Newcastle University

Research Interests

My current interest is in the co-evolution of personality and cooperation in humans. Punishment is of particular interest to me because it seems to be essential for the stabilization of cooperation in large groups and also has likely been a strong selective force. Can some of the observed within-group variation in cooperative behavior be attributed to individual variation in psychological mechanisms for anticipating and avoiding punishment?

Other Expertise

During my graduate career in the molecular anthropology lab of Dr. David Glenn Smith, I used genetic variation (autosomal and Y chromosome STRs and SNPs and mitochondrial DNA) to test hypotheses about population structure and population prehistory in Native America. I am still involved in a few ongoing projects in this area of research.

Current Work

Under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Nettle here at the Centre for Behaviour and Evolution and with the help of Dr. Richard McElreath at UC Davis, I am conducting public goods games in computer laboratories at Newcastle University. Along with the behavioral data, we are collecting data on personality and psychopathology, variation in serotonin genes, and changes in affect and cortisol levels during the games. Our goal is to elucidate how variation in this series of proximate mechanisms leads to variation in the behavioral outcome (decisions in the public goods games).

Future Research

I would like to extend our current work to cultures with different sanctioning institutions. By doing so, we may learn more about the co-evolution of cooperation, sanctioning institutions, and psychological mechanisms. Another way we may also investigate this is by studying how variation in personality affects the micro-evolution of sanctioning institutions within the lab.

Funding

2010 - 2013 National Science Foundation Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
2005 - 2008 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
2008 - University of California, Davis, Graduate Student Travel Award
2006 - Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
2004 - University of California, Davis Zolk Fellow
2004 - University of California, Davis Humanities Graduate Research Award

• Wang CL, Schroeder KB, RosenbergO NA. A Maximum-Likelihood Method to Correct for Allelic Dropout in Microsatellite Data with No Replicate Genotypes. GENETICS 2012, 192(2), 651-+.
• Schroeder KB. Brooks, R., 'Sex, Genes & Rock 'N' Roll: how evolution has shaped the modern world and sex may shape one's perspective of it', Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2011 [Book review]. Evolution and Human Behavior 2012, 33(2), 165-167.
• Schroeder KB, Villa G, Mahli RS, Rode AR, Smith DG. Biological continuity in the Central Valley: Evidence from ancient and modern mitochrondrial DNA. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 2011, 31(1), 37-56.
• Kemp BM, González-Oliver A, Malhi RS, Monroe CM, Schroeder KB, McDonough J, Rhett G, Resendéz A, Peñaloza-Espinosai RI, Buentello-Maloj L, Gorodesky C, Smith DG. Evaluating the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis with genetic variation exhibited by populations in the Southwest and Mesoamerica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2010, 107(15), 6759-6764.
• Schroeder KB, Malhi R, Kemp B, Gonzalez-Oliver A, Smith DG. Geographic structure of genetic variation in North America: Population fissions and European admixture. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2010, 141(Supplement 50), 209-209.
• Schroeder KB, Jakobsson M, Crawford MH, Schurr TG, Boca SA, Conrad DF, Tito RY, Osipova LP, Tarskaia LA, Zhadanov SI, Wall JD, Pritchard JK, Malhi RS, Smith DG, Rosenberg NA. Haplotypic background of a private allele at high frequency in the Americas. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2009, 26(5), 995-1016.
• Malhi RS, Schroeder KB, Kemp BM. Uses and Limitations of Genetic Data Relating to Athapaskan Migrations: A Reply to Seymour. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2009, 140(2), 203-204.
• Malhi RS, Gonzalez-Oliver A, Schroeder KB, Kemp BM, Greenberg JA, Dobrowski SZ, Smith DG, Resendez A, Karafet T, Hammer M, Zegura S, Brovko T. Distribution of Y chromosomes among native North Americans: a study of Athapaskan population history. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2008, 137(4), 412-424.
• Schroeder KB, Schurr TG, Long JC, Rosenberg NA, Crawford MH, Tarskaia LA, Osipova LP, Zhadanov SI, Smith DG. A private allele ubiquitous in the Americas. Biology Letters 2007, 3(2), 218-223.
• Mulder MB, McElreath R, Schroeder KB. Analogies are powerful and dangerous thing. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 2006, 29(4), 350-351.
• McElreath R, Schroeder K. Book review - The evolution of cultural diversity: A phylogenetic approach by Ruth Mace, Clare J. Holden and Stephen Shennan. American Anthropologist 2006, 108(4), 909-910.
• Schroeder KB, Malhi RS, Smith DG. Opinion: Demystifying Native American genetic opposition to research. Evolutionary Anthropology 2006, 15(3), 88-92.
• Schroeder KB, Smith DG. The distribution of a native American-specific allele. In: Seventy-fifth annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. 2006, Anchorage, Alaska: Wiley-Blackwell.