Lou Safra

Lou Safra is Assistant Professor in political psychology at the Center for Political Research (CEVIPOF) of Sciences Po, Paris, and co-directs the Evaluation of Democracy Research Group at the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies (LIEPP). She is also associate researcher at the Institut d’Études Cognitives (École Normale Supérieure, Paris), bridging political science with cognitive neuroscience.

Education:

• PhD in Cognitive Science, École Normale Supérieure, Paris (2017)

Research Interests:

Lou Safra investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying social and political behaviour, focusing on leader choice and cooperation. She adopts an ecological and evolutionary perspective to understand inter-individual differences across space and time. Her methodological toolkit includes behavioural experiments, social surveys, computational modelling, and cultural artefact analysis such as paintings and books.

Publication Trends:

Her recent work (2020–2024) explores how early-life adversity shapes trust and authoritarian preferences, how cultural evolution influences concepts like love in literature, and how public opinion on defence issues evolves during the Ukraine war. Studies appear in high-impact journals spanning political science, psychology, behavioural economics, and cultural evolution.

Scientific Awards & Funding:

No specific awards or fellowships are listed in the provided text.

Advising & Grants:

No named students or specific grant details are provided in the text.

Labs & Teams:

She is affiliated with CEVIPOF–Sciences Po, LIEPP, and the Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives & Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles at ENS, indicating active collaboration across political science, cognitive neuroscience, and computational modelling teams.