Research interests

My research interests are social and evolutionary psychology, in particularly, I am interested in altruistic behaviour and why we help others at the cost to ourselves. The majority of my research looks at sex differences in the way in which altruism is shown off to the opposite sex. I argue that altruism may act as a signal of underlying quality that is important to mates and that we should consider the role of sexual selection in the evolution of human altruism.

Key Publications

Publications

Van vugt, M., & Iredale, W. (2012). Men Behaving Nicely: Public Goods as Peacock Tails. British Journal of Psychology. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011

Iredale. W., & Van Vugt, M. (2012). Altruism as Show Off: A Signalling Perspective on Bystander Helping, Charity Giving, Environmental Sustainability and Other Acts of Kindness. In Ed. C. Roberts, Applied Evolutionary psychology. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

Iredale, W., & Van Vugt. M (2010). Is Altruism Sexy? The Darwinian Psychology of Helping and Generosity. Psychology Review, 15, 9-11.

Iredale, W., & Van Vugt. (2009). The Peacocks tail of altruism: The Darwinian Psychology of Helping and Generosity. The Psychologist, 22, 938-941.

Iredale, W., Van Vugt, M., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2008). Showing off in Humans: Male Generosity as a Mating Signal. Evolutionary Psychology, 6(3), 386-392.

Conference presentations

Iredale, W., & Van Vugt, M (2008). The Showing off Hypothesis: Altruism as a mate signal. European Human Behaviour and Evolution Conference, Montpellier, France.

Iredale, W., & Van Vugt, M. (2007). Preferences for Altruists as Mates. BPS Social Psychology Section conference, Kent, UK.

Iredale, W., & Van Vugt, M. (2007). Altruism: The Role of Sexual Selection. From Lucy to language: The Archaeology of the Social Brain Annual Meeting, Royal Holloway. London. UK

Iredale, W., & Van Vugt, M. (2006). Understanding Altruism: The Role of Sexual Selection. Evolution and Group Processes: Darwin’s great idea, an EAESP workshop, Canterbury, UK

Teaching

Module Convenor and coordinator :

SP304 Introduction to psychology
SP305 Introduction to psychology
SP619 Social psychology of groups
Study Skills and PDP
SP623 Social psychology of Health (Medway)

Contributing to teaching on:

SP633 Applying psychology
SP632 psychology of groups
SP300 Psychology statistics and practicals
SP500 Psychology statistics and methods
SP302 Introduction to social psychology
SP310 Introduction to Psychology (Medway)
Academic workshops

Supervisor for undergraduate final year projects (Medway)

Contact Details

Address:	School of Psychology Keynes College University of Kent Canterbury Kent CT2 7NP United Kingdom
Tel:	+44 (0)1227 824759
Fax:	+44 (0)1227 827030
Email:	W.L.Iredale@kent.ac.uk
Office:	Keynes A2.02
Office Hours:	Tuesday 1-2pm, Wednesday 12-1pm