Jean-Baptiste André  (Group Leader)













Coralie Chevallier (Group Leader)

- prosociality and social trust
- political attitudes and religion
- health attitudes, fertility and parenting


Nicolas Baumard


More specifically, I use:

Pierre Jacob



Hugo Mercier


Olivier Morin


I joined the Institut Nicod in November 2019, as CNRS "chargé de recherche". Before that I lead the "Mint" (Minds & Traditions Research Group) at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena. (The group continues its activities.) I study cultural transmission from a perspective that combines quantitative cultural history with cognitive science and cultural evolution. In How Traditions Live and Die (2016), I described how cultural transmission can come about through the action of psychological mechanisms that are indifferent to fidelity but sensitive to content. That same book sketched a research program calling for cognitive science hypotheses to be tested with data coming from quantitative cultural history. I have carried out this research program in several fields, publishing papers on historical changes in the legibility of written letters, on the dissemination of heraldic designs, or the long-term transmission of children's games, among other topics. The common thread running through all these studies is the question: How can human traditions be appealing enough to be passed through successive generations, without losing their distinctive features? One major force for cultural preservation is the development of graphic records: visual symbols that record information, allowing transmission to carry on even when it skips several generations. My latest work, done in large part in collaboration with the Mint research group, thus focuses on graphic communication. We study the evolution of visual symbols, from writing and pictographs to online multi-player games. In the future, I hope to answer some fundamental questions about the nature of writing and the reasons why it appeared only when and where it did.



Dan Sperber


Dan Sperber is a French social and cognitive scientist, formerly at the CNRS, currently at the Central European University. He has developed a naturalistic approach to culture, “cultural attraction theory.” With Deirdre Wilson, he has developed a cognitive approach to communication, "relevance theory". With Hugo Mercier, he has developed an evolutionary “interactionist” approach to human reason. He has also worked on social ontology, cognitive modularity, morality, epistemic vigilance, and cultural symbolism.

Lou Safra




Pierre Jacquet



Mauricio Dias Martins





Valentin Thouzeau


My goal is to better understand the demographic history and the biological and linguistic evolutions of human and animal populations. I use various frequentist and bayesian statistical methods (Markov chain Monte Carlo, Approximate Bayesian Computation, Machine Learning algorithms), as well as computational modelling and linguistic and genetic data sampling on the field.



Rita Abdel Sater



Paul Ecoffet


Sacha Altay



Léonard Guillou


I am interested in understanding evolutionary bases of human social behaviors. More specifically I study phenotypic plasticity in behaviors. My PhD is about studying social trust across time, space and between individuals.

Niels Lettinga



Julien Lie



Mélusine Boon Falleur



Léo Fitouchi



Aurore Grandin


I study the socioeconomic, cognitive and evolutionary determinants of interest for environmental issues and motivation to engage in pro-environmental behaviour. I'm interested in the application of behavioural sciences to public policies, especially in the domain of sustainability.

Edgar Dubourg


I am interested in explaining the psychological mechanisms underlying the cultural evolution of fictions. I am currently working on the cognitive factors of attraction for imaginary worlds. I am also interested in the evolutionary origin of the production and consumption of fictions. In particular, I focus on the social benefits of the consumption of fictions.

Valentin Weber

Picture Valentin Weber







Within evolutionary psychology and social cognition, I am interested in a variety of topics, including the evolutionary origins and classifications of sharing information, social signalling, and social emotions. My previous projects have investigated the process model of ego depletion and biases in legal decision making.



Laudine Carbuccia


After a transdisciplinary bachelor degree, I’m now interested both in developmental enigmas, as how do concepts emerge as well as in the application of cognitive sciences to public policies issues, especially when it comes to health and early childhood. This is why, after having worked on language acquisition and arithmetic acquisition, I am now working with Coralie Chevallier and Carlo Barone (Sciences Po) on reducing the impacts of inequalities through access to childcare during the early years of life. My work focus on understanding the cognitive barriers to childcare use within underprivileged communities.

Mathilde Mus

Mathilde Mus picture









I am interested in the cognitive and evolutionary mechanisms underlying the perception and acceptability of public policies, and of economic concepts more generally. This year I will be working with Coralie Chevallier and Hugo Mercier on cognitive factors playing a role in the acceptability of carbon pricing. 

Alicia Herrera-Masurel

Picture Alicia Herrera-Masurel








Interested in the underlying principles that frame the construction of rationality, I study the gap between scientific and non-scientific argumentations on technical topics. I’ll be specifically working on rationality towards nuclear energy, under the direction of Hugo Mercier. The aim of this research is to understand what frames (economical, sanitary, environmental…) are the more decisive in shaping public opinions on nuclear energy, and assess the role of disgust mechanisms in the elaboration of opinions on this topic.

Amine Sijilmassi

Picture Amine Sijilmassi








Originally trained as a modern historian, I am now interested in studying the psychological mechanisms that underlie group formation, social categorization and political preferences. During my master's thesis, I will investigate how ethno-linguistic boundaries constrain group and coalitional formation, resulting in nationalistic political preferences.

Bence Csaba Farkas

Bence Farkas picture









I graduated with a degree in psychology in Budapest. Now I am working towards a master's degree in cognitive science at the ENS. I am currently doing research under the supervision of Pierre Jacquet and Valentin Wyart, on understanding the psychological, behavioural and neural changes that result from experiencing adverse childhood environments. In addition, I am also interested in a wider array of topics in cognitive neuroscience, including implicit learning processes and the computational psychiatry of frontostriatal disorders, like Tourette's Syndrome or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Jeanne Bollée

Picture Jeanne Bollee







I was trained in economics and sociology. Now in M1 I'm interested both in studying social and cultural phenomena through evolutionary psychology and applying it to public policies. I'll be working with Valentin Thouzeau, Alejandrina Cristia and Coralie Chevallier on sex ratio and parental investment variations according to parental condition (Trivers-Willard hypothesis) through a meta-analysis.



Anne-Sophie Hacquin



Charles de Dampierre





Loïa Lamarque - Master Student (M2) 2019-2020

Lucien Dabadie - Master Student (M2) 2019-2020

Félix Geoffroy - PhD Student, 2015-2018

Hugo Mell - PhD Student, 2015-2018


Christina Ioannou - PhD Student, 2014-2017

Perline Demange - M2 Student, 2016-2017

Stéphane Lambert - PhD Student 2013-2016


Mona Joly - Master Student (M1) 2015-2016

Chloé Svatek - Master Student (M1) 2015-2016

Charlélie Goldschmidt - Master Student (M1) 2015-2016


Stéphane Debove - PhD Student 2012-2015

Raphaël Delage - Master Student (M2) 2014-2015

Céline Dusautois - Master Student (M2) 2014-2015


Arnaud Poubland - Master Student (M1) 2014-2015

Lucien Castex - Master Student (M2) 2013-2014

