Arnaud Tognetti

Arnaud Tognetti

Forskningsspecialist
E-postadress: arnaud.tognetti@ki.se
Telefon: +46852483284
Besöksadress: Nobels väg 9, 17165 Stockholm
Postadress: K8 Klinisk neurovetenskap, K8 Psykologi M Olsson, 171 77 Stockholm
Del av:

Om mig

  • My interdisciplinary research projects focus on the evolutionary and
    psychological mechanisms underlying human cooperation and behavioural
    immunity.

Forskningsbeskrivning

  • An interdisciplinary approach
    My work focuses on the evolutionary and psychological mechanisms underlying
    human cooperation and our behavioural immunity. I expanded my initial
    approach based on behavioural ecology by developing research programs
    including approaches from behavioural economics and psychology. My research
    has covered topics such as the influence of sexual selection on the evolution
    of cooperation and the existence of phenotypic cues (facial, vocal or
    olfactory) of cooperativeness and sickness. I have also expanded the scope of
    my research to include cross-species comparison by testing the influence of
    cooperativeness on mate choice in two other social species,
    the mound-building mouse and sociable weavers. My new research project
    'To avoid or not to avoid? The influence of kinship on the behavioral
    defense against infectious diseases' financed by the Swedish Research
    Council investigates the existence of phenotypic cues of disease and their
    influence on interpersonal decision-making, and how kinship mediates our
    approach-avoidance behaviours towards sick individuals.

Artiklar

Alla övriga publikationer

Forskningsbidrag

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2021 - 30 November 2025
    Infectious diseases have always been and still are a major cause of human death, causing fatal epidemics worldwide. This project aims to resolve the paradox that while the most effective defense strategy would be to avoid every sick individual, humans do not
    instead, some sick individuals are approached for caregiving purposes. In fact, most care needs are met by family members, suggesting that kin selection strongly affects human responses to sickness cues. This interdisciplinary project will be the first to address whether early facial cues of sickness influence humans’ decisions to avoid or approach (i.e. care for) sick individuals and to what degree kinship moderates such decisions. In study 1, we will establish whether facial photographs of sick individuals induce spatial and social avoidance by using novel methods from experimental psychology and economics. In study 2, we will use cutting-edge digital morphing techniques to experimentally increase facial resemblance, and establish whether this cue of kinship suppresses avoidance of sick kin or even induces an approach behavior. In study 3, we will investigate whether the mere sight of early sickness cues activates the immune system, a mechanism that may enable approach, especially caregiving, by preparing the human body for an infectious attack. This project will answer fundamental questions of human behavioral immunity, a field that will benefit a world whose inhabitants are increasingly at risk from pandemics.

Anställningar

  • Forskningsspecialist, Klinisk neurovetenskap, Karolinska Institutet, 2021-

Nyheter från KI

Kalenderhändelser från KI