Rate My Professor Diego Guevara Beltran

Diego Guevara Beltran is an Assistant Professor of Social and Personality Psychology in the Department of Psychology at The University of Arizona, where he began his tenure in August 2025. He directs the Social Psychology of Evolutionary Cooperation, Interdependence, and Emotions (SPECIEs) Lab. Guevara Beltran earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University in May 2023, advised by Athena Aktipis, along with an M.A. in Social Psychology from the same institution in December 2019. He holds a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Evolutionary Anthropology from the University of New Mexico, awarded in May 2015. Prior to his faculty appointment, he served as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Arizona from August 2023 to August 2025. His research investigates the mechanisms underlying human cooperation, including proximate psychological processes, shared fate, interdependence, and social emotions. Employing survey, experimental, longitudinal, and field methods, his work explores the consequences of cooperation for risk management, social relationships, and well-being, bridging social psychology and evolutionary anthropology.

Guevara Beltran has received several awards and fellowships, including the UA Sursum Fellowship, UA President’s Postdoctoral Research and Professional Development funding totaling $16,000, UA Postdoctoral Independent Research grant of $2,000, ASU Graduate College Fellowship of $10,000, multiple GPSA awards such as Independent Research Grants and Travel Awards, SPSP Graduate Travel Award, and APEE Young Scholars Award. Key publications include "Sources of fitness interdependence associated with shared fate and cooperation in a small-scale horticultural society" in Evolution and Human Behavior (2025), "Shared fate was associated with sustained cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic" in PLoS ONE (2024, co-first author and corresponding), "Empathic concern predicts willingness to help in the absence of interdependence" in Emotion (2024), "Is gender primacy universal?" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024), and "Perceived food scarcity and disease concern reduce interdependence when people eat together" in European Journal of Social Psychology (2023). He has also contributed to the Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions (2024). His scholarship has advanced insights into prosocial behavior, reciprocity, and emotional responses in interdependent contexts. Guevara Beltran teaches courses such as Introduction to Social Psychology and Evolutionary Psychology Seminar, and contributes to service through university committees, grant reviews, and outreach programs like Skype a Scientist.