John H. Shaver

Research in Progress

I am a biocultural and evolutionary anthropologist. Most of my work to date has focused on understanding cultural variation in solutions to collective action and collective resource problems, and how these solutions may impact health and well-being. This research has involved fieldwork in Fiji, The Gambia, Mauritius, New Zealand, and the United States. My work is interdisciplinary and has been published in anthropology, biology, neuroscience, religion, psychology and general science journals. I am a co-editor of Religion, Brain & Behavior, a journal dedicated to the biological study of religion.

At the moment, most of my time is devoted to two projects. The first project is concerned with how religion impacts fertility and maternal and child health. This project involves a large team of researchers and has collected data from over 10,000 mothers, fathers, and their children in Bangladesh, India, Malawi, the Gambia, and the United States. More information on this project is available on the project website, where one can also find information about the development of the project, as well as links to some relevant publications.

An existing body of research suggests that a person’s religious involvement is associated with increased immune function, lower levels of mental illness, and reduced mortality. However, the causal mechanisms through which these relationships occur remain obscure. One reason inference remains weak is due to a lack of longitudinal designs, particularly in non-Western contexts. My second major project takes place in Fiji, a country where I have conducted close to 3 full years of fieldwork. On the island of Ovalau, I am conducting a longitudinal cohort study which includes all adults aged 18-65 (n = 569) living in two villages and two informal settlements around the town of Levuka. Thus far, we've collected data on religion, health, and well-being in 2023, and 2024, and plan to go back to collect in 2025 (and hopefully every year after that).

Teaching

I believe I have two primary responsibilities to students. The first is to provide students – regardless of their academic background or professional aspirations – with tools and skills that will be of practical use long after the completion of any given course. These skills include methods of respectful argumentation, critical reading/thinking, and writing proficiency. The second is to encourage students to think critically about human culture, the reasons for cross-cultural differences and similarities, and culture’s role in cooperation and conflict. In other words, I try to convey the importance of culture in students’ lives and in the modern world. My hope, if I accomplish these two goals, is that students will leave my classroom better positioned for academic and professional success, and with a well-rounded appreciation of the world around them.

Degrees

Ph.D. Anthropology (with distinction), University of Connecticut 2012

M.A. Anthropology, University of Connecticut 2005

Graduate Diploma in Culture, Health, and Human Development, University of Connecticut 2005

B.A. Anthropology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2000

Recent Publications

2024. Shaver, J.H., Chvaja, R., Spake, L., Hassan, A., Badjie, J., Prentice, A., Cerami, C, Sear, R., Shenk, M.K., and Richard Sosis. Religious involvement is associated with higher fertility and lower maternal investment, but more alloparental support among Gambian mothers. American Journal of Human Biology. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.24144?af=R

2024. Weitzel, E.M., Wilson, K.M., Spake, L., Schaffnit, S.B., Lynch, R., Sear, R., Shaver, J.H., Shenk, M.K., and Richard Sosis. Cost structures and socioecological conditions impact the fitness outcomes of human alloparental care in agent-based model simulations. Evolution and Human Behavior. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513824000898

2024. Spake, L., Hassan, A., Schaffnit, S., Alam, N., Amoah, A., Badjie, J., Cerami, C., Crampin, A., Dube, A., Kotch, R., Liew, F., McLean, E., Munthali-Mkandawire, S., Mwalwanda, L., Petersen, A., Prentice, A., Zohora, F., Sear, R., Shenk, M., Sosis, R., and John H. Shaver. A practical guide to cross-cultural data collection in the biological and behavioural sciences. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2023.1422

2024. Spake, L., Schaffnit, S. B., Page, A. E., Hassan, A., Lynch, R., Watts, J., Sear, R.,  Sosis, R., Mary Shenk, and John H. Shaver. Religious women receive more allomaternal support from non-partner kin in two low-fertility countries. Evolution and Human Behavior. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513824000369

2024. Hassan, A., Spake, L., Shaver, J., Shenk, M. K., Sosis, R., & Sear, R. Nuclearization of maternal support networks in the UK and the US during the COVID-19 pandemic: impact on women’s financial and emotional wellbeing. Humanities and Social Sciences Open. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291124001293

2023. Schaffnit, S., Page, A., Lynch, R., Spake, L., Sear, R., Sosis, R., Shaver, J., Alam, N., Towner, M., and Mary K. Shenk. The impact of market integration on arranged marriages in Matlab, Bangladesh. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 1-39. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/A3AE66C81512788833528FFB5A8C468A/S2513843X22000548a_hi.pdf/the-impact-of-market-integration-on-arranged-marriages-in-matlab-bangladesh.pdf

2022. Lynch, R., Schaffnit, S., Sear, R., Sosis, R., Shaver, J., Alam, N., Blumenfield, T., Mattison, S.M., and Mary K. Shenk. Religiosity is associated with greater size, kin density, and geographic dispersal of women’s social networks in Bangladesh. Scientific Reports. 12, 18780. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-22972-w

2022. Watts, J., Hamerslag, E.M., Sprules, C., Shaver, J.H., and Robin I.M. Dunbar. Food storage facilitates professional religious specialization in hunter-gatherer societies. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 4(e17): 1-11. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/725B97673C8790AE8733EB768391E4BC/S2513843X22000172a_hi.pdf/food-storage-facilitates-professional-religious-specialization-in-huntergatherer-societies.pdf

2022. White, T. and John H. Shaver. Integrating Pacific research methodologies with western social science research methods: Quantifying pentecostalism’s effect on Fijian relationality. Pacific Dynamics. 6(2): 118-135 https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/5532e534-6207-475d-aeb6-d7e17b952cdd/content

2021. Watts, J., Jackson, J.C., Arnison, C., Hamerslag, E.M., Shaver, J.H., and Purzycki, B.G. Building Quantitative Cross-cultural Databases from Ethnographic Records: Promise, Problems and Principles. Cross Cultural Research. 56(1) 62–94 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10693971211065720

2021. Piven, S., Fischer, R., Shaver, J.H., Mogan, R., Karl, J., Kesberg, R., Richardson, A., Singh, P., Tewari, S., and Bulbulia, J. Kiwi Diwali: A longitudinal investigation of perceived social connection following a civic religious ritual. Religion, Brain and Behavior. X(X): X-XX. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ey4PHkcEzyJZpF__SW4L-1_D1VLcrbRe/view?pli=1

2021. Shaver J.H., White T., Vakaoti P., and Lang M. A comparison of self-report, systematic observation, and third-party judgments of church attendance in a rural Fijian village. PLoS ONE.16 (10), e0257160. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0257160

2021. Xygalatas, D., Mano, P., Bahna, V., Klocová, E., Kundt, R., Lang, M., and Shaver, J.H. Social inequality and signaling in a costly ritual. Evolution and Human Behavior. 42(6): 524-533. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513821000593

2021. Spake, L., Schaffnit, S.B., Sear, R., Shenk, M.K., Sosis, R., and Shaver, J.H. Mother’s partnership status and allomothering networks in the United Kingdom and United States. Social Sciences. 10: 182. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/5/182

2021. Shenk, M., Morse, A., Mattison, S., Sear, R., Nurul, A., Raqib, R., Kumar, A., Haque, F., Blumenfeld, T., Shaver, J.H., Sosis, R., and Wander, K. Social support, nutrition, and health among women in rural Bangladesh: Complex tradeoffs in allocare, kin proximity, and social network size. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences. 376(20200027): 1-10. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2020.0027

2020. Sibley, C., Usman Afzali, M., Satherley, N., Ejova, A., Stronge, S., Yogeeswaran, K., Grimshaw, M., Hawi, D., Mirnajafi, Z., Barlow, F.K., Milojev, P., Greaves, L.M., Kapeli, S., Zubielevitch, E., Hamley, L., Basabas, M.C., Wu, M.H., Howard, C., Lee, C.H.J., Huang, Y., Lockhart, C., Bahamondes, J., Manuela, S., Milfonte, T.L., Perry, R., Sengupta, N.K., Overall, N.C., Shaver, J.H., Troughton, G., Osborne, D., and Bulbulia, J. Prejudice toward Muslims in New Zealand: Insights from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study. New Zealand Journal of Psychology. 48: 49-72. https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/items/54a1fae7-7e19-404b-ad4a-b459b284acbe

2020. Shaver, J.H., Power, E., Purzycki, B., Watts, J., Sosis, R., Sear, R., & Shenk, M. Church attendance and alloparenting: An analysis of fertility, social support, and child development among English mothers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences. 375: 20190428. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2019.0428

2019. Shaver, J.H., Sibley, C., Sosis, R., Galbraith, D., and Joseph Bulbulia. Alloparenting and religious fertilty: A test of the religious alloparenting hypothesis. Evolution and Human Behavior. 40: 315-324. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513818300278

2019. Xygalatas, D., Khan, S. Lang, M., Kundt, R., Kundtová Klocová, E., Krátký, J., and John H. Shaver. Effects of extreme ritual practices on psychophysiological well-being. Current Anthropology. 60(5): 699-707. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/705665

2019. Stronge, S., Shaver, J.H, Bulbulia, J., and Chris G. Sibley. Only children in the 21st century: Personality differences between adults with and without siblings are very, very small. Journal of Research in Personality. 83: 103868 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656619300893

2019. Highland, B. R., Troughton, G., Shaver, J.H., Barrett, J., Sibley, C. G., and Joseph Bulbulia. (2019). Attitudes to religion predict warmth for Muslims in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Psychology. 48(1): 122-132. https://www.psychology.org.nz/journal-archive/Highland-122-132.pdf