Jonathan Goodman
Contact
About
I am a researcher at the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies interested in understanding why communication is so complex across species, and how some aspects of communication are exploited, through mimicry or other tactics, for Darwinian purposes. Prior to my PhD, I worked as a postgraduate researcher in evolutionary biology at City University of New York, and more recently completed an ESRC-funded fellowship at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, where I applied some elements of my research to the public health sphere. I hold a BA in Philosophy and Behavioural Biology from Emory University and an MA and MPhil in Philosophy (with focus on philosophy of science and evolutionary ethics) from the University of London. I am also a science writer.
Research
I am broadly interested in how ecological factors affect the evolution of signals and communication, and whether coevolutionary relationships between cooperative and competitive individuals across taxa have shaped the diversity of Darwinian strategies we see across species. In my PhD project, I aim to apply this thinking to human language, and to explore whether imitation of signals associated with cooperation is an important driver of linguistic complexity.