Geoffrey Miller

Associate Professor
Email: gfmiller@unm.edu
Office: Logan 160
Office hours: Wednesdays 10:30 am to noon
Phone: (505) 277-1967 (office voice/fax)

Research Interests
Evolutionary social psychology is my main focus, especially the study of human mental adaptations for judgment, decision-making, strategic behavior, and communication in social and sexual domains. This includes work on mutual mate choice and sexual selection theory, analysis of human mental traits as fitness indicators (reliable cues of underlying phenotypic traits and genetic quality), analysis of social attribution heuristics as adapted to the statistical structure of individual differences (including genetic and phenotypic covariances), and analysis of animate motion perception mechanisms as adapted to typical patterns of intentional movement. Also, consumer behavior: applications of evolutionary psychology in product design and aesthetics, marketing, advertising, and branding (book in progress on this topic); use of genetic algorithms for interactive online product design. Clinical interests: Applications of fitness indicator theory to understand symptoms, demographics, and behavior genetics of schizophrenia and mood disorders. Other interests: origins of human preferences, aesthetics, and utility functions; human strategic behavior, game theory, and experimental economics; ovulatory effects on female mate preferences; the intellectual legacies of Darwin, Nietzsche, and Veblen.

Publications
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Papers

• Miller, G. F., Tybur, J., & Jordan, B. (in press; published online Sept. 27). Ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by lap-dancers: Economic evidence for human estrus? Evolution and Human Behavior. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (in press). Sexual selection. For R. Baumeister & K. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of social psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Word]
• Nijhawan, R., Watanabe, K., Suganuma, M., Miller, G. F., & Freyd, J. (in press). Common processes in representational momentum and the flash-lag effect. In R. Nijhawan & B. Khurana (Eds.), Problems of space and time in perception and action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge U. Press.
• Tybur, J. M., Miller, G. F., & Gangestad, S. W. (in press). Testing the controversy: An empirical examination of adaptationists' attitudes towards politics and science. Human Nature, 18(4). [Word]
• Geher, G., Miller, G. F., & Murphy, J. (2007). Introduction: The origins and nature of mating intelligence. For G. Geher & G. Miller (Eds.), Mating intelligence: Sex, relationships, and the mind’s reproductive system, pp. 3-34.. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.[Word]
• Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Sundie, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Miller, G. F., & Kenrick, D. T. (2007). Blatant benevolence and conspicuous consumption: When romantic motives elicit costly displays. J. Personality and Social Psychology. [PDF]
• Kaufman, S. B., Kozbelt, A., Bromley, M. L., & Miller, G. F. (2007). The role of creativity and humor in mate selection. For G. Geher & G. Miller (Eds.), Mating intelligence: Sex, relationships, and the mind’s reproductive system, pp. 227-262. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2007). Reconciling evolutionary psychology and ecological psychology: How to perceive fitness affordances. Acta Psycholigica Sinica, 39(3), 546-555. [Special issue on evolutionary psychology]. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F., & Tal, I. (2007). Schizotypy versus intelligence and openness as predictors of creativity. Schizophrenia Research, 93(1-3), 317-324. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (2007). Mating intelligence: Frequently asked questions. For G. Geher & Miller, G. F. (Eds.), Mating intelligence: Sex, relationships, and the mind’s reproductive system, pp. 367-393. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. [Word]
• Penke, L., Denissen, J. J., & Miller, G. F. (2007). The evolutionary genetics of personality [target article]. European J. of Personality, 21(5), 549-587. [PDF]
• Penke, L., Denissen, J. J., & Miller, G. F. (2007). Evolution, genes, and interdisciplinary personality research [response to 22 commentaries] European J. of Personality, 21(5), 639-665. [PDF]
• Shaner, A., Miller, G. F., & Mintz, J. (2007). Mental disorders as catastrophic failures of mating intelligence. For G. Geher & G. Miller (Eds.), Mating intelligence: Sex, relationships, and the mind’s reproductive system, pp. 193-223. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. [Word]
• Shaner, A., Miller, G. F., & Mintz, J. (2007). Age at onset of schizophrenia: Evidence of a latitudinal gradient. Schizophrenia Research, 94(1-3), 58-63. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F., & Penke, L. (2007). The evolution of human intelligence and the coefficient of additive genetic variance in human brain size. Intelligence, 35(2), 97-114. [PDF]
• Andrews, P. W., Aggen, S. H., Miller, G. F., Radi, C., Dencoff, J. E., & Neale, M. C. (2007). The functional design of depression’s influence on attention: A preliminary test of alternative control-process mechanisms. Evolutionary Psychology, 5(3), 584-604. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (2007). Sexual selection for moral virtues. Quarterly Review of Biology, 82(2), 97-125. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (2007). Why I'm optimistic about death. Edge essay, January. [HTML]
• Miller, G. F. (2007). Brain evolution. In S. W. Gangestad & J. A. Simpson (Eds.), The evolution of human mind: Fundamental questions and controversies (pp. 287-293). NY: Guilford Press. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2006). Runaway consumerism explains the Fermi Paradox. Edge essay, January. [HTML]
• Haselton, M., & Miller, G. F. (2006). Women's fertility across the cycle increases the short-term attractiveness of creative intelligence. Human Nature, 17(1), 50-73. [PDF]
• Cliff, D., & Miller, G. F. (2006). Visualizing coevolution with CIAO plots. Artificial Life, 12(2), 199-202. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (2006). The Asian future of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary Psychology, 4: 107-119. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (2006). Asian creativity: A response to Satoshi Kanazawa. Evolutionary Psychology, 4: 129-137. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (2006). Debating sexual selection and mating strategies. Science, 312(5774), 693. [letter re. Roughgarten et al., 2006] [PDF]
• Keller, M., & Miller, G. F. (2006). Which evolutionary genetic models best explain the persistence of common, harmful, heritable mental disorders? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 385-404. [target article] [PDF]
• Keller, M., & Miller, G. F. (2006). An evolutionary framework for mental disorders: Integrating adaptationist and evolutionary genetics models. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 429-452. [response to 23 commentaries] [PDF]
• Sefcek, J. A., Brumbach, B. H., Vásquez, G., & Miller, G. F. (2006). The evolutionary psychology of human mate choice: How ecology, genes, fertility, and fashion influence our mating behavior. J. of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 18(2/3), 125-182. [PDF]
• Prokosch, M., Yeo, R., & Miller, G. F. (2005). Intelligence tests with higher g-loadings show higher correlations with body symmetry: Evidence for a general fitness factor mediated by developmental stability. Intelligence, 33, 203-213. [PDF]
• Barrett, H. C., Todd, P. M., Miller, G. F., & Blythe, P. (2005). Accurate judgments of intention from motion cues alone: A cross-cultural study. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(4), 313-331. [PDF]
• Shaner, A., Miller, G. F., & Mintz, J. (2004). Schizophrenia as one extreme of a sexually selected fitness indicator. Schizophrenia Research, 70(1), 101-109. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (2004). Review of "Descartes' baby: How the science of child development explains what makes us human" by Paul Bloom. Seed magazine, September. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2004). Consciousness as a corporate pep rally. Edge essay, February. [HTML]
• Miller, G. F. (2003). Fear of fitness indicators: How to deal with our ideological anxieties about the role of sexual selection in the origins of human culture. In Being human: Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Royal Society of New Zealand, pp. 65-79. Wellington, NZ: Royal Society of New Zealand, Miscellaneous series 63. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2002). How did language evolve? In H. Swain (Ed.), Big questions in science, pp. 79-90. London: Jonathan Cape. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2002). The science of subtlety. In J. Brockman (Ed.), The next fifty years, pp. 85-92. New York: Vintage. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2001). Precis of ‘ 'The mating mind'. Psycholoquy 12(008). (For multiple book review): [HTML].
• Miller, G. F. (2001). Aesthetic fitness: How sexual selection shaped artistic virtuosity as a fitness indicator and aesthetic preferences as mate choice criteria. Bulletin of Psychology and the Arts 1, special issue on Evolution, creativity, and art. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2001). Three Victorian questions about potential sexual partners. Edge essay. [HTML]
• Miller, G. F. (2001). The dark continent of sexual strategies. (Review of 'The myth of monogamy' by David Barash and Judith Eve Lipton). Cerebrum, 3(3), 113-120. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Alas, poor scholarship (Review of Alas, poor Darwin: Arguments against evolutionary psychology, ed. Hilary Rose & Steven Rose). London Evening Standard, July 3. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Social policy implications of the new happiness research. Edge essay, June. [HTML]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Evolution of human music through sexual selection. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The origins of music. MIT Press, pp. 329-360. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Marketing. In J. Brockman (Ed.), The greatest inventions of the last 2,000 years. New York: Simon & Schuster, pp. 121-126. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Technological evolution as self-fulfilling prophecy. In J. Ziman (Ed.), Technological innovation as an evolutionary process. Cambridge U. Press, pp. 203-215. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Mental traits as fitness indicators: Expanding evolutionary psychology's adaptationism. In D. LeCroy & P. Moller (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on human reproductive behavior (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 907), pp. 62-74. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). How to keep our meta-theories adaptive: Beyond Cosmides, Tooby, and Lakatos. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 42-46. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Sexual selection for indicators of intelligence. In G. Bock, J. Goode, & K. Webb (Eds.), The nature of intelligence. Novartis Foundation Symposium 233. John Wiley, pp. 260-275. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (2000). Memetic evolution and human culture. Quarterly Review of Biology, 75(4), 434-436. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (1999). Sexual selection for cultural displays. In R. Dunbar, C. Knight, & C. Power (Eds.), The evolution of culture. Edinburgh U. Press, pp. 71-91. [Word]
• Blythe, P. W., Todd, P. M., & Miller, G. F. (1999). How motion reveals intention: Categorizing social interactions. In G. Gigerenzer & P. Todd. (Eds.), Simple heuristics that make us smart. Oxford U. Press, pp. 257-285.
• Todd, P. M., & Miller, G. F. (1999). From Pride and Prejudice to Persuasion: Satisficing in mate search. In G. Gigerenzer & P. Todd. (Eds.), Simple heuristics that make us smart. Oxford U. Press, pp. 286-308.
• Miller, G. F. (1999). Waste is good. Prospect, Feb., pp. 18-23. [Word]
• Miller, G. F., & Todd, P. M. (1998). Mate choice turns cognitive. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(5), 190-198. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (1998). How mate choice shaped human nature: A review of sexual selection and human evolution. In C. Crawford & D. Krebs (Eds.), Handbook of evolutionary psychology: Ideas, issues, and applications. Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 87-129. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (1998). Review of "The handicap principle" by Amotz Zahavi. Evolution and Human Behavior, 19(5), 343-347. [Word]
• Todd, P. M., & Miller. G. F. (1997). How cognition shapes cognitive evolution. IEEE Expert: Intelligent Systems and their applications, 12(4), 7-9.
• Husbands, P., Harvey, I., Cliff, D., & Miller, G. F. (1997). Artificial evolution: A new path for artificial intelligence? Brain and Cognition, 34, 130-159.
• Miller, G. F. (1997). Protean primates: The evolution of adaptive unpredictability in competition and courtship. In A. Whiten & R. W. Byrne (Eds.), Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and evaluations. Cambridge University Press, pp. 312-340. [Word]
• Miller, G. F. (1997). Mate choice: From sexual cues to cognitive adaptations. In G. Cardew (Ed.), Characterizing human psychological adaptations, Ciba Foundation Symposium 208. John Wiley, pp. 71-87. [Word]
• Todd, P.M., and Miller, G.F. (1997). Biodiversity through sexual selection. In C.G. Langton and K. Shimohara (Eds.), Artificial Life V: Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems. MIT Press/Bradford Books, pp. 289-299.
• Husbands, P., Harvey, I., Cliff, D., & Miller, G. F. (1997). Artificial evolution: A new path for artificial intelligence? Brain and Cognition, 34, 130-159.[PDF]
• Cliff, D., & Miller, G. F. (1996). Co-evolution of pursuit and evasion II: Simulation methods and results. In P. Maes, M. J. Mataric, J.-A. Meyer, J. Pollack, & S. W. Wilson (Eds.), From animals to animats 4: Proc. Fourth International Conf. on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, pp. 506-515. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (1996). Political peacocks. Demos Quarterly, 10 (Special issue on evolutionary psychology), pp. 9-11. [Word]
• Cliff, D., & Miller, G. F. (1995). Tracking the Red Queen: Methods for measuring co-evolutionary progress in open-ended simulations. In F. Moran, A. Moreno, J. J. Merelo, & P. Cachon (Eds.), Advances in artificial life: Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Artificial Life. (ECAL95), pp. 200-218. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F., & Todd, P. M. (1995). The role of mate choice in biocomputation: Sexual selection as a process of search, optimization, and diversification. In W. Banzhaf & F. H. Eeckman (Eds.), Evolution and biocomputation: Computational models of evolution. Springer-Verlag, pp. 169-204. [Word]
• Miller, G.F., & Todd, P.M. (1994). Review of Barkow, Cosmides, and Tooby (Eds.), "The adapted mind", Adaptive Behavior, 3(1), 83-95. [PDF]
• Husbands. P., Harvey, I., Cliff, D., & Miller, G. F. (1994). The use of genetic algorithms for the development of sensorimotor control systems. In P. Gaussier & J. D. Nicoud (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Workshop from Perception to Action (PerAc94), pp. 100-121. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. & Cliff, D. (1994). Co-evolution of pursuit and evasion: Biological and game-theoretic foundations. Cognitive Science Research Paper CSRP-311, University of Sussex. [PDF]
• Miller, G. F. (unpublished). Moral vision: The evolutionary psychology and future development of ethical investment. [Word]

Books:

In Progress

Geher, G., & Miller, G. F. (Eds.). (in press for July 13, 2007). Mating intelligence: Sex, relationships, and the mind's reproductive system. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. [With chapters by Charlotte De Backer, David Buss, James Casey, AJ Figueredo, Glenn Geher, Gordon Gallup, Satoshi Kanazawa, Scott Kaufman, Matt Keller, Norm Li, Dan Nettle, Maureen O'Sullivan, Andrew Shaner, & Peter Todd, & Viviana Weekes-Shackelford]
NY Times article link
Psychology Today article link
Amazon link

Faking fitness: The evolutionary origins of consumer behavior
for Penguin/Putnam (New York), Heinemann/Random House (London), Contact (Amsterdam)

The Mating Mind Editions:

• U.S. hardback, Doubleday (New York) Amazon Link
• U.S. paperback, Anchor (New York) Amazon Link
• U.K./Commonwealth hardback, Heinemann (London) Amazon Link
• U.K./Commonwealth paperback, Vintage (London) Amazon Link
• Chinese: CITIC Publishing (Beijing)
• Croatian: Algoritam Publishing (Zagreb)
• Dutch, Uitgeverij/Contact (Amsterdam) (De parende geest: Seksuele selectie en de evoltie van het bewustzijn) [Link]
• Finnish: Art House (Helsinki)
• German, Spektrum Verlag (Berlin) (Die sexuelle Evolution. Partnerswahl und die Entstehung des Geistes.) Amazon Link
• Hungarian: Typotex Publishing (Budapest)
• Italian, Eindaudi (Torino) (Uomini, donne e code di pavone) [Link]
• Japanese, Iwanami Shoten (Tokyo) (The mating mind)
• Korean: Sosoh Publishing (Seoul)
• Polish: REBIS Publishing (Warsaw)
• Portugese, Campus (Rio de Janeiro) (A Mente Seletiva: Como a escolha sexual influencio a evolução de natureza humana) [Link]
• Croatian: [Link]
• Hungarian: [Link]
• Polish: [Link]

Summaries of The Mating Mind:

• Psycoloquy Precis [HTML]
• Chapter 1 [HTML]

Interviews:

• EDGE Interview [HTML]

Book reviews of The Mating Mind:

• by Catherine Marler in Science [HTML]
• by Michael Balter in Science [HTML]
• by Margaret Boden in Nature [HTML]
• by Dylan Evans in The Guardian [HTML]
• by David Barash [HTML]
• by Anthony Campbell [HTML]
• by Denis Dutton [HTML]
• by Timothy Horvarth [HTML]
• by Leif Kennair [HTML]
• by Heather Maxwell [HTML]
• by William Spriggs [HTML]
• by John Wagner [HTML]
• by Mikkel Wallentin (in Danish) [HTML]

Course Syllabi

UNM Courses (2001-2007)
Psych 231: Human Sexuality [Word]
Psych 271: Social Psychology [Word]
Psych 342: Evolutionary Psychology [Word]
Psych 578: Social Interaction [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Behavior Genetics [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Evolutionary Clinical Psychology [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Evolutionary Consumer Psychology [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Evolutionary Social Psychology [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Human Emotions [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Mate Choice [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Personality Traits and Personality Disorders [Word]
Psych 650 seminar: Styles of Scientific Debate: BBS readings [Word]

UCLA Courses (2000)
Animal Communication [Word]
Advertising, Marketing, and Human Nature [Word]

Current Graduate Student Collaborators
Jon Sefcek, psychology, University of Arizona: Interests in intelligence as a fitness indicator, life-history theory, individual differences in primate intelligence and personality: jons@u.arizona.edu; http://www.u.arizona.edu/~jons/

Laura Dane, psychology: Interests in cognitive sex differences, ovulatory cycle effects on female mate choice, mate choice for hands & forearms as hormone-markers, 2D:4D digit ratio as a hormone-marker: ldane@unm.edu

Yann Klimentidis, anthropology: Interests in genetic and phenotypic markers of ethnic ancestry, mate choice based on ancestry cues, facial attractiveness judgments: yann@unm.edu

Gil Greengross, statistics: Interests in the psychology of self-deprecating humor, humor as a mental fitness indicator: gili@unm.edu

Chris Jenkins, psychology: Interests in mate choice functions of female orgasm, ovulatory cycle effects on female mate choice, coefficients of additive genetic variation in working memory span, video analysis reports as methods of teaching evolutionary psychology: chrisoej@unm.edu

Ethan White, psychology: Interests in intelligence as a fitness indicator, relational frame theory, behavior analysis, evolution and learning: ethanw@unm.edu

Ilanit Tal, psychology: Interests in ovulatory cycle effects on female mate choice, accuracy of mental trait inferences from facial appearance, mate choice based on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) cues, vocabulary size: ital@unm.edu

Josh Tybur, psychology: Interests in psychology of contagion-avoidance and disgust, political attitudes of adaptationists, ovulatory cycle effects on female mate choice trade-offs, phenotypic assessment functions of kissing: tybur@unm.edu

Paul Hooper, anthropology: Interests in status, intra-sexual competition, mutual mate choice: phooper@unm.edu

Ann Caldwell, psychology: Interests in evolutionary health psychology, exercise, diet, adolescent depression among hunter-gatherers:anncwell@gmail.com

Other graduate students affiliated with the Gangestad/Miller Evolutionary Psychology Lab Group:
Rosalind Arden: membrane@nm.net
Rachel Falcon: rfalcon@unm.edu
Melissa Franklin: melfrank@unm.edu
Christine Garver: garver@unm.edu
Melissa Heap: mheap@unm.edu
Chris Radi: cradi@unm.edu
Glenn Scheyd: gscheyd@hotmail.com

Recent Undergraduate Research Assistants:
Ann Caldwell
Marnie Diehl
Nicole Essenmacher
Patricia Gradoville
Brent Jordan
Paul Swegel

If you are interested in applying to my lab group as a Ph.D. student:
Pending tenure, I expect to be away from UNM on sabbatical from summer 2008 through summer 2009. Therefore, I cannot accept any new PhD students for autumn 2008. In future years I will though. I am looking for bright, motivated, conscientious students with very strong GRE scores (above 700), a strong commitment to a research career in evolutionary psychology, good research experience, and solid academic training in psychology, biology, and/or anthropology. Interested students should contact me directly by email.

For more information on the Human Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences (HEBS) graduate training network at UNM, see our website at: www.unm.edu/~HEBS/.

Current Research Collaborators:
Paul Andrews, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics: [Link]
A.J. Figeuredo, University of Arizona: [Link]
Steve Gangestad, University of New Mexico: [Link]
Martie Haselton, UCLA: [Link]
Matthew Keller, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics: [Link]
Lars Penke: Humboldt University of Berlin, [Link]
Andrew Shaner, UCLA: [Link]
Peter Todd: Indiana University: [Link]
Elizabeth Yeater, University of New Mexico: [Link]

Other academic/science links:
Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Berlin: [Link]
Darwin at LSE, London: [Link]
Edge: [Link]
Evolution and Human Behavior journal: [Link]
Evolutionary Psychology journal: [Link]
Human Behavior and Evolution Society: [Link]
Human Nature journal: [Link]
Intelligence journal: [Link]
New Scientist magazine: [Link]
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason: [Link]

Other links reflecting my personal interests:
Adbusters: [Link]
Arts & Letters Daily: [Link]
BBC News: [Link]
Chuck Palahniuk: [Link]
Cognitive Liberty: [Link]
Control Arms: [Link]
Humanism: [Link]
Iain Banks: [Link]
IMDB: [Link]
Moloko: [Link]
NAMI: [Link]
NASA: [Link]
Slow Food: [Link]
Tori Amos: [Link]
Yes Men: [Link]