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Ian D Stephen

Staff Group(s)
Psychology

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.

Publications

Stephen, I.D., Luoto, S. (2023), Physical cues of partner quality. In: Shackelford and Mogilski (Eds) The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Romantic Relationships. Oxford University Press.

Buchanan, E.M., Lewis, S.C., Stephen, I.D. et al. (2023) PSACR: The Psychological Science Accelerator's COVID-19 Rapid-Response Dataset. Nature Scientific Data. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01811-7

Wong, H.K., Keeble, D.R.T., Stephen, I.D. (2023) Do They “Look” Differently? Dynamic Face Recognition in Malaysians: Chinese, Malays and Indians Compared. British Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12629

House, T., Graham, K., Ellis, B., Bould, H., Attwood, A.S., Stephen, I.D., Brooks, K.R., Penton-Voak, I.S. (2023) Is Body Dissatisfaction Related to an Attentional Bias Towards Low Weight Bodies in Non-clinical Female Populations? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Body Image, 44, 103-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.12.003

Tzschaschel, E., Brooks, K.R., Stephen, I.D. (2022) The valence-dominance model applies to body perception. Royal Society Open Science 9, 220594. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220594

Dorison, C.A., Coles, N.A., Stephen, I.D., et al. (2022) COVID-19 health messaging, loss framing increases anxiety with little-to-no concomitant benefits: Experimental evidence from 84 countries. Affective Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00128-3

Psychological Science Accelerator Self-Determination Theory Collaboration. (2022) A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111091119

Bago, B., Aczel, B, Stephen, I.D. et al. (2022) Situational factors shape moral judgments in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern, and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample. Nature Human Behaviour. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01319-5

House, T., Stephen, I.D., Penton-Voak, I.S., Brooks, K.R. (2022) The Effect of Attention on Body Size Adaptation and Body Dissatisfaction. Royal Society Open Science. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y9s7c

Brooks, K. R., Stevenson, R. J., & Stephen, I. D. (2021). Over or under? Mental representations and the paradox of body size estimation. Frontiers in Psychology12, 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 Behaviourhttps://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 Behavior42(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 Psychologyhttps://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 Psychology74(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 Reports11(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 Behaviour5(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 Psychology111(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 Psychology11, 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 Psychology11, 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 Science15(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 Psychology10, 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 Neuroscience13, 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 Behavior210, 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 Research12(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 Psychology10(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 Disorders52(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 Science5(6), 1-9. [172103]. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172103https://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 Behavior39(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 ONE13(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 Biology30(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 Cognition26(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 Research45(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 Psychology8, 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 Behavior38(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. Cognition159, 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 Reports7, 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 Behavior38(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 Sciences40, 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 Sciences40, 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 Psychology7, 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. Perception45(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 ONE11(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. Perception45(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 Neuroscience10, 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 Psychology2(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. Perception44(S1), 188.

Keeble, D., Wong, H. K., & Stephen, I. (2015). The Own-Race Bias for Face Recognition in Malaysians and Whites. Perception44(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 ONE10(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 Alcoholism50(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 Psychology5, 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 Psychology5, 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 ONE9(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 Image11(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 ONE9(1), 1-8. [e86302]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086302

Stephen, I. D. (2013). Applied evolutionary psychology. British Journal of Psychology104(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. Perception42(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 bulletin28(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). Ethology118(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 Health102(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 Behavior33(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 Psychology103, 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 Behavior33(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 Health102(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 ONE7(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 Psychology10(3), 562-572.

Stephen, I. D., Coetzee, V., & Perrett, D. I. (2011). Carotenoid and melanin pigment coloration affect perceived human health. Evolution and Human Behavior32(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. Perception40(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. Perception39(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 ONE5(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. Perception39(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 Primatology30(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 ONE4(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? Perception38(11), 1700-1711. https://doi.org/10.1068/p6423

See all of Ian D Stephen's publications...

Press expertise

I am available to speak with the press about:

- Attraction and mate choice

- Perceptions and first impressions of people

- Body image and body misperception, including eating disorders

- Evolutionary explanations of behaviour

Course(s) I teach on

  • A student wearing a VR headset in Chaucer Building's Psychology Labs
    Undergraduate | Full-time

    https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/social-sciences/ug/bsc-hons-psychology