Areas of Interest:

Human anger appears to be an adaptation designed by natural selection to regulate resource conflict.  In collaboration with Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, Aaron has used a series of vignette studies, anthropometric measurements, argument analyses and vocal analyses to demonstrate that anger is functionally designed to respond to indications of a low Welfare Tradeoff Ratio (WTR) – i.e. an index of the weight another places on your welfare relative to their own when making decisions that impact you both.

Selected Publications and Conference Papers:

Sell, A., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2002).  Evolutionary Psychology: Applications and Criticisms.  Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science.  Nature Publishing Group.

Sell, A.  Convergent evidence on the function of revenge.  Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Rutgers University, June 19-23, 2002.

Sell, A.  The AWA and Human Anger: A cognitive-evolutionary model of human anger.  Human Behavior and Evolution Society, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, June 4-8, 2003.

Sell, A.  Form and Formidability: Physical strength as a predictor of attitudes on aggression.  UCLA-UCSB Human Nature and Society Program, UCLA, California, November, 2003.

Sell, A.  Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology.  Keynote address, organized by the UCLA Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life.  Encino-Tarzana Regional Hospital, California, October, 2004.

Sell, A. Anger Expressions Dissected: Why does his face look like that?  Human Behavior and Evolution Society, University of Pennsylvania, June 7-11, 2006.

Sell, A. Strength and Anger: Individual differences in anger, aggression and political attitudes conform to a Paleolithic logic of aggression.  International Society for Research on Aggression, University of Minnesota, July 25-29, 2006.

Sell, A.  The function of anger expressions: Why does his face look like that?  International Society for Research on Aggression, University of Minnesota, July 25-29, 2006.

Sell, A.  Strength and Anger in Human Males.  Southern California Animal
Behavior Conference, UCSB, California, March, 2007.