Faces of ESLR: Sven Kasser
Sven is an interdisciplinary social scientist currently enrolled in the MSc in Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Oxford, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in Psychology & Economics. His interests span an equally broad range of subjects and methodologies including experimental moral psychology, formal modelling of cultural transmission dynamics especially with regards to marriage norms, and gene-culture coevolution. Accordingly, he is currently a research affiliate at the Social Behaviour and Ethics Lab at the University of Exeter (UK) working on the role of risk and uncertainty in moral judgment, as well as a Master’s student in Oxford’s Anthrologue research group under supervision of Dr. Laura Fortunato, where he is investigating the theoretical co-evolutionary dynamics of evolved pair-bonding preferences and human marriage systems. He is due to start a PhD in September 2021 at the University of St. Andrews under supervision of Kevin Laland, Laura Fortunato and Marc Feldman, working on an international research project focused on quantifying gene-culture coevolution beyond commonly cited current examples (e.g. lactase persistence, sickle cell-induced malaria resistance, etc.). Besides his otherwise clear-cut focus on human norms, human psychology and human cultural dynamics, he has recently become enamored with cephalopod cognition and welcomes any and all references to the topic (that is to say, he really likes cuttlefish, and thinks you should too). You can follow him on Twitter for updates on his research.
About the author
Sven is an interdisciplinary social scientist currently enrolled in the MSc in Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University with previous training in psychology and economics. His interests span experimental moral psychology, formal modelling of cultural transmission dynamics, especially with regards to marriage norms, and gene-culture coevolution. Accordingly, he is currently a research affiliate at the Social Behaviour and Ethics Lab at the University of Exeter (UK) studying risk in moral judgment, as well as a Master’s student in Oxford’s Anthrologue research group under supervision of Dr. Laura Fortunato, where he is investigating the impact of biased sex-ratios on the evolution of human marriage systems. He is due to start a PhD this autumn at the University of St. Andrews under supervision of Kevin Laland, Laura Fortunato and Marc Feldman, focused on quantifying gene-culture coevolution beyond commonly cited current examples (e.g. lactase persistence, etc.). Besides his otherwise clear-cut bias toward human cognition, he has a particular soft spot for comparative psychology involving cephalopods (that is to say, he really likes cuttlefish, and thinks you should too). You can follow him on Twitter for updates on his research.