"Everything is the way it is because it got that way" -D'arcy Thompson

My research is driven by the broad question of what makes our minds human, how our minds 'got that way', and why.

I approach these questions largely through comparative studies with humans and our two closet living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos. I am especially interested in how these species understand each others psychology, going beneath the surface appearance of behavior to reason about the unobservable mental states that govern our actions. I am also interested in the other aspects of sociality that contribute to (or constrain) how members of these species are able to interact with one another and their shared environment