At the ACES research group, we do cognitive science that is informed by, and relevant to, the social sciences. We investigate the cognitive bases of trust, moral choices and judgments, coordination, communication and other social behaviours at the heart of human societies and cultures.

We pay special attention to how people react to incentives: are the reactions adaptive, are they based on preferences? In particular, do social preferences (which involve reputation management, willingness to abide by one’s commitment and to be fair, …) lead us to making adaptive choices?

We collect data using diverse experimental methods like vignette studies and economic games. We do not shun from analysing sociological and ethnographic data.