Dr Gil Greengross

BS in Behavioral Sciences (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel) MS Statistics (University of New Mexico) MS Evolutionary Anthropology (University of New Mexico) PhD Evolutionary Anthropology (University of New Mexico).

Dr Gil Greengross

Lecturer in Psychology

Department of Psychology

Contact Details

Profile

I am originally from Israel, where I received my undergraduate degree in psychology, anthropology and sociology. I earned my Master's degree in statistics and a PhD in evolutionary anthropology from the University of New Mexico.

I am an evolutionary psychologist, studying the evolutionary roots of everyday behaviours and emotions. My main area of research focuses on the evolution of humour and laughter, what makes people laugh, and how humour is used in mating and mate choice. My work is largely interdisciplinary and is drawn from psychology, anthropology, biology and consumer behaviour. I also have a strong interest in studying people with extreme creative abilities, such as stand-up comedians, magicians, and other artists. I look forward to engaging students in teaching and research on these subjects.

Teaching

Module Coordinator
Moderator
Tutor
Coordinator
Lecturer

Research

My main areas of research are evolutionary psychology and psychology of humour and laughter. I take an interdisciplinary approach to understand humour and other everyday behaviours using established theories within the evolutionary paradigm, such as sexual selection and life history.

In my humour research, I study why people use and enjoy humour, individual and sex difference in humour production and appreciation, and specifically the importance of humour to mating and mate choice. I also study people with extreme humour abilities, such as stand-up comedians and improv artists, further aiming to understand the roots of sense of humour and the creative mind.

Other research interests include creativity and intelligence, positive psychology, behavioural genetics, marketing and consumer behaviour, quantitative methods and statistics, and philosophy of science. I am currently studying the psychology of magic and magicians, and a twin study on the heritability of humour.

Office Hours (Student Contact Times)

  • Tuesday 10:30-12
  • Thursday 10:30-12

Publications

Greengross, G, Silvia, PJ & Crasson, SJ 2023, 'Psychotic and autistic traits among magicians and their relationship with creative beliefs', BJPsych Open, vol. 9, no. 6, e214. 10.1192/bjo.2023.609
Silvia, PJ, Greengross, G, Karwowski, M, Rodriguez, RM & Crasson, SJ 2022, 'Who Hates Magic? Exploring the Loathing of Legerdemain', Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 762-771. 10.31234/osf.io/mzry6, 10.1037/aca0000459
Silvia, PJ, Greengross, G, Cotter, KN, Christensen, AP & Gredlein, JM 2021, 'If You’re Funny and You Know It: Personality, Gender, and People’s Ratings of Their Attempts at Humor', Journal of Research in Personality, vol. 92, 104089. 10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104089
Saad, G, Sejean, R, Greengross, G & Cherkas, L 2020, 'Are Identical Twins More Similar in Their Decision Making Styles Than Their Fraternal Counterparts?', Journal of Business Research, vol. 120, pp. 638-643. 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.03.049
Greengross, G, Silvia, PJ & Nusbaum, EC 2020, 'Sex Differences in Humor Production Ability: A Meta-Analysis', Journal of Research in Personality, vol. 84, 103886. 10.1016/j.jrp.2019.103886
More publications on the Research Portal