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person1992–present

William von Hippel

Disciplines:
cognitive psychology
social psychology
evolutionary psychology

Summary

Australian-American evolutionary psychologist who applies evolutionary theory to social behavior, arguing in The Social Leap that the transition from trees to the ground produced the unique human capacities for cooperation, creativity, and social imagination.

Core Contribution

Proposed in The Social Leap that the pivotal moment in human evolution — moving from the forest to the African savanna — rewired our psychology toward cooperation, risk-taking, and social complexity, providing an evolutionary origin story for distinctly human traits like innovation and art.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Overconfidence as Adaptive Feature (argues that overconfidence in one's own abilities is not a cognitive bias to be corrected but an evolved trait that improved social status and mate acquisition on the savanna — making self-deception adaptive)

Notable Works & Achievements

The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy

Historical Influences

Charles Darwin Robert Trivers Leda Cosmides John Tooby

Intellectual Lineage

Evolutionary Psychology Darwinian Social ScienceCognitive Psychology

Contemporaries & Peers

Robert Sapolsky Steven Pinker David Buss Jonathan Haidt

Minds Influenced

Popular evolutionary psychology audience

Intellectual Posterity

The Social Leap framework

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