Research in this group explores the evolution of cooperation in nature. In particular, we ask what mechanisms can maintain cooperation in interactions where partners may otherwise be tempted to exploit one another. In parallel, we investigate the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of individual variation in social behaviour.
We work on a variety of model species; and use real-world and lab-based methods to tackle these questions.
We are striving to be an open science lab. We publish in open access journals, we pre-register our experiments when we can, and we routinely post the materials, data and code to reproduce analyses online.
If you’re keen to come and work with in the Social Evolution and Behaviour Lab at UCL, please get in touch.
Principal investigator
Nichola Raihani is PI of the Social Evolution and Behaviour Lab. She is Professor in Evolution and Behaviour, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.
You need to know about orb-weaving spiders. Males have two penises ('palps') and they try to stick both of them into the female. Female doesn't allow this: male has to withdraw thing 1 before thing 2 is allowed access. But, freshly moulted females are vulnerable.
— Nichola Raihani (@nicholaraihani) March 15, 2019
Nichola Raihani awarded Philip Leverhulme Prize for Psychology
New paper shows that social threat causes paranoid thinking
Nichola Raihani elected to Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology