CLAASSEN Maria Almudena
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany
- Almudena is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany
- Her research aims to improve food- and drink-related decision-making by studying how people navigate modern food environments, including the roles of social context, motivation, and the decision strategies people use
- Using behavioural experiments, computational methods, and theory-driven interventions such as social-norm and boosting approaches, she examines how healthier and more sustainable choices can be supported in everyday environments
- Almudena engages with open science practices and meta-science to strengthen the robustness and transparency of behavioural research
- Almudena holds a MS degree in Social and Health psychology and a PhD degree in Psychology and Educational sciences.
Recent publications:
- Claassen MA, Mata J, Hertwig R. The (mis-) measurement of food decisions. 2025;209:107928.
- Claassen MA, Klein P, Klein O. I’ll have what they’re having: A descriptive social norm increases choice for vegetables in students. Soc Influ.2023;18(1):2261178.
- Claassen MA, Lomann M, Papies EK. Increased consumption despite fewer occasions: A longitudinal analysis of COVID-19 lockdown effects on soft drink consumption in England. 2023;187:106579.
- Claassen MA, Papies EK. Representational shifts: Increasing motivation for bottled water through simulation-enhancing advertisements. BMC Public Health.2023;23(1):2209.
- Papies EK, Claassen MA, Rusz D, Best M. Flavors of desire: Cognitive representations of appetitive stimuli and their motivational implications. J Exp Psychol Gen.2022;151(8):1919.