Dr Jose Yong

Jose is interested in psychosocial "desiderata", or the desired things that underlie a happy, healthy, and good life, and how we may work with rather than against our human nature to achieve them. To that end, he uses evolutionary/adaptationist/ecological/functionalist approaches to broadly examine:

• Mating dynamics
• Social status
• Individual differences
• Culture
• Rationalization processes
• Organizational behavior and group processes
• Motivation
• Wellbeing

Jose is also interested in questions that border on the philosophical, such as the fundamental nature of humans, what the "purpose" of life (or anything) might be (if there is even such a thing), what reality is and how it is perceived (e.g., simulacra effects), the affordances and limits of external reality as extensions of the mind and phenotypes, and questions at the intersection of consciousness and physics (i.e., the hard problem/the explanatory gap).

Currently, Jose is focused on investigating:

• How modern and cultural factors interact with evolved mate preferences to influence motivations for marriage and having children
• Cultural variations in people's perceptions of social status
• The functions of social goal chatter in emotion regulation, social bonding, motivation, and goal pursuit
• The psychosocial dynamics of rave and electronic dance music culture
• So-called "deviant" but healthy subpopulations (e.g., sexual kinks, alternative mating systems, psychedelic culture) and their insights for human functioning and wellbeing
• The experience of women with partners who make less
• How team climate and team member personality interact to influence team functioning
• Polarization and the formation of alternative/conspiratorial belief clusters
• Organisms as informational agents

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Human–Animal Interaction and Human Prosociality: A Meta-Analytic Review of Experimental and Correlational Studies, Chen, N., Majeed, N., Lai, G., Koh, P., Kasturiratna, K., Kaur, M., Ho, A., Yong, J., Hartanto, A. 3 Mar 2024, In: Anthrozoös
• Disgust sensitivity relates to attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women across 31 nations, Van Leeuwen, F., Inbar, Y., Petersen, M., Aarøe, L., Barclay, P., Barlow, F., De Barra, M., Becker, D., Borovoi, L., Choi, J., Consedine, N., Conway, J., Conway, P., Adoric, V., Demirci, E., Fernández, A., Ferreira, D., Ishii, K., Jakšić, I., Ji, T., Jonaityte, I., Lewis, D., Li, N., McIntyre, J., Mukherjee, S., Park, J., Pawlowski, B., Pizarro, D., Prokop, P., Prodromitis, G., Rantala, M., Reynolds, L., Sandin, B., Sevi, B., Srinivasan, N., Tewari, S., Yong, J., Žeželj, I., Tybur, J. 1 Apr 2023, In: Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
• When social status gets in the way of reproduction in modern settings: An evolutionary mismatch perspective, Yong, J., Lim, A., Li, N. 4 Apr 2023, In: Culture and Evolution
• A bubble of protection: examining dispositional optimism as a psychological buffer of the deleterious association between negative work-family spillover and psychological health, Lee, S., Choy, B., Yong, J. 2 Jan 2022, In: European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
• Elucidating evolutionary principles with the traditional Mosuo: Adaptive benefits and origins of matriliny and “walking marriages”, Yong, J., Li, N. 19 Dec 2022, In: Culture and Evolution
• Free Rider Problem During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Choy, B., Yong, J. 5 Jan 2022, Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics, Cham, Springer
• Looks and status are still essential: Testing the mate preference priority model with the profile-based experimental paradigm, Yong, J., Tan, Y., Li, N., Meltzer, A. Dec 2022, In: Journal of Personality
• Reply to Komatsu et al.: From local social mindfulness to global sustainability efforts?, Van Doesum, N., Murphy, R., Gallucci, M., Aharonov-Majar, E., Athenstaedt, U., Au, W., Bai, L., Böhm, R., Bovina, I., Buchan, N., Chen, X., Dumont, K., Engelmann, J., Eriksson, K., Euh, H., Fiedler, S., Friesen, J., Gächter, S., Garcia, C., González, R., Graf, S., Growiec, K., Guimond, S., Hřebíčková, M., Immer-Bernold, E., Joireman, J., Karagonlar, G., Kawakami, K., Kiyonari, T., Kou, Y., Kyrtsis, A., Lay, S., Leonardelli, G., Li, N., Li, Y., Maciejovsky, B., Manesi, Z., Mashuri, A., Mok, A., Moser, K., Moták, L., Netedu, A., Platow, M., Raczka-Winkler, K., Reinders Folmer, C., Reyna, C., Romano, A., Shalvi, S., Simão, C., Stivers, A., Strimling, P., Tsirbas, Y., Utz, S., Van Der Meij, L., Waldzus, S., Wang, Y., Weber, B., Weisel, O., Wildschut, T., Winter, F., Wu, J., Yong, J., Van Lange, P. 25 Jan 2022, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy. . . especially if I’m less intelligent: how sunlight and intelligence affect happiness in modern society, Kanazawa, S., Li, N., Yong, J. 19 May 2022, In: Cognition and Emotion
• When intelligence hurts and ignorance is bliss: Global pandemic as an evolutionarily novel threat to happiness, Kanazawa, S., Li, N., Yong, J. Dec 2022, In: Journal of Personality

• Psychology PhD August 18 2017
• Psychology MSc January 26 2015