Research Associate

Louise graduated with a First-Class Honors from McGill University in 2022, with a B.A. & Sc. in Cognitive Science and a minor in Political Science. She then completed a MSc in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford in 2023. During her time at Oxford, she had the chance to take part in a field school focused on primatology and paleoanthropology in Mozambique.

Louise has always been drawn toward multidisciplinary fields of study. In particular, she is interested in the interaction between human cognition and the structure of human societies. For her undergraduate thesis, she conducted a psychology experiment investigating whether fiction reading can help decrease inter-ethnic prejudice by improving empathy and theory of mind. She is also interested in cultural evolution and the emergence of cooperation. Her master’s dissertation worked on expanding the theory of Morality as Cooperation developed by Dr. Oliver Scott Curry by applying it to the value of honesty. To do so, Louise used the eHRAF database to carry out a broad survey of how honesty is valued across cultures. She was impressed by the possibilities offered by HRAF, and is excited to be able to pursue research in this institute.

During her time at university, Louise worked as a writer or editor for various student journals, was involved in clubs linked to sustainability, and did rowing. She hopes to pursue a PhD in future years in evolutionary anthropology.

Part of her B.A & Sc. thesis can be found here.