Social neuroscience research
I am a postdoctoral researcher in social neuroscience at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, a visiting scholar at the Social Identity and Morality Lab at New York University and an affiliate at the Center of Conflict Studies and Field Research (ARTIS Research).
I obtained my degree in Biology at the Universitat de Barcelona, my master’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience at King’s College London and my PhD at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2016). I have also visited the Bernstein Center of Computational Neuroscience in Berlin (2016) and the Neuroeconomics Lab at the Haas Business School of the University of California in Berkeley (2017).
My work examines how political extremism impacts decision-making in contexts of political polarization. Particularly, I am interested in how extreme social identities and moral values shape people’s political beliefs and motivation to share misinformation and engage in political violence.
I often study these issues using special samples, including far-right supporters and militants of armed jihad. In my research, I use a multi-method approach including social cognitive tasks, cross-cultural surveys, and neuroimaging.
I have published as a first author in multiple scientific high-impact journals, including Social Affective and Cognitive Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, and Royal Society Open Science.
I have also written research essays in the The Conversation, The Atlantic and The Washington Post, and have been invited as a speaker at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs (US), the Center for Resolution of Intractable Conflict, Oxford (UK), and the UN conference on AI, Peace, and Security, London (UK).
My work on violent extremism has been cited in major policy speeches on counter violent extremism (Neil Basu in Prevent conversation at ICT Summit, Counter Terrorism Policing).
😲🗳️ Nuestros votos no nos pertenecen.
— El cazador de cerebros (@cazadorcerebros) December 7, 2020
Si queréis quedaros con una sola idea de este episodio, escuchad a @ClaraPretus y sus consejos para consumir la información de manera crítica.
Entra a examen para niños y mayores.
#CazadorDeVotos 🔴📺 https://t.co/4lacOUdRJf pic.twitter.com/rYM4GErqJA
Extremismo político. ¿Por qué hay tantos políticos interesados en polarizarnos? ¿Qué sacan de ello?
— El cazador de cerebros (@cazadorcerebros) December 7, 2020
Nos lo explica la neurocientífica social @ClaraPretus.
Seguimos en directo en el #CazadorDeVotos 🔴📺 https://t.co/4lacOUdRJf pic.twitter.com/IIiGAml2uT
What makes people willing to fight and die for their beliefs? @nafeeshamid and his colleagues scanned the brains of supporters of groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda to find out. https://t.co/REDWxtaFb6 pic.twitter.com/HQNIeHSxsO
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) March 2, 2020
“L’exclusió social és un factor principal per la creació de jihadistes violents”, ha dit @ClaraPretus, investigadora del Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal de la UAB. Recupera l’entrevista aquí: https://t.co/UuuMlHEYjF pic.twitter.com/59OOB95Oml
— Aquí, amb Josep Cuní (@AquiCuni) January 10, 2019
Describing the BIAL Foundation in one word
En este programa analizamos nuestro comportamiento político desde el punto de vista de la psicología y la neurociencia - El Cazador de Cerebros - December 8, 2020
TIME Magazine - Sept 2, 2020
Ctxt.es - July 8, 2020
The Washington Post - Dec 13, 2019
The Conversation - edición en español - June 17, 2019
The Conversation - June 12, 2019
The Atlantic - Oct 1, 2017