A short bio

I'm Lorenzo Gagliardi, a post-doc researcher at the Dept. of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua. My research focuses on anomalistic beliefs, which are belief systems that challenge conventional understanding of the world (e.g., conspiracy theories, pseudoscience). During my academic journey (2014-2020), I studied economics and marketing, delving into the foundations of economic decision theory and consumer behavior. In June 2024, I completed a PhD in Methods and Models for Economic Decisions at the University of Insubria, where my research investigated cognitive biases contributing to the formation of conspiracy beliefs using experimental game theory paradigms.

Currently, I do research on fake news at the JDM Lab (University of Padua), specifically focusing on cognitive processes such as processing fluency and motivated reasoning in perception of news accuracy. I also study the role of naturalness perception in medical decision-making (e.g., vaccination, alternative therapies) and empirical methodologies in anomalistic psychology.

I am a member of the Managing Committee of the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology (IAREP), serving as the role of digital content specialist. Additionally, I am the founder and curator of the science communication project "Non è la Zebra" (@nonelazebra on Instagram), which explores behavioral and decision-making sciences online and through live events.

Research Interests:

Judgment and decision-making; Behavioral and experimental economics; Anomalistic psychology; Consumer behavior

Specific topics: Cognitive biases and heuristics; Conspiracy beliefs; Fake news; Perception of naturalness; Medical decision-making;