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 impact health and well-being as they relate to survival and reproduction across the life course. This research has involved ethnographic fieldwork in Fiji, The Gambia, Mauritius, New Zealand, and the United States, combined with experimental and laboratory methods. My interdisciplinary work 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 biocultural 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. In The Gambia, over the past three years, we have collected longitudinal social network, anthropometric, biomarker, and other health data from just over 200 mothers and their children. 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.

Since 2022, I have directed a project examining the influence of culture and political economy on health and well-being in Levuka, Ovalau, Fiji. We have collected longitudinal data on cooperation, social networks, labor, wealth, religion, and health among over 650 people living in two villages and two informal settlements. Levuka's population includes iTaukei (ethnic Fijians), who primarily live in the villages, and the descendants of blackbirded laborers (people taken from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu through slavery and indentured servitude), who largely reside in the informal settlements. More recently, in one of the settlements, we have begun using wearable devices to assess social networks and acute hormonal responses, examining how social behavior shapes health.

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

Forthcoming. Shaver, J., Chvaja, R., Hackman, J., Hassan, A., Lankes Smith, J., Lynch, R., Samore, T., Schaffnit, S., Sear, R., Shenk., M., Sosis, R., Spake, L., Watts, J. Human Reproduction is broadly cooperative, cross-culturally variable, and influenced by religion through increased kin support. Religion, Brain & Behavior.

2026. Chvaja, R., Shaver, J., Bulbulia, J. Investigating the Causal Effects of Religiosity on Fertility Among U.S. Adolescents Using a Three-Wave Longitudinal Design. Nature Scientific Reports. 

2025. Chvaja, R., Shaver, J.H., Spake, L., Hassan, A., Samore, T., Alam, N., Rai, R.K., Sear, R., Sosis, R., Shenk, M. The role of parental religion in shaping paternal investment: Evidence from Bangladesh and India. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

2025. Samore, T., Sosis, R., Shaver, J., Chjava, R., Conrad, M., Hassan, A., Lynch, R., Schaffnit, S., Sear, R., Spake, L., Watts, J., Shenk, M. Religious parents receive more alloparental cooperation in rural Bangladesh. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 

2025. Arnison, C., Egan, R., & Shaver, J. H. Self-treatment with psychedelic substances for health and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand: an exploratory descriptive study. Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 1-22. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1177083X.2025.2467035

2025. Chvaja, R., Spake, L., Hassan, A., Shenk, M. K., Sosis, R., Sear, R., & Shaver, J. H. Maternal religiosity and social support to mothers: helpers’ religious identity matters. Religion, brain & behavior, 1-22. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/2153599X.2025.2454705

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