Jose received his PhD from Singapore Management University in 2017, before taking on postdoctoral and lecturer positions at Singapore Management University, National University of Singapore, Singapore University of Social Sciences, and Nanyang Technological University. His research broadly utilizes evolutionary or functionalist perspectives to understand a wide range of psychosocial phenomena, including mating, individual differences, culture, motivation, wellbeing, and organizational behavior. Jose is also interested in the therapeutic and meaning-making utility of art and music, and when he isn’t buried deep in his research pursuits, Jose can be found pursuing his loves for electronic music, whiskey, football, and travel. Jose joined Northumbria University as Assistant Professor in 2022.

See more at https://www.joseyong.com/.

Recent highlights:

• Are video games bad for wellbeing? It depends
• Do matrilinies like the Mosuo disprove evolutionary mate preference theories? Not quite
• Humans evolved to be coherent rather than correct storytellers
• People who do not comply with Covid-19 guidelines are basically free riders
• Lockdowns make more intelligent folks less happy 

Jose is interested in psychosocial "desiderata", or the desired things that underlie a happy, healthy, and good life, and how we may work with rather than against our human nature to achieve them. To that end, he uses evolutionary/adaptationist/ecological/functionalist approaches to broadly examine:

• Mating dynamics
• Social status
• Individual differences
• Culture
• Rationalization processes
• Organizational behavior and group processes
• Motivation
• Wellbeing

Jose is also interested in questions that border on the philosophical, such as the fundamental nature of humans, what the "purpose" of life (or anything) might be (if there is even such a thing), what reality is and how it is perceived (e.g., simulacra effects), the affordances and limits of external reality as extensions of the mind and phenotypes, and questions at the intersection of consciousness and physics (i.e., the hard problem/the explanatory gap).

Currently, Jose is focused on investigating:

• How modern and cultural factors interact with evolved mate preferences to influence motivations for marriage and having children
• Cultural variations in people's perceptions of social status
• The functions of social goal chatter in emotion regulation, social bonding, motivation, and goal pursuit
• The psychosocial dynamics of rave and electronic dance music culture
• So-called "deviant" but healthy subpopulations (e.g., sexual kinks, alternative mating systems, psychedelic culture) and their insights for human functioning and wellbeing
• The experience of women with partners who make less
• How team climate and team member personality interact to influence team functioning
• Polarization and the formation of alternative/conspiratorial belief clusters
• Organisms as informational agents