Dr. Perilloux teaches Principles of Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Learning and Cognition, Inquiry-Based Research Methods, and Capstone Research in Cognitive Evolutionary Psychology. She uses an interdisciplinary approach - combining evolutionary and cognitive psychology - to study human mating. In particular, she applies an adaptationist lens to human mating. She has studied phenomena as varied as misperception of sexual interest to judgments of physical attractiveness to parental influence over children’s mate choices. In each area, she finds that my evolutionary perspective offers new insights and interpretations that help to provide a fuller understanding of our mating psychology.

Dr. Perilloux is a first generation college student and received her BA from Knox College in 2003 before going on to earn her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011. 

Teaching Philosophy 

Dr. Perilloux’s teaching goals are to cultivate students’ interest in – and mastery of – the course material, improve their critical thinking skills, and help them to become intelligent consumers of scientific information. She thinks that an important goal of undergraduate courses should be to push students to discover the holes in our collective knowledge about human nature. This sparks curiosity and a push to discover: the very essence of (psychological) science. To accomplish these goals in her courses, she assists and challenges students to master content, she develops and varies my pedagogy, and she empathizes with her students as individuals.

In the Media

Watch Podcast / Media appearances by Dr. Perilloux

Perceptions of Sexual Interest

Men tend to overestimate how interested women are in them. Or do they? This sex difference has been documented over and over again, and seems to square with intuitions, but are men overestimating or are women underreporting (or some combination)? My work moves beyond the simple sex difference and examines the cognitive nuances of this phenomenon.

Physical Attractiveness

Another line of research, on which I collaborate with Dr. Jaime Cloud, examines how women’s faces and bodies provide overlapping but separable caches of information about youth, health, and fertility. We run cognitive experiments to determine how men and women differentially prioritize facial and bodily attractiveness to make mating decisions.

ASMR (autonomic sensory meridian response)

During summer research, I pursue a very different line of inquiry – on ASMR. ASMR refers to that pleasant, sometimes tingly, feeling people can get in response to specific stimuli (e.g., whispering, tracing lines on your skin, “oddly satisfying” visuals). My lab examines a different aspect of ASMR each summer - in the past we’ve examined predictors of ASMR experience and usage, as well as preferences and opinions about ASMR triggers. 

2023

Sucrese, A. M., Burley, E. E., Perilloux, C., Woods, S. J., & Bencal, Z. (2023). Just friends? An evolutionary perspective on jealousy and extramarital friendships. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 17, 333-344.

2022

Perilloux, C., & Cloud, J. M. (2022). This old thing? Responding to compliments depends on sex and relative status. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 16(2), 128–137. 

Cloud, J. M., & Perilloux, C. (2022). The relationship between mating context and women’s appearance enhancement strategies. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 16(2), 138–146. 

2021

Olson, E. S., Doss, E. R., & Perilloux, C. (2021). Friend or foe? Mate presence and rival type influence clothing-based female intrasexual competition. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 7, 1-10. 

2019

Perilloux, C., & Cloud, J. M. (2019). Mate-by-numbers: Budget, mating context, and sex predict preferences for facial and bodily traits. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 5, 294-299.

2018

White, J., Lorenz, H., Perilloux, C., & Lee, A. (2018). Creative Casanovas: Mating strategy predicts using—but not preferring—atypical flirting tactics. Evolutionary Psychological Science.

2017

Howard, R., & Perilloux, C. (2017). Is mating psychology most closely tied to biological sex or preferred partner’s sex? Personality and Individual Differences, 115, 83-89.

2015

Arnocky, S., Perilloux, C., Cloud, J. M., Bird, B. M., & Thomas, K. (in press). “Envy Mediates the Link Between Social Comparison and Appearance Enhancement in Women. Evolutionary Psychological Science.

Cloud, J. M., & Perilloux, C. (2015). “Drawing” Conclusions About Perceptions of Ideal Male and Female Body Shapes. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 1, 163-171.

Perilloux, C., Muñoz-Reyes, J. A., Turiegano, E., Kurzban, R., & Pita, M. (2015). Do (non-American) Men Overestimate Women’s Sexual Intentions? Evolutionary Psychological Science, 1, 150-154.

Perilloux, C., & Kurzban, R. (2015). Do Men Overperceive Women’s Sexual Interest? Psychological Science, 26, 70-77.

2014

Perilloux, C., Duntley, J. D., & Buss, D. M. (2014). Blame attribution in sexual victimization. Personality and Individual Differences.

2013

Perilloux, C., Cloud, J. M., & Buss, D. M. (2013). Women’s physical attractiveness and short-term mating strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 490-495.

2012

Perilloux, C., Duntley, J. D., & Buss, D. M. (2012). The costs of rape. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 1099-1106.

Perilloux, C., Easton, J. A. & Buss, D. M. (2012). The misperception of sexual interest. Psychological Science, 23, 146-151.

2011

Perilloux, C., Fleischman, D. S., & Buss, D. M. (2011). Meet the parents: Parent-offspring convergence and divergence in mate preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 253-258.

Perilloux, C., Duntley, J. D., & Buss, D. M. (2011). Susceptibility to sexual victimization and women’s mating strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 783-786.

2010

Confer, J. C., Easton, J. A., Fleischman, D. S., Goetz, C. D., Lewis, D. M., Perilloux, C., & Buss, D. M. (2010). Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations. American Psychologist, 65, 110-126. *All authors contributed equally.

Confer, J. C., Perilloux, C., & Buss, D. M. (2010). More than just a pretty face: Men’s priority shifts toward bodily attractiveness in short-term versus long-term mating contexts. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 348-353.

2008

Perilloux, C., Fleischman, D. S., & Buss, D. M. (2008). The Daughter-Guarding hypothesis: Parental influence on, and emotional reactions to, offspring’s mating behavior. Evolutionary Psychology, 6, 217-233.

Perilloux, C., & Buss, D. M. (2008). Breaking up romantic relationships: Costs experienced and coping strategies deployed. Evolutionary Psychology, 6, 164-181.