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  • Subject Area
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    • Anthropology
    • Philosophy
    • Politics and International Relations
  • Our People
    • Professional Services Staff
    • History Staff
    • Anthropology Staff
    • Philosophy Staff
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  • About
    • Location
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    • AHSS Global Fellows
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    • Archive 2017
    • Archive 2016
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    • Africa Research Forum
    • Religious Studies Research Forum
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  • Find a PhD Supervisor

Find a PhD Supervisor

Dr Paulo Sousa

School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics
Paulo Sousa

Dr Paulo Sousa

School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics

Dr Sousa applies the perspective of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences to anthropological topics, focusing on agency, morality, intergroup conflict and religion and addressing questions such as: how do humans conceptualize (intentional) action? Do agency judgments influence judgements of responsibility? What is the nature of the mechanisms involved in our sense of what is right and wrong? Why do humans seem so prone to intergroup conflicts? Do conceptualizations of supernatural agency play a role in intergroup conflict and moral judgments?

Contact info

  • paulo.sousa@qub.ac.uk
  • +44 (0)28 9097 1170

Research Interests

I am open to PhD applications in the fields of…

  • Cognitive Anthropology
  • Psychology
  • Experimental Philosophy

Make a PhD enquiry


Public outreach & key achievements

Dr Paulo Sousa is Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture (ICC) and Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Anthropology. He holds a BA and a MA in anthropology (University of Brasilia, Brazil), a MA in cognitive science (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris), and a PhD in anthropology with specialization in cognition and culture (University of Michigan, USA). He has participated in many cross-cultural projects and published numerous articles in the field of cognition and culture. He also applied an epidemiological approach to the history of ideas of anthropology that stimulated a major controversy. His current research interests focus on agency, moral psychology and inter-group conflict as well as their relation to religion. He is currently writing a book on how ordinary people conceptualize the relationship between harm and morality.

 


Research students

PhD Title Intergroup Conflict, Threat, and Radicalization: The Case of Peace Walls in Northern Ireland
Name Adam Gilreath
Country United States
Years of Study 2015-2019
   
PhD Title  Cognitive mechanisms underpinning supernatural explanations: the cases of misfortune, illness, and natural catastrophes
Name Mathilde Hernu
Country  France
Years of Study 2016-2019
   
PhD Title Iranian motherhood: a cognitive approach
Name Mohaddeseh Ziyachi
Country Iran
Years of Study 2017-2020

 


Alumni: Where are they now

PhD Title The sense of agency for thought
Name Dr Lauren Swiney
Country England
Years of Study

2009-2012

Current Position 

WISB Research Career Development Fellow, The University of Warwick

https://www.wisb-uow.co.uk/people/lauren-swiney/

   
PhD Title  Unconscious Vigilance: Worldview defence without adaptations for terror, uncertainty or coalition management
Name Dr Colin Holbrook
Country  United States
Years of Study

2006-2009

Current Position 

Assistant professor of cognitive and information sciences, University of California, Merced

http://cholbrook01.bol.ucla.edu

 

 


Discover More

  • Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science

  • School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics
  • Institute of Cognition and Culture

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Contact Us

Contact Us

School Of History, Anthropology,
Philosophy and Politics
25 University Square
Belfast BT7 1NN


 

Contact
+44(0)28 9097 5028
happ@qub.ac.uk

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