Diego Guevara Beltran

Why do people cooperate? What are the proximate mechanisms underlying cooperation? What are the consequences of cooperation for risk management, social relationships, and well-being? I investigate these questions employing survey, experimental, longitudinal, and field methods.

Selected Publications:

• Guevara Beltran, D., Ayers, J. D., Cronk L., Balliet, D. P., Koster J., & Aktipis, A. (under review). Sources of Fitness Interdependence Associated with Shared Fate and Cooperation in a Small-scale Horticultural Society. PsyArXiv.
• Guevara Beltran, D., Shiota M. N., & Aktipis, A. (2024). Empathic concern predicts willingness to help in the absence of interdependence. Emotion.
• Guevara Beltran, D.,*⁺ Ayers, J. D.,* Claessens, S., Alcock, J., Baciu, C., Cronk, L., Hudson, N. M., Hurmuz-Sklias, H., Miller, G., Tidball K., Van Horn, A., Winfrey P., Zarka, E., Todd, M. P. & Aktipis A (2024). Shared fate was associated with sustained cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One. *Co-first authors, ⁺Corresponding author.
• Martin E.A., Guevara Beltran, D., Koster, J., & Tracy, J. (2024). Is gender primacy universal?. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.
• Guevara Beltran, D., Shiota M. N., & Aktipis, A. (2024). A socio-functional perspective on emotion and cooperation. In L. Al-Shawaf & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Guevara Beltran, D., Whisner, C., Krems J. A., Todd P. M., & Aktipis, A. (2023). Perceived food scarcity and disease concern reduce interdependence when people eat together. European Journal of Social Psychology.

Updated: 09/05/25