What drives human behaviour in the most complex and challenging situations? Emilie Caspar of Ghent University is investigating how empathy, guilt, social influence and obedience shape moral and immoral decision-making: buff.ly/OxuHkSa @emiliecaspar.bsky.social

Are we "wired for conflict?" Why do some civilians support war despite its moral cost? In a review just published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Jorge Ratia Avinent and I explore this phenomenon: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Wired for conflict? Neurocognitive mechanisms linking threat perception and support for war

Why do some civilians support war despite its moral cost? Although threat perception appears to be a key psychological driver of this support, the und…

sciencedirect.com

New preprint! Could prison be linked to changes in cognition? In this study, we investigated whether being incarcerated is associated with changes in the perception of oneself as an autonomous agent (i.e., the sense of agency) with @emiliecaspar.bsky.social : doi.org/10.31234/osf...

𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 (𝟵𝟳.𝟰%) 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘀. A huge thank to my collaborators on this project, started in 2023 🎉: Nathan Vaccaro @emiliecaspar.bsky.social @pietroamerio.bsky.social @axc.bsky.social Christophe Leys Christophe Ley 3/n

Pretty proud of this one — it represents 3 years of work! Our new publication in American Psychologist uses EEG to investigate whether the brains of rescuers respond differently than former perpetrators and bystanders. @erc.europa.eu @ghentccn.bsky.social article: psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

Last week, I was in Israel to initiate a new research project on resistance and participation in armed conflicts. Even if still difficulty to take about it, in line with my commitment to sharing how I conduct field research, I have written a new blog post: emiliecaspar.home.blog/2025/11/19/w...

What it is like to study resistance and participation in Israel?

I must say, this has not been an easy blog post to write. Never have I seen a conflict that splits so much societies and citizens around the world. That polarization spills into research spaces too…

emiliecaspar.home.blog

🎙️Emilie Caspar (@emiliecaspar.bsky.social): «La #neurociencia ayuda a comprender los procesos que ocurren antes de un genocidio». #EntrevistasEthic 

Emilie Caspar: «La neurociencia ayuda a comprender los procesos que ocurren antes de un genocidio» | Ethic

La neurocientífica social Emilie Caspar explica las bases psicológicas de la obediencia y la violencia masiva.

ethic.es

I think #Halloween is the right time to share this (very real) horror story by @emiliecaspar.bsky.social 😱 Read it (if you dare): scienceandfiction.net/stories/22_t...

| Science and Fiction

A story about a child experiencing something noone should ever experience. CW: Genocide.

scienceandfiction.net

Science & Fiction@scienceandfiction.net · 2y ago

New #ScienceandFiction story is out and this time it's a gruesome one... "To obey or not to obey" by Emilie Caspar is a story about a child experiencing something no child should ever experience 🙅‍♀️ CW: Genocide 🇬🇧 scienceandfiction.net/stories/22_t... 🇩🇪 Coming soon!

New research in Rwanda has started ! We continue to try to understand what differs those who participate in a génocide, and those who instead risk their lives to save others. Here is a picture of our novel and ecological risk-taking task, inspired by the BART.

In this new study academic.oup.com/nc/article-a... we investigated how adding consequence to one's decision, and increasing the degree of deliberation, impacted different markers of voluntary action. /N

A multi-measurement study of the relation between deliberation and volition

Abstract. Historically, voluntary action and volition more generally have been investigated through the lens of meaningless decisions. Importantly, these f

academic.oup.com

🧠Meet our new #NeuroNarratives counselors! 🗣️ Emilie Caspar - Effective Message Communication: Guiding clear, accurate public communication across disciplines. @emiliecaspar.bsky.social 👉 Learn more: neuro-narratives.com/counselors/ #ArtScience #ScienceCommunication #Residency

New publication in the Journal of Genocide Research! What social factors set rescuers apart from bystanders and perpetrators during genocide? Which ones may drive people to rescue, or to kill? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @erc.europa.eu & FWO #genocide #research #rescuers #participation

Do Social Factors Differ between Rescuers, Bystanders, and Former Perpetrators? Explaining (Non-)Participation in a Genocide

Understanding which social factors (i.e. biographical availability, socialization, and situational contexts) support resistance or participation in genocide remains a largely unresolved societal an...

tandfonline.com

Vem aí mais um ciclo do Clube do Livro INCT SANI! 📚🤓 A obra escolhida para este semestre é "Just Following Orders", da @emiliecaspar.bsky.social, e os encontros acontecerão a partir do dia 18/08! Acompanhe nossas redes, em breve a gente anuncia como se inscrever 😉✨

www.standaard.be/natuur-en-we...

Als soldaten bevelen niet opvolgen, doen ze dat vanuit hun hart

Mensen kunnen op bevel van hun leiders de grootste misdaden begaan. Maar ze kunnen bevelen ook weigeren. Psychologen onderzoeken wat er dan gebeurt in de hersenen, en hoe dat verschilt tussen militairen en gewone burgers.

standaard.be

New paper on the neural mechanisms associated with resistance to immoral orders in civilian and military populations @leslie-tricoche.bsky.social, Antonin Rovai & Salvatore Lo Bue Open Access: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... @moralsocialbrain.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu BIAL @ghentccn.bsky.social

We are glad to welcome Alisha Vabba who has received a 3-year postdoc grant from Ugent in our @moralsocialbrain.bsky.social She'll combine VR with EEG to investigate what happens in the brain when prison guards witness violent misconduct by colleagues and must decide whether to intervene or not

Honored to be featured in the special edition of "The War Within. Neuroscience to understand today's violent conflict" from the ABC journal! Discover the full issue: abcjournal.nl #neuroscience #war

New publication in Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) with @guillaumepech.bsky.social ! We investigated the influence of conformity and obedience on intentions to help a child whose relative had caused harm to the participant’s family. academic.oup.com/scan/article...

A cross-cultural EEG study of how obedience and conformity influence reconciliation intentions

Abstract. The study investigated the influence of conformity and obedience on intentions to help a child whose relative had caused harm to the participant’

academic.oup.com

Congratulations! It was a very great talk

@elodiekox.bsky.social · last yr.

I was happy to share our results at #BAPS2025, showing how prison settings impact inmates' sense of agency. These results contribute to questioning our punitive practices and whether they truly support rehabilitation. @moralsocialbrain.bsky.social @emiliecaspar.bsky.social

Contacts to @victoriarambaud.bsky.social for a very good presentation on an impressive dataset with inmates followed over several months ! Results are very exciting !

Victoria Rambaud@victoriarambaud.bsky.social · last yr.

I presented today at #BAPS2025 how early incarceration impacts decision-making, showing that incarceration shapes how inmates learn from #reward and #punishment. Understanding these patterns is key to supporting #rehabilitation. #Prison #DecisionMaking #Psychology @moralsocialbrain.bsky.social

Came across this paper while reviewing literature on genocide rescuers and… I am honestly (really) puzzled by the abstract. Does anyone have access to the full text? #WonderWoman #Science ?

I think I have a spy pigeon watching me from my office window 🕵️‍♀️🕊️

Interesting resource on academic freedom. #Belgium ranks well—let's keep it that way! While some countries' positions aren't surprising, a few others really caught me off guard. academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

We are pleased to invite you to the first edition of the Social & Moral Brain seminar: Emotions, Others, and Morality, October 16–17, 2025, at the Ghent University Museum (GUM) Forum Belgium. Call for abstracts until May 19th 🔗 Submission : thesmbseminar.sciencesconf.org/resource/pag...

🧠 New preprint with @evalisavives.bsky.social Psych & neuro research often prioritize internal validity—at the cost of real-world relevance. Do our models reflect true brain function, or just lab-specific tasks? We propose concrete steps for boosting ecological validity osf.io/preprints/ps...

I am proud to represent #Belgium as an Ambassador of the ERC! At a time when politics increasingly threatens science, its funding, and researchers' neutrality, it is more important than ever to act — and to advocate for excellent, independent fundamental research. #Amb4ERC

European Research Council (ERC)@erc.europa.eu · last yr.

🚀 We are proud to launch the new "Ambassadors for the ERC" initiative, together with @ercgrantees.bsky.social ! We aim to empower researchers across Europe to advocate for frontier research. Find out more 👉 bit.ly/44bQzp7 🌟 Excited to see what can be achieved! #Amb4ERC

Someone sent me this photo. It’s honestly chilling how many examples of "Just Following Orders" we can find — in the past, and still today. 😔 #HistoryRepeatsItself #Obedience #Inhuman

How long do neural alterations last after a human-related trauma, such as a genocide? And can they be transmitted across generations? → New in Biological Psychology on survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... with @guillaumepech.bsky.social & P. Ros

New podcast now available on The Michael Shermer Show ! Very interesting discussion about why and how people follow orders, even when it involves inflicting severe harm on others. #Skeptic #Obedience #Academia #Neuroscience #michaelshermer www.skeptic.com/michael-sher...

Why We Follow Orders: The Neuroscience of Compliance and Control

About this episode: Why do ordinary people carry out extraordinary harm when simply told to do so? From the Holocaust to the genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Cambodia, history shows how obedience to ...

skeptic.com

New event for the general public – Who Goes Fascist? I'm excited to be part of this podium discussion at the 71st edition of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen – the oldest short film festival in the world! Link to the event (free) : lnkd.in/edz4y_DZ #fascism #research #science