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Peter Gray, Assistant Professor
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Interests: Human behavioral endocrinology, evolutionary perspectives on human behavior, human reproductive ecology, human biology.

Anthropology addresses profound issues of human origins and diversity. Moreover, as a holistic and broad-minded social science, anthropology is well-positioned to integrate findings from an interdisciplinary understanding of the human condition. The results of such efforts may be valuable to a wide array of concerns to social scientists, clinicians, politicians, humanists, and intellectually curious students. From this broad anthropological starting point, I primarily obsess with questions concerning the evolution and endocrinology of human behavior, especially with respect to hormones and human family life. Some of these research questions are: What are the hormonal correlates of human pair bonds? How do physiological responses during brief marital interactions compare across cultural settings? What are the hormonal correlates of human fatherhood? How do early social influences impact adult neuroendocrine function and behavior? As an aid to addressing questions such as these, collaborators and I often rely on minimally invasive biological sampling (e.g., saliva collection to measure testosterone levels). The Human Behavioral Endocrinology Lab, housed in UNLV’s Department of Anthropology & Ethnic Studies, serves as an important resource facilitating such research. The “lab” of the Las Vegas Strip also provides fascinating insights into humanity and its works.


Selected Publications

  • Gray, P.B. (with P.T. Ellison). In press. Endocrinology of Social Relationships. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  • Gray, P.B. (with J. Parkin and M. Samms-Vaughan). 2007. Hormonal correlates of human paternal interactions: A hospital-based investigation in urban Jamaica. Hormones and Behavior 52: 499-507
  • Gray, P.B. (with B.C. Campbell and P.T. Ellison). 2007. Testosterone and marriage among Ariaal men of northern Kenya. Current Anthropology 48: 750-755
  • Gray, P.B. (with B.C. Campbell and P.T. Ellison). In press. Testosterone and marriage among Ariaal men of northern Kenya. Current Anthropology.
  • 2006.  (with Yang, C.J. & Pope, H.G. Jr.) Fathers have lower salivary testosterone levels than unmarried men and married non-fathers in Beijing, China. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 273:333-339.
  • 2005.  (with B. Campbell) Erectile dysfunction and its correlates among the Ariaal of northern Kenya. International Journal of Impotence Research 17: 445-449.
  • 2005.  (with Singh, A., Woodhouse, L., Storer, T.W., Casaburi, R., Sinha-Hikim, I., Dzekov, C., Dzekov, J. & Bhasin, S.). Effects of testosterone on sexual function, mood and visuospatial cognition in older men. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 90: 3838-3846.
  • 2004. Evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives on gambling.  Journal of Gambling Studies 20: 347-371.
  • 2004. (with Campbell, B.C., Marlowe, F., Lipson, S.F. & Ellison, P.T.)  Social variables predict between- but not day-to-day variation in the testosterone of U.S. men. Psychoneuroendocrinology 29: 1153-1162.
  • 2003. Marriage, parenting and testosterone variation among Kenyan Swahili men.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology 122: 279-286.
  • 2002. (with Kahlenberg, S., Barrett, E., Lipson, S. & Ellison, P.T.)  Marriage and fatherhood are associated with lower testosterone in males. Evolution and Human Behavior 23: 193-201.