Books and Special Journal Issues
Transcendental Medication: The Evolution of Mind, Culture, and Healing, 2022, Routledge Press.
From Publisher’s website:
Transcendental Medication considers why human brains evolved to have consciousness, yet we spend much of our time trying to reduce our awareness. It outlines how limiting consciousness—rather than expanding it—is more functional and satisfying for most people, most of the time.
The suggestion is that our brains evolved mechanisms to deal with the stress of awareness in concert with awareness itself—otherwise it is too costly to handle. Defining dissociation as “partitioning of awareness,” Lynn touches on disparate cultural and psychological practices such as religion, drug use, 12-step programs, and dancing. The chapters draw on biological and cultural studies of Pentecostal speaking in tongues and stress, the results of our 800,000+ years watching hearth and campfires, and unconscious uses of self-deception as mating strategy.
Written in a highly engaging style, Transcendental Medication will appeal to students and scholars interested in mind, altered states of consciousness, and evolution. It is particularly suitable for those approaching the issue from cultural, biological, psychological, and cognitive anthropology, as well as evolutionary psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and religious studies.
#Hackademics: Hacks Toward Success in Academia, co-edited with Cara Ocobock, 2022, American Journal of Human Biology, 34(S1), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15206300/2022/34/S1.
Evolution Education in the American South: Culture, Politics, and Resources in and around Alabama, co-edited with Amanda Glaze, Laura Reed, and William Evans, 2017, Palgrave Macmillan.
From publisher’s website:
This volume reaches beyond the controversy surrounding the teaching and learning of evolution in the United States, specifically in regard to the culture, politics, and beliefs found in the Southeast. The editors argue that despite a deep history of conflict in the region surrounding evolution, there is a wealth of evolution research taking place—from biodiversity in species to cultural evolution and human development. In fact, scientists, educators, and researchers from around the United States have found their niche in the South, where biodiversity is high, culture runs deep, and the pace is just a little bit slower.
Journal Articles
2024
- CD Lynn, T Nowak, C Manthey, M Muehlenbein. Physiology of pe’a and malu: Biocultural case studies of the physiological response to Samoan tatau. to Pacific Journal of Health.
- LA Landgraf*, T Nowak*, J Gassen, MP Muehlenbein, CD Lynn. A case study of endocrine and immune response to traditional hand-tap tattooing. Pacific Journal of Health, 7:1:article 12, https://doi.org/10.56031/2576-215X.1060.
- CD Lynn, LM Schell. Why Religion/Spirituality Are Important in Human Biological Research. American Journal of Human Biology (Invited article for special issue).
CD Lynn, C Pierce*, C Ocobock. The value of publicly engaged podcasting in human biology. American Journal of Human Biology, 36(9), e24105. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24105.
2023
- CD Lynn, ME Howells, MP Muehlenbein, T Nowak*, J Gassen, A Henderson*. Tattooing as a phenotypic gambit. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24741.
- R Owens, S Filoromo*, LA Landgraf*, CD Lynn, M Smetana*. Deviance as an historical artefact: A scoping review of psychological studies of body modification. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 10(30). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01511-6.
2022
- CD Lynn, ME Howells, MP Muehlenbein, H Wood*, GW Caballero*, TJ Nowak*, J Gassen. Psychoneuroimmunology and tattooing. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-022-00202-x). [Preprint]
2021
- L Brazelton, M Howells, L Landgraf, CD Lynn. Impacts of family and fieldwork on career/family balance tenure-track and tenured anthropologists. American Journal of Human Biology, e23686. (Invited article, special supplementary issue). [Free access]
- C Ocobock, C Owens, E Holdsworth, T Gildner, C Lynn. #Hackademics: Hacks toward success in academia. American Journal of Human Biology. (Invited article, special supplementary issue). [Free access]
2020
- C Ocobock, CD Lynn, M Sarma, L Gettler. Organized adult play and stress reduction: Testing the absorption hypothesis among a comedy improv theater. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology. [Preprint]
- C Ocobock, CD Lynn. Human biology is a matter of life and death: Effective science communication for COVID-19 research. American Journal of Human Biology (Invited commentary), Online first e23472. [Free access], [Infographic]
- CD Lynn, A Guitar*, CMT Keck, AL Rector. Applied evolutionary education: The benefits and costs of hosting regional evolution conferences. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 13(7). [Open access]
- C Ocobock, C Lynn. How the Sausage of Science is made. Practicing Anthropology. (Invited essay) 42(2):55-60. [Preprint]
2019
- CD Lynn, ME Howells, D Herdrich, J Ioane, D Hudson, TW Fitiao. The evolutionary adaptation of body art: Tattoo as an honest signal of enhanced immune response in American Samoa. American Journal of Human Biology, 32(4):151-165. Online version, e23347. [Free access]
- CD Lynn, T Puckett, A Guitar, ND Roy. Shirts or skins?: Tattoos as costly honest signals of fitness and affiliation among US intercollegiate athletes and other undergraduates. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 5:151-165. [PDF]
2018
- CD Lynn, ME Howells, MJ Stein. Family and the field: Expectations of a field-based research career affect researcher family planning decisions. PLOS One 13(9): e0203500. [Open access]
- M Howells, CD Lynn, LJ Weaver, M Sesepesara, J Tufa. Zika Virus in American Samoa: Challenges to prevention in the context of health disparities and non-communicable disease. Annals of Human Biology 45(3):229-238. [PDF]
2017
- ME Howells, C Ocobock, C Lynn, CA Jost Robinson, K Woolard. It’s a dead man’s party: Integrative evolutionary education through Darwin Day. EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium 7(1):58-87. [Open access]
2016
- MJ Stein, A Daugherty, I Rivera, J Muzzo, CD Lynn. Thinking outside anthropology’s box: Socializing undergraduates through collaborative research, teaching, and service. Annals of Anthropological Practice 40(2):164-177. [PDF]
- JL Funkhouser, J Friel, M Carr, K Likos, CD Lynn. Anthropology is elemental: Anthropological perspective through multilevel teaching. Annals of Anthropological Practice 40(2):246-257. [PDF]
- CD Lynn, JT Dominguez, JA DeCaro. Tattooing to “toughen” up: Tattoo experience and secretory immunoglobulin A. American Journal of Human Biology, 28:603-609. [PDF]
- H James, Y Manresa, R Metts, B Brinkman, CD Lynn. The effects of performance-based education on evolutionary attitudes and literacy. EvoS Journal 7(1):44-57. [Open access]
2015
- CD Lynn, JJ Paris, CA Frye, LM Schell. Religious-commitment signaling and impression management amongst Pentecostals: Relationships to salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase. Journal of Cognition and Culture 15(3-4):299-319. [PDF]
2014
- CD Lynn. Hearth and campfire influences on arterial blood pressure: Defraying the costs of the social brain through fireside relaxation. Evolutionary Psychology 12(5):983-1003. [Open access]
- CD Lynn, MJ Stein, APC Bishop. Engaging undergraduates through neuroanthropological research. Anthropology Now 6(1):92-103. [Proofs]
- CD Lynn, RN Pipitone, JP Keenan. To thine own self be false: Self-deceptive enhancement and sexual awareness influences on mating success. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences 8(2):109-122. [PDF]
- K Spaulding, R Burch, C Lynn. Evolutionary studies reproductive successes and failures: Knowing your institutional ecology. EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium 6(1):18-38. [Open access]
2013
- CD Lynn. “The wrong Holy Ghost”: Discerning the Apostolic gift of discernment. Ethos 41(2):223-247. [PDF]
2011
- CD Lynn, J Paris, C Frye, L Schell. Glossolalia is associated with differences in biomarkers of arousal and stress among Apostolic Pentecostals. Religion, Brain and Behavior 1(3):173-191. [PDF]
2010
- CD Lynn, J Paris, CA Frye, LM Schell. Salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol among Pentecostals on a worship and nonworship day. American Journal of Human Biology 22(6):819-822. [PDF]
2005
- CD Lynn. Adaptive and maladaptive dissociation: An epidemiological and anthropological comparison and proposition for an expanded dissociation model. Anthropology of Consciousness 16(2):16-50. [PDF]
Book Chapters
2024
- M Smetana*, CD Lynn, M Samadelli. The medical anthropology of tattooing, past and present. In Manni and d’Errico (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Body Modifications. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2017
- CD Lynn, CA Medeiros. Tattooing commitment, quality, and football in Southeastern North America. In Lynn, Glaze, Evans , Reed (eds) Evolution Education in the American South: Culture, Politics, and Resources in and around Alabama. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [PDF]
Magazine Articles
2020
- K Dzirasa, CD Lynn, JK Montclare, L Stirling, B Wuest. We must change how we fund graduate school. Inside Higher Ed, September 1, https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/09/01/more-federal-research-funding-should-go-directly-grad-students-opinion.
2019
- CD Lynn. Would our early ancestors have watched the Super Bowl? Sapiens, January 31, https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/history-of-fire-super-bowl/.
- CD Lynn. Fa’asamoa of tattooing and football: Conservatism and adaptation in Samoan cultural evolution. This View of Life, January 25, https://evolution-institute.org/faasamoa-of-tattooing-and-football-conservatism-and-adaptation-in-samoan-cultural-evolution/.
2016
- CD Lynn. Replacing the lone stranger with evidence-based theory. Anthropology News Online, December 19 http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2016/12/19/replacing-the-lone-stranger-with-evidence-based-theory/.
2015
- CD Lynn. Family diversity. Anthropology News Online, November http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1556-3502.2015.561002.x/epdf/.
- CD Lynn. Cheap thrills and elementary anthropology. Anthropology News 56(9-10, September/October):29, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1556-3502.2015.560905_s.x/epdf/.
2014
- CD Lynn, VR Beasley, III, AS Cohen, HF Dengah, II, JL Funkhouser, K Herndon, and AB Persons. Anthropology is elementary and can be taught there: Teaching four-field anthropology to 3rd and 4th grade students. Anthropology News. June/July. http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2014/05/29/anthropology-is-elementary-and-can-be-taught-there/
2013
- EE Cooper, CD Lynn, M Wolfgram. Teaching technologies for research, collaboration, and dissemination. Anthropology News 54(5). http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2013/02/06/teaching-technologies-for-research-collaboration-and-dissemination/
2008
- CD Lynn. Parent seeking PhD: The practicality and pitfalls of staying local. Anthropology News 49(6):16. http://www.aaanet.org/pdf/upload/49-6-christopher_lynn_infocus.pdf
2013 2008
Book Reviews
2019
- CD Lynn. Review of Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing (2018). Journal of Anthropological Research 76:1.
2016
- CD Lynn. Review of BS Low, Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior (2015). American Journal of Human Biology, 28: 444–445. doi:10.1002/ajhb.22861.
2015
- CD Lynn. Review of R Dudley, The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol (2014). Medical Anthropology Quarterly 29(2):b34-b36.
2010
- JB Smith and CD Lynn. Why it’s interesting why women have sex. A review of CM Meston and DM Buss, Why Women Have Sex: The Psychology of Sex in Women’s Own Voices (2009). Evolutionary Psychology 8(2):275-283.
Documentary
In prep
- CD Lynn and A Booher. First Tattoo Your Mouth: Samoan Tatau and Revitalization in the Pacific.
Thesis/Dissertation
2009
- CD Lynn. Glossolalia influences on stress response among Apostolic Pentecostals. Ph.D. Dissertation. University at Albany, Department of Anthropology.
2006
- CD Lynn. Dissociation, stress, and well-being: A pilot study of psychological allostasis in a university student sample. Master’s Paper. University at Albany, Department of Anthropology.