Laith Al-Shawaf is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at UCCS. Before moving to the U.S., he taught at a university in Turkey and was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. Laith is a member of the Arab-German Young Academy (AGYA) and Chief Academic Advisor to the Center for Applied Social Cognition Research (CASCR) in Lebanon. The Association for Psychological Science (APS) named him a Rising Star, and in 2022, he won the UCCS Faculty Award for Excellence in Research and the UCCS Students’ Choice Educator of the Year Award. In 2023, he won the UCCS LAS Outstanding Teaching Award for online teaching. In 2024, he won the UCCS LAS Outstanding Research Award, the HBES Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, and an international Visiting Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), France.

Dr. Al-Shawaf may be accepting graduate students.

Laith is especially interested in taking graduate students with some or more of the following qualifications (please note that these are preferred, NOT mandatory):

• Background in evolutionary psychology or evolutionary biology
• Background in neuroscience, behavioral endocrinology, or other areas of biopsychology
• Dual background in psychology & philosophy
• Strong statistical skills
• Strong writing skills
• Familiarity with the following research tools: galvanic skin response (GSR), virtual reality (VR), and/or facial expression analysis (the lab is equipped with these tools)
• Interest in evolutionary approaches to psychopathology

Please note that these are preferred qualifications, NOT mandatory ones. If any of these apply to you, you should consider that a strength. By contrast, if none of these apply to you but your record is strong in other respects, don’t hold back from reaching out!

Evolution, emotion, cognitive bias, personality & individual differences.

Laith is interested in having conscientious and dedicated research assistants join his lab to work on one or more of the following research programs:

1)  Emotions (disgust, anger, pride, shame, guilt, gratitude, and others)
2)  Personality and individual differences
3)  Error Management Theory and the evolution of cognitive bias
4)  Evolutionary approaches to psychopathology 

Research Gate Profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laith_Al-Shawaf

Ph.D. Psychology (secondary concentration in Applied Statistical Modeling), University of Texas-Austin, 2014
B.A. Psychology (secondary concentrations in Philosophy and Cognitive Science), The American University of Beirut, 2009 

• PSY 1000 - General Psychology
• PSY 3160 - Psychology of Emotion
• PSY 3250 - Personality Psychology & Individual Differences
• PSY 3300 - Evolutionary Psychology
• PSY 4270 - Seminar in Biopsychology
• PSY 6430 - Contemporary Issues in Psychology

• Association for Psychological Science
• Human Behavior and Evolution Society
• The Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA)

• HBES Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, 2024
• Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), France, 2024 
• LAS Outstanding Research Award, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 2024
• LAS Outstanding Teaching Award for Online Teaching, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 2023
• Students’ Choice for Educator of the Year, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 2022
• Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 2022
• Rising Star, the Association for Psychological Science (APS), 2019
• Elected member of AGYA, the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences & Humanities, 2016 - 
• Visiting Fellow, College of Life Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, 2015-2016
• Research Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin, 2014
• Psychology Research Award, The University of Texas at Austin, 2013          
• Full Merit Scholarship, American University of Beirut,  2006-2009      
• Fawzi Azar Award, American University of Beirut, 2008           
• Penrose Award, American University of Beirut, 2009      

Cross-Cultural Research on Human Behavior

Pick, C. M., Ko, A., Kenrick, D. T., Wiezel, A., Wormley, A. S., Awad, E., Al-Shawaf, L., Barry, O., Bereby-Meyer, Y., Boonyasiriwat, W., Brandstätter, E., Ceylan-Batur, S., Choy, B. K. C., Crispim, A. C., Cruz, J. E., David, D., David, O. A., Defelipe, R. P., Elmas, P., Espinosa,… & Varnum, M. E. W. (in press). Fundamental social motives measured across 42 cultures in two waves. Scientific Data.

Pick, C. M., Ko, A., Wormley, A. S., Wiezel, A., Kenrick, D. T., Al-Shawaf, L., Barry, O., Bereby-Meyer, Y., Boonyasiriwat, W., Brandstätter, Crispim, A. C., Cruz, J. E., David, D., David, O. A., Defelipe, R. P., Elmas, P., Espinosa, A., Fernandez, A. M., Fetvadjiev, V. H., … & Varnum, M. E. W. (in press). Family still matters: Human social motivation during a global pandemic. Evolution and Human Behavior.

Kerry, N., Al-Shawaf, L., Barbato, M., Batres, C., Blake, K., Cha, Y. J., Chauvin, G., Clifton, J. D. W., Fernandez, A. M., Galbarczyk, Ghossainy, M., A., Jang, D. Jasienska, G., Karasawa, M., Laustsen, L., Loria. R., Luberti, F., Moran, J., Pavlović, Z… Murray, D. R. (in press). Experimental and cross-cultural evidence that parenthood and parental care motives increase social conservatism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Kowal, M., Sorokowski, P., Pisanski, K., Valentova, J. V., Varella, M. A. C., Frederick, D. A., Al-Shawaf, L., García, F. E., Giammusso, I., Gjoneska, B., Kozma, L., Otterbring, T., Papadatou-Pastou, M., Pfuhl, G., Stöckli, S., Studzinska, A., Toplu-Demirtaş, E., Touloumakos, A. K., Bakos, B. B., ... Zumárraga-Espinosa, M. (in press). Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries. Evolution and Human Behavior. 

Sawicki, A., Żemojtel-Piotrowska, M., Balcerowska, J. M., Sawicka, M. J., Piotrowski, J., Sedikides, C., Jonason, P.K., Maltby, J., Adamovic, M., Agada, A.M.G., Ahmed, O., Al-Shawaf, L., ... & Zand, S. (2021). The fear of COVID-19 scale: its structure and measurement invariance across 48 countries. Psychological Assessment.

Atari, M., Chaudhary, N., & Al-Shawaf, L. (2020). Mate preferences in three Muslim-majority countries: Sex differences and personality correlates. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(4), 533-545.

Sell, A., Sznycer, D., Al-Shawaf, L., Lim, J., Krauss, A., Feldman, A., Rascanu, R., Sugiyama, L., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2017). The grammar of anger: Mapping the computational architecture of a recalibrational emotion. Cognition, 168, 110-128.

Sznycer, D., Al-Shawaf, L., Bereby-Meyer, Y., Curry, O. S., De Smet, D., Ermer, E., Kim, S., Kim, S., Li, N. P., Lopez Seal, M. F., McClung, J., O, J., Ohtsubo, Y., Quillien, T., Schaub, M., Sell, A., van Leeuwen, F., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J. (2017). Cross-cultural regularities in the cognitive architecture of pride. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(8), 1874-1879.

Evolution

Al-Shawaf, L. (2016). The evolutionary psychology of hunger. Appetite, 105, 591-595.

Al-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D. M. G., Barbaro, N., & Wehbe, Y. S. (in press). The Products of Evolution: Conceptual Distinctions, Evidentiary Criteria, and Empirical Examples. In Shackelford, T. K. (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology.

Lewis, D. M. G., Al-Shawaf, L., Thompson, M. B., & Buss, D. M. (in press). Evolved psychological mechanisms. In T. K. Shackelford (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. 

Lewis, D. M. G., Al-Shawaf, L., **Semchenko, A. Y., & **Evans, K. C. (in press). Error Management Theory and biased first impressions: How do people perceive potential mates under conditions of uncertainty? Evolution and Human Behavior.

Lewis, D. M. G., Al-Shawaf, L., & Buss, D. M. (in press). Evolutionary Personality Psychology. In Corr, P., & Matthews, G. (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Al-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D.M.G., Wehbe, Y, & Buss, D.M. (2019). Context, Environment, and Learning in Evolutionary Psychology. In T.K. Shackelford and V.A. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. New York: Springer.

Al-Shawaf, L., Zreik, K. A., & Buss, D.M. (2018). 13 Misunderstandings about Natural Selection. In T.K. Shackelford and V.A. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer.

Lewis, D.M.G., Al-Shawaf, L., Conroy-Beam, D., Asao, K., & Buss, D. M. (2017). Evolutionary Psychology: A How-To Guide. American Psychologist, 72(4), 353-373.

Emotions

Al-Shawaf, L., & Lewis, D.M.G. (2017). Evolutionary psychology and the emotions. In V. Zeigler-Hill and T.K. Shackelford (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer.

Al-Shawaf, L., Conroy-Beam, D., Asao, K., & Buss, D.M. (2015). Human emotions: An evolutionary psychological perspective. Emotion Review, 1-14.

Al-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D.M.G., Ghossainy, M.E. and Buss, D.M. (2018). Experimentally inducing disgust reduces desire for short-term mating. Evolutionary Psychological Science. 

Al-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D.M.G., & Buss, D.M. (2015). Disgust and mating strategy. Evolution & Human Behavior, 36, 199-205.

Al-Shawaf, L. (2016). The evolutionary psychology of hunger. Appetite, 105, 591-595.

Sell, A., Sznycer, D., Al-Shawaf, L., Lim, J., Krauss, A., Feldman, A., Rascanu, R., Sugiyama, L., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2017). The grammar of anger: Mapping the computational architecture of a recalibrational emotion. Cognition, 168, 110-128.

Sznycer, D., Al-Shawaf, L., Bereby-Meyer, Y., Curry, O. S., De Smet, D., Ermer, E., Kim, S., Kim, S., Li, N. P., Lopez Seal, M. F., McClung, J., O, J., Ohtsubo, Y., Quillien, T., Schaub, M., Sell, A., van Leeuwen, F., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J. (2017). Cross-cultural regularities in the cognitive architecture of pride. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(8), 1874-1879.

Al-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D.M.G., & Buss, D. M (2017). Sex differences in disgust: Why are women more easily disgusted than men? Emotion Review.

Scrivner, C., Sznycer, D., Lukaszewski, A, & Al-Shawaf, L. (in press). Social emotions are governed by a common grammar of social valuation: Theoretical foundations and applications to human personality and the criminal justice system. In L. Al-Shawaf and T. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions. Oxford University Press.

Lewis, D.M.G., & Al-Shawaf, L. (in press). How jealousy works. In L. Al-Shawaf and T. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions. Oxford University Press.

Sznycer, D., Landers, M., & Al-Shawaf, L. (in press). Shame. In L. Al-Shawaf and T. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions. Oxford University Press.

Al-Shawaf - Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Al-Shawaf named Rising Star by Association for Psychological Science
https://communique.uccs.edu/?p=120089

UCCS Psychology Department Co-Director of Undergraduate Education, 2020-Present

The Co-Director of Undergraduate Education assists a committee that is responsible for determining course offerings, psychology major and minor requirements, and department policies related to undergraduate education. The Co-Director of Undergraduate Education also handles student requests for course substitutions, waivers of degree requirements, and course transfer requests, and acts as a liaison to advisors in Student Success.