Jerome H. Barkow

Abstract

DefinitionJerome (Jerry) Barkow is a biosocial anthropologist whose work has emphasized how our evolved psychology provides the infrastructure of culture and whose work has been a prescient call (Barkow, 1973;Barkow, 1994) for an evolutionary psychological anthropology. His often pioneering work embraces how our pan-primate tendency to form hierarchies helps to generate-and always underlies--human social structures (Barkow, 1975a(Barkow, , 1975b(Barkow, , 1980a(Barkow, , 2014. He coedited the foundational text and rallying cry for evolutionary psychology, The Adapted Mind (Barkow et al., 1992a), drawing together his earlier recognition for evolutionary approaches to ground our study of human behaviour. Barkow's work runs a broad gamut, including work that was a forerunner in the evolutionary study of gossip (Barkow, 1992b), happiness (Barkow, 1997), and, more recently, the likely psychology of extraterrestrials (Barkow, 2000, 2014 He has also been vocal that explanations at different levels of organization (such as those at the individual versus sociological levels) must always be compatible with one another but can never be in competition (Barkow, 1989a(Barkow, , 2006a.