Leda Cosmides (born May 1957) is an American psychologist, who, together with anthropologist husband John Tooby, pioneered the field of evolutionary psychology.
[2] Cosmides originally studied biology at Radcliffe College/Harvard University, receiving her BA in 1979.
While an undergraduate, she was influenced by the renowned evolutionary biologist Robert L. Trivers, who was her advisor.
In 1992, together with Tooby and Jerome Barkow, Cosmides edited The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture.
Cosmides was awarded the 1988 American Association for the Advancement of Science Prize for Behavioral Science Research,[3] the 1993 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2005 National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award, and the 2020 Jean Nicod Prize.