My research focuses on questions at the intersection of psychology and ethics. Currently, I focus on the three topics listed below. I recently spoke about my research on the Personality Psychology podcast.
Global Catastrophic Risk
The number of people who will live in the future will likely far outnumber us. At the same time, the 21st century is to see increased risks that could harm those future generations or even lead to human extinction. Societies invest relatively small resources in reducing these risks. In my research, I am trying to understand how people think about large-scale societal risks and the value of future generations.
Animals
Most people care about animals. At the same time, each year we kill more than 60 billion animals for food and other purposes. Philosophers have termed our paradoxical treatment of animals speciesism—discrimination based on species membership. In my research I investigate this phenomenon, its underlying psychological factors and related behavior.
Effective altruism
Each year more than 400 billion dollars are donated to charity alone in the US. Yet, when people donate, they often give to charities that are not particularly cost-effective. Why is this? Is it that people don’t want to give effectively or is it that they don’t know how to give effectively? In my research I aim to find the psychological obstacles to effective giving and develop interventions.
I’m based at the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford. I also direct the Global Risk Behavioral Research Lab together with Prof Joshua Lewis who is based at NYU. From 2019 until 2023, I was a postdoctoral researcher with Prof Joshua Greene at the Harvard Department of Psychology. From 2022 until 2023, I was a research visitor at the Department for Environmental Studies at NYU, working with Prof Jeff Sebo. In 2019, I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Oxford, supervised by Dr Nadira Faber and Prof Julian Savulescu. My Ph.D. dissertation investigated the psychology of how people morally value animals. For more information, see my CV.