Fleischman was born in
São Paulo, Brazil and raised both Jewish and Catholic.[2][3] Her father's family is of
German-Jewish descent.[4] She grew up in the
Southern United States and was not taught about evolution in the
public school system there. She was passionate about evolution from an early age, earning the nickname "monkey girl" from classmates at age 12.[3]
Since her postdoc at
UNC Chapel Hill,[1][5] Fleischman has been a lecturer in the department of psychology at the
University of Portsmouth from 2011 to 2020; she is currently on sabbatical.[6] One of her more covered findings in the press is that disgust inhibits sexual arousal in women.[7][8] In addition to academic publications and lectures, she also gives public lectures and writes articles for the layperson.[9][10][11] She argues that eating beef is more ethical than eating chicken because it kills fewer animals per gram of meat.[12]
In August 2020, she started a blog at
Psychology Today called How to Train Your Boyfriend, having the same title as a book she is writing.[13]
Publications
Confer, Jaime C.; Easton, Judith A.; Fleischman, Diana S.; Goetz, Cari D.; Lewis, David M. G.; Perilloux, Carin; Buss, David M. (2010). "Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations". American Psychologist. 65 (2): 110–126.
CiteSeerX10.1.1.601.8691.
doi:
10.1037/a0018413.
ISSN1935-990X.
PMID20141266.
Fleischman, D. S. & Fessler, D. M (January 2011). "Progesterone's effects on the psychology of disease avoidance: Support for the compensatory behavioral prophylaxis hypothesis". Hormones and Behavior. 59 (2): 271–275.
doi:
10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.11.014.
ISSN0018-506X.
PMID21134378.
S2CID27607102.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
Fleischman is a member of
Giving What We Can, a community of people who have pledged to donate 10% of their income to the world's most
effective charitable organisations.[14]
On November 29, 2019, she married fellow American evolutionary psychologist
Geoffrey Miller.[15][16] The couple had earlier appeared together in an interview advocating for
polyamory.[17] They have one child together, born in spring 2022.[18][19]