Topic · Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior is a research topic within Experimental and Cognitive Psychology. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the evolutionary psychology of human behavior and attraction, focusing on topics such as mate preferences, attractiveness, life history theory, facial perception, sexual selection, testosterone, adaptation, and social cognition. The research delves into understanding the biological and evolutionary underpinnings of human mating strategies, decision-making processes related to attractiveness and mate selection, and the role of hormones in shaping social behaviors.

Evolutionary Psychology
Human Behavior
Attractiveness
Mate Preferences
Life History Theory
Facial Perception
Sexual Selection
Testosterone
Adaptation
Social Cognition

Research works: 25k
In the world top 10%: 2.4k
Top-10% rate: 9.9%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: -6%
Largest producer: United States

Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

Which countries lead Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.3k and 538 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 United States 1.3k works
2 China 538 works
3 United Kingdom 383 works
4 Germany 257 works
5 Canada 229 works
6 Japan 195 works
7 Australia 158 works
8 Italy 131 works
9 India 118 works
10 France 104 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States1,327 · 38.6%China538 · 15.6%United Kingdom383 · 11.1%Germany257 · 7.5%6 others listed935 · 27.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research, followed by Max Planck Society and University of Toronto.

By volume, 2022-now

1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 34 works
2 Max Planck SocietyGermany 31 works
3 University of TorontoCanada 30 works
4 Oakland UniversityUnited States 30 works
5 The University of Texas at AustinUnited States 21 works
6 Arizona State UniversityUnited States 21 works
7 Harvard UniversityUnited States 20 works
8 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 20 works
9 University of British ColumbiaCanada 20 works
10 University of ChicagoUnited States 19 works

Who are the leading researchers in Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior include George Davey Smith, Richard M. Ryan and Ronald C. Kessler.

1 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
2 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
3 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
4 Amos Tversky United States 327k citations
5 Graeme J. Hankey Australia 316k citations
6 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
7 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
8 Icek Ajzen United States 267k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior?

The most cited paper in Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior is "The Evolution of Cooperation" (Robert Axelrod, William D. O. Hamilton, 1981), with 20,368 citations. Next come "The weirdest people in the world?" (12,508) and "Parental Investment and Sexual Selection" (9,562).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	The Evolution of Cooperation Robert Axelrod, William D. O. Hamilton · Science	27 Mar 1981	20,368
2	The weirdest people in the world? Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine, Ara Norenzayan · Behavioral and Brain Sciences	Jun 2010	12,508
3	Parental Investment and Sexual Selection Robert L. Trivers Book chapter	12 Jul 2017	9,562
4	The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme Stephen Jay Gould, Richard C Lewontin · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences	21 Sep 1979	7,845
5	Personality Structure: Emergence of the Five-Factor Model John M. Digman · Annual Review of Psychology	1990	6,515

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research done?

The largest centres of Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Tokyo (Japan) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Rochester.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 BeijingChina 93 works
2 LondonUnited Kingdom 81 works
3 TokyoJapan 75 works
4 New YorkUnited States 52 works
5 TorontoCanada 46 works
6 ShanghaiChina 43 works
7 ParisFrance 35 works
8 SeoulSouth Korea 34 works
9 MelbourneAustralia 33 works
10 GuangzhouChina 32 works

Where it is the local speciality

RochesterUS · 29.8 works59×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior than the world average.

See Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior on the map

Where is the best place to study Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior?

Among universities, judged by research, Durham University, Harvard University and Arizona State University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged

40%

Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share

10%

Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale

30%

Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%

10%

Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad

10%

Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	Durham UniversityUnited Kingdom	65.4	26.3%	6.8×	10	+41.6%
2	Harvard UniversityUnited States	60.2	18.1%	1.6×	20	-18.3%
3	Arizona State UniversityUnited States	60.1	16.4%	7.9×	21	-13.4%
4	University of TorontoCanada	58.9	10.3%	3.6×	30	-14.5%
5	University of California, BerkeleyUnited States	57.8	22.0%	3.0×	12	+43.2%
6	Australian National UniversityAustralia	56.4	25.9%	5.0×	10	-5.1%
7	The University of Texas at AustinUnited States	56.0	11.6%	6.2×	21	-16.0%
8	Emory UniversityUnited States	55.6	16.1%	4.7×	15	-9.5%
9	University College LondonUnited Kingdom	55.3	16.4%	2.8×	18	-24.8%
10	University of AmsterdamNetherlands	54.4	16.3%	5.3×	13	-6.1%
11	Stanford UniversityUnited States	54.3	23.0%	1.7×	10	-4.3%
12	University of California, Santa BarbaraUnited States	54.2	17.0%	9.2×	12	-37.8%
13	Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands	53.9	15.2%	8.4×	14	-37.3%
14	University of British ColumbiaCanada	53.7	10.5%	4.1×	20	-12.0%
15	The University of QueenslandAustralia	53.5	19.5%	3.9×	15	-12.3%
16	University of ZurichSwitzerland	52.6	15.3%	5.1×	14	-32.7%
17	University of ChicagoUnited States	51.5	3.8%	5.7×	20	+36.2%
18	University of California, DavisUnited States	50.5	18.2%	4.6×	15	-28.3%
19	University of MichiganUnited States	50.4	14.7%	2.8×	18	-28.9%
20	Florida State UniversityUnited States	49.5	11.5%	11.7×	17	-15.1%
21	New York UniversityUnited States	48.8	11.9%	3.7×	17	-28.7%
22	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	48.7	10.4%	3.0×	17	-19.9%
23	University of ViennaAustria	48.3	17.8%	6.7×	14	-27.2%
24	University of PennsylvaniaUnited States	48.2	12.9%	2.6×	11	+9.1%
25	Renmin University of ChinaChina	46.8	11.3%	8.8×	12	+104.6%
26	University of PaduaItaly	46.1	15.5%	4.3×	14	-10.8%
27	Duke UniversityUnited States	45.3	17.7%	3.0×	10	-8.6%
28	University of California, Los AngelesUnited States	45.0	10.9%	3.3×	15	-16.1%
29	Charles UniversityCzechia	44.3	5.9%	7.6×	14	+33.4%
30	University of OsloNorway	43.6	16.7%	3.5×	9	-8.4%
31	Oakland UniversityUnited States	43.5	2.7%	52.4×	30	-56.4%
32	Syracuse UniversityUnited States	43.3	13.4%	11.0×	8	+73.6%
33	Sapienza University of RomeItaly	43.0	3.9%	4.0×	19	+292.3%
34	University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom	42.7	12.5%	3.0×	11	+10.0%
35	Cornell UniversityUnited States	42.6	7.6%	3.0×	16	-5.1%
36	The University of Western AustraliaAustralia	42.4	14.4%	6.4×	11	-36.6%
37	Yale UniversityUnited States	42.0	10.7%	2.8×	12	-37.2%
38	McMaster UniversityCanada	41.9	15.9%	4.6×	11	-10.6%
39	Michigan State UniversityUnited States	41.7	22.7%	3.1×	9	-26.5%
40	Utrecht UniversityNetherlands	41.3	16.6%	3.1×	9	-26.7%
41	University of LincolnUnited Kingdom	41.1	11.2%	26.1×	11	-11.3%
42	University of MinnesotaUnited States	40.4	20.0%	2.8×	8	-19.5%
43	Beijing Normal UniversityChina	38.8	4.7%	4.2×	14	+21.3%
44	University of MacauChina	38.4	10.7%	6.2×	8	-5.1%
45	University of St AndrewsUnited Kingdom	37.6	10.2%	9.3×	8	-35.1%
46	University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States	36.7	5.4%	2.8×	20	-16.6%
47	The University of TokyoJapan	34.8	10.6%	2.2×	11	+43.2%
48	Western UniversityCanada	34.7	5.3%	4.6×	10	+22.8%
49	Brock UniversityCanada	33.5	14.4%	18.4×	9	-46.1%
50	University of LethbridgeCanada	32.2	10.5%	36.5×	8	-0.6%
51	Texas A&M University SystemUnited States	30.1	2.2%	9.8×	10	+289.8%
52	University of GroningenNetherlands	25.9	8.8%	3.2×	9	-40.9%
53	KU LeuvenBelgium	23.9	9.9%	2.1×	8	-43.0%
54	University of NicosiaCyprus	22.8	2.2%	35.2×	10	-44.8%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior, country by country

Is Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.017% in 2024.

Fractional works of Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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Which countries lead Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior?

What are the most cited papers in Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior?

Where is Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior?

Is Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion