Fernando Blanco, PhD

Fernando Blanco, Ph.D.

I am lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Granada. He/Him.

Research interests

My major research topic is the human learning of contingencies and causality, and, more specifically, those factors leading to decisions that we would consider “irrational”. From my viewpoint, irrationality and superstitions arise as a result of basic mechanisms operating in a normal brain that are analogous to those leading to optical illusions. This approach allows me to study irrational behavior in the laboratory, by making use of the experimental method and the laws of conditioning, which are now better understood than ever before. Although the core of my research is basic and experimental, it can also help us understand different domains such as medicine, education, political attitudes, and economics. Additionally, I am also an Open Science advocate, and support initiatives to increase transparency, rigor and inclusiveness in scientific publishing and dissemination.

Research topics
Associative learning; Human causal & contingency learning; Biases in causal & contingency learning; Illusion of control; Depressive realism; Bayesian modeling.

Other interests
Metal music; Wargame miniature painting; Dinosaur lover;

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