Mícheál De Barra - MSc

Background

Mícheál De Barra is an evolutionary psychologist and has conducted research on facial attractiveness and worked on behaviour change programs for children with autism. His current research project is on hygiene and its relationship with disgust.

After studying Psychology in Ireland I worked for a year implementing behaviour change programmes for children with autism. A growing interest in evolutionary approaches to behaviour led me to the University of Liverpool where I graduated with a MSc in evolutionary psychology in 2007.

Teaching & Research

My thesis in Liverpool focused on facial resemblance and attractiveness. Ongoing internet based research relating to this, and to other projects, can be found at http://webexperiment.net/

My research at the LSHTM will focus on hygiene and its relationship to disgust. Pathogens are a severe and recurrent threat to animal heath and fitness, and hygiene behaviour, that is, behaviour that reduces the probability of infection, may have been shaped by natural selection. We suspect disgust may function as the psychological basis of pathogen avoidance behaviours in humans and my PhD thesis will focus on this idea.