Our research focuses on patterns of response to sex steroids. We are interested in how we respond physiologically, anatomically, and behaviorally to sex hormones; and why we evolved these response patterns.
We especially want to understand the roles of sex hormones, such as testosterone and estradiol, in shaping human psychology. How does exposure to sex hormones during early development, puberty and adulthood affect how we think, feel and behave? We approach these questions by exploring normal variation in hormone signaling, and by studying endocrine disorders in which sex hormone signaling is affected.
We also want to understand the functions of human secondary sex characteristics and sexually differentiated psychological traits. Why do men have deeper voices and more robust faces, for example? Why do women tend to be better at remembering the location of objects, while men tend to perform better at mentally rotating objects? We address these questions by examining how well such traits perform alternative hypothetical functions.
If you would like more detailed information about some of our ongoing research projects, or are interested in participating, please see the research page or email us (address above).
