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Staff profile

Overview

Kesson Magid

Biography

I’m a biological anthropologist interested in ecological and cultural influences upon human health, in particular early life influences on adult cognitive, reproductive, and immune traits. More generally, I'm curious how the practices, traditions, norms and values of culture are absorbed over a lifetime and influence patterns of thought and perception within the biological systems of the brain and body.

My current project investigates cross-cultural variations in cognitive styles. The project entails:

  • fieldwork collection of data on transgenerational variations in cognition among Bengali migrants
  • experiments on learning and social transmission
  • the development of an iOS app, ‘Global Village’ designed to measure geographic and cultural variations in social cognition, perception and learning styles by guiding an avatar through a series of games. 

My doctoral work studied the effects of migration and lifestyle upon the reproductive hormones and health of Bengali men residing in London UK and Sylhet, Bangladesh.

As a postgraduate research fellow, I evaluated psychosocial influences on cardiovascular function, with a focus on the influences of mental stress and correlations between markers of inflammation, socioeconomic position and psychological personality characteristics.

Recently, I have also become interested in the impact of mobile computing technology on the ethics, practice and applications of social science research.

Every two weeks I convene a lunch group with colleagues who work with quantitative methods and the statistical package R. Contact me if you'd like to be included on our mailing list.

Research interests

  • Cultural variations in social cognition
  • Human reproductive ecology
  • Testosterone and male life history
  • Human migration and health
  • Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular responses to psychosocial stress
  • Psychology of stress and status