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Luke J. Matthews

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Behavioral and Social Scientist; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Boston Office

Education

B.S. in biology/anthropology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; M.A. in anthropology, New York University; Ph.D. in anthropology, New York University

Overview

Luke Matthews is a behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation and a professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School. Much of his work focuses on studying cultural diffusion on social networks, that is, how people influence each other. He has applied social network analysis, simulation models, and machine learning to mixed qualitative-quantitative data.

Matthews first studied cultural diffusion in the social networks of capuchin monkeys in the Ecuadorian Amazon. He subsequently studied diffusion dynamics in systems ranging from ancient human migrations to contemporaneous Christian groups before bringing his experience to the applied sector. His applied work has used both quantitative and qualitative data to examine how cultural transmission influences a variety of decisions including religious violence and management of patient referrals by physicians.

Matthews' research has been featured in New Scientist, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. Prior to joining RAND, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, and worked in private industry for a startup social network analytics company. Matthews holds a doctorate in anthropology from New York University.

Research Focus

Pardee RAND Graduate School Courses

Previous Positions

Senior Scientific Director, Activate Networks Inc., 2011-2014; Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 2008-2011

Selected Publications

Luke J. Matthews, Ryan A. Brown, David P. Kennedy, A Manual for Cultural Analysis, RAND Corporation (TL-275), 2018

Karimov, R. and L.J. Matthews, "A simulation assessment of methods to infer cultural transmission on dark networks," Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology, 14, 2017

Matthews, L. J., S. Passmore, P. M. Richard, R. D. Gray, and Q. D. Atkinson, "Shared cultural history as a predictor of political and economic changes among nation states," PLoS ONE, 11, 2016

Matthews, L. J., J. Edmonds, W. Wildman, and C. L. Nunn, "Cultural inheritance or cultural diffusion of religious violence? A quantitative case study of the Radical Reformation," Religion, Brain, & Behavior, 3, 2013

Matthews, L. J., P. Dewan, and E. Y. Rula, "Methods for inferring health-related social networks among coworkers from online communication patterns," PLOS ONE, 8, 2013

Matthews, L. J., "The recognition signal hypothesis for the adaptive evolution of religion: a phylogenetic test with Christian denominations," Human Nature, 23, 2012

Matthews, L. J., P. M. Butler, "Novelty-seeking DRD4 polymorphisms are associated with human migration distance out-of-Africa after controlling for neutral population gene structure," American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 145, 2011

Matthews, L. J., F. Jordan, M. Collard, C. L. Nunn, and J. J. Tehrani, "Testing for divergent transmission histories among cultural characters: a study using Bayesian phylogenetic methods and Iranian tribal textile data," PLoSONE, 6, 2011

Publications