Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

D. Vaughn Becker

D. Vaughn Becker

I am a cognitive and social psychologist, strongly influenced by evolutionary theory and complexity science. I’m currently researching signal detection in fundamental social domains, especially with regard to threat detection (this is part of a larger attempt to flesh out a functionalist psychophysics). In a related vein I am interested in using these tools as assessment methods that identify important task-specific individual differences--for example, assessing a person’s bias to see outgroup members as threatening, and determining whether emotionally evocative situations give rise to such biases. I also have an abiding interest in how the dynamics and self-organization of complex social systems might be influenced by ecological and evolutionary factors, particularly with regard to social traps, mating-related behaviors, and the dynamics of popular culture.

Primary Interests:

  • Aggression, Conflict, Peace
  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Evolution and Genetics
  • Intergroup Relations
  • Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
  • Person Perception
  • Prejudice and Stereotyping
  • Sexuality, Sexual Orientation
  • Social Cognition

Journal Articles:

  • Ackerman, J. M., Shapiro, J. R., Neuberg, S. L., Kenrick, D. K., Becker, D. V., Griskevicius, V., Maner, J. K., & Schaller, M. (2006). They all look the same to me (unless they're angry): From out-group homogeneity to out-group heterogeneity. Psychological Science, 17, 836-840.
  • Becker, D. V., Kenrick, D. T., Guerin, S., & Maner, J. M. (2005). Concentrating on beauty: Sexual selection and sociospatial memory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 12, 1643-1652.
  • Becker, D. V., Kenrick, D. T., Neuberg, S. L., Blackwell, K. C., & Smith, D. (2007). The confounded nature of angry men and happy women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 179-190.
  • Becker, D. V., Sagarin, B. J., Nicastle, L. D., Millevoi, A., & Guadagno, R. E. (2004). When the sexes need not differ: Emotional reactions to hypothetical infidelities. Personal Relationships, 11, 529-538.
  • Becker, D. V., Stone G. O., & Goldinger, S. (2006). Perception and recognition memory of words and werds: Two-way mirror effects. Memory and Cognition, 34, 1495-1511.
  • Kenrick, D. T., Maner, J. K., Butner, J., Li, N. P., Becker, D. V., & Schaller, M. (2002). Dynamic evolutionary psychology: Mapping the domains of the new interactionist paradigm. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 347-356.
  • Maner, J. K., Kenrick, D. T., Becker, D. V., Delton, A. W., Hofer, B., Wilbur, C. J., & Neuberg, S. L. (2003). Sexually selective cognition: Beauty captures the mind of the beholder. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6, 1107-1120.
  • Maner, J. K., Kenrick, D. T., Becker, D. V., Robertson, T., Hofer, B., Delton, A., Neuberg, S. L., Butner, J., & Schaller, M. (2005). Functional projection: How fundamental social motives can bias interpersonal perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 63-78.
  • Sagarin, B. J., Becker, D. V., Guadagno, R. E., Nicastle, L. D., & Millevoi, A. (2003). Sex differences (and similarities) in jealousy: The moderating influence of infidelity experience and sexual orientation of the infidelity. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 17-23.

Other Publications:

  • Kenrick, D. T., Becker, D. V., Butner, J., Li, N. P., & Maner, J. K. (2003). Evolutionary cognitive science: Adding what and why to how the mind works. In J. Fitness & K. Sterelney (Eds.), From mating to mentality. Sydney: MacQuarie University Press.
  • Kenrick, D. T., Delton, A. W., Robertson, T., Becker, D. V. & Neuberg, S. L. (2006). How the mind warps: Processing disjunctions may elucidate ultimate functions. In J. P. Forgas, W. VonHippel, & M. Haselton (Eds.), The evolution of the social mind: Evolution and social cognition. New York: Psychology Press.

D. Vaughn Becker
Department of Applied Psychology
Arizona State University Polytechnic
Mesa, Arizona 85212
United States of America

  • Phone: (480) 727-1151

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