Dr Jens Koed Madsen

Dr Jens Koed Madsen

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science

Connect with me

Languages
Danish, English, German, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish
Key Expertise
Belief revision, cognitive psychology, computational models

About me

At LSE, I design and teach the module on cognitive psychology for the 2nd year undergraduate students in BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science. 

I am interested in how people form and maintain their subjective beliefs and values as well as how they behave.

I'm particularly interested in how belief and behaviour impact democratic stability, information fragility, discrimination, and environmental sustainability.

To explore this, I use a range of methods such as computational models (Bayesian and agent-based), experimental design, and explorations of how people adapt when their environment and social context changes (to explore how legislative, social, or systemic changes impact people’s beliefs and behaviour).

While my background is in traditional humanities (a degree in classic rhetorical theory from the University of Copenhagen), I gravitated towards cognitive psychology and complex systems. I did a PhD in the psychology of persuasion at UCL. After UCL, I moved to Birkbeck as a post-doc before taking up a post-doc at the Cohesys lab at the University of Oxford. I am now happy to call LSE my home 

Awards

  • Individual Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award from the Danish Council for Independent Research in Humanities
  • Shortlisted for Sapere Aude – Danish Council for Independent Research talent award
  • Multiple scholarships and awards from various foundations in support of PhD and MRes

Expertise Details

How people update their beliefs when they see new information from more or less credible sources; how people behave; information flow in social networks

My research