Dr Brendan Zietsch
– Research Fellow (ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award)

Contact

Activities

Research

Honours Supervision

Dr Brendan Zietsch

Room:

457 Psychology Buliding (McElwain; 24A)

Email:

zietsch@psy.uq.edu.au

Phone:

07 33467594 (ext 67594) OR (at QIMR) 07 38453584

Fax:

+617 3365 4466

Postal Address:

School of Psychology
McElwain Building
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, QLD 4072
Australia

Username: zietsch

Dr Brendan Zietsch

Qualifications:

2006-2009 - PhD (The genetic etiology of human sexuality)

2000-2003 - B Psych Sc (Hons I)

Dr Brendan Zietsch

Research Activities:

My research activities focus on combining evolutionary and genetic approaches to human behaviour. This involves experiments, twin studies, and statistical genetics. Broadly, I want to know what evolutionary processes gave rise to the various characteristics of our extraordinary species, and why there are wide, heritable individual differences in these characteristics despite selective pressures favouring only the most advantageous genetic variants.

I'm particularly interested in mate preferences and choices, physical attractiveness (face and body), intelligence, personality, masculinity-femininity, and sexual behaviour and orientation.

If you are interested in doing a PhD in any of the above areas, or collaborating in some other way, please send me an email.

Current PhD students under my primary supervision are Anthony Lee, Ashleigh Kelly, and Hannah Haysom. Dr Karin Verweij also works part-time on this project under my supervison. I work closely with Prof Bill von Hippel's research group, as well as the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.

Representative Publications:

PDFs below are for personal use only.

29. Zietsch, B. P. & Santtila, P. (in press) No direct relationship between human female orgasm rate and number of offspring. Animal Behaviour. (IF: 3.5)

28. Keller, M. C., Garver-Apgar, C. E., Wright, M. J., Martin, N. G., Corley, R. P., Stallings, M. C., Hewitt, J. K., & Zietsch, B. P. (2013) The genetic correlation between height and IQ: Shared genes or assortative mating? PLoS Genetics. (IF: 8.7) PDF

27. Lee, A. J., Dubbs, S. L., Kelly, A. J., von Hippel, W., Brooks, R. C. & Zietsch, B. P. (2012). Human facial attributes, but not perceived intelligence, are used as cues of health and resource provision potential. Behavioral Ecology. (IF: 3.1) PDF

news.com.au

26. Verweij, K. J. H.†, Burri, A. V. & Zietsch, B. P.† (2012). Evidence for genetic variation in human mate preferences for sexually dimorphic physical traits. PLoS One, 7:e49294. (IF: 4.1) PDF

†Authors contributed equally

25. Zietsch, B. P. & Santtila, P. (2012). Confusion in the science of evolution and orgasm: A reply to Wallen, Myers, and Lloyd. Animal Behaviour, e5-e7. (IF: 3.5) PDF

24. Verweij, K. J. H.†, Yang, J., Lahti, J., Veijola, J., Hintsanen, M., Pulkki-Raback, L., Heinonen, K., Pouta, A., Pesonen, A. K., Widen, E., Taanila, A., Isohanni, M., Miettunen, J., Palotie, A., Penke, L., Service, S. K., Heath, A. C., Montgomery, G. W., Raitakari, O. T., Kahonen, M., Viikari, J., Raikkonen, K., Eriksson, J. G., Keltikangas-Jarvinen, L., Lehtimaki, T., Martin, N. G., Jarvelin, M-R, Visscher, P. M., Keller, M. C., Zietsch, B. P.† (2012). Maintenance of genetic variation in human personality: Testing evolutionary models by estimating heritability due to common causal variants and investigating the effect of distant inbreeding. Evolution, 66, 3238-51. (IF: 5.1) PDF

†Authors contributed equally

23. Zietsch, B. P., Verweij, K. J. H., & Burri, A. (2012). Heritability of preferences for multiple cues of mate quality in humans. Evolution, 66, 1762-72. (IF: 5.1) PDF

22. Zietsch, B. P. & Santtila, P. (2011). Genetic analysis of orgasmic function in twins and siblings does not support the byproduct theory of female orgasm. Animal Behaviour, 82, 1097-1101. (IF: 3.5) PDF

New Scientist

21. Zietsch, B. P.†, Verweij, K. J. H.†, Heath, A. C., Madden, P. A., Martin, N. G., Nelson, E. C., & Lynskey, M. T. (2012). Do shared etiological factors contribute to the relationship between sexual orientation and depression? Psychological Medicine, 42, 521-533. (IF: 6.2) PDF

† Authors contributed equally

20. Zietsch, B. P. (2011). Explanations for elevated psychiatric vulnerability in nonheterosexuals: Environmental stressors, genetics, and the HPA and HPG axes. In Psychiatric Disorders - Worldwide Advances, ed. T. Uehara. InTech, Rijeka, 277-300. PDF

19. Lee, A. J. & Zietsch, B. P. (2011). Experimental evidence that women's mate preferences are directly influenced by cues of pathogen prevalence and resource scarcity. Biology Letters, 892-895. (IF: 3.7) PDF

ABC science

18. Zietsch, B. P., Miller, G. F., Bailey, J. M., & Martin, N. G. (2011). Female orgasm rates are largely independent of other traits: Implications for “female orgasmic disorder” and evolutionary theories of orgasm. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 8, 2305-2316. (IF: 3.6) PDF

17. Zietsch, B. P.†, Verweij, K. J. H.†, Heath, A. C. & Martin, N. G. (2011). Variation in human mate choice: simultaneously investigating heritability, parental influence, sexual imprinting, and assortative mating. American Naturalist, 177, 605-616. (IF: 4.7) PDF

† Authors contributed equally

Discovery Magazine

16. Verweij, K. J. H., Zietsch, B. P., Liu, J. Z., Medland, S. E., Lynskey, M. T., Madden, P. A. F., Agrawal, A., Montgomery, G. W., Heath, A. C., & Martin, N. G. (2011). No replication of candidate genes for cannabis use using a large sample of Australian twin families. Addiction Biology. (IF: 4.8) PDF

15. Powell, J. E.† & Zietsch, B. P.† (2011). Predicting sensation seeking from dopamine genes: Use and misuse of genetic prediction. Psychological Science, 22, 413-415. (IF: 4.4) PDF

† Authors contributed equally

14. Verweij, K.J.H., Mosing, M.A., Zietsch, B.P., & Medland, S.E. (2012). Estimating heritability from twin studies. Methods in Molecular Biology, 850, 151-170.

13. Verweij, K.J.H., Zietsch, B.P., Medland, S.E., Benyamin, B., Nyholt, D.R., Gordon, S.D., McEvoy, B.P., Martin, N.G., Montgomery, G.W., & Wray, N.R. (2010). A genome-wide association study of Cloninger’s Temperament scales: Implications for the evolutionary genetics of personality. Biological Psychology, 85, 306-317. (IF 3.2) PDF

12. Verweij, K. J. H., Zietsch, B. P., Lynskey, M. T., Medland, S. E., Neale, M. C., Martin, N. G., Boomsma, D. I., and Vink, J. M. (2010). Genetic and environmental influences on cannabis use initiation and problematic use: a meta-analysis of twin studies. Addiction, 105, 417-430. (IF 4.3) PDF

11. Zietsch, B. P., Verweij, K. J. H., Bailey, J. M., Wright, M. J., and Martin, N. G. (2010). Genetic and environmental influences on risky sexual behaviour and its relationship with personality. Behavior Genetics, 40, 12-21. (IF: 2.5) PDF

10. Zietsch, B. P., Verweij, K. J. H., Bailey, J. M., Wright, M. J., and Martin, N. G. (2011). Sexual orientation and psychiatric vulnerability: a twin study of Neuroticism and Psychoticism. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40, 133-142. (IF: 3.5) PDF

9. Mosing, M. A., Zietsch, B. P., Shekar S. N., Wright, M. J., and Martin, N. G. (2009). Genetic and environmental influences on optimism and its relationship to mental and self-rated health: a study of aging twins. Behavior Genetics, 39, 597-604. (IF: 2.5) PDF

8. Verweij, K. J. H.†, Zietsch, B. P.†, Bailey, J. M., and Martin, N. G. (2009). Shared etiology of risky sexual behaviour and adolescent misconduct: genetic and environmental influences. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 8, 107-113. (IF: 3.5) PDF

† Authors contributed equally

7. Zietsch, B. P., Morley, K. I., Shekar, S. N., Verweij, K. J. H., Keller, M. C., Macgregor, S., Wright, M. J., Bailey, J. M., and Martin, N. G. (2008). Genetic factors predisposing to homosexuality may increase mating success in heterosexuals. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 29, 424-433. (IF: 3.1) PDF

The Economist

6. Verweij, K. J. H., Shekar, S. N., Zietsch, B. P., Eaves, L. J., Bailey, J. M., Boomsma, D. I., and Martin, N.G. (2008). Genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in attitudes toward homosexuality: an Australian twin study. Behavior Genetics, 38 (3), 257-265. (IF: 2.5) PDF

5. Zietsch, B. P., Hansen, J. L., Hansell, N. K., Geffen, G. M., Martin, N. G., and Wright, M. J. (2007). Common and specific genetic influences on EEG power bands delta, theta, alpha, and beta. Biological Psychology, 75, 154-164. (IF: 3.2) PDF

4. Elston, G. N., Benavides-Piccione, R., Elston, A., Zietsch, B., DeFelipe J., Manger, P. R., Casagrande, V., and Kaas, J. H. (2006). Specializations of the granular prefrontal cortex of primates: implications for cognitive processing. Anatomical Record, 288 (1), 26-35. (IF: 1.4) PDF

3. Elston, G. N., and Zietsch, B. (2006). Fractal analyses; a study of circuit specialization in the cerebral cortex of primates. Advances in Complex Systems, 8, 217-227. (IF: 0.7)

2. Zietsch, B., and Elston G. N. (2005). Fractal analysis of pyramidal cells in the visual cortex of the galago (Otolemur garnetti): regional variation in dendritic branching patterns between visual areas. Fractals, 13, 83-90. (IF: 0.4)

1. Jelinek, H. F., Elston, G. N., & Zietsch, B. (2005). Fractal analysis: Pitfalls and revelations in neuroscience. In Fractals in Biology and Medicine, eds. G. A. Losa, D. Merlini & T. F. Nonnenmacher. Birkhauser Basel, 85-94.

IF = ISI Impact Factor (2011)

Research Area:

Evolutionary

Synopsis:

Evolutionary psychology - mate preferences and choices, mate value, physical attractiveness, intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, masculinity-femininity, sexual behaviour, and how these relate to sexual selection and the evolution of the human mind.

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