Donald Symons

Nationality| American
Known for| One of the founders of evolutionary psychology
Pioneering the study of human sexuality
Scientific career
Institutions| University of California, Santa Barbara

Donald Symons (1942–2024) was an American anthropologist best known as one of the founders of evolutionary psychology, and for pioneering the study of human sexuality from an evolutionary perspective.[1][2][3] He is one of the most cited researchers in contemporary sex research.[4] His work is referenced by scientists investigating an extremely diverse range of sexual phenomena.[4] Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker described Symons' The Evolution of Human Sexuality (1979) as a "groundbreaking book"[5] and "a landmark in its synthesis of evolutionary biology, anthropology, physiology, psychology, fiction, and cultural analysis, written with a combination of rigor and wit. It was a model for all subsequent books that apply evolution to human affairs, particularly mine."[4] Symons was Professor Emeritus[6] in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His last work, written with Catherine Salmon, was Warrior Lovers, an evolutionary analysis of slash fiction.

## References

1. ↑ "Remembering Don Symons". Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara. https://www.cep.ucsb.edu/2025/02/17/remembering-don-symons/.
2. ↑ Pinker, Steven (February 4, 2025). "Sage of Sex and Psyche". https://quillette.com/2025/02/04/sage-of-sex-and-psyche-donald-symons-evolutionary-psychology-sex/.
3. ↑ Symons, Donald (1978). Play and Aggression: A Study of Rhesus Monkeys. New York: Columbia University Press. p. IV. ISBN 0-231-04334-1.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam (2011). A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What The Internet Teaches Us About Sexual Relationships. London: Dutton Books. p. 20.
5. ↑ Pinker, Steven (2003). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. London: Penguin Books. p. 114. ISBN 0-140-27605-X.
6. ↑ "People - Department of Anthropology - UC Santa Barbara". http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/people/emeriti/don-symons.

## Selected publications

* Symons, D. (1978) Play and Aggression: A Study of Rhesus Monkeys. Columbia University Press
* Symons, D. (1979) The Evolution of Human Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-502907-0
* Symons, D. (1987) "If we're all Darwinians, what's the fuss about?" in Crawford, Smith & Krebs, Sociobiology and Psychology, 121–146.
* Symons, D. (1989) "A critique of Darwinian anthropology," in Ethology and Sociobiology, 10: 131–144.
* Symons, D. (1990) "Adaptiveness and adaptation," in Ethology and Sociobiology, 11: 427–444.
* Symons, D. (1992) "On the use and misuse of Darwinism in the study of human behavior" in Barkow, J., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (eds) (1992) The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture (New York: Oxford University Press)
* Symons, D. (1993) "The stuff that dreams aren't made of: Why wake-state and dream-state sensory experiences differ." Cognition, 47: 181–217.
* Symons, D. (1995) "Beauty is in the adaptations of the beholder: The evolutionary psychology of human female sexual attractiveness" pp. 80–120 in Abramson, P.R. and Pinkerton, S.D. (eds.) Sexual Nature/Sexual Culture, The University of Chicago Press.
* Salmon, C. and Symons, D. (2003) Warrior Lovers. Yale University Press.

## External links

* HBES Interview Series - Don Symons. Video on YouTube of Symons describing his career.

Template:Evolutionary psychologists

* v
* t
* e

Human sexuality and sexology

Sexual relationship
phenomena

* Asexuality
* Gray asexuality
* Bisexuality
* Casual relationship
* Casual sex
* Celibacy
* Celibacy syndrome
* Herbivore men
* Committed relationship
* Conventional sex
* Free love
* Foreplay
* Heterosexuality
* Homosexuality
* Hypersexuality
* Marriage
* One-night stand
* Polyamory
* Promiscuity
* Female
* Romantic love
* Romantic orientation
* Flirting
* Sex life
* Sexual abstinence
* Sexual orientation
* Sexual partner
* Single person
* Swinging

Sexual dynamics|

* Hypergamy
* Intersex
* Physical attractiveness
* Sexual attraction
* Sexual capital
* Sexual ethics
* Sexual frustration

See also|

* Sexual addiction
* Sex Addicts Anonymous
* Sexual surrogate

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