Devendra Singh (January 12, 1938 – May 18, 2010) was a professor of

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, known largely for his research regarding the evolutionary significance of human attraction.

Biography

Singh was born in 1938 in Urai, India. Having first taken degrees in philosophy and psychology (

Agra University Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly Agra University, is an Autonomous University located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university is named after Bhimrao Ambedkar, Indian scholar, social reformer, and the architect of the Indian Cons ...

), he completed his PhD at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1966. Singh took up teaching positions at Wright State University and

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

before moving to the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1969. A pioneer in the field of

evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...

, Singh's most notable research concerned the evolutionary significance of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). In 1993, he was the first to elucidate the concept and significance of this ratio as an indicator of attractiveness. In brief, Singh discovered that men rated women with low WHR (0.7) as optimally attractive, noting that lower levels of WHR correlated to lower risk of disease and greater fertility. Subsequent research demonstrated the cross-cultural and cross-temporal appeal of a low WHR. One of his final research papers on the topic of WHR found that the "hourglass figure" (optimal WHR) activates brain centers that drive appetitive sociality/attention toward females that represent the highest-quality reproductive partners. Although principally affiliated with the field of evolutionary psychology, his other research pursuits included

substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

, eating disorders, motivation, and the psychology of sex.

References

External links

* Devendra Singh's University of Texas webpage {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Devendra Indian academics 1938 births 2010 deaths Ohio State University alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty Indian psychologists Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University alumni