Brian Collisson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director of Traditional Undergraduate Psychology Programs
bcollisson@apu.edu
“Hi all. I’m currently accepting graduate students for the upcoming school year. I encourage you to apply! If you’d like to chat more about research and the many career opportunities available in psych, let me know!”
- Dr. Collisson
Recent Media Attention
Foodie Calls
The Atlantic: “When one person on a date is just there for the free food”
Good Morning America: “Women who make ‘foodie calls’ more likely to have psychopathic behavior”
New York Post: “A third of women only date men because of the free food”
Yahoo Finance: “A third of daters on only there for the free food”
CBS: “Foodie call”
ABC Eyewitness News: “Some women agree to date men for free food”
New Food Economy: “The fraught sexual politics of the ‘foodie call’”
Relational Prejudice
Psychology Today: “Date Someone Your Own Size”
Brit + Co: “The Unfair Thing that Happens to Mixed-Weight Couples”
Psychology Today Magazine: “Just Because We’re Different”
Rewire: “Why Do ‘Mixed’ Couples Face Discrimination”
Interested in Research?
Brian Collisson, Ph.D., conducts research at the interface of social relationships, prejudice, and personality.
Projects in his lab typically focus on prejudice, attitudes towards romantic couples, and dark personality traits.
Current Projects
Consumers' Dark Traits Predict Abuse of Food Refund Policies
Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch? We found 46% of customers abuse refund policies of online food delivery services by falsely claiming an order was missing, damaged, or incorrect to receive both their original food order and a full refund. We examined whether customers’ Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) predict food refund fraud and its perceived acceptability.
Unethical Life Pro Tips
Some people share unethical life advice online, such as how to manipulate and deceive others for self-benefit. We're exploring whether people's dark personality traits predict their history of unethical behavior and heeding of unethical advice online.
Eating Away Prejudice
People often associate ethnic groups with particular foods (e.g., French crepes, Japanese sushi). We tested whether people’s ethnic prejudices vary as a function of their (dis)liking of ethnic food. Specifically, we explored whether perceived similarity mediates this relation.
Other Areas of Recent Interest
Relationship Interference - the extent to which people meddle in, and try to dissolve, others relationships
Psychology Career Options - Why psychology majors so often underestimate their career options
Being the Willing Bearer of Bad News - Sadism's links to sharing unwanted information with others
Perceptions of Racial Discrimination - Do perceptions of racism color people's perceptions of others' ambiguous behavior?
For a full list of published research projects, click here
Undergraduate Research Team
Graduate Students
Colleagues & Collaborators