Department of Anthropology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563
Current Position
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, UCLA
Previous Positions
1995-1996, Lecturer in Anthropology, UCSD
1996-1998, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Hofstra University
Education
B.A., 1985, summa cum laude, UCSD (Anthropology)
M.A., 1988, UCSD (Anthropology)
Ph.D., 1995, UCSD (Anthropology)
Professional Activities/Honors
• Director, UCLA Behavior, Evolution, & Culture Series
• Member, Board of Directors, UCLA Center for Human Nature & Society
• Member, Board of Directors, UCLA Center for Governance
• Member, Academic Advisory Board, UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies
• Associate Editor, Society for Psychological Anthropology Series, Cambridge
University Press
•Reviewer for Human Nature Evolution & Human Behavior, American Anthropologist, Addiction, Trends in Ecology & Evolution.
• COR Faculty Grant, UCLA (1999, 2001)
• Faculty Career Development Award, UCLA (1999, 2001)
• Fellowship, 1998 Summer Workshop on Culture, Health, and Human Development
(Mystic, CN; sponsored by NIH)
• New Investigator Award, Human Behavior & Evolution Society (HBES)
• National Science Foundation Predoctoral research grant
• Fulbright-Hays Predoctoral Research Grant
Publications
Fessler, D. M. T. (forthcoming). Pseudoparadoxical impulsivity in restrictive anorexia nervosa: A consequence of the logic of scarcity. International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Fessler, D. M. T. (forthcoming). Violent response to transgression as an example of the intersection of evolved psychology and culture. To appear in Evolutionary Psychology is the Infrastructure of Culture and Society (EPICS), J. Barkow, ed., Oxford University Press.
Fessler, D. M. T. (forthcoming). Reproductive immunosuppression and diet: An evolutionary perspective on pregnancy sickness and meat consumption. Current Anthropology.
Fessler, D. M. T. (forthcoming). Luteal phase immunosuppression and meat eating. Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum.
Fessler, D. M. T. (2001). Emotions and cost/benefit assessment:
the role of shame and self-esteem in risk taking. In Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox, R. Selten & G. Gigerenzer, eds. pp.191-214. Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press.
Fessler, D. M. T. (1999). Toward an understanding of the
universality of second order emotions. In A. Hinton (Ed.), Beyond nature or
nurture: Biocultural approaches to emotions (pp. 75-116). New York:
Cambridge University Press
Fessler, D. M. T. (1997). Commentary on why polyandry fails.
Current Anthropology 38: 391-392.
Fessler, D. M. T. (1996). Anthropology in Wonderland, or, the
virtues of shifting levels and frames. Anthropology Newsletter 37(8): 42-44