Role
Senior Lecturer
Career overview
I joined NTU as a senior lecturer in October 2021. Before that, I held academic positions at Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) and The University of Nottingham (Malaysia) and research posts at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews. I hold a BSc (Hons) from UCL, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD from the University of St Andrews.
Research areas
My research focuses on person perception, which I approach from two main angles:
1. I am interested in understanding what aspects of physiology and psychology are reflected in our faces and bodies, and how our brains extract this information to form judgements. For example, is our health reflected in cues in our faces and bodies, and how do we use those cues to form perceptions of health and attractiveness?
2. I am interested in understanding the mechanisms that underlie our perceptions of our own and others' bodies. By understanding how these perceptions are formed, updated and maintained, we aim to provide the scientific basis for new treatments for body image disturbance and related mental health issues such as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and muscle dysmorphia.
I have supervised projects on these topics at undergraduate, honours, masters, and PhD level, and would be interested in hearing from prospective students with interests in these areas.
External activity
Publications
Brooks, K. R., Stevenson, R. J., & Stephen, I. D. (2021). Over or under? Mental representations and the paradox of body size estimation. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-5. [706313]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.706313
Wang, K., Goldenberg, A., Dorison, C. A., Miller, J. K., Uusberg, A., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., Agesin, B. B., Bernardo, M., Campos, O., Eudave, L., Grzech, K., Ozery, D. H., Jackson, E. A., Garcia, E. O. L., Drexler, S. M., Jurković, A. P., Rana, K., Wilson, J. P., ... Moshontz, H. (2021). A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x
Antar, J. C., & Stephen, I. D. (2021). Facial shape provides a valid cue to sociosexuality in men but not women. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(4), 361-370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.02.001
Zopf, R., Kosourikhina, V., Brooks, K. R., Polito, V., & Stephen, I. D. (2021). Visual body-size adaptation and estimation of tactile distance. British Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12514
Hsieh, J. Y. J., Gwinn, O. S., Brooks, K. R., Stephen, I. D., Carragher, D. J., & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2021). The “cheerleader effect” in facial and bodily attractiveness: a result of memory bias and not perceptual encoding. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(5), 972-980. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021820976087
Wong, H. K., Estudillo, A. J., Stephen, I. D., & Keeble, D. R. T. (2021). The other-race effect and holistic processing across racial groups. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-15. [8507]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87933-1
Jones, B. C., DeBruine, L. M., Flake, J. K., Liuzza, M. T., Antfolk, J., Arinze, N. C., Ndukaihe, I. L. G., Bloxsom, N. G., Lewis, S. C., Foroni, F., Willis, M. L., Cubillas, C. P., Vadillo, M. A., Turiegano, E., Gilead, M., Simchon, A., Saribay, S. A., Owsley, N. C., Jang, C., ... Coles, N. A. (2021). To which world regions does the valence–dominance model of social perception apply? Nature Human Behaviour, 5(1), 159-169. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2
Brooks, K. R., Keen, E., Sturman, D., Mond, J., Stevenson, R. J., & Stephen, I. D. (2020). Muscle and fat aftereffects and the role of gender: implications for body image disturbance. British Journal of Psychology, 111(4), 742-761. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12439
Sulikowski, D., Tan, K. W., Jones, A. L., Welling, L. L. M., & Stephen, I. D. (2020). Editorial: perceptions of people: cues to underlying physiology and psychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1-2. [643]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00643
Wong, H. K., Stephen, I. D., & Keeble, D. R. T. (2020). The own-race bias for face recognition in a multiracial society. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1-16. [208]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00208
Brooks, K. R., Mond, J., Mitchison, D., Stevenson, R. J., Challinor, K. L., & Stephen, I. D. (2020). Looking at the figures: visual adaptation as a mechanism for body-size and -shape misperception. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(1), 133-149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619869331
Gould-Fensom, L., Tan, C. B. Y., Brooks, K. R., Mond, J., Stevenson, R. J., & Stephen, I. D. (2019). The thin white line: adaptation suggests a common neural mechanism for judgments of Asian and Caucasian body size. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1-9. [2532]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02532
Brooks, K. R., Baldry, E., Mond, J., Stevenson, R. J., Mitchison, D., & Stephen, I. D. (2019). Gender and the body size aftereffect: implications for neural processing. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, 1-11. [1100]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.01100
Mahmut, M. K., Stevenson, R. J., & Stephen, I. (2019). Do women love their partner's smell? Exploring women's preferences for and identification of male partner and non-partner body odor. Physiology and Behavior, 210, 1-6. [112517]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.04.006
Wong, H. K., & Stephen, I. D. (2019). Eye tracker as an implied social presence: awareness of being eye-tracked induces social-norm-based looking behaviour. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 12(2), 1-17. [5]. https://doi.org/10.16910/jemr.12.2.5
Tan, K. W., & Stephen, I. D. (2019). Skin color preferences in a Malaysian Chinese population. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(JUN), 1-6. [1352]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01352
Stephen, I. D., Hunter, K., Sturman, D., Mond, J., Stevenson, R. J., & Brooks, K. R. (2019). Experimental manipulation of visual attention affects body size adaptation but not body dissatisfaction. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 52(1), 79-87. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22976
Roberts, M. (Developer), Brooks, K. (Designer), Mitchison, D. (Designer), Stephen, I. (Author), Zhang, M. (Author), & Bashu, V. U. (Author). (2018). Body Perception Survey plugin. Software, Macquarie University. https://bitbucket.org/altmattr/body-image/
Brooks, K., Clifford, C. W. G., Stevenson, R. J., Mond, J., & Stephen, I. D. (2018). The high level basis of body adaptation. Royal Society Open Science, 5(6), 1-9. [172103]. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172103, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172103
Tan, K. W., Tiddeman, B., & Stephen, I. D. (2018). Skin texture and colour predict perceived health in Asian faces. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(3), 320-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.02.003
Stephen, I. D., Sturman, D., Stevenson, R. J., Mond, J., & Brooks, K. R. (2018). Visual attention mediates the relationship between body satisfaction and susceptibility to the body size adaptation effect. PLoS ONE, 13(1), 1-14. [e0189855]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189855
Longman, D. P., Prall, S. P., Shattuck, E. C., Stephen, I. D., Stock, J. T., Wells, J. C. K., & Muehlenbein, M. P. (2018). Short-term resource allocation during extensive athletic competition. American Journal of Human Biology, 30(1), 1-11. [e23052]. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23052
Stephen, I. D., Salter, D. L. H., Tan, K. W., Tan, C. B. Y., & Stevenson, R. J. (2018). Sexual dimorphism and attractiveness in Asian and White faces. Visual Cognition, 26(6), 442-449. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2018.1475437
Challinor, K. L., Mond, J., Stephen, I. D., Mitchison, D., Stevenson, R. J., Hay, P., & Brooks, K. R. (2017). Body size and shape misperception and visual adaptation: an overview of an emerging research paradigm. Journal of International Medical Research, 45(6), 2001-2008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300060517726440
Stephen, I. D., Hiew, V., Coetzee, V., Tiddeman, B. P., & Perrett, D. I. (2017). Facial shape analysis identifies valid cues to aspects of physiological health in Caucasian, Asian, and African populations. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1-10. [1883]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01883
Tan, K. W., Graf, B. A., Mitra, S. R., & Stephen, I. D. (2017). Impact of fresh fruit smoothie consumption on apparent health of Asian faces. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(4), 522-529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.02.004
Teoh, Y., Wallis, E., Stephen, I. D., & Mitchell, P. (2017). Seeing the world through others’ minds: inferring social context from behaviour. Cognition, 159, 48-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.11.003
Sturman, D., Stephen, I. D., Mond, J., Stevenson, R. J., & Brooks, K. R. (2017). Independent Aftereffects of Fat and Muscle: implications for neural encoding, body space representation, and body image disturbance. Scientific Reports, 7, 1-8. [40392]. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40392
Zuniga, A., Stevenson, R. J., Mahmut, M. K., & Stephen, I. D. (2017). Diet quality and the attractiveness of male body odor. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(1), 136-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.08.002
Stephen, I. D., Burke, D., & Sulikowski, D. (2017). Tinbergen's "four questions" provides a formal framework for a more complete understanding of prosocial biases in favour of attractive people. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, 38-39. [e44]. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X16000650
Stephen, I., Burke, D., & Sulikowski, D. (2017). Carruthers on massive modularity. In Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science Springer, Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3095-1
Burke, D., Sulikowski, D., Stephen, I., & Brooks, R. (2017). Inconsistent with the data: support for the CLASH model depends on the wrong kind of latitude. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, 16-17. [e80]. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X16001242
Stephen, I. D., Bickersteth, C., Mond, J., Stevenson, R. J., & Brooks, K. R. (2016). No effect of featural attention on body size aftereffects. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1-9. [1223]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01223
Brooks, K. R., Sturman, D., Mond, J., Stevenson, R., & Stephen, I. (2016). The neural encoding of bodies along the dimensions of fat and muscle. Perception, 45(S2), 83.
Brierley, M. E., Brooks, K. R., Mond, J., Stevenson, R. J., & Stephen, I. D. (2016). The body and the beautiful: health, attractiveness and body composition in men's and women's bodies. PLoS ONE, 11(6), 1-16. [e0156722]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156722
Tan, C. B. Y., Sheppard, E., & Stephen, I. D. (2016). Recognizing Dynamic Faces in Malaysian Chinese Participants. Perception, 45(3), 300-314. https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006615607247
Brooks, K. R., Mond, J. M., Stevenson, R. J., & Stephen, I. D. (2016). Body image distortion and exposure to extreme body types: Contingent adaptation and cross adaptation for self and other. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10, 1-10. [334]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2016.00334
Tan, C. B. Y., Sheppard, E., & Stephen, I. D. (2015). A change in strategy: Static emotion recognition in Malaysian Chinese. Cogent Psychology, 2(1), 1-14. [1085941]. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2015.1085941
Brooks, K., Stephen, I., Murley, A., Mond, J., & Stevenson, D. (2015). Representation of body size for self and other: simple-, cross- and contingent adaptation. Perception, 44(S1), 188.
Keeble, D., Wong, H. K., & Stephen, I. (2015). The Own-Race Bias for Face Recognition in Malaysians and Whites. Perception, 44(S1), 23-23.
Tan, K. W., Graf, B. A., Mitra, S. R., & Stephen, I. D. (2015). Daily consumption of a fruit and vegetable smoothie alters facial skin color. PLoS ONE, 10(7), 1-14. [e0133445]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133445
Van den Abbeele, J., Penton-Voak, I. S., Attwood, A. S., Stephen, I. D., & Munafò, M. R. (2015). Increased facial attractiveness following moderate, but not high, alcohol consumption. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 50(3), 296-301. [agv010]. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agv010
Stephen, I. D., & Wei, T. K. (2015). Healthy body, healthy face? Evolutionary approaches to attractiveness perception. In S. Haque, & E. Sheppard (Eds.), Culture and Cognition: A Collection of Critical Essays (pp. 45-65). Peter Lang AG. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0351-0826-2
Stephen, I. D., & Perrett, D. I. (2015). Color and face perception. In A. J. Elliot, M. D. Fairchild, & A. Franklin (Eds.), Handbook of color psychology (pp. 585-602). Cambridge University Press.
Stephen, I. D., Mahmut, M. K., Case, T. I., Fitness, J., & Stevenson, R. J. (2014). The uniquely predictive power of evolutionary approaches to mind and behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1-3. [1372]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01372
Stephen, I. D. (2014). Putting the theory before the data: is "massive modularity" a necessary foundation of evolutionary psychology? Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1-2. [1158]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01158
Coetzee, V., Greeff, J. M., Stephen, I. D., & Perrett, D. I. (2014). Cross-cultural agreement in facial attractiveness preferences: The role of ethnicity and gender. PLoS ONE, 9(7), 1-8. [e99629]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099629
Stephen, I. D., & Perera, A. T. M. (2014). Judging the differences between women's attractiveness and health: Is there really a difference between judgments made by men and women? Body Image, 11(2), 183-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.11.007
Stephen, I. D., & Perera, A. T. M. (2014). Judging the difference between attractiveness and health: Does exposure to model images influence the judgments made by men and women? PLoS ONE, 9(1), 1-8. [e86302]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086302
Stephen, I. D. (2013). Applied evolutionary psychology. British Journal of Psychology, 104(3), 438-439. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12040
Tan, K. W., & Stephen, I. D. (2013). Colour detection thresholds in faces and colour patches. Perception, 42(7), 733-741. https://doi.org/10.1068/p7499
Stephen, I. D. (2013). On aims and methods of facial attractiveness research: the lasting influence of Tinbergen (1963). Human ethology bulletin, 28(4), 31-38.
Danel, D. P., Fedurek, P., Coetzee, V., Stephen, I. D., Nowak, N., Stirrat, M., Perrett, D. I., & Saxton, T. K. (2012). A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Population-Specific Face Shape Preferences (Homo sapiens). Ethology, 118(12), 1173-1181. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12022
Whitehead, R. D., Ozakinci, G., Stephen, I. D., & Perrett, D. I. (2012). Whitehead et al. respond. American Journal of Public Health, 102(10), e3-e4. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300942
Park, J. H., van Leeuwen, F., & Stephen, I. D. (2012). Homeliness is in the disgust sensitivity of the beholder: Relatively unattractive faces appear especially unattractive to individuals higher in pathogen disgust. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(5), 569-577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.02.005
Stephen, I. D. (2012). New directions in colour studies. British Journal of Psychology, 103, 428-438. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.2012.02120.x
Stephen, I. D., Scott, I. M. L., Coetzee, V., Pound, N., Perrett, D. I., & Penton-Voak, I. S. (2012). Cross-cultural effects of color, but not morphological masculinity, on perceived attractiveness of men's faces. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(4), 260-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.10.003
Whitehead, R. D., Ozakinci, G., Stephen, I. D., & Perrett, D. I. (2012). Appealing to vanity: Could potential appearance improvement motivate fruit and vegetable consumption? American Journal of Public Health, 102(2), 207-211. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300405
Tan, C. B. Y., Stephen, I. D., Whitehead, R., & Sheppard, E. (2012). You look familiar: how Malaysian Chinese recognize faces. PLoS ONE, 7(1), 1-4. [e29714]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029714
Stephen, I. D., Oldham, F. H., Perrett, D. I., & Barton, R. A. (2012). Redness enhances perceived aggression, dominance and attractiveness in men's faces. Evolutionary Psychology, 10(3), 562-572.
Stephen, I. D., Coetzee, V., & Perrett, D. I. (2011). Carotenoid and melanin pigment coloration affect perceived human health. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32(3), 216-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.09.003
Perrett, D. I., Re, D., Whitehead, R., Stephen, I., Coetzee, V., Lefevre, C., Moore, A. F., Xiao, D., & Ozakinci, G. (2011). Face colour, health, lifestyle and attractiveness. Perception, 40(S1), 23-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/03010066110400S102
Coetzee, V., Chen, J., Perrett, D. I., & Stephen, I. D. (2010). Deciphering faces: Quantifiable visual cues to weight. Perception, 39(1), 51-61. https://doi.org/10.1068/p6560
Scott, I. M. L., Pound, N., Stephen, I. D., Clark, A. P., & Penton-Voak, I. S. (2010). Does masculinity matter? The contribution of masculine face shape to male attractiveness in humans. PLoS ONE, 5(10), 1-10. [e13585]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0013585
Stephen, I. D., & McKeeganh, A. M. (2010). Lip colour affects perceived sex typicality and attractiveness of human faces. Perception, 39(8), 1104-1110. https://doi.org/10.1068/p6730
Stephen, I. D., Law Smith, M. J., Stirrat, M. R., & Perrett, D. I. (2009). Facial skin coloration affects perceived health of human faces. International Journal of Primatology, 30(6), 845-857. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-009-9380-z
Stephen, I. D., Coetzee, V., Law Smith, M. J., & Perrett, D. I. (2009). Skin blood perfusion and oxygenation colour affect perceived human health. PLoS ONE, 4(4), 1-7. [e5083]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005083
Coetzee, V., Perrett, D. I., & Stephen, I. D. (2009). Facial adiposity: A cue to health? Perception, 38(11), 1700-1711. https://doi.org/10.1068/p6423
Course(s) I teach on
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Undergraduate | Full-time | 2023COURSE
Psychology - BSc (Hons)
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/social-sciences/ug/bsc-hons-psychology
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Undergraduate | Full-time | 2024
COURSE
Psychology - BSc (Hons)
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/social-sciences/ug/next-year/bsc-hons-psychology