Dr Claudia Civai

I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at City, University of London, and a Visiting Research Fellow in the Division of Psychology, London South Bank University. I previously worked at the University of Minnesota (USA), Radboud University (Netherlands), and the University of Kent.
I am passionate about understanding people's propensity to cooperate, reciprocate trust and behave fairly, which I investigate through the lenses of Decision Neuroscience.
My recent research investigates the effects of scarcity on cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of attentional biases on retributive and restorative justice.

My main line of research focuses on the investigation of the cognitive processes underlying social and individual economic decision-making and employs the multidisciplinary approach of Decision Neuroscience, which integrates psychology, neuroscience and economic decision theory. I am particularly interested in social decision-making, which refers to the choices that we make when others are involved.
It has been shown that people have a preference for fair outcomes, and may even end up rejecting sure gains rather than accepting an unfair disadvantageous bargain; nevertheless, unfairness and inequality are widely spread in the world. What are the contextual factors that modulate our socio-economic choices? Do we care about unfairness and injustice when we witness someone else being the victim of it? What happen when unfair outcomes are advantageous for us? Those are the questions that I have been addressing in my research.
Some of my current projects include:
- the neurocognitive processes underlying punishment and compensation (i.e., retributive and restorative justice), two different mechanisms of reaction to fairness and justice violations (in collaboration with University of Milan - Bicocca);
- the effects of a scarcity mindset on value-based decision-making and prosocial behaviours (in collaboration with University of Padua, Italy)
- the willingness to pay for human contact in an increasingly virtual world (funded by a Small Leverhulme/BA grant, in collaboration with Drs Elisa Carrus and Stella Mearns).
I am also involved in multidisciplinary projects across the Division and the School:
- the role of social norms on e-cigarettes consumption (Emke Brazier's PhD project, co-supervisor)
- the effects of architectural design on the lived experience of patients and staff at Manchester psychiatric unit (Donna Ciarlo's PhD project, co-supervisor)
- The effects of microbiota on cognitive and affective processes and food choices, in collaboration with the National Bakery School (Ms Adri Bester) and human science (Dr Rita de Oliveira).
I also collaborate with the Brussel-based company Sapience on the development of neuromarketing and consumer insights training for business professionals, delivered by the Centro Universitario Internazionale in Italy.

Cognitive psychology and neuroscience, Judgment and Decision-Making