Welcome to the homepage of Jon A. Sefcek, Ph.D.
at

The University of Arizona

                              

Please bear with me as this site is currently under construction.

 

                                                                   I am currently a University Associate in the Psychology Department’s, Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology Program.

                                               

                                                Contact Info:

                                                Email: jons@email.arizona.edu

                                                        Phone: 520-603-5052

 

                                                Degrees Received:

                                                Ph.D., The University of Arizona, 2007

                                                        M.A., The University of Arizona, 2002

                                                        B.A., The University of Cincinnati, 1998

                                                        Curriculum Vitae

                                               

                                                Research Interests:

I study sexual selection and the evolutionary psychology of human mate choice, exploring it's implications for social and sexual behavior among humans. Generally I am interested in what traits individuals seek in potential mates, how they go about attracting these mates, and how culture has fashioned itself for such a purpose. More importantly, I am interested in the underlying psychological mechanisms that lead people engage in the behaviors, especially mating behaviors, they do. This leads to research projects running the whole gambit of psychological inquiry: including attraction, mating, and social issues, development and life-history strategies, as well as psychopathology, health and well-being.

 

My training at the University of Arizona, has led me to a rather unique perspective on human behavior, exploring personality, psychopathology, social behavior, and mating from the approach of evolutionary psychology. Based on the accumulating body of knowledge of how genes and environment influence each other to produce a phenotype I have become increasingly interested in the variation expressed at both the individual and group level, and the interaction of these behaviors within a societal framework (i.e. not only do genes affect behavior, but behavior also affects the genes). This goes beyond the traditional approach of evolutionary psychology which tends to focus on human universals.

 

Recently I have begun working on several projects examining ovulatory cycle effects as they relate to female mate choice, movement and vocal patterns, and economic earnings. Through this research I have stepped-out from the laboratory to examine their real-world implications.

 

I am also interested in general primate behavior, and specifically with chimpanzee personality, health, and facial symmetry as a biometric measure of environmental stress.

 

Please click on the following links to learn more:

Jon's Bio

 

Current Research Projects

 

What is Evolutionary Psychology?

 

Links to other sites