Marcela Benítez

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Emory broadly​ interested in the evolution of primate social cognition, the mechanisms that influence social choices, and the context in which these decisions are adaptive. As a primatologist, my work unpacks both proximate and ultimate mechanisms of social decision-making in primates, offering a promising avenue for understanding the importance of sociality, cooperation, and conflict on primate cognitive evolution. I co-direct a long-term field project, Capuchins de Taboga, on the cognition and behavior of wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) in the Guanacaste Region of Costa Rica and continue my affiliation at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University where I study the mechanisms of social choices in captive tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella). -- Dr. Marcela E. Benítez