The Social Perception and Cognition Lab at the University of Milano-Bicocca investigates how people perceive, judge, and behave toward others. The lab’s first major focus is examining impression formation through the lens of social cognition. The majority of our current projects study the key role of morality in shaping person and group impressions.
We also investigate how people use facial cues to form impressions of others as well as the processes through which we dynamically update such impressions. We also study how individuals perceive and evaluate one another across group boundaries (e.g., gender, race, and sexual orientation) and how stereotypes and prejudice affect social behavior.
We hold a weekly lab meeting on Thursday afternoons.
Lab Members
Marco Brambilla
Lab Director
Marco Brambilla is full professor of social psychology and director of the Social Perception and Cognition Lab. He received his MSc in Psychology from the University of Milano-Bicocca and his PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Bologna. He studies social cognition, specifically how we think about other people and groups.
Simona Sacchi
Affiliated Faculty
Simona Sacchi is full professor of social psychology at the University of Milano-Bicocca. She received her MSc in Psychology from the University of Padova and her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Pavia. Dr. Sacchi’s research focuses on impression formation and moral reasoning.
Simone Mattavelli
Affiliated Faculty
Simone Mattavelli is an assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Milano-Bicocca. He received his MSc and PhD from the University of Milano-Bicocca. Before becoming an assistant professor, he worked as a post-doc at Ghent University (Belgium) and in the social perception and cognition lab at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Dr. Mattavelli’s research spans both implicit learning and social cognition.
Matteo Masi
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Matteo Masi received his PhD from the University of Milano-Bicocca under the supervision of prof. Brambilla. He then obtained a post-doctoral position at the University of Münster (Germany) before rejoining the lab in 2024 as a post-doctoral fellow. Matteo’s research focuses on cross-modal impression updating.
Aleksandr Feigin
PhD Student
Aleksandr Feigin is a PhD student in social psychology at the University of Milano-Bicocca. He received his MSc in Applied Social Psychology from the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Aleksandr investigates how people perceive justice violations and decide what is right and wrong.
Gaia Fiamberti
Pre-Doctoral Fellow
Gaia Fiamberti is a pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Milano-Bicocca working under the supervision of prof. Brambilla and prof. Sacchi. She received her MSc in Applied Experimental Psychological Sciences from the University of Milano-Bicocca. Gaia is currently working on a project aimed at testing the social psychological factors that make people trust science and scientists.
'