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Dr Matthew Gervais
Lecturer in Psychology

Summary

I'm an evolutionary and cultural psychologist with a background in anthropology. My research takes a multi-level approach to human sociality, seeking to understand the mutual constitution and co-evolution of human emotions, social relationships, and social structures. I use a range of descriptive and confirmatory methods, including long-term participant observation, semi-structured interviews, cultural domain analysis, economic games, and social psychological surveys. I have worked extensively with indigenous iTaukei communities in the Fiji Islands. I also collaborate on multi-site comparative studies investigating human psychological and behavioural variation.

Qualifications

PhD 2013 - Biological Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles

MA 2008 - Biological Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles

BS/BA 2006 - Psychobiology/Philosophy/Anthropology, Binghamton University SUNY

Newest selected publications

Gervais, M. (2026) 'Sentiments, Respect, and the Evolution of Norm Psychology'. [Poster] Exhibited at. 2026 Annual Conference of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association (EHBEA2026) 16 4 2026

Poster

Rosun, N., Gervais, MM. and Willard, AK. (2026) 'Existential security and the cultural evolution of secularisation in Mauritius'. Evolution and Human Behavior, 47 (2). pp. 1 - 13. ISSN: 1090-5138 Open Access Link

Journal article

Gervais, MM. (2024) 'Sentiments Organize Affect Concepts in Yasawa, Fiji: a Cultural Domain Analysis'. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 24 (3-4). pp. 127 - 181. ISSN: 1567-7095 Open Access Link

Journal article

Redhead, D., Gervais, M., Kajokaite, K., Koster, J., Hurtado Manyoma, A., Hurtado Manyoma, D., et al. (2024) 'Evidence of direct and indirect reciprocity in network-structured economic games'. Communications Psychology, 2 (1). pp. 1 - 13. ISSN: 2731-9121 Open Access Link

Journal article

Dale, R., Bryant, GA., Manson, JH. and Gervais, MM. (2020) 'Body synchrony in triadic interaction'. Royal Society Open Science, 7 (9). pp. 1 - 16. ISSN: 2054-5703 Open Access Link

Journal article
More publications(16)