Professor Jerome Barkow 1944-2024

Jerome Harvey Barkow (Jerry to everyone who knew him) was a highly influential figure in the foundation and development of evolutionary psychology. His 1992 multi-authored book (along with Leda Cosmides and John Tooby) The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture proved to be the clarion call for the development of this new sub-discipline. The Adapted Mind was the first book to have the term 'evolutionary psychology' in its title and introduced many psychologists to an alternative way of explaining behaviour and internal states. 

Jerry's influence, however, spread well beyond psychology. Having gained a BA in psychology from Brookyln College in 1964, by 1970 he had gained an MA and PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Chicago. In 1971 Jerry was appointed to a lecturing post at Dalhouse University in Nova Scotia where, following promotion, to full Professor, he remained for the rest of his academic career. Having spent many years in the field studying among others, Hausa speakers in Nigeria and Niger and the Bugis of Indonesia, Jerry developed ideas about the relationship between evolution, culture and the human condition. In his groundbreaking book of 1989, Darwin, Sex, and Status: Biological Approaches to Mind and Culture Jerry combined and integrated anthropology with biology, psychology, sociology and ethology in order to understand what shapes human nature more fully. In particular he suggested that primate social dominance has been transformed into human self-esteem and symbolic prestige. He also suggested that human goals, identified by social anthropologists, can be traced back to the Darwinian processes of natural and sexual selection and that men in particular may strive for status in order to increase their apparent market value to women. But this striving for status can lead to huge problems given the amount of power men can attain today. Prophetically, Jerry warned that men who seek status at all costs might lead nation states down the path to brinkmanship and even warfare. 

During his seventies Jerry became interested in the notion of extraterrestrial life forms and the possibility that some of these might have evolved elevated levels of intelligence. He became a director of METI (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence) alongside the Star Trek actor Ansen Mount and published work suggesting how we might recognise extraterrestrial messages.

While I had been very aware of, and indeed influenced by, Jerry's work on the relationships between evolution and behaviour, it was only in his last decade that I got to know him personally. This happened when we were brought together, alongside Will Reader, to co-edit a book on the relationship between evolution and behaviour. I quickly became captivated by his warm, engaging and frequently very humorous way of collaborating on academic projects. We became firm friends, and this continued long after the project was completed. My last email conversation with him was only six days prior to his passing. While he was clearly very ill his conversation was engaging, up-beat and humorous. Jerry leaves behind his wife of 45 years Irma and two grown up children Philip and Sarah.