Old Lab News
29th March. Our cross-cultural study on romantic expression (see take part section) is still ongoing and currently available in six languages. Anyone can take part but we are particularly interested in hearing from people who live in: Australia, Czech Republic, India, Philippines, Sweden, USA, France, Italy, Austria, Canada.
25th March. Undergraduate student Samantha Allan presented her research at the BPS Undergraduate Conference today (facial trustworthiness and attitudes toward evidence in criminal cases).
21st March. A new paper on the role of creativity in attractiveness judgements was published today in Royal Society Open Science.
13th March. A new paper (with colleagues in St Andrews) on partnered women's memory for attractiveness in faces was published today in Cognition.
Valentine's Day. A new cross-cultural study on romantic expression is now available on the 'take part' section of the website. It is hoped that we will post foreign translations of the study in the near future.
November. A new section on the website (media and links) provides links to media interest in Chris' current/past work.
October. Congratulations to Gareth Evans and Leah Scott who both recently passed their Masters' viva.
29th August. Work on circumstances that shape preferences for dominant versus supportive-looking allies has just been published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
February. Chris' TED Talk on Friends, Rivals and 'Face-Offs' is now available to view on YouTube.
Our work on dominance and remuneration was recently featured in the Association for Psychological Science Observer Magazine.
Some recent work with colleagues (on humor and dominance) has been covered in Science.
Some recent work with colleagues (on appearance and pay, lead by Laura Fruhen) has been covered in Nature.
8th September. With colleagues from Stirling and McMaster University, our work has been accepted for publication in Evolution and Human Behavior, on the role of dominance in men's appreciation of other men's humour.
September. Welcome to Gareth Evans who starts his Masters degree in the lab today.
July. A paper with colleagues in Australia and Glasgow, on facial appearance and remuneration, has been accepted for publication in Leadership Quarterly.
23rd June. Welcome to Claire Brooksbank who will be conducting work over the summer in the lab (funded by RLINCS internal funding). For women interested in taking part in the work, please see the 'take part' section of the website. We will be recruiting across the summer period.
7th March. Chris hosted Dr Lisa DeBruine today, who gave a seminar to the School on how we recognize kin.
28th March. Chris presented a poster on social support and face preferences at EHBEA's annual conference in Helsinki, Finland. Thanks to the organizers for a great conference!
21st March. Chris' dissertation students Corrie Tadden-Paterson and Laura Hegarty presented their work at the BPS Undergraduate Conference in Strathclyde, on possible sex differences in the use of online dating sites.
I am interested in hearing from prospective PhD candidates in the coming months who would like to work on projects related to my area. At present I can only accept self-funded students but would be interested in hearing from candidates who would like to work with me on an application to the Wellcome Trust under their Society and Ethics theme (deadline early April).
February. Welcome to Mike Nicholls who will be working with Chris in the coming months on a project funded by the Carnegie Trust. This project is run in conjunction with Professor David Perrett (St Andrews).
15th December. Congratulations to Charlene Flynn who passed her Masters viva today! Charlene was co-supervised by Chris for her thesis (primary supervisor Dr David La Rooy). Her work uses Fuzzy Trace Theory as a framework for increasing the effectiveness of eyewitness interview training for adult actors who portray children. Well done Charlene!
27th November. Chris will be hosting Dr Rafael Wlodarski (SNERG, University of Oxford), who will be giving a seminar on his work about the possible functions of kissing in romantic partnerships. The seminar will be held in room 3522 (12-1pm).
The Face of Dundee project received some media coverage, including from the BBC and STV. I hope to have a recording of the Dundee Science Festival Lecture available on AbertayTV on Youtube by the end of the month, where you can see the face(s) for yourself. Please note, for those who read the piece in The Times: The idea that a scientist would predict that an average face constructed from real locals would resemble an animated character is, of course, a bit silly. So the underlying theme of that article didn't make entire sense to me. Thanks to those who made the project possible, who volunteered and who showed interest in the work.
6th November. Chris is giving a lecture tonight (7pm) for Dundee Science Festival (The Face of Dundee, Main Lecture Theatre). Open to all.
October. Chris is giving a talk and poster presentation at PTNCE in Wroclaw, Poland.
I am interested in talking to anyone from Europe who would like to work with me on a project related to mate choice or rivalry via this scheme, which enables European researchers to visit Scotland and carry out a short-term project (deadline 3rd November).
September. Our team will be back in Overgate this weekend for The Face of Dundee project. Approximately 5 minutes of your time (photographs and short questionnaire) for anyone interested who lives or was born in postcodes DD1,2,3 or 4. Face to be revealed 6th November Abertay University (7pm Main Lecture Theatre) as part of Dundee Science Festival.
I am looking for a team of six volunteers to help me in my project for Dundee Science Festival (The Face of Dundee Project) between September and November. Recent graduates or current undergraduates can contact me if interested, ideally as soon as possible.
If any graduates wish to complete a Masters by Research degree on a project related to attraction or rivalry, please do contact me to discuss ideas. MBR programmes with a January start have an application deadline in November, and for foreign students need to be completed around October time.
August. Chris returned from Natal, Brazil after giving a talk and chairing a session on aggression and homicide for HBES 2014. He had a great time. Thank you to the organizers!
June. We are interested in hearing from potential participants who would like to take part in a study on women's shoe preferences. See "take part" link to the left of this banner for more information.
11th February. Chris' interview for an episode of 'Brain Waves' (about love and attraction) on BBC Radio Scotland is available here.
25th November. Chris' lecture for Dundee Science Festival on the Science of Attraction has now been uploaded onto Youtube.
20th November. Chris gave a talk for Stirling's Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) on competition and social perception of faces. Thanks to Dr Kelly Cobey for the invite.
October. Our first study has been posted online on the Research section of the website. We hope to have a few more posted up by the end of the year.
Chris will be giving a Lecture for Dundee Science Festival on 12th November (Main Lecture Theatre, University of Abertay).
September. Welcome to new lab volunteers Claire Brooksbank, Karina Fairweather and Rachel Walker.
July. Congratulations to my dissertation students Rachel, Kerry, Kirsty and Sarah, who graduated this month.
24th June. My Face Research collaborators and I have an article published in Evolution and Human Behavior, which looks at differences between men and women in the context-specificity of dominance perceptions.
20th June. Recent graduates Allan Dargie, Mark Adams and Kerry Harcus will join the lab over the summer as part of Abertay's Summer Research Volunteer Scheme.
16th May. Chris has an opinion piece published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, which explores the utility of a biological approach to the study of security-related outcomes.
7th December. Chris defends his PhD thesis with no corrections. Thanks to Prof David Perrett and Dr Lynden Miles for a stimulating viva.
1st September. Lab is 'born' as Chris starts a lectureship at Abertay's Division of Psychology.
29th March. Our cross-cultural study on romantic expression (see take part section) is still ongoing and currently available in six languages. Anyone can take part but we are particularly interested in hearing from people who live in: Australia, Czech Republic, India, Philippines, Sweden, USA, France, Italy, Austria, Canada.
25th March. Undergraduate student Samantha Allan presented her research at the BPS Undergraduate Conference today (facial trustworthiness and attitudes toward evidence in criminal cases).
21st March. A new paper on the role of creativity in attractiveness judgements was published today in Royal Society Open Science.
13th March. A new paper (with colleagues in St Andrews) on partnered women's memory for attractiveness in faces was published today in Cognition.
Valentine's Day. A new cross-cultural study on romantic expression is now available on the 'take part' section of the website. It is hoped that we will post foreign translations of the study in the near future.
November. A new section on the website (media and links) provides links to media interest in Chris' current/past work.
October. Congratulations to Gareth Evans and Leah Scott who both recently passed their Masters' viva.
29th August. Work on circumstances that shape preferences for dominant versus supportive-looking allies has just been published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
February. Chris' TED Talk on Friends, Rivals and 'Face-Offs' is now available to view on YouTube.
Our work on dominance and remuneration was recently featured in the Association for Psychological Science Observer Magazine.
Some recent work with colleagues (on humor and dominance) has been covered in Science.
Some recent work with colleagues (on appearance and pay, lead by Laura Fruhen) has been covered in Nature.
8th September. With colleagues from Stirling and McMaster University, our work has been accepted for publication in Evolution and Human Behavior, on the role of dominance in men's appreciation of other men's humour.
September. Welcome to Gareth Evans who starts his Masters degree in the lab today.
July. A paper with colleagues in Australia and Glasgow, on facial appearance and remuneration, has been accepted for publication in Leadership Quarterly.
23rd June. Welcome to Claire Brooksbank who will be conducting work over the summer in the lab (funded by RLINCS internal funding). For women interested in taking part in the work, please see the 'take part' section of the website. We will be recruiting across the summer period.
7th March. Chris hosted Dr Lisa DeBruine today, who gave a seminar to the School on how we recognize kin.
28th March. Chris presented a poster on social support and face preferences at EHBEA's annual conference in Helsinki, Finland. Thanks to the organizers for a great conference!
21st March. Chris' dissertation students Corrie Tadden-Paterson and Laura Hegarty presented their work at the BPS Undergraduate Conference in Strathclyde, on possible sex differences in the use of online dating sites.
I am interested in hearing from prospective PhD candidates in the coming months who would like to work on projects related to my area. At present I can only accept self-funded students but would be interested in hearing from candidates who would like to work with me on an application to the Wellcome Trust under their Society and Ethics theme (deadline early April).
February. Welcome to Mike Nicholls who will be working with Chris in the coming months on a project funded by the Carnegie Trust. This project is run in conjunction with Professor David Perrett (St Andrews).
15th December. Congratulations to Charlene Flynn who passed her Masters viva today! Charlene was co-supervised by Chris for her thesis (primary supervisor Dr David La Rooy). Her work uses Fuzzy Trace Theory as a framework for increasing the effectiveness of eyewitness interview training for adult actors who portray children. Well done Charlene!
27th November. Chris will be hosting Dr Rafael Wlodarski (SNERG, University of Oxford), who will be giving a seminar on his work about the possible functions of kissing in romantic partnerships. The seminar will be held in room 3522 (12-1pm).
The Face of Dundee project received some media coverage, including from the BBC and STV. I hope to have a recording of the Dundee Science Festival Lecture available on AbertayTV on Youtube by the end of the month, where you can see the face(s) for yourself. Please note, for those who read the piece in The Times: The idea that a scientist would predict that an average face constructed from real locals would resemble an animated character is, of course, a bit silly. So the underlying theme of that article didn't make entire sense to me. Thanks to those who made the project possible, who volunteered and who showed interest in the work.
6th November. Chris is giving a lecture tonight (7pm) for Dundee Science Festival (The Face of Dundee, Main Lecture Theatre). Open to all.
October. Chris is giving a talk and poster presentation at PTNCE in Wroclaw, Poland.
I am interested in talking to anyone from Europe who would like to work with me on a project related to mate choice or rivalry via this scheme, which enables European researchers to visit Scotland and carry out a short-term project (deadline 3rd November).
September. Our team will be back in Overgate this weekend for The Face of Dundee project. Approximately 5 minutes of your time (photographs and short questionnaire) for anyone interested who lives or was born in postcodes DD1,2,3 or 4. Face to be revealed 6th November Abertay University (7pm Main Lecture Theatre) as part of Dundee Science Festival.
I am looking for a team of six volunteers to help me in my project for Dundee Science Festival (The Face of Dundee Project) between September and November. Recent graduates or current undergraduates can contact me if interested, ideally as soon as possible.
If any graduates wish to complete a Masters by Research degree on a project related to attraction or rivalry, please do contact me to discuss ideas. MBR programmes with a January start have an application deadline in November, and for foreign students need to be completed around October time.
August. Chris returned from Natal, Brazil after giving a talk and chairing a session on aggression and homicide for HBES 2014. He had a great time. Thank you to the organizers!
June. We are interested in hearing from potential participants who would like to take part in a study on women's shoe preferences. See "take part" link to the left of this banner for more information.
11th February. Chris' interview for an episode of 'Brain Waves' (about love and attraction) on BBC Radio Scotland is available here.
25th November. Chris' lecture for Dundee Science Festival on the Science of Attraction has now been uploaded onto Youtube.
20th November. Chris gave a talk for Stirling's Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) on competition and social perception of faces. Thanks to Dr Kelly Cobey for the invite.
October. Our first study has been posted online on the Research section of the website. We hope to have a few more posted up by the end of the year.
Chris will be giving a Lecture for Dundee Science Festival on 12th November (Main Lecture Theatre, University of Abertay).
September. Welcome to new lab volunteers Claire Brooksbank, Karina Fairweather and Rachel Walker.
July. Congratulations to my dissertation students Rachel, Kerry, Kirsty and Sarah, who graduated this month.
24th June. My Face Research collaborators and I have an article published in Evolution and Human Behavior, which looks at differences between men and women in the context-specificity of dominance perceptions.
20th June. Recent graduates Allan Dargie, Mark Adams and Kerry Harcus will join the lab over the summer as part of Abertay's Summer Research Volunteer Scheme.
16th May. Chris has an opinion piece published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, which explores the utility of a biological approach to the study of security-related outcomes.
7th December. Chris defends his PhD thesis with no corrections. Thanks to Prof David Perrett and Dr Lynden Miles for a stimulating viva.
1st September. Lab is 'born' as Chris starts a lectureship at Abertay's Division of Psychology.
Dr Christopher D Watkins
Lecturer, Division of Psychology, School of Social and Health Sciences
Level 5, Kydd Building, Abertay University
Bell Street, Dundee, Scotland DD1 1HG Telephone: +44(0)1382 308646