William Costello Profile picture
🇮🇪 Doctoral researcher @ProfDavidBuss Evolutionary Psychology Lab @UTAustin
Jan 29 11 tweets 4 min read
In our new American Psychologist paper, we debunk the decades old zombie idea that evolutionary psychology is unfalsifiable.

🧵Image Misconceptions pervade academia.

Jonason and @psychoSchmitt found that among academics the mean endorsement for the claims that “evolutionary psychology’s theories are unfalsifiable” was 2.89 & “assumptions are not testable” was 2.91 on a 5-point scale.

link.springer.com/article/10.100…
Oct 2, 2025 10 tweets 3 min read
🚨 New preprint 🚨

Why Incels Capture Attention:
A Cultural Attraction Theory Perspective

From @acerbialberto and me

🧵and link to paper to followImage @acerbialberto Incels command a disproportionate cultural visibility in media, politics & art.

e.g., Netflix’s Adolescence quickly became their most-watched mini-series ever, prompting roundtable discussions between writers & the Prime Minister.

variety.com/2025/tv/news/a…
Nov 7, 2024 20 tweets 7 min read
🚨New study from @DrThomasAG and myself 🚨

“Seeing Through the Black-Pill: Incels Are Wrong About What People Think of Them”

🧵to follow

Full paper
👇
osf.io/preprints/osf/… Incels (involuntary celibates) are an online subculture of men who form their identity around their perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships.

Incels have a nihilistic “black-pill” worldview and often express misogynistic beliefs about women.
May 30, 2024 19 tweets 6 min read
🚨New Publication 🚨

Myself and @thomas take stock of whether the Scientific Revolution of Evolutionary Psychology proposed by @ProfDavidBuss is still on track.

In sum, it is!

🧵

link.springer.com/article/10.100… In 2020 @ProfDavidBuss proposed Evolutionary Psychology as a Scientific Revolution.

He suggested that the consilient metatheoretical framework of EP could be a paradigm shift for psychological science.

psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-31…
Apr 8, 2024 21 tweets 7 min read
🚨Insights from the biggest study of incels in the world 🚨

Predicting Harmful Attitudes and Beliefs Among Incels (Involuntary Celibates): How Potent is the Black-Pill?

New preprint from me, @CTProject_JW & @DrThomasAG

👇


🧵osf.io/preprints/osf/… @CTProject_JW @DrThomasAG "Women Seem Wicked when you're Unwanted"
- Jim Morrison (The Doors)

Incels are an online subculture of men who perceive that they cannot form sexual relationships.

Many incels are misogynistic and there have been several spree killings motivated by incel ideology.
Feb 16, 2024 7 tweets 2 min read
The largest study of incels (involuntary celibates) in the world to date

n=561

Full report and press release of our latest work with
@CTProject_JW & @DrThomasAG

High rates of suicidality, autism, depression, anxiety, ethnic & political diversity.

gov.uk/government/pub… @CTProject_JW @DrThomasAG
Apr 3, 2023 9 tweets 3 min read
Today @DrThomasAG @CTProject_JW & I launch the SURIC (Swansea University Research on the Incel Community) project.

UK and US incels, check out our mission statement & get paid to participate in our research!

Please RT.

🧵on mission statement to follow.

psy.swansea.ac.uk/SISNET/ @DrThomasAG @CTProject_JW We are aware that members of the incel community are often skeptical about academic research and the agenda/motive of the research team.

In an effort to be open about our position, we have the following "mission statement". As a research team we commit to the following...
Apr 3, 2023 21 tweets 13 min read
New from us!

The Mating Psychology of Incels

Misfortunes: Incels low sense of mate value

Misrepresentations: The narrative that incels have too high standards relative to their mate value

Misperceptions: Incels perceptions of female mate preferences
🧵
osf.io/tb5ky Finding & retaining a mate represent fundamental adaptive problems for humans.

We're all the result of an unbroken evolutionary chain of ancestors who solved these problems

Yet, a growing community of men form an identity around their inability to solve these problems...incels
Feb 9, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
Tinder study with ~3,600 profiles.

Women strongly prefer highly educated potential partners.

Female subjects, (super)like higher educated profiles 92.2% more often.

No evidence that men have an aversion to a highly educated potential partner.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl… male subjects (super)liked 61.9% of the female profiles, while female subjects (super)liked only 4.5% of the male profiles.
Jun 3, 2022 27 tweets 10 min read
Preprint of our 1st paper from my MSc dissertation research.

Levels of Wellbeing Among men who are Incel (Involuntary Celibate)

Thanks to my mentors & co-authors @Vani_Rolon @DrThomasAG & @PsychoSchmitt

🧵summarising our findings to follow

Read & RT🙏

osf.io/tnf7b/ @Vani_Rolon @DrThomasAG @PsychoSchmitt Incels are a subculture of men who form their identity around a perceived inability to form sexual/romantic relationships. A significant minority of incels engage in misogynistic online hostility & in rare individual cases incels lash out in violent rage e.g., Elliot Rodger.