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  3. Paxton Culpepper

  • Paxton holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology (Open), an MSc in Evolutionary Psychology (Brunel), and a PhD (Stirling). He specialises in behaviour and evolution, with a specific interest in the behavioural immune system, the evolutionary origins and function of religious behaviour, mating psychology, and parent-offspring conflict.

  • Paxton currently teaches or supervises for a variety of UG and PG modules:

    Undergraduate teaching & supervision

    • Module coordinator & Lecturer: Introduction to Psychology (yr1)
    • Seminar Leader: Becoming a Psychologist (yr1)
    • Module coordinator & Principal Lecturer: The Human Animal (yr2)
    • Lecturer: Biological & Cognitive Psychology: Mechanisms of the Mind (yr2)
    • Lecturer: Personality & Fundamentals of Psychology (yr2)
    • Seminar Leader: Research Methods & Data Analysis (yr2)
    • Guest Lecturer: Religion, Spirituality, & Wellbeing (yr3)
    • Guest Lecturer: The Psychology of Mental Health (yr3)
    • Dissertation Supervisor (yr3)

    Postgraduate teaching & supervision

    • Lecturer: Cognitive and Biological Psychology & Neuroscience (MSc)
    • Lecturer: Conceptual & Historical Issues in Psychology (MSc)
    • Dissertation Supervisor (MSc)
    • Doctoral Supervisor (PhD)

    Former MSc Dissertation Students

    • Tunchanok Chunvirut  (2019-20)  Disgust sensitivity and sociocultural adjustment in international students.

  • Paxton’s research focus is on the evolution and function of the behavioural immune system (BIS) and its relationship with various types of social behaviour, e.g. mate choice, philopatry, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, religiosity, morality, etc. He is currently exploring the relationship between the BIS and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).

    • Culpepper, P.D., Havlíček, J., Leongómez, J.D., & Roberts, S.C. (2018). Visually activating pathogen disgust: Developing a new tool for studying the behavioural immune system. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:1397.

    Manuscripts in preparation

    • Culpepper, P.D., & Roberts, S.C. (2021). Pathogen stress imposes causal influence on the governing rules individuals select for a society. 
    • Culpepper, P.D., & Roberts, S.C. (2021). Pathogen stress and preferences associated with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). 
    • Culpepper, P.D., & Chunvirut, T. (2021). Disgust sensitivity and sociocultural adjustment in international students.