Leland Swenson
Professor Emeritus of Psychology Loyola Marymount University
Media
Education
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
JD
1983
Wayne State University
PhD
Psychology
1969
Social
Areas of Expertise
Industry Expertise
Accomplishments
Potential Future Nominee
LMU Faculty Hall of Fame
Media Appearances
Cal Poly caveman: Psychology lecturer builds art caves under his property
Mustang News
2017-05-11
Leland Swenson finished his office hours at Cal Poly, drove home and relaxed in his underground cave with his dog. For 20 years, the psychology lecturer built a cave network beneath his property in San Luis Obispo County.
Articles
An Evolutionary Theory of Human Motivation
Genetic, Social, and General Psychology MonographsLarry C. Bernard, Michael Mills, Leland Swenson & R. Patricia Walsh
2010
The authors review psychology's historical, competing perspectives on human motivation and propose a new comprehensive theory. The new theory is based on evolutionary principles as proposed by C. Darwin (1859) and modified by W. D. Hamilton (1964, 1996), R. L. Trivers (1971, 1972), and R. Dawkins (1989). The theory unifies biological, behavioral, and cognitive approaches to motivation. The theory is neuropsychological and addresses conscious and nonconscious processes that underlie motivation, emotion, and self-control. The theory predicts a hierarchical structure of motives that are measurable as individual differences in human behavior. These motives are related to social problem domains (D. B. Bugental, 2000; D. T. Kenrick, N. P. Li, & J. Butner, 2003), and each is hypothesized to solve a particular problem of human inclusive fitness.
