Faculty Profile

BIO

Scott Atran is an anthropologist known for his work on the importance of “devoted actors” in cultural, political and religious conflicts, for studies on Maya and other indigenous systems of environmental management, and for investigations into the cognitive foundations of religion and of biological classification across human societies. He has designed behavioral and brain research on cognition and categorization, religion and politics, cultural identify and conflict, and the limits of rational choice. This includes field studies with terrorists and other violent actors, and with political leaders and Native American peoples. He has participated in Middle East ceasefire negotiations, in a joint U.S.–Russia Academies of Sciences group on Terrorism and Nuclear Threats, and the UN Security Council Committee on Counterterrorism. He has addressed the World Economic Forum on influences of “Devoted Actors” in war and peace, and the UN Security Council plenary on “Youth, Peace, and Security.” Atran briefs National Security Council staff, the U.S. Senate and House (Homeland and Armed Services), and UK and EU parliaments on terrorism and Great Power competition, will to fight and end wars, social media and internet threats, and the risks of artificial intelligence for nuclear and other lethal weapons systems. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Distinguished Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Changing Character of War Centre, and Emeritus Research Director at France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).