Nadira Faber

nadira aug22 2
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Professor Nadira Faber is an Associate Faculty Member at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford and a Full Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Bremen (Germany). Nadira is an experimental psychologist by training, and she works interdisciplinary at the intersection of social psychology and ethics. After completing her PhD in psychology at the University of Göttingen (Germany), Nadira joined the University of Oxford as a PostDoc in the Department of Experimental Psychology and the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. She later became a Junior Principal Investigator in both Departments, where she founded and led the Social Behaviour and Ethics Lab. After holding a position at the University of Exeter’s Psychology Department, as well as visiting positions at VU University Amsterdam and Leiden University (Netherlands), Nadira is now a Research Associate at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, and she leads the Social and Economic Psychology Unit at the University of Bremen.

Selected recent publications on the topics of altruism, speciesism, and cognitive enhancement:

Faber, N. S., & Häusser, J. A. (2022). Why stress and hunger both increase and decrease prosocial behaviour. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 49-57. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.023

Caviola, L., Kahane, G., Everett, J. A. C., Teperman, E., Savulescu, J., & Faber, N. S. (2021). Utilitarianism for animals, Kantianism for people? Harming animals and humans for the greater good. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150, 1008-1039. doi:10.1037/xge0000988

Häusser, J. A., Stahlecker, C., Mojzisch, A., Leder, J., Van Lange, P. A. M., & Faber, N. S. (2019). Acute hunger does not always undermine prosociality. Nature Communications, 10, 4733. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12579-7

Caviola, L., Everett, J. A. C., & Faber, N. S. (2019). The moral standing of animals: Towards a psychology of speciesism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116, 1011-1029. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000182

Faber, N. S., Häusser, J. A., & Kerr, N. L. (2017). Sleep deprivation impairs and caffeine enhances my performance, but not always our performance: How acting in a group can change the effects of impairments and enhancements. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21, 3-28. doi: 10.1177/1088868315609487

Professor Nadira Faber conducts empirical psychological research with implications for philosophy, particularly practical ethics. When and how do people cooperate and help others (e.g., altruism)? How does morality guide people’s behaviour (e.g., utilitarianism)? Besides investigating fundamental psychological processes around cooperation and morality, Nadira is interested in applied topics like the general public’s views on cognitive enhancement and on the moral worth of non-human animals (speciesism).