Session Abstract
It is not hard to think of the world as a dangerous place. From deadly animals to natural disasters to nuclear weapons, potential threats are everywhere. So, what do we do to feel safe? And what are the consequences of those actions? I will discuss how we reason about threats and the solutions we imagine will make us feel safe. In particular, I will focus on how these dynamics affect the handling of society-scale threats and how they impact national security decision-making.
Speaker Bio
Marika Landau-Wells is a social scientist with a long-standing interest in the human brain. Her research is broadly concerned with the effects of cognitive processes on political behavior. Her current project focuses on the role of threat perception in national security decision-making. She holds a PhD in Political Science from MIT, where she was also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences.