Anna Machin

Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist at the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, England. She is the author of a book on fatherhood, The Life of Dad: The Making of a Modern Father.

Anna Machin
NationalityEnglish
EducationPh.D.
Alma materUniversity of Reading
Known for
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsOxford University
ThesisThe Acheulean handaxe: symmetry, function and early and middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour. (2006)
Doctoral advisorsSteven Mithen

Education and career

Machin graduated with a B.A. degree in anthropology and English, followed in 1999 by an M.Sc. degree in human evolution and behaviour from University College, London. In 2006 she obtained her PhD in archeology from the University of Reading. She was a postdoctoral fellow working with Robin Dunbar at Oxford University from 2008 to 2014 after which she became a visiting academic while also pursuing a career as a freelance scientific writer and broadcaster.[1][2][3]

Scientific research

Archeology

In archeology, Machin has studied and commented on the symmetry, morphology, effectiveness and sex appeal of Acheulean handaxes.[4][5][6]

Attachment and love

Machin has done research on attachment and love between parents and children, between loving couples and between best friends.[7][8]

Fatherhood

As an evolutionary anthropologist, Machin believes that both mothers and fathers have been primed by evolution to parent their children. She has studied father-child relationships and takes the position that human fatherhood would not have developed unless the investment that fathers make in their children is vital for the survival of the species. She has concluded that fatherhood was fundamental to the development of humans and humanity, with fathers performing critical parenting tasks in coaching and educating their children.[9][10]

Machin has also studied the expectations and reality of fatherhood, and systemic impediments to fathers' involvement in their children's lives.[11]

Machin has been interviewed and cited about fatherhood and love relationships by a variety of popular media outlets, including the New Scientist,[12] The Guardian,[13] BBC,[14] The Daily Telegraph,[15] The Mirror,[16] Eltern,[17] and Broadly.[18]

Selected publications

Books

Scientific articles

References
  1. Web page, Anna Machin
  2. Oxford University, Department of Experimental Psychology, Anna Machin Archived 15 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  3. LinkedIn Anna Machin
  4. Machin AJ, Hosfield RT, Mithen SJ. Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness. Journal of Archaeological Science. 2007 Jun 1;34(6):883-93.
  5. Machin AJ. Why handaxes just aren't that sexy: a response to Kohn & Mithen (1999). Antiquity. 2008 Sep;82(317):761-6.
  6. Machin A. The role of the individual agent in Acheulean biface variability: a multi-factorial model. Journal of Social Archaeology. 2009 Feb;9(1):35-58.
  7. Machin AJ, Dunbar RI. The brain opioid theory of social attachment: a review of the evidence. Behaviour. 2011 Jan 1;148(9-10):985-1025.
  8. Machin A, Dunbar R. Sex and gender as factors in romantic partnerships and best friendships. Journal of Relationships Research. 2013 Oct;4.
  9. Anna Machin (17 January 2019). "The marvel of the human dad". Aeon.
  10. Machin, Anna (2018). The Life of Dad : The Making of a Modern Father. Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN 9781471161407.
  11. Machin, Anna J. (Spring 2015). "Mind the Gap: The Expectation and Reality of Involved Fatherhood". Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research & Practice About Men as Fathers. 13 (1): 36–59.
  12. Jessica Hamzelou, Dad power: The surprising new science of fatherhood, New Scientist, March 21, 2018.
  13. Alexandra Jones, Hookups, sexting and unwanted threesomes: first-time dating in the age of Tinder, The Guardian, November 4, 2017.
  14. Alexandra Jones, No label dating: can you have love without commitment?, BBC Three, July 18, 2018.
  15. Jonathan Wells, Meet the men who got PTSD from seeing their partners give birth, The Telegraph, February 24, 2016.
  16. Steve Myall, The secret irreversible change a new father's body undergoes to make him a better parent, The Mirror, June 19, 2018.
  17. Dörte Nohrden, Die ersten Monate können frustrierend sein, Eltern.
  18. Laila Tyack, Angry and Overwhelmed: The Men Who Experience Postnatal Depression, Broadly, March 9, 2017.
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