Anabela Cantiani MSc
PhD Candidate
TSB: Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
TSB: Department of Social Psychology
A.A.Cantiani@tilburguniversity.edu
Room
S 416
Bio
I am a Ph.D. candidate at Tilburg University's department of Social Psychology (advisors: Prof. Dr. Ilja van Beest and Dr. Thorsten Erle). My academic background includes a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Universidad Católica de Santa Fe, Argentina, and a master's degree in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from Universidad de Granada, Spain. My research interests revolve around social cognition, decision-making, cooperation, and prosociality.
The focus of my Ph.D. research is to investigate the underlying psychological mechanisms of coalition formation using perspective-taking, which refers to the ability to understand another person's mental state, encompassing their thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.
Expertise
Our primary focus is to examine whether individuals who are better at considering the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of potential collaboration partners experience more favorable outcomes in coalition formation, such as being included in agreements or obtaining a higher share of rewards. Additionally, we aim to identify the specific strategies they employ to achieve such success.
Moreover, we are intrigued by how the coalition formation context can influence the effects of perspective-taking. Specifically, we seek to determine whether perspective-taking is more pronounced in unpredictable contexts, where it is challenging to anticipate others' behaviors, as compared to predictable contexts.
Furthermore, we explore the effects of a perceptual modality of perspective-taking known as visuospatial perspective-taking. In particular, we investigate whether adopting the literal standpoint of potential partners influences the partner selection stage of coalition formation.
Teaching
At Tilburg University, I have been teaching workgroups in several courses, including Social Psychology, Diversity and Inclusion, and Research Skills in Psychology. Additionally, I am involved in supervising bachelor theses on the topic of perspective-taking in coalition formation.