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Daniel Krupp “A very extended family: kin recognition and human affairs"

Kinship plays a fundamental role in our daily affairs, as it does in the affairs of many other critters. Yet, there is an embarrassing dearth of psychological research into the effects of kinship on human behaviour and decision-making.

Drawing from work on other organisms (animals, plants, amoebae, and bacteria), I will explain why kinship is special, how we come to recognize our kin—including those we have never met before—and how its effects extend far beyond common notions of "the family."

Finally, I will show how a better understanding of kin recognition can help us to understand problems as diverse and significant as mate choice, suicide terrorism, and racism.

About Daniel Brian Krupp

Daniel Brian Krupp is an evolutionary psychologist and Postdoctoral Fellow at Queen's University and McMaster University. His work involves the development and application of evolutionary theory to the psychology of cooperation and conflict. He has a BA (Hons.) from Queen's University, an MA from the University of Saskatchewan, a PhD from McMaster University, and has elsewhere conducted research at the University of Lethbridge and the University of Aberdeen.