Fairbanks

LYNN A. FAIRBANKS, PH.D.

fairbanksTools and Techniques: behavioral observation, behavioral challenge tests, statistical genetics analyses, genetic and physiological assays

Email: lfairbanks@mednet.ucla.edu

Interests: maternal, genetic and developmental influences on biobehavioral traits

Personal Statement:
I am a psychologist interested in the role of maternal behavior, genetics, and social context in shaping individual differences in temperament and behavior. My primary research has focused on development and assessment of biobehavioral traits in a multigenerational pedigreed colony of vervet monkeys. I am particularly interested in variation in the mother-infant relationship and lifetime maternal investment in the context of environmental demands and reproductive tradeoffs, and biobehavioral transitions during the juvenile and adolescent periods. My recent research uses a pedigree-based statistical genetics approach to identify heritability, genetic loci, and gene-environment interactions for variation in novelty seeking, impulsivity, sociability, and cortisol response to stressful life events. Throughout my career, I have found that my early training in evolutionary biology has enriched and informed my understanding of the development of individual differences in biobehavioral traits.