Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

William Costello

@williamcostello.bsky.social

200 followers 71 following 44 posts

PhD student of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. MSc Psych: Evolution & Culture Brunel University London ‘21

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

🚨 New publication 🚨

Out now and open access in Archives of Sexual Behavior.

The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm: A Model of Harmful Attitudes and Beliefs Among Involuntary Celibates

🧵

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm: A Model of Harmful Attitudes and Beliefs Among Involuntary Celibates - Archives of Sexual Behavior

Incels (involuntary celibates) are an online subculture of men who form their identity around a perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships. This community operates almost exclusively...

link.springer.com

1 1

Reposted by William Costello

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 6d

New preprint!

You may have seen Netflix’s Adolescence. It quickly became their most-watched mini-series ever, even prompting roundtable discussions between writers & the Prime Minister.

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Why Incels Capture Attention: A Cultural Attraction Theory Perspective
AUTHORS
William Costello and Alberto Acerbi

1 3 11

Reposted by William Costello

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 26d

"Critics charge EP with producing unfalsifiable 'just-so stories.' Yet EP explicitly employs Popper’s hypothetico-deductive method: abductive reasoning from proximate data to hypothesize evolved functions, deduction to generate novel predictions, and empirical testing to confirm or falsify them."

Project MUSE - Toward an Epistemology of Evolutionary Psychiatry Insights from Evolutionary Psychology

muse.jhu.edu

2 6

Reposted by William Costello

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · Apr 30

A decimation of the caricature of evolutionary psychology that Red Pill Manosphere gurus appeal to.

Myself and other graduate students, regularly challenge this in our publications and online (i.e., the only place we'll change any of their followers minds).

datepsychology.com/rollo-tomass...

Rollo Tomassi vs Evolutionary Psychology - Date Psychology

An Introduction to Rollo Tomassi Rollo Tomassi has been dubbed the “Godfather of the Red Pill” and his rise to fame has been in no small part from presenting “intrasexual dynamics” through the lens of evolutionary psychology. Men who struggled with women, be it from past experiences with infidelity, break-ups, or initial attraction, poured into

datepsychology.com

1 3

Reposted by William Costello

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Jun 5

🧠💥 What Drives Incels to Harmful Beliefs?

A new study finds two main routes: one shaped by pain from bullying and poor mental health, the other by anger, control, and extreme ideas. Feelings and beliefs mattered more than time spent online.

🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#SciComm🧪 #Incels

The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm: A Model of Harmful Attitudes and Beliefs Among Involuntary Celibates - Archives of Sexual Behavior

link.springer.com

4 26 55

Reposted by William Costello

Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · Jun 19

Interested in #HBES2026 in Rabat? The hosts have drafted a FAQ regarding the location: www.hbes.com/announcing-h...
Overall, this is an exciting opportunity for a great location, hosted by a great team, joint with another evolutionary society, and with perspectives we seldom hear

1 7

Reposted by William Costello

Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · Jun 6

Dr. Norm Li delivers #HBES2025 plenary #5, applying a life history framework to declines in fertility worldwide. Li reviews several known sources of fertility decline but calls attention to a potentially underappreciated factor: evolutionary mismatch.

1 3

Reposted by William Costello

Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · Jun 6

In his #HBES2025 plenary, Norm Li presents a series of experiments providing evidence that exposure to some modern challenges --climbing modern status ladders, economic uncertainty, & population density--induces shifts toward slower reproductive strategies

1 3

Reposted by William Costello

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

I’ll be busy on the Saturday of @humbehevosoc.bsky.social

I'm on a panel on Evolutionary Perspectives on Singlehood

&

Giving a talk on our data showing that in Cross-Sex Friendships: Men (But Not Women) Put Their Money Where Their Mating Motivations Are.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

HBES Presentation Session Guide

HBES 2025 Presentation Session Guide Session 1 - Wednesday, June 4th 3:30 - 4:30 PM Event Room - Evolution & AI ACA 310 - Jealousy as an Evolved Emotion ACA 311 - Life History & Time Scale ACA 312 - C...

docs.google.com

Reposted by William Costello

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

. @humbehevosoc.bsky.social members, I will always advocate for you and our field no matter what, but I would love your vote so that I could do so in an official capacity as student representative!

Go to the HBES website to vote or follow instructions in your email.

Reposted by William Costello

David Pietraszewski @dpietra.bsky.social · May 27

My very personal story about how I discovered evolutionary psychology.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Basement Cults

Podcast Episode · Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) · 05/27/2025 · 2h 10m

podcasts.apple.com

2 7

Reposted by William Costello

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · May 27

🔥🔥🔥
"understanding the human mind will require eventually understanding the evolutionary psychology of psychologists"

Basement Cults

YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)

www.youtube.com

1 1

Reposted by William Costello

Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · May 27

A new podcast, @epthepod.bsky.social: Actual evolutionary psychology by actual evolutionary psychologists. In the first two episodes, the hosts, @davidpinsof.bsky.social and @dpietra.bsky.social, interview each other 🧪 www.youtube.com/@Evolutionar...

Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)

Actual evolutionary psychology by actual evolutionary psychologists. Hosted by Dave Pietraszewski and David Pinsof. Every week, Dave and David bring cutting-edge work in the evolutionary behavioral sc...

www.youtube.com

5 21

Reposted by William Costello

Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · May 27

If you haven't checked out the list of talks for #HBES2025, it's available online: stockton.edu/human-behavi...
Lots of great talks and plenaries coming!

HBES - 36th Annual Human Behavior & Evolution Society Conference - Human Behavior & Evolution Society Conference | Stockton University

stockton.edu

3 8

Reposted by William Costello

Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · May 27

Want to attend #HBES2025, but can’t in person? Stockton University can provide online access for $30/members, $60/non-members. (This is usually *way* too costly to provide.) To register: stockton.edu/human-behavi...

Payment - Human Behavior & Evolution Society Conference | Stockton University

stockton.edu

2 3

Reposted by William Costello

Ashley J Coventry @ashleyjcoventry.bsky.social · May 27

Can’t wait to share some exciting new work at #HBES2025!

Join me for my talk:
“Is Mate Choice Predictable? Using Agent-Based Modeling to Prospectively Predict Successful Blind Dates”

🗓️ Thursday, June 5
⏰ 10:50 AM

Check out my abstract below ⬇️

1 2 10

Reposted by William Costello

Justin Lehmiller @justinlehmiller.bsky.social · May 23

The number of adult virgins is at a record high. Many of these folks would like to be having sex, but cannot find a partner--they are involuntarily celibate. In today's show, we're diving into the psychology of incels with @williamcostello.bsky.social www.sexandpsychology.com/blog/podcast...

Episode 399: The Psychology of Incels (Essential Listen) - Sex and Psychology

Incels are a growing segment of the population, but they aren’t exactly who we think they are. In this episode, we go inside the minds of incels.

www.sexandpsychology.com

2 7

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 22

Fellow Celt (Welsh) and colleague Andrew Thomas pushing in on my Irish media turf! 😂

Great writeup on what he's learned about incels from our research and his own experience at the coalface of counselling incel clients.

m.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

Andrew G Thomas: What I’ve discovered about who incels really are – and how we can help them

The hit Netflix drama Adolescence has triggered another spike in public anxiety over the online radicalisation of young men, particularly those developing warped attitudes towards women. A blink-and-y...

m.independent.ie

Reposted by William Costello

Tom Costello @tomcostello.bsky.social · May 21

🚨New WP🚨

Can AI do "deep canvassing"—the time-intensive, empathic persuasive dialogues that durably reduce prejudice when done by humans?

Spoiler: Yes! We find durable reduction in prejudice toward undocumented immigrants

LLMs make deep canvassing possible at massive scale
osf.io/preprints/os...

2 27 86

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

Thanks to my terrific coauthors Joe Whittaker and
Andrew Thomas

Thanks also to the International Academy of Sex Research and the Commission for Countering Extremism for the associated awards and funding.

More from us soon!

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

Pathway 2: The Psychosocial Vulnerability Trajectory

The second pathway involves psychosocial vulnerabilities, including autistic traits, low mate value, and adverse childhood experiences such as bullying and abuse.

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

Pathway 1: Dispositional Extremism Trajectory

The first pathway involves dispositional traits, such as the Dark Triad (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) and right-wing political views.

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

We also found two indirect pathways to harmful beliefs among incels, which we call The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm.

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

Using a 3N (needs, networks & narratives) inspired model, a pathway analysis found that poor mental health & ideological adherence were 2x as predictive of incels' harmful attitudes than networking.

There was also a bidirectional effect between poor mental health & ideology.

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

Our main goal was to identify which factors predict harm among incels.

We quantified harm using a composite measure consisting of

Hostile sexism
Rape myth acceptance
Displaced aggression
Justification of violence
Angry rumination
Revenge planning

William Costello @williamcostello.bsky.social · May 21

Other work has found that ~18% of incels self-reported an autism diagnosis.

Using the AQ-10 scale, ~30% of our sample would meet the criteria for an autism referral.

We are now researching how autism influences & is influenced by incel ideology.

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) Incels, Autism, Violent Extremism and the Case of Alek Minassian

PDF | On Mar 4, 2021, Anne Speckhard and others published Incels, Autism, Violent Extremism and the Case of Alek Minassian | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate