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Peter Karl Jonason

Senior Lecturer in Personality or Individual Differences, Western Sydney University

I originally intended to be a lawyer, but then I took a class with Ross Buck. It was then I realized I wanted to pursue a career in research. After I completed my B.A. in Political Science and Communication Sciences and my M.A. in Communication Sciences at the University of Connecticut, I got my Ph.D. in Psychology at New Mexico State University. In 2014, I won the Ig Nobel award in psychology for my research into the "dark side" of human nature. In 2015, I served Visiting Scholar positions at Lomonosov Moscow State University and the University of Western Ontario. In 2016, I became a fellow at the Secular Policy Institute and an Affiliated Associate Professor at Florida Atlantic University.

After graduation, I taught Personality Psychology, Social Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Introductory Psychology at the University of West Florida and the University of South Alabama. Now I am at the University of Western Sydney teaching Evolutionary Psychology and a class called "Empirical Research Methods".

By training I am a social-personality psychologist who uses evolutionary theory to derive predictions and account for observable phenomena in personality, individual differences, mating strategies, and sexuality. At heart, I am an inter-disciplinarian; I draw upon Psychology, Economics, Biology, Primatology, Anthropology, and Ethology to understand human nature. Concurrently, I collaborate far and wide; one colleague describes me as "promiscuous" in my collaborations

Experience

  • –present
    Lecturer in Personality or Individual Differences, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney

Research Areas

  • Psychology (1701)