Thomas V. Pollet

NB165, Northumberland Building

College lane

Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), NE1 8SG

I am Prof. Dr. Thomas V. Pollet. My research focuses on understanding the wealth of social relationships people have (e.g., romantic relationships, friendships, family relationships) and the role of individual differences (e.g., personality, height, hormones) for these social relationships, approached from an interdisciplinary framework. To this end, I conduct survey, observational, and experimental studies, alongside analysing secondary datasets. I am also interested in improving methodology and statistics and frequently collaborate with others on diverse topics.

I obtained my Ph.D. at Newcastle University and subsequently held positions at the University of Groningen, VU University Amsterdam, and Universiteit Leiden. In July 2017, I joined Northumbria University as Associate Professor (Reader) and was promoted to Professor in September 2020.

On a personal note: I rock a great beard, enjoy hiking holidays, and like nature documentaries. I live and work in Newcastle (UK) and am the father of an amazing little girl, Minna. I also have a soft spot for gibbons and cats.

news

Jul 01, 2026	A complete website overhaul! Look at the shiny-shiny.
Apr 18, 2026	A new preprint led by Merim Bilalić on selection bias in expertise research.

latest posts

Apr 27, 2026	A short talk on a grant proposal to estimate the prevalence of hoarding
Feb 25, 2026	A short talk on preference graphs
Feb 12, 2026	New preprint on invariance of the National Student Survey (NSS)

selected publications

Sci Rep

Meta-analysis of the red advantage in combat sports

Leonard S. Peperkoorn, Russell A. Hill, Robert A. Barton, and 1 more author

Scientific Reports, 2024

DOI Bib HTML

@article{peperkoorn2024red,
  title = {Meta-analysis of the red advantage in combat sports},
  author = {Peperkoorn, Leonard S. and Hill, Russell A. and Barton, Robert A. and Pollet, Thomas V.},
  journal = {Scientific Reports},
  volume = {14},
  pages = {30822},
  year = {2024},
  doi = {10.1038/s41598-024-81373-3},
  keywords = {theme_body}
}

PLOS ONE

Height Is Positively Related to Interpersonal Dominance in Dyadic Interactions

Gert Stulp, Abraham P. Buunk, Simon Verhulst, and 1 more author

PLoS ONE, 2015

DOI Bib HTML

@article{stulp2015dominance,
  title = {Height Is Positively Related to Interpersonal Dominance in Dyadic Interactions},
  author = {Stulp, Gert and Buunk, Abraham P. and Verhulst, Simon and Pollet, Thomas V.},
  journal = {PLoS ONE},
  volume = {10},
  pages = {e0117860},
  year = {2015},
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0117860},
  keywords = {theme_body}
}

Hum Nat

What can cross-cultural correlations teach us about human nature?

Thomas V. Pollet, Joshua M. Tybur, Willem E. Frankenhuis, and 1 more author

Human Nature, 2014

DOI Bib PDF

@article{pollet2014crosscultural,
  title = {What can cross-cultural correlations teach us about human nature?},
  author = {Pollet, Thomas V. and Tybur, Joshua M. and Frankenhuis, Willem E. and Rickard, Ian J.},
  journal = {Human Nature},
  volume = {25},
  pages = {419--429},
  year = {2014},
  doi = {10.1007/s12110-014-9206-3},
  keywords = {theme_methods}
}

PNAS

Market forces affect patterns of polygyny in Uganda

Thomas V. Pollet and Daniel Nettle

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – USA, 2009

DOI Bib PDF

@article{pollet2009polygyny,
  title = {Market forces affect patterns of polygyny in {Uganda}},
  author = {Pollet, Thomas V. and Nettle, Daniel},
  journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- USA},
  volume = {106},
  pages = {2114--2117},
  year = {2009},
  doi = {10.1073/pnas.0810016106},
  keywords = {theme_evo}
}

EHB

Genetic relatedness and sibling relationship characteristics in a modern society

Thomas V. Pollet

Evolution and Human Behavior, 2007

DOI Bib PDF

@article{pollet2007relatedness,
  title = {Genetic relatedness and sibling relationship characteristics in a modern society},
  author = {Pollet, Thomas V.},
  journal = {Evolution and Human Behavior},
  volume = {28},
  pages = {176--185},
  year = {2007},
  doi = {10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.10.001},
  keywords = {theme_evo}
}