Department of Anthropology

Edward H. Hagen

Position: Assistant Professor
Office: VMMC 102E
Phone: 360-546-9257

Biographical sketch

I received my BA in mathematics from UC Berkeley, spent some time working in the organic polymer lab of Bruce Novak, then at UC Berkeley, before finally deciding to pursue anthropology at UC Santa Barbara, where I got my Ph.D. in 1999. Shortly thereafter I took a postdoc position in Peter Hammerstein's group at the Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin. I moved to WSU in 2007.

Research

Most of my research involves signaling, with a primary focus on evolutionary medicine and mental health. Projects include the human use of plant secondary compounds, such as nicotine, that evolved to interfere with herbivore cellular signaling systems, and depression, suicide, and deliberate self-harm as potential signaling strategies. My work on music, dance and gossip makes use of strategic models of signaling as well.

Child growth and development is a research theme that grew out of my work on postpartum depression.

Finally, I have published a number of theoretical papers on evolutionary approaches to ontogeny, cognition, and behavior.

Courses

Anth 260 Introduction to Physical Anthropology
Anth 395 Topics in Anthropology
Anth 468 Sex, Evolution, and Human Nature
Anth 561 Current Trends in Physical Anthropology

Research projects

Selected publications

Preprints

PDF Helfrecht C, Hess NH, Hagen EH, Sell A and Hewlett BS 2009. Interpersonal aggression among Aka hunter-gatherers of the Central African Republic: Assessing the effects of sex, strength, and anger.
PDF Hess NH and Hagen EH 2009. Informational warfare: Coalitional gossiping as a strategy for within-group aggression.

Articles

PDF Hagen EH and Barret HC 2009. Cooperative breeding and adolescent siblings: Evidence for the ecological constraints model? Current Anthropology, 50, 727-737.
PDF Hagen EH and Hammerstein P 2009. Did Neanderthals and other early humans sing? Seeking the biological roots of music in the loud calls of primates, lions, hyenas, and wolves. Musicae Scientiae, 291-320.
PDF Hagen EH, Sullivan RJ, Schmidt R, Morris G, Kempter R and Hammerstein P 2009. Ecology and neurobiology of toxin avoidance and the paradox of drug reward. Neuroscience, 160, 69-84.
PDF Hagen EH, Watson PJ and Hammerstein P 2008. Gestures of Despair and Hope: A View on deliberate self-harm from economics and evolutionary biology. Biological Theory, 3, 123-138.
PDF Quinlan RJ and Hagen EH 2008. New Genealogy: It's Not Just for Kinship Anymore. Field Methods.
PDF Sullivan RJ, Hagen EH and Hammerstein P 2008. Revealing the paradox of drug reward in human evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B, 275, 1231-1241.
PDF Hagen EH and Barrett HC 2007. Perinatal sadness among Shuar women: support for an evolutionary theory of psychic pain. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 21, 22-40.
PDF Madrigal L, Ware B, Hagen EH, Blell M and Otárola F 2007. The East Indian diaspora in Costa Rica: Inbreeding avoidance, marriage patterns, and cultural survival. American Anthropologist, 109, 330-337.
PDF Hagen EH and Hammerstein P 2006. Game theory and human evolution: A critique of some recent interpretations of experimental games. Theoretical Population Biology, 69, 339-348.
PDF Hagen EH, Barrett HC and Price ME 2006. Do Human Parents Face a Quantity-Quality Tradeoff?: Evidence From a Shuar Community. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 130, 405-418.
PDF Hammerstein P, Hagen EH and Laubichler MD 2006. The Strategic View of Biological Agents. Biological Theory, 1, 191-194.
PDF Hammerstein P, Hagen EH, Herz AVM and Herzel H 2006. Robustness: A Key to Evolutionary Design. Biological Theory, 1, 90-93.
PDF Hess NH and Hagen EH 2006. Psychological adaptations for assessing gossip believability. Human Nature, 17, 337-354.
PDF Hess NH and Hagen EH 2006. Sex differences in indirect aggression: Psychological evidence from young adults. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 231-245.
PDF Hagen EH and Hammerstein P 2005. Evolutionary Biology and the Strategic View of Ontogeny: Genetic Strategies Provide Robustness and Flexibility in the Life Course. Research in Human Development, 2, 83-97.
PDF Hammerstein P and Hagen EH 2005. The second wave of evolutionary economics in biology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 20, 604-609.
PDF Laubichler MD, Hagen EH and Hammerstein P 2005. The strategy concept and John Maynard Smith's influence on theoretical biology. Biology and Philosophy, 20, 1041-1050.
PDF Hagen EH and Bryant GA 2003. Music and dance as a coalition signaling system. Human Nature, 14, 21-51.
PDF Hagen EH 2002. Depression as bargaining: The case postpartum. Evolution and Human Behavior, 23, 323-336.
PDF Sullivan RJ and Hagen EH 2002. Psychotropic substance-seeking: evolutionary pathology or adaptation? Addiction, 97, 389-400.
PDF Hagen EH, Hames RB, Craig NM, Lauer MT and Price ME 2001. Parental investment and child health in a Yanomamo village suffering short-term food stress. Journal of Biosocial Science, 33, 503-528.
PDF Hagen EH 1999. The Functions of Postpartum Depression. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 325-359.
PDF Novak BM, Hagen EH, Hoff S and Viswanathan A 1994. Synthesis and Photochemistry of Sulfonium Ion Polymers. Arylated and Alkylated Poly (p-phenylene sulfide) Derivatives. Macromolecules, 27, 1985-1986.

Chapters

— Hagen EH, Hammerstein P, and Hess NH 2009. Theoretical aspects of communication and language. In S. Nolfi and M. Mirolli, editors, Evolution of Communication and Language in Embodied and Situated Agents. Springer Verlag.
PDF Hagen EH 2008. Non-bizarre delusions as strategic deception. In: Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future prospects, Sarah Elton and Paul O'Higgins (eds.). Taylor and Francis.
PDF Hagen EH and Symons D 2007. Natural Psychology. In: The Evolution of Mind: Fundamental Questions and Controversies, S. Gangestad and J. Simpson (eds.). The Guilford Press.
— Hagen EH 2005. Controversial issues in evolutionary psychology. In: The handbook of evolutionary psychology, D. Buss (ed.). Wiley, 145-176.
— McElreath R, Clutton-Brock RTH, Fehr E, Fessier DMT, Hagen EH, Hammerstein P, Kosfeld M, Milinski M, Silk JB and Tooby J 2005. The Role of Cognition and Emotion in Cooperation. In: Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation, P. Hammerstein (ed.). MIT Press.
PDF Hagen EH 2003. The Bargaining Model of Depression, In: Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation, P. Hammerstein (ed.). MIT Press, 95-123.
ABS Sell A, Hagen EH, Cosmides L and Tooby J 2003. Evolutionary theory: Implications for Cognitive Science. In: Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. Nature Publishing Group, 2, 47-53.

Presentations

PDF Hagen EH, Roulette C, Hewlett BS, Sullivan RJ, Laganier R 2009. Drug use as potential protection against pathogens: Tobacco vs. helminth load in Aka foragers.
PDF Helfrecht C, Hess NH, Hagen E, Sell A and Hewlett B 2009. Anger and aggression among Aka hunter-gatherers. The evolution of human aggression. Utah.
PDF Hagen EH and Sullivan RJ 2007. Plant neurotoxins and brain development: Implications for encephalization in Homo. Human Biology Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia.
PDF Hagen EH 2004. Megadontia and bipedalism: Did habitual bipedalism evolve in early hominids to reduce the energetic costs of increasing head weight? American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 123, 105-106.
PDF Walker PL and Hagen EH 1994. A topographical approach to dental microwear analysis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 37, 203.

Other

PDF Hagen EH 2009. Human natures -- A review of the 10000 year explosion. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 453–455.
PDF Schmidt R, Morris G, Hagen EH, Sullivan RJ, Hammerstein P, and Kempter R 2009. The dopamine puzzle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
PDF Hammerstein P and Hagen EH 2006. Evolutionary genetics: Broken cogs or strategic agents? Science, 312, 530.
— Walker PL and Hagen EH 2005. Human Evolution: A Multimedia Guide to the Fossil Record. W.W. Norton.
PDF Hess NH and Hagen EH 2001. Review of Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts (J. Burnham and J. Phelan). Politics and the Life Sciences, 20, 244.
PDF Hagen EH and Hess NH 2000. Sweet savage love: FA, BO, and SES in the EEA. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 604-605.
PDF Hagen EH 1993. African pygmy settlement pattern. Graduate seminar paper.
 
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