Staff profile

Dr Anthony Lyons

Research Fellow

Faculty of Health Sciences

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society

Melbourne (City)

 

Qualifications

BBSc (Hons), PhD

Membership of professional Associations

European Health Psychology Society; Society for Personality and Social Psychology; Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues; International Association of Applied Psychology; Public Health Association of Australia

Brief Profile

Dr Lyons has a PhD in social psychology. He has held appointments in psychology departments at the University of Melbourne as a research fellow and at Newcastle University (United Kingdom) as a lecturer in psychology.

Dr Lyons' research program first began with a focus on identifying social pressures that shape how we communicate about disadvantaged, stigmatised, or minority populations and the ways these communications contribute to perpetuating stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. In more recent work, Dr Lyons also examines the impact of stigma and discrimination on the health and wellbeing of minority populations. His interests span a range of populations, with a particular focus on sexual minorities and people living with HIV. This work draws strength from several fields, including social psychology, health psychology, and public health.

Dr Lyons utilises a diverse range of statistical analysis techniques for answering empirical and theoretical questions. His work has ranged from laboratory-based social psychological experiments to large national and multinational surveys.

Dr Lyons' current h-index and citation records can be found here.  

Recent Publications

Journal Articles

Smith, A., Lyons, A., Ferris, J., Richters, J., Pitts, M., Shelley, J., Simpson, J. M., Patrick, K., & Heywood, W. (2013). Incidence and persistence/recurrence of men’s sexual difficulties: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 39(1), 1-15.

 

Kashima, Y., Lyons, A., & Clark, A. (2012). The maintenance of cultural stereotypes in the conversational retelling of narratives. Asian Journal of Social Psychology. Advanced online publication.

  

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., & Grierson, J. (2012). Versatility and HIV vulnerability: Patterns of insertive and receptive anal sex in a national sample of older Australia gay men. AIDS and Behavior. Advanced online publication.

 

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., & Grierson, J. (2012). Growing old as a gay man: Psychosocial wellbeing of a sexual minority. Research on Aging. Advanced online publication.

 

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., & Grierson, J. (2012). Exploring the psychological impact of HIV: Health comparisons of older Australian HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men. AIDS and Behavior, 16(8), 2340-2349.

 

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., Grierson, J., Smith, A., McNally, S., & Couch, M. (2012). Sexual behaviour and HIV testing among bisexual men: A nationwide comparison of Australian bisexual-identifying and gay-identifying men. AIDS and Behavior, 16(7), 1934-1943. 

 

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., Grierson, J., Smith, A., McNally, S., & Couch, M. (2012). Age at first anal intercourse and HIV/STI vulnerability among gay men in Australia. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 88(4), 252-257.

 

Smith, A., Lyons, A., Ferris, J., Richters, J., Pitts, M., Shelley, J., Simpson, J. M., Patrick, K., & Heywood, W. (2012). Incidence and persistence/recurrence of women’s sexual difficulties: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 38(4), 378-393. 

 

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., Smith, G., Grierson, J. W., Smith, A., McNally, S., & Couch, M. (2011). Versatility and HIV vulnerability: Investigating the proportion of Australian gay men having both insertive and receptive anal intercourse. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 8(8), 2164-2171.

 

Smith, A., Lyons, A., Ferris, J., Richters, J., Pitts, M., Shelley, J., et al. (2011). Sexual and relationship satisfaction among heterosexual men and women: The importance of desired frequency of sex. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 37(2), 104-115.

 

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., Smith, A., & Grierson, J. W. (2011). The case for boosting infant male circumcision in the face of rising heterosexual transmission of HIV... and now the case against. Medical Journal of Australia, 194(2), 98.

 

Lyons, A., Pitts, M., Grierson, J. W., Thorpe, R., & Power, J. (2010). Ageing with HIV: Health and psychosocial well-being of older gay men. AIDS Care, 22(10), 1236-1244.

 

Smith, A., Lyons, A., Ferris, J., Richters, J., Pitts, M., & Shelley, J. (2010). Are sexual problems more common in women who have had a tubal ligation? A population-based study of Australian women. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 117(4), 463-468.

 

Smith, A., Lyons, A., Ferris, J., Richters, J., Pitts, M., & Shelley, J. (2010). Are sexual problems more common in women who have had a tubal ligation? A population-based study of Australian women. Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey, 65(5), 311-312.

 

Smith, A., Lyons, A., Ferris, J., Richters, J., Pitts, M., & Shelley, J. (2010). Are sexual problems more common in men who have had a vasectomy? A population-based study of Australian men. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7(2, Pt 1), 736-742.

 

Lyons, A., Smith, A. M., Grierson, J. W., & von Doussa, H. (2010). Australian men's sexual practices in saunas, sex clubs and other male sex on premises venues. Sexual Health, 7(2), 186-192.

 

Lyons, A., Koelmeyer, R., Grierson, J. W., & Pitts, M. (2010). New frontiers: Exploring the psychosocial challenges of growing old with HIV. HIV Australia, 8(3), 32-34.

 

Klein, O., Clark, A. E., & Lyons, A. (2010). When the social becomes personal: Exploring the role of common ground in stereotype communication. Social Cognition, 28(3), 329-352.

 

Kashima, Y., Kashima, E. S., Bain, P., Lyons, A., Tindale, R., Robins, G., et al. (2010). Communication and essentialism: Grounding the shared reality of a social category. Social Cognition, 28(3), 306-328.

 

Dyson, S., Pitts, M., Lyons, A., & Mullins, R. (2010). Providing high quality information about human papillomavirus for women after treatment for high-grade cervical dysplasia. Sexual Health, 7(1), 49-54.

 

Smith, A., Lyons, A., Pitts, M., Croy, S., Ryall, R., Garland, S., et al. (2009). Assessing knowledge of human papillomavirus and collecting data on sexual behavior: computer assisted telephone versus face to face interviews. BMC Public Health, 9, 429.

 

Pitts, M., Smith, A., Croy, S., Lyons, A., Ryall, R., Garland, S., et al. (2009). Singaporean women's knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) and attitudes toward HPV vaccination. Women and Health, 49(4), 334-351.

 

Pitts, M., Smith, A., Croy, S., Lyons, A., Ryall, R., Garland, S., et al. (2009). Singaporean men's knowledge of cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) and their attitudes towards HPV vaccination. Vaccine, 27(22), 2989-2993.

 

Kurz, T., & Lyons, A. (2009). Intergroup influences on the stereotype consistency bias in communication: Does it matter who we are communicating about and to whom we are communicating? Social Cognition, 27(6), 893-904.

 

Lyons, A., & Kashima, Y. (2006). Maintaining stereotypes in communication: Investigating memory biases and coherence-seeking in storytelling. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 9(1), 59-71.

 

Lyons, A., & Kashima, Y. (2003). How are stereotypes maintained through communication? The influence of stereotype sharedness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(6), 989-1005.

 

Lyons, A., & Kashima, Y. (2001). The reproduction of culture: Communication processes tend to maintain cultural stereotypes. Social Cognition, 19(3), 372-394.

 

Lyons, A. (1997). The serial reproduction of stories: A case of decreasing abstractness in interpersonal communication. Australian Journal of Psychology, 49, 39.

 

 

Book Chapters

 

Kashima, Y., Kashima, E. S., Bain, P., Lyons, A., Tindale, R., Robins, G., et al. (in press). Communication and essentialism: Grounding the shared reality of a social category. In M. Drogosz, M. Bilewicz & M. Kofta (Eds.), Beyond Stereotypes: Dehumanization and Essentialism in Group Perception. Warsaw, Poland: SCHOLAR.

 

Lyons, A., Clark, A., Kashima, Y., & Kurz, T. (2008). Cultural dynamics of stereotyping: Social network processes and the perpetuation of stereotypes. Stereotype Dynamics: Language-based Approaches to the Formation, Maintenance, and Transformation of Stereotypes (pp. 59-92). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

 

McIntyre, A., Lyons, A., Clark, A., & Kashima, Y. (2004). The Microgenesis of Culture: Serial Reproduction as an Experimental Simulation of Cultural Dynamics. In S. Schaller & C. Crandall (Eds.), The Psychological Foundations of Culture (pp. 227-258). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

 

 

Monographs

 

Leonard, W., Pitts, M., Mitchell, A., Lyons, A., Smith, A., Patel, S., Couch, M., & Barrett, A. (2012). Private Lives 2: The Second National Survey of the Health and Wellbeing of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Australians, Monograph Series No. 86. Melbourne: The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University.

 

Smith, A., Schlichthorst, M., Mitchell, A., Walsh, J., Lyons, A., Blackman, P., & Pitts, M. (2011). Sexuality Education in Australian Secondary Schools 2010, Monograph Series No. 80. Melbourne: The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University.