Tobias Kalenscher
@kalenscher.bsky.social
Cognitive neuroscientist interested in neuroeconomics, decision-making, social (neuro)science and oysters https://www.psychologie.hhu.de/en/research-teams/comparative-psychology
PhD Position available! We are seeking a motivated PhD candidate to join our team at the Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. The position is funded by the German Research Foundation and is available from 10/2026.
„Haltung zeigen“ In einem großen Interview mit der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung spricht HHU-Rektorin Anja Steinbeck über die Gefährdung der Wissenschaftsfreiheit und die Grenzen der Neutralitätspflicht dort, wo die Freiheitlich-Demokratische Grundordnung bedroht wird. 1/2
Einige unserer Veranstaltungen gibt's regelmäßig im Podcast #Hörsaal vom Deutschlandfunk Nova zu hören. Im neuen Beitrag geht's um Schmerzen. Sie sind lästig, niemand hat sie gern. Dennoch brauchen wir sie. Sie sind ein Warnsignal des Körpers und ein Zeichen von Wachstum - Stichwort Muskelkater. 1/2
Wie unsere Psyche Schmerzen beeinflusst
Schmerz nervt, ist aber wichtig. Die Schmerzforscherin Susanne Becker erklärt, wie Schmerz funktioniert und wie wir ihn beeinflussen können.
deutschlandfunknova.de
#Stress führt häufig dazu, dass wir gereizt(er) sind – er kann uns aber auch hilfsbereit oder großzügig machen. In der neuen Folge des Podcasts #Hörsaal vom Deutschlandfunk Nova geht es um das Thema Stress mit Prof. Tobias @kalenscher.bsky.social. ⤵️ 1/2 www.deutschlandfunknova.de/beitrag/psyc...
Stress macht aggressiv und großzügig
Stress macht uns oft unfreundlich und aggressiv, aber auch großzügig und hilfsbereit. Diese beiden Reaktionen widersprechen sich nur scheinbar.
deutschlandfunknova.de
Stress bestimmt den Alltag vieler Menschen. Doch wie wirkt er sich im sozialen Miteinander aus? Die Vergleichende Psychologie kommt zu verschiedenen Ergebnissen - von Aggressivität bis hin zu Hilfsbereitschaft. Verantwortlich dafür sind verschiedene Botenstoffe im Gehirn. 1/3
Aber was genau passiert in unserem Körper, wenn wir gestresst sind? Und wie wirkt sich Stress auf unser soziales Miteinander aus? In unserer Reihe “Forschung im Fokus” blickt Tobias Kalenscher (@kalenscher.bsky.social), Professor für Vergleichende Psychologie an der @hhu.de, auf das Thema. 2/3
New paper out in Autism! Last year, we showed that Autistic adults are more generous toward strangers than neurotypical people. But this finding raised the question: was this true generosity or just an artefact of task design? Quick answer: true generosity! ... journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Increased prosocial value orientation in autistic adults - Paul AG Forbes, Gillian Hughes, Leonhard Schilbach, Sarah White, Tobias Kalenscher, 2025
Social discounting describes the tendency to give fewer resources to those we feel less close to. Previous work suggests autistic individuals show a flatter dec...
journals.sagepub.com
New paper out in the Journal of Neuroscience! What happens when the brain’s “social reward” circuits go off track? Rats overexpressing human DISC1 show specific deficits in social reward learning, but intact nonsocial learning, … doi.org/10.1523/JNEU...
Social Reward Learning Deficits and Concordant Brain Alterations in Rats Overexpressing Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1)
Social deficits are a hallmark of schizophrenia, often characterized by impairments in processing and integrating socially transmitted information. However, translational models that accurately captur...
doi.org
🧠✨ Düsseldorf Symposium on Decision Neuroscience. 📅 Sept 26, 2025 | 📍 Düsseldorf A one-day, high-level event with leading speakers on dopamine, empathy, prosociality & neuroforecasting. 💸 Free! | 🌍 In person + online @hhu.de @socforneuroecon.bsky.social @decisionneurop.bsky.social
Yesterday I talked to David Cooper of The Last Show about our recent paper published in PNAS. Listen here (starting around minute 51): open.spotify.com/episode/2tt9...
Mom, Don't Meddle In My Love Life - July 31, 2025
The Last Show with David Cooper · Episode
open.spotify.com
New blog post! I summarize our recent paper (www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...) how stress concurrently fosters ingroup support and outgroup competition, and what this has to do with societal polarization and conflict. Us Versus Them | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
Us Versus Them
Does stress make us more aggressive or more helpful? New research suggests it does both. This dual effect may drive growing societal polarization and the persistence of conflict.
psychologytoday.com
Read Stress enhances cooperation within groups while simultaneously increasing hostility toward outsiders on Kudos: www.growkudos.com/publications...
Stress enhances cooperation within groups while simultaneously increasing hostility toward outsiders
Stress is known to affect social behavior, but how exactly it does so is still unclear. In the past, its effects were contradictory: stress has been linked to either more aggressive reactions (fight-o...
growkudos.com
Acute stress can enhance cooperation within groups while simultaneously increasing hostility toward outsiders, driven by distinct neurochemical pathways. doi.org/g9s8sw
How stress strengthens group bonds—and fuels intergroup conflict
Why do violent conflicts between groups persist—even when all sides suffer as a result? Researchers from psychology and medicine at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have now examined the dual effect of physiological stress messengers on social behavior in intergroup conflicts.
medicalxpress.com
1/4 New paper in @pnas.org! How does stress affect our social decisions in conflict? More aggression (fight-or-flight)? Or more altruism (tend-and-befriend)? Our new study suggests: it’s not either/or, stress promotes both at once, depending on the neurochemical balance and the social context. 🧠
Why are we generous to some people but not to others? And which brain mechanisms govern our decision to be generous toward others? In our latest research, published in @pnas.org (www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...), we report steeper social discounting after human basolateral amygdala (BLA) lesions.
Steeper social discounting after human basolateral amygdala damage | PNAS
Translational research suggests that the basolateral part of the amygdala (BLA) computes some of the core processes underlying social preferences, ...
pnas.org
Postdoc position 2025: for more information, please visit www.psychologie.hhu.de/en/research-...
News
psychologie.hhu.de
3-year postdoc position (100% fte, TVL-E13) in human fMRI and psychopharmacology at the Institute of Experimental Psychology, Comparative Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. Applications are invited for a 3-year postdoc position in the Comparative Psychology research group
Is it Bad to leave Twitter? No. Here are 7+ years of insights from my lab’s research that explain why. Featuring work w/ @williambrady.bsky.social @killianmcloughlin.bsky.social 🧵
