William Costello
Biographic Data
| ID | 150507 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William Costello |
| GIVEN NAMES | William |
| FAMILY NAME | Costello |
| SIGNATURE | COSTELLO W |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0346-6370 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Courtship in cross-sex friendship
Cross-sex and intrasexual theory of mind
Sex Biases in Patterns of Parental Investment
Most research on human parental investment has focused on overall parental effort or resource allocation, overlooking the fact that human investment spans a broad suite of material, instructional, and social forms of investment. This array of investment enables examination of how evolutionary processes have elaborated parental care into distinct domains. Where daughters and sons historically faced different recurrent adaptive problems, selection …
Beyond falsifiability
We thank Moore (2026) and Geary (2026) for their thoughtful commentaries on Costello et al. (2026). Both agree on our core premise: that evolutionary psychology's hypotheses are falsifiable. We hope this shared recognition can help finally dispel the mistaken claim that evolutionary psychology is inherently unfalsifiable. Moore rightly notes that "falsifiability is a necessary but insufficient quality of a good scientific theory" (Moore, 2026, p.…
Evolutionary psychology hypotheses are testable and falsifiable
The field of evolutionary psychology has often been the target of allegations that its hypotheses are unfalsifiable. This article revisits this decades-old critique by examining the logic of falsifiability and the specific criteria required for a hypothesis to be considered falsified. We evaluate the multiple levels of analysis in the heuristic framework from which evolutionary psychology hypotheses are derived. We then present evidence of severa…
How Do People Maintain Consensual Non-Monogamy? An International Development and Validation of the Multiple Relationships Maintenance Scale
Maintaining multiple intimate relationships entails some risks and complications beyond exclusive pair bonding (i.e., monogamy). Consensual non-monogamy (CNM; e.g., polyamory, swinging, or open relationships) allegedly reduces these risks and complications, but no one has tried to comprehensively document typical CNM risk management practices, nor analyzed the relationship outcomes of those who use these practices. We developed the Multiple Relat…
Cross-sex theory of mind in the domain of sexual violence
The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm
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 online, often serving as an outlet for misogynistic hostility. Concerns about violence from incels have positioned them as a growing (inter)national security threat. This study, the largest primary investigation of incel harmful attitudes and belief…
Strategies for becoming a more desirable mate
The current research aimed to study the strategies that people employ in order to become more desirable as mates in different cultural settings. More specifically, using a closed‐ended questionnaire on a sample of 7181 participants from 14 different countries, we identified 10 different strategies that people employ to become more appealing as mates. Participants indicated that they had more frequently used the “Enhance looks,” followed by the “S…
The Mating Psychology of Incels (Involuntary Celibates)
Mating represents a suite of fundamental adaptive problems for humans. Yet a community of men, called incels (involuntary celibates), forge their identity around their perceived inability to solve these problems. Many incels engage in misogynistic online hostility, and there are concerns about violence stemming from the community. Despite significant media speculation about the potential mating psychology of incels, this has yet to be formally in…
Post-Discharge Adverse Events Among African American and Caucasian Patients of an Urban Community Hospital
The Mating Psychology of Incels (Involuntary Celibates)
Mating represents a suite of fundamental adaptive problems for humans. Yet a community of men, called incels (involuntary celibates), forge their identity around their perceived inability to solve these problems. Many incels engage in misogynistic online hostility, and there are concerns about violence stemming from the community. Despite significant media speculation about the potential mating psychology of incels, this has yet to be formally in…
The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm
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 online, often serving as an outlet for misogynistic hostility. Concerns about violence from incels have positioned them as a growing (inter)national security threat. This study, the largest primary investigation of incel harmful attitudes and belief…
Evolutionary psychology hypotheses are testable and falsifiable
The field of evolutionary psychology has often been the target of allegations that its hypotheses are unfalsifiable. This article revisits this decades-old critique by examining the logic of falsifiability and the specific criteria required for a hypothesis to be considered falsified. We evaluate the multiple levels of analysis in the heuristic framework from which evolutionary psychology hypotheses are derived. We then present evidence of severa…
Post-Discharge Adverse Events Among African American and Caucasian Patients of an Urban Community Hospital
The Mating Psychology of Incels (Involuntary Celibates)
Mating represents a suite of fundamental adaptive problems for humans. Yet a community of men, called incels (involuntary celibates), forge their identity around their perceived inability to solve these problems. Many incels engage in misogynistic online hostility, and there are concerns about violence stemming from the community. Despite significant media speculation about the potential mating psychology of incels, this has yet to be formally in…
Strategies for becoming a more desirable mate
The current research aimed to study the strategies that people employ in order to become more desirable as mates in different cultural settings. More specifically, using a closed‐ended questionnaire on a sample of 7181 participants from 14 different countries, we identified 10 different strategies that people employ to become more appealing as mates. Participants indicated that they had more frequently used the “Enhance looks,” followed by the “S…
The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm
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 online, often serving as an outlet for misogynistic hostility. Concerns about violence from incels have positioned them as a growing (inter)national security threat. This study, the largest primary investigation of incel harmful attitudes and belief…
Courtship in cross-sex friendship
Cross-sex and intrasexual theory of mind
Sex Biases in Patterns of Parental Investment
Most research on human parental investment has focused on overall parental effort or resource allocation, overlooking the fact that human investment spans a broad suite of material, instructional, and social forms of investment. This array of investment enables examination of how evolutionary processes have elaborated parental care into distinct domains. Where daughters and sons historically faced different recurrent adaptive problems, selection …
Beyond falsifiability
We thank Moore (2026) and Geary (2026) for their thoughtful commentaries on Costello et al. (2026). Both agree on our core premise: that evolutionary psychology's hypotheses are falsifiable. We hope this shared recognition can help finally dispel the mistaken claim that evolutionary psychology is inherently unfalsifiable. Moore rightly notes that "falsifiability is a necessary but insufficient quality of a good scientific theory" (Moore, 2026, p.…
Evolutionary psychology hypotheses are testable and falsifiable
The field of evolutionary psychology has often been the target of allegations that its hypotheses are unfalsifiable. This article revisits this decades-old critique by examining the logic of falsifiability and the specific criteria required for a hypothesis to be considered falsified. We evaluate the multiple levels of analysis in the heuristic framework from which evolutionary psychology hypotheses are derived. We then present evidence of severa…
How Do People Maintain Consensual Non-Monogamy? An International Development and Validation of the Multiple Relationships Maintenance Scale
Maintaining multiple intimate relationships entails some risks and complications beyond exclusive pair bonding (i.e., monogamy). Consensual non-monogamy (CNM; e.g., polyamory, swinging, or open relationships) allegedly reduces these risks and complications, but no one has tried to comprehensively document typical CNM risk management practices, nor analyzed the relationship outcomes of those who use these practices. We developed the Multiple Relat…
Cross-sex theory of mind in the domain of sexual violence
Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (8 works) · Evolutionary psychology (6 works) · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation (4 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (3 works) · Sexual selection (3 works) · Social Psychology (3 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (2 works) · Developmental psychology (2 works) · Evolutionary neuroscience (2 works)