Dr Patricia Kanngiesser

Research interests

My research focuses on social norms and institutions and their psychological foundations. Specifically, I study the cognitive and social processes that allow us to acquire, transmit, and change norms and that give rise to societal variation in norms. Furthermore, I apply these insights to broader societal questions such as how to foster ethical behaviours and cooperation. In my work, I combine a socio-cognitive approach with a cross-cultural perspective and conduct studies with children, adolescents, and adults worldwide. In the past, I have also conducted behavioural (non-invasiv) research with non-human great apes and maintain an interest in comparative psychology. I use a multi-method approach including experimental, observational, survey-based, ethnographic, and qualitative methods. My research takes place in multiple countries: I have established research sites in Argentina, Bolivia, and India, and have developed a wide network of international research collaborations. Furthermore, I frequently collaborate with colleagues from different areas within psychology (e.g., clinical psychology, social psychology, decision science) and outside psychology (e.g., anthropology, philosophy, education).

PhD student supervision

• Süheyla Yilmaz, Leipzig University, Germany, 2019-date

• Lina Alhaddad, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 2016-date

Grants & contracts

• Freigeist Fellowship for an independent research group, Navigating the social world—A cross-cultural and developmental perspective on social norms, PI, VolkswagenFoundation, 1,063,700€, 2016-2020
• Marie Curie Intra-European Career Development Grant, The cross-cultural development of resource allocation behaviour (XCULTDEVRESALL), PI, European Commission 7th Framework Programme, 162,000€, 2013-2015