S. E. & Buss, D. M. (2008). The Mere Presence of Opposite-Sex Others on Judgments of Sexual and Romantic Desirability: Opposite Effects for Men and Women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 635-647.
Hill, S. E. (2007). Overestimation bias in mate competition. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28, 118-123.
Hill, S. E. & Ryan, M. J. (2006). The Role of Female Quality in the Mate Copying Behavior of Sailfin Mollies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biology Letters, 2, 203-205
Hill, S. E. & Reeve, H. K. (2005). Low Fertility in Humans as the Evolutionary Outcome of Snowballing Resource Games. Behavioral Ecology, 16, 398-402.
Hill, S. E. & Reeve, H. K. (2004). Mating Games: the Evolution of Human Mating Transactions. Behavioral Ecology, 15, 748-756.