Anne C. Campbell (1951 – 26 February 2017) was a British academic and author specializing in

evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evol ...

. Her research was largely concerned with sex differences in aggression between men and women. She was professor of

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

at Durham University.

Research

In the 1980s Campbell studied female violence through

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

work with female

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

members in New York, providing an account of how they came to accept casual killings,

firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary d ...

s, and the warfare and violence of the streets. She subsequently investigated social representations of aggression: the different explanations that men and women offer for their own aggression. Campbell found that women are more likely than men to exhibit

inhibitory control Inhibitory control, also known as response inhibition, is a cognitive process – and, more specifically, an executive function – that permits an individual to inhibit their impulses and natural, habitual, or dominant behavioral re ...

of aggression; when aggression is acted out, women tend to excuse it as a loss of

self-control Self-control, an aspect of inhibitory control, is the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behavior in the face of temptations and impulses. As an executive function, it is a cognitive process that is necessary for regulating one' ...

, whereas men tend to justify it as a means of imposing control over others. Campbell's 1999 'Staying Alive' paper proposed an evolutionary explanation for sex differences in aggression, arguing that "female competition is more likely to take the form of indirect aggression ..than among males". She went on to explore possible ways in which evolution might have shaped men's and women's psychology differently, in particular with regard to impulsivity and

fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

. In

intimate relationship An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Although an intimate relationship is commonly a sexual relationship, it may also be a non-sexual relationship involving family, friends, or ...

s, Campbell found that men lower their aggression towards their partner, and women raise their aggression depending on the intimacy with their partner. In total, Campbell authored and co-authored more than 80 scientific papers on a broad range of topics including: the role of oxytocin in human behaviour, the measurement of life history strategies, aggression in intimate partnerships, the '

Dark Triad The dark triad is a psychological theory of personality, first published by Delroy L. Paulhus and Kevin M. Williams in 2002, that describes three notably offensive, but non-pathological personality types: Machiavellianism, sub-clinical narcissism ...

' of personality traits, competition between women, perceptions of

one-night stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...

s areas of dispute and agreement between

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and evolutionary psychology, and even

back pain Back pain is pain felt in the back. It may be classified as neck pain (cervical), middle back pain (thoracic), lower back pain (lumbar) or coccydynia (tailbone or sacral pain) based on the segment affected. The lumbar area is the most common ...

Appearances

In 2010 Campbell made a memorable appearance in the Norwegian documentary series

Hjernevask ''Hjernevask'' ("Brainwash") is a Norwegian documentary miniseries about science that aired on NRK1 in 2010. The series, consisting of seven episodes, was created for NRK and presented by the comedian and sociologist Harald Eia. The series c ...

('Brainwash'), in which she argued forcefully against the gender theories of Norwegian philologists (philosopher Cathrine Egeland and literary theorist Jørgen Lorentzen). She also argued, however, that the effects of humans' evolved psychology are dependent on social context.

Published works

Journal articles

* Full list available o
ResearchGate

Books: authored/co-authored

* * *''A Mind of Her Own: The Evolutionary Psychology of Women'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002; 2nd Edition, 2013) *''Men, Women and Aggression'' (New York/London: Basic Books/Harpercollins, 1993) *''The Girls in the Gang'' (New York & Oxford: Blackwell, 1986)

Books: edited

*''The Social Child'' (Hove: Psychology Press, 1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Anne Academics of Durham University British psychologists Evolutionary psychologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)