Dimitris Xygatalas

Dimitris Xygalatas is an anthropologist and cognitive scientist at the University of Connecticut, where he directs the Experimental Anthropology Lab, developing interdisciplinary methods of studying behaviour in real-life settings. His research interests include ritual, sports, music, cooperation, and the interaction between cognition and culture. He has held positions at the universities of Princeton, Aarhus, and Masaryk, where he served as director of the Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion. He has conducted several years of fieldwork in Southern Europe and Mauritius. His research has been widely published in a range of scientific journals. His most recent book Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living (2022) is published in ten languages.