Nicolas Claidiere is a CNRS Research Director at CRPN, where he co-leads the development and phylogeny research group (DePhy) and directs the Primate Cognition and Behaviour platform. His research lies at the intersection between psychology, animal behaviour, and evolutionary biology, with a focus on understanding how social behaviour emerges, spreads, and evolves.
Using a comparative approach that brings together human and non-human primates, he investigates the cognitive and social mechanisms that underpin social learning and cultural evolution. A central theme of his work is how information flows within groups, how social networks shape individual and collective behaviour, and how these dynamics give rise to stable traditions or rapid innovation.