Glenn Wilson (psychologist)

Glenn Wilson
Born Glenn Daniel Wilson
(1942-12-29) 29 December 1942
Christchurch, New Zealand
Residence London, England
Education University of Canterbury
Occupation Evolutionary psychologist
Media commentator
Known for Criminal profiling

Glenn Daniel Wilson (born 29 December 1942) is a psychologist best known for his work on attitude and personality measurement, sexual attraction, deviation and dysfunction, partner compatibility, and psychology applied to performing arts.

In 2001, Wilson was ranked among the 10 most frequently cited British psychologists in scientific journals.[1] He is a fellow of the British Psychological Society and makes frequent media appearances as a psychology expert, especially in TV news and documentaries.

Biography

After graduating MA with 1st-class honors at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Wilson moved to London in 1967 to study for his PhD under the supervision of Professor Hans Eysenck, with whom he subsequently collaborated on a number of research projects and co-authored six books. He also co-authored the Eysenck Personality Profiler,[2] a standard personality test used in clinical research and industry. With John Patterson, he devised the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale,[3] which became widely used as a measure of social attitudes[4] and continues to be used today.[5][6][7][8] His 1973 theory that a heritable trait reflecting fear of uncertainty underlies social attitudes in all fields[9] has much empirical support.[10][11][12] Together with G.Knyazev and H.Slobodskaya of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Wilson has researched the EEG correlates of personality and produced a theory of the evolution of brain oscillations.[13]

In a ground-breaking study conducted before leaving New Zealand, Wilson showed that classical fear conditioning in humans can be overridden by verbal reassurances of "safety".[14] This initiated a continuing field of research concerned with the power of cognitive expectations to control anxiety that underlies the rationale of cognitive behavior therapy.[15]

Wilson was a pioneer of evolutionary approaches to understanding human sex differences and mating behavior,[16] attracting some hostility when this was unfashionable in the 1970s. His use of the bust-waist ratio as an objective index of female sexual attractiveness[17] presaged the waist-hip ratio, now widely accepted as an oestrogen (fertility) marker. His studies of sex fantasy yielded the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire,[18] often used in research and forensic psychology. With Peter Fenwick and others at the Institute of Psychiatry, he showed that men with normal and paraphilic interests could be distinguished with respect to EEG responses to erotic images in certain brain areas.[19]

Noting that men and women had different finger length patterns, Wilson introduced the 2D/4D digit ratio as a marker of exposure to prenatal testosterone,[20] research on which has burgeoned in recent decades.[21] His work, with Jon Cousins, in developing the compatibility quotient (CQ) as a predictor of relationship success[22] has resulted in his characterization as "the father of modern compatibility testing".[23] With Qazi Rahman, Wilson has published research supporting the conclusion that sexual orientation is of constitutional origin.[24]

An interest in music and singing (he is a part-time professional baritone) led to courses on Psychology of Performance, which he has taught both in the US and UK. His book Psychology for Performing Artists,[25] now in its 2nd edition, is a standard text in music and drama schools. In 1980 he toured five Italian cities as a guest speaker for the Italian Cultural Association and has since (2009) lectured at the Universities of Chieti and Sapienza, Rome. He is Founder/Treasurer of Connaught Opera, a registered charity providing concerts for older people in care homes and heritage sites in the UK.

From 2009 to 2014 Wilson was Visiting Professor of Psychology at Gresham College, London. Prior to that (1994-2008), he was Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, University of London. He has held visiting appointments at several American institutions, including California State University, Los Angeles, Stanford University, San Francisco State University, Sierra Nevada College and the University of Nevada, Reno, where he was Adjunct Professor for many years.

Notes

  1. ↑ Rushton, J.P. (2001) Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 19-39.
  2. ↑ Eysenck, H.J., Wilson, G.D. (1991) Manual for the Eysenck Personality Profiler, Cymeon, Guildford.
  3. ↑ Wilson, G.D. & Patterson, J.R. (1968) A new measure of conservatism, British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 7, 264-269.
  4. ↑ Smelser, J. (1987) Contemporary Classics in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, ISI Press, Philadelphia (p20)
  5. ↑ Lee, J.J. et al (2013). Emotion regulation as the foundation of emotional political attitudes: Does reappraisal decrease support for conservative policies? "PLoS ONE" 8(12): e83143. doi:10.1371.
  6. ↑ Deppe, K.D. et al (2015) Reflective liberals and intuitive conservatives: A look at the Cognitive Reflexion Test and ideology. "Judgement and Decision Making" 10,314-331.
  7. ↑ Todosijevic, B. (2014) Dimensions of ideology: A review of the social-psychological literature. "European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities", 3, 12-30.
  8. ↑ Schwabe, I. et al (2015) Genes, culture and conservatism - A psychometric-genetic approach. "Behavior Genetics" (online).
  9. ↑ Wilson, G.D. (1973) The Psychology of Conservatism Academic Press, London.
  10. ↑ Bouchard, T.J. et al. (2003), Evidence for the construct validity and heritability of the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale, Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 959-969
  11. ↑ Jost, John T. et al. (2007) Are needs to manage uncertainty and threat associated with political conservatism or ideological extremity? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 989-1007.
  12. ↑ Mills, M. et al. (2016) Political conservatism predicts asymmetries in emotional scene memory. "Behavioral Brain Research, 306, 84-90".
  13. ↑ Knyazev, G.G., Slobodskaya, H.R. & Wilson, G.D. (2004) Personality and brain oscillations in developmental perspective. In S.P. Shohov (Ed) Advances in Psychology Research, Vol. 29, Nova Science Publishers, New York.
  14. ↑ Wilson, G.D. (1968) Reversal of differential GSR conditioning by instructions. "Journal of Experimental Psychology", 76, 491-493.
  15. ↑ Mertons, G. & De Houver, J. (2016) Potentiation of the startle reflex is in line with contingency reversal instructions rather than the conditioning history. "Biological Psychology", online.
  16. ↑ Wilson, G.D. (1981) Love and Instinct, London, Temple Smith
  17. ↑ Wilson, G.D., Nias, D.K.B. & Brazendale, A.H. (1975) Vital statistics, perceived sexual attractiveness and response to risque humor. Journal of Social Psychology, 95, 201-205.
  18. ↑ Wilson, G.D. (2010) Interpretation guidelines to Wilson's Sex Fantasy Questionnaire, Cymeon Pty
  19. ↑ Waismann, R. et al (2003) EEG responses to visual erotic stimuli in men with normal and paraphilic interests. "Archives of Sexual Behavior", 12, 135-144.
  20. ↑ Wilson, G.D. (1983) Finger length as an index of assertiveness in women. Personality and Individual Differences, 4, 111-112.
  21. ↑ Wilson,G.D. (2010) Fingers to feminism: The rise of 2D:4D, Quarterly Review, 4, 25-32.
  22. ↑ Wilson, G.D. & Cousins, J. (2003) CQ: The Secret of Lasting Love, Fusion Books, London.
  23. ↑ Houran, J. Online Dating Magazine.
  24. ↑ Wilson, G.D. & Rahman, Q (2005) Born Gay: The Psychobiology of Sex Orientation, Peter Owen, London
  25. ↑ Wilson, G.D. (2002) Psychology for Performing Artists: 2nd Edition, Wiley, Chichester.

Selected works

External links

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