Martie Haselton
My research focuses on four main areas of inquiry:
(1) Adaptive Biases in Social Judgment. I have asked why humans seem to have such error-prone judgment and decision-making strategies. Our work tests the general hypothesis that some of them could be adaptive.
(2) Ovulatory Shifts in Women's Preferences, Thoughts, and Behaviors. Women’s heavy investment in reproduction has produced selection for a discriminating sexual psychology. The window of fertility within a woman's cycle is also fleetingly brief. Together, these observations predict that women's mating psychology will be sensitive to fertility status and shift behaviors depending on the likelihood of conception. My colleagues and I have tested hypotheses about the design of these adaptations. Recently, we have also discovered visual and auditory cues of ovulation that challenge the long-held notion that ovulation is concealed.
(3) Evolved Relationship Defenses. With Gian Gonzaga, I have investigated how people maintain their long-term mating relationships. We have asked, for example, how people in committed relationships resist the temptation of attractive others.
(4) Flirtation, Sexual Signaling, and Cross-Sex Communication. I also study common misunderstandings between the sexes, particularly in the context of dating and courtship.
Primary Interests:
- Close Relationships
- Communication, Language
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Evolution and Genetics
- Gender Psychology
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Sexuality, Sexual Orientation
- Social Cognition
Research Group or Laboratory:
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Journal Articles:
- Barrett, H. C., Frederick, D. A., Haselton, M. G., & Kurzban, R. (2006). Can manipulations of cognitive load be used to test evolutionary hypotheses? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(3), 513-518.
- Durante, K. M., Li, N. P., & Haselton, M. G. (in press). Changes in women’s choice of dress across the ovulatory cycle: Naturalistic and laboratory task-based evidence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
- Frederick, D. A. & Haselton, M. G. (2007). Why is muscularity sexy? Tests of the fitness-indicator hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1167-1183.
- Gangestad, S. G., Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2006). Evolutionary foundations of cultural variation: Evoked culture and mate preferences. Target Article: Psychological Inquiry, 17(2), 75-95.
- Gonzaga, G., Haselton, M. G., Smurda, J., Davies, M. S., & Poore, J. C. (2008). Love, desire, and the suppression of thoughts of romantic alternatives. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 119-126.
- Haselton, M. G. (2003). The sexual overperception bias: Evidence of a systematic bias in men from a survey of naturally occurring events. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 43-47.
- Haselton M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2000). Error management theory: A new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 81-91.
- Haselton, M. G., Buss, D. M., Oubaid, V., & Angleitner, A. (2005). Sex, lies, and strategic interference: The psychology of deception between the sexes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 3-23.
- Haselton, M. G., & Gangestad, S. W. (2006). Conditional expression of women’s desires and men’s mate guarding across the ovulatory cycle. Hormones and Behavior, 49, 509-518.
- Haselton, M. G., & Miller, G. F. (2006). Women’s fertility across the cycle increases the short-term attractiveness of creative intelligence. Human Nature, 17(1), 50-73.
- Haselton, M. G., Mortezaie, M., Pillsworth, E. G., Bleske-Recheck, A. E., & Frederick, D. A. (2007). Ovulatory shifts in human female ornamentation: Near ovulation, women dress to impress. Hormones and Behavior, 51, 41-45.
- Haselton, M. G., & Nettle, D. (2006). The paranoid optimist: An integrative evolutionary model of cognitive biases. Personality and Social Psychology Review.
- Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Andrews, P. W. (2005). The evolution of cognitive bias. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 724-746). Hoboken: Wiley.
- Pillsworth, E. G., & Haselton, M. G. (2006). Women’s sexual strategies: The evolution of long-term bonds and extrapair sex. Annual Review of Sex Research, 17, 59-100.
Other Publications:
Courses Taught:
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Interpersonal Communication
- Interpersonal Relationships
- Research Design
- Sex and Gender
Martie Haselton
Rolfe Hall, Room 2322
Department of Communication Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California 90095
United States of America
- Phone: (310) 206-7445
- Fax: (310) 206-2371