Research Instruments

Ongoing Research

David M. Buss
Human mating strategies
Conflict between the sexes
Prestige, status, and social reputation
The emotion of jealousy
The psychology of homicide
Psychological defenses against homicide
The psychology of stalking

Jaime Confer
Adaptive preferences for physical characteristics (e.g., waist-hip ratio)
• Perceptual biases in mating related stimuli

Sean Conlan
Evolutionary psychology of romantic relationships
Reasons and tactics for terminating romantic relationships

Judith Easton
Sex differences in jealousy
• Female mating strategies
Female adaptations to sperm competition
Contextual shifts in mate preferences

Diana Santos Fleischman
Psychological changes across the menstrual cycle

Sarah Elizabeth Hill
Conflict between mates (jealousy, non-jealous conflict, etc.)
Evolutionary economics
Evolutionary functions of self-esteem
Game theory applied to friendship transactions
Human decision-making (risk assessment)
Mate choice heuristics
Satisfaction, envy, and Schadenfreude
Social cognition (problem solving heuristics, social perception)
Social competition
The evolution of human mating systems

Joonghwan Jeon
The evolution of cooperation and conflict within human families
The optimal allocation of parental resources among offspring of differing ages and sex Dynamic modeling of parental investment allocation
Parent-offspring conflict and sibling conflict over the flow of parental resources

Carin Perilloux
Strategies for dealing with the costs of romantic relationship termination
• Strategies to prevent unwanted sexual attention and sexual victimization
• Daughter-guarding and sister-guarding mechanisms
• Changes across the menstrual cycle related to activity level
• Examining adaptive problems faced by men and women of varying degrees of physical attractiveness

Recent Research Grants

Criminal Justice Division, State of Texas. A program to end stalking and its negative consequences. 9/1/03 – 8/31/04. Funded.

Hogg Foundation, Stalking and Adolescent Mental Health, 9/1/02 - 8/30/04 Funded.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Every semester graduate students work with undergraduates on various research projects. Undergraduates who are interested in working as a research assistant can get involved by examining the research interests of current graduate students, or viewing undergraduate credit research opportunities (PSY 357), and then contacting the student via email.

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