A giant in the field of evolutionary theory will give a free public lecture at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman 7 p.m. Thursday.

Robert Trivers, professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, has spent his career investigating the theoretical basis of social behavior in organisms.

His theories regarding parental investment, reciprocal altruism, parent-offspring conflict and the biological basis of self-deceptive behavior have been hugely influential in a number of fields.

The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Zoology in the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences and the museum.

Trivers is most noted for proposing the theories of reciprocal altruism, parental investment and parent-offspring conflict.

Another area in which he has made influential contributions is an adaptive view of self-deception. In this view, the ability of a person to deceive himself into believing something in which he has an emotional investment plays an important role in human behavior. By believing their own deception, the self-deceivers are better able to convince others of its truth.

In 2007 Trivers received the prestigious Crafoord Prize from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. This prize promotes international basic research in disciplines that complement those for which the Nobel Prizes are awarded.

The Sam Noble Museum is at Timberdell Road and Chautauqua Avenue on the OU campus. Additional information about the museum is available online at www.snomnh.ou.edu, or by calling 325-4712.