Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Outputs (49)

(Super-)cultural clustering explains gender differences too (2022)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L. G., & Cross, C. P. (2022). (Super-)cultural clustering explains gender differences too. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, Article e156. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x21001539

The target paper shows how cultural adaptations to ecological problems can underpin “paradoxical” patterns of phenotypic variation. We argue: (1) Gendered social learning is a cultural adaptation to an ecological problem. (2) In evolutionarily novel... Read More about (Super-)cultural clustering explains gender differences too.

Sociocultural drivers of body image and eating disorder risk in rural Nicaraguan women (2022)
Journal Article
Thornborrow, T., Evans, E., Tovee, M., & Boothroyd, L. (2022). Sociocultural drivers of body image and eating disorder risk in rural Nicaraguan women. Journal of eating disorders, 10(1), Article 133. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-022-00656-0

Objective: Technological and economic globalisation has been suggested as a cause of increasing rates of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders globally, especially as regards the impact of mass media on internalised body ideals. This process is r... Read More about Sociocultural drivers of body image and eating disorder risk in rural Nicaraguan women.

A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans (2022)
Journal Article
Lidborg, L. H., Cross, C. P., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2022). A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans. eLife, 11, Article e65031. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.65031

Humans are sexually dimorphic: men and women differ in body build and composition, craniofacial structure, and voice pitch, likely mediated in part by developmental testosterone. Sexual selection hypotheses posit that, ancestrally, more 'masculine' m... Read More about A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans.

Callous-Unemotional Traits are Associated With Child-to-Parent Aggression (2021)
Journal Article
Kuay, H., Boothroyd, L., Towl, G., Tiffin, P., & Munoz, L. (2022). Callous-Unemotional Traits are Associated With Child-to-Parent Aggression. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 66(15), 1603-1626. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624x211049190

This study examined the relations between callous-unemotional traits and perpetration of aggression toward parents in two separate studies, while also considering motivation for aggression and parenting styles experienced among young people. Study 1... Read More about Callous-Unemotional Traits are Associated With Child-to-Parent Aggression.

Testing Mate Choice Hypotheses in a Transitional Small Scale Population (2021)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Jucker, J., Thornborrow, T., Tovee, M., Batres, C., & Penton-Voak, I. (2021). Testing Mate Choice Hypotheses in a Transitional Small Scale Population. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 7(3), 220-244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-021-00173-5

Objective Tests of theories of mate choice often rely on data gathered in White, industrialised samples and this is especially the case for studies of facial attraction. Our understanding of preferences for sexual dimorphism is currently in flux and... Read More about Testing Mate Choice Hypotheses in a Transitional Small Scale Population.

Experimental manipulation of muscularity preferences through visual diet and associative learning (2021)
Journal Article
Jacques, K., Evans, E., & Boothroyd, L. (2021). Experimental manipulation of muscularity preferences through visual diet and associative learning. PLoS ONE, 16(8), Article e0255403. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255403

Body preferences are somewhat flexible and this variability may be the result of one’s visual diet (whereby mere exposure to certain bodies shifts preferences), associative learning mechanisms (whereby cues to health and status within the population... Read More about Experimental manipulation of muscularity preferences through visual diet and associative learning.

Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls? (2021)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Tovée, M., & Evans, E. (2021). Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls?. Body Image, 37, 172-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.02.004

Ultra-thin fashion dolls may represent a risk factor for thin-ideal internalisation and body dissatisfaction amongst young girls. We asked thirty one 5- to 9-year-old girls to engage in interactive play with commercially available dolls which were ei... Read More about Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls?.

Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men’s Body Image (2020)
Journal Article
Thornborrow, T., Onwuegbusi, T., Mohamed, S., Boothroyd, L. G., & Tovée, M. J. (2020). Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men’s Body Image. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 495. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00495

An increasing number of studies are evidencing relationships between the drive for muscularity and potentially harmful behavioral strategies, such as unhealthy dieting and steroid use amongst men in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Dem... Read More about Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men’s Body Image.

Television Consumption Drives Perceptions of Female Body Attractiveness in a Population Undergoing Technological Transition (2019)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Jucker, J.-L., Thornborrow, T., Barton, R., Burt, D., Evans, E., Jamieson, M., & Tovee, M. (2020). Television Consumption Drives Perceptions of Female Body Attractiveness in a Population Undergoing Technological Transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(4), 839-860. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000224

Perceptions of physical attractiveness vary across cultural groups, particularly for female body size and shape. It has been hypothesised that visual media propagates Western ‘thin ideals’. However, because cross-cultural studies typically consider g... Read More about Television Consumption Drives Perceptions of Female Body Attractiveness in a Population Undergoing Technological Transition.

The Impact of a Dissonance-Based Eating Disorders Intervention on Implicit Attitudes to Thinness in Women of Diverse Sexual Orientations (2019)
Journal Article
Kant, R. N., Wong-Chung, A., Evans, E. H., Stanton, E. C., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2019). The Impact of a Dissonance-Based Eating Disorders Intervention on Implicit Attitudes to Thinness in Women of Diverse Sexual Orientations. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 2611. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02611

Dissonance-based body image programs have shown long-term effectiveness in preventing eating disorders and reducing risk factors for eating disorders in women. Here we report on the potential for one such intervention to impact on implicit attitudes... Read More about The Impact of a Dissonance-Based Eating Disorders Intervention on Implicit Attitudes to Thinness in Women of Diverse Sexual Orientations.

Mate Preferences Across the Lifespan (2019)
Book Chapter
Boothroyd, L., & Vukovic, J. (2019). Mate Preferences Across the Lifespan. In L. Welling, & T. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of evolutionary psychology and behavioral endocrinology (143-159). Oxford University Press

Humans show preferential responses to ‘attractive’ individuals from the first hours of life onwards. However, these early preferences are subject to later development, both in terms of increasing agreement on general attractiveness, and the emergence... Read More about Mate Preferences Across the Lifespan.

Investigating the link between television viewing and men’s preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua (2018)
Journal Article
Thornborrow, T., Jucker, J.-L., Boothroyd, L., & Tovée, M. (2018). Investigating the link between television viewing and men’s preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(5), 538-546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.05.005

The different levels of media access in otherwise very similar villages in rural Nicaragua provided a natural laboratory to explore the effect of television (TV) access on men's preferences for female body size and shape. In study 1 we compared the f... Read More about Investigating the link between television viewing and men’s preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua.

Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media (2017)
Journal Article
Jucker, J., Thornborrow, T., Beierholm, U., Burt, D., Barton, R., Evans, E., …Boothroyd, L. (2017). Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media. Scientific Reports, 7(1), Article 8438. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08653-z

Television consumption influences perceptions of attractive female body size. However, cross-cultural research examining media influence on body ideals is typically confounded by differences in the availability of reliable and diverse foodstuffs. 112... Read More about Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media.

Father absence and gendered traits in sons and daughters (2017)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L. G., & Cross, C. P. (2017). Father absence and gendered traits in sons and daughters. PLoS ONE, 12(7), Article e0179954. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179954

Research has previously found a number of apparently contradictory patterns in the relationship between ‘father absence’ (having a non-resident father during childhood) and the expression of gender roles, as well as other sexually dimorphic traits su... Read More about Father absence and gendered traits in sons and daughters.

A New Trait-Based Model of Child-to-Parent Aggression (2017)
Journal Article
Kuay, H. S., Tiffin, P. A., Boothroyd, L. G., Towl, G. J., & Centifanti, L. C. (2017). A New Trait-Based Model of Child-to-Parent Aggression. Adolescent Research Review, 2(3), 199-211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-017-0061-4

Incidents of child-to-parent aggression have been the most under-researched area of domestic violence. The risk factors for child-to-parent aggression are still unknown. This article reviews risk factors that might explain aggression among adolescent... Read More about A New Trait-Based Model of Child-to-Parent Aggression.

Narcissism and the Strategic Pursuit of Short-Term Mating: Universal Links across 11 World Regions of the International Sexuality Description Project-2 (2017)
Journal Article
Schmitt, D., Alcalay, L., Allik, J., Alves, I., Anderson, C., Angelini, A., …Zupančič, A. (2017). Narcissism and the Strategic Pursuit of Short-Term Mating: Universal Links across 11 World Regions of the International Sexuality Description Project-2. Psychological Topics, 26(1), 89-137

Previous studies have documented links between sub-clinical narcissism and the active pursuit of short-term mating strategies (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality, marital infidelity, mate poaching). Nearly all of these investigations have relied solel... Read More about Narcissism and the Strategic Pursuit of Short-Term Mating: Universal Links across 11 World Regions of the International Sexuality Description Project-2.

Male facial appearance and offspring mortality in two traditional societies (2017)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Gray, A., Headland, T., Uehara, R., Waynforth, D., Burt, D., & Pound, N. (2017). Male facial appearance and offspring mortality in two traditional societies. PLoS ONE, 12(1), Article e0169181. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169181

It has been hypothesised that facial traits such as masculinity and a healthy appearance may indicate heritable qualities in males (e.g. immunocompetence) and that, consequently, female preferences for such traits may function to increase offspring v... Read More about Male facial appearance and offspring mortality in two traditional societies.

The Impact of Parenthood on Physical Aggression: Evidence from criminal data (2016)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., & Cross, C. (2016). The Impact of Parenthood on Physical Aggression: Evidence from criminal data. Aggressive Behavior, 42(6), 577-584. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21652

Evolutionary approaches to sex differences in physical aggression weigh the potential benefits of aggression against the likely costs to inclusive fitness, with some authors focusing on the damage physical injury would do to female inclusive fitness,... Read More about The Impact of Parenthood on Physical Aggression: Evidence from criminal data.

Television exposure predicts body size ideals in rural Nicaragua (2016)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Jucker, J., Thornborrow, T., Jamieson, M., Burt, D., Barton, R., …Tovée, M. (2016). Television exposure predicts body size ideals in rural Nicaragua. British Journal of Psychology, 107(4), 752-767. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12184

Internalization of a thin ideal has been posited as a key risk factor in the development of pathological eating attitudes. Cross-culturally, studies have found a preference for heavier bodies in populations with reduced access to visual media compare... Read More about Television exposure predicts body size ideals in rural Nicaragua.