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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology
104 Biological Sciences Building
Box 90383
Durham, NC 27708-9976
(919) 684-4124  (Phone)
(919) 660-7348 (Fax)

    Jingzhi Tan

  • Jingzhi Tan

  • Graduate Assistant
  • Evolutionary Anthropology
  • 004A Biological Sciences Building
  • Phone: 919-660-7294
  • Fax: 919-660-7348
  • Curriculum Vitae

  • Overview

    Humans are incredibly skillful in working with others. We cooperate in large-scale for a long term with unfamiliar strangers even in a costly way. However, how human cooperation evolved remains a mystery. Are we ultra-cooperators because we evolved to be genuinely altruistic to others or because we became more trusting to strangers? I study the psychological mechanisms of cooperation and trust in humans, nonhuman primates and dogs. I take a comparative approach to examine what are unique (and not unique) in human cooperation and how these traits evolved.

  • Bio

    I obtained my B.S. of Life Sciences in Peking University, China, 2008, with a minor of Psychology. I am interested in the origin of human cooperation, in particular the cognitive and biological underpinnings. I am also a keen conservationist. Taken together, I try to take an evolutionary perspective to understand what makes human successful/unsuccessful in cooperation to solve large-scale problems such as wildlife conservation.

  • Specialties

    • Cognitive Evolution
    • Behavioral Ecology and Physiology

  • Research Summary

    Cognition and behavior

  • Research Description

    Humans are incredibly skillful in working with others. We cooperate in large-scale for a long term with unfamiliar strangers even in a costly way. However, how human cooperation evolved remains a mystery. Are we ultra-cooperators because we evolved to be genuinely altruistic to others or because we became more trusting to strangers? I study the psychological mechanisms of cooperation and trust in humans, nonhuman primates and dogs. I take a comparative approach to examine what are unique (and not unique) in human cooperation and how these traits evolved.

  • Current Projects

    Xenophilia in bonobos, Other-regarding preferences in bonobos, Xenophobia in humans, Trust formation in domestic dogs

  • Areas of Interest

    Prosocial behavior
    Xenophobia
    Cognitive evolution

  • Education

      • B.S.,
      • Life Sciences,
      • Peking University, Beijing, China,
      • 2008
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