Robert Barker (UPhoto)
Alexander G. Ophir
Associate Professor
Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Contact Information
218 Uris Hall
Cornell University
Phoenix, AZ 85018
p:
(607) 255-3714
Alexander G. Ophir
Associate Professor
Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Expertise
Proximate and ultimate influences on social behavior: including individual variation in genes, brain, and behavior; monogamy and social attachment; alternative reproductive tactics; parental care; early life social influence on development; social and spatial memory; mate choice; animal communication; reproductive decision-making
Current Research Interest
Individual differences in the neurobiology of social behavior and how that influences reproductive decision-making; the impact of early life social experiences on the developmental trajectories of genetic, epigenetic, molecular, and neuroendocrine functioning in the brain, and impacts on cognition and behavior during development and adulthood; the influence of social context and cognition (socio-spatial memory) on adult reproductive decisions and the forms of alternative reproductive tactics that animals select
Distinction
Stephen and Margery Russell Distinguished Teaching Award
Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Award
Selected Publications
Kelly, Aubrey M., Jie Y. Ong, Ruth A. Witmer, and Alexander G. Ophir. “Paternal Deprivation Impairs Social Behavior Putatively via Epigenetic Modification to Lateral Septum Vasopressin Receptor.” Science Advances 6 (2020): eabb9166.
Madrid, Jesus E., Karen J. Parker, and Alexander G. Ophir. “Variation, Plasticity, and Alternative Mating Tactics: Revisiting What We Know about the Socially Monogamous Prairie Vole.” Advances in the Study of Behavior 52 (2020): 203-242.