Saadi Lahlou

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Saadi Lahlou is Professor in Social Psychology, in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics. He conducts and publishes research in the areas of social psychology, consumer behaviour, survey and forecast methods, lexical analysis, cognition and design. He is the Director of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study

Contents

Biography

Saadi Lahlou graduated as statistician and economist at the ENSAE in Paris. He obtained his PhD [1] in social psychology at EHESS with Pr. Serge Moscovici, and his HDR (habilitation as a research director) at University of Provence with Pr. Jean-Claude Abric. He also holds degrees in Human Biology and Ethology.

He directed the research department on consumer studies at CREDOC – Centre for the Study of Lifestyles and Social Policies, in Paris (1987-1993). He was the head of a research unit on organizations at Électricité de France (EDF) (1993-1997). He founded the Laboratory of Design for Cognition [2] at EDF R&D, which he directed until 2009. [3]

In parallel, he continued his basic research in social psychology and cognitive science at the Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale at EHESS, where he held research seminars (1998-2010); [4] as scientific director of the Cognitive Technologies program [5] at Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme since 1998 and as associate CNRS research director at Edgar Morin Centre from CNRS-EHESS. He founded and coordinated the RUFAE network (Research on User-Friendly Augmented Environments). [6]

He joined the Institute of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics in January 2009 (now Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science), and was head of the Department from 2009 to 2013. He is a chartered member of (British Psychological Society), [7] and a EURIAS senior fellow. [8] Since 2018, he is the director of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study. He was elected member of the National Academy of Technologies of France [9] (2022) and of the Academia Europaea [10] (2023).

Research

His first social science research was a reconsideration of Durkheim’s Suicide, conducted under the supervision of Christian Baudelot [11] [12]

He studied facial mimics of newborns [13] [14] in the CNRS-INSERM research unit of Michel Jouvet.

At CREDOC (Research Center for Lifestyles and Social Policies, Paris), his research mainly focused on consumer behaviour, especially on eating, and social representations theory. His book Penser Manger [15] published by PUF received the prix Trémolières decerned by Institut Benjamin Delessert. [16] His book was reviewed by Sciences Humaines [17] and by the American Psychological Association. [18]

He set up large statistical observation instruments (such as the Observatoire des Consommations Alimentaires, now part of Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire [19] ), contributed to the development of automated text analysis [20] [21] and to the application of multivariate analysis methods to behavioral and cultural studies.

When he joined EDF R&D in 1993, he conducted organizational studies, developed video observation techniques, especially the "subcam", a wearable miniature video-camera included in glasses, providing a detailed first-person recording of the subject's activity [22] [23] and design approaches. [24] He is deeply concerned by the cognitive effects of digitalization : cognitive overload syndrom, [25] privacy issues [26] and transferring human experience [27]

He has been involved in two main projects concerning sustainability issues : Barenergy, [28] a European project which try to understand the "Barriers for energy changes" and another on Energy use and the built environment which lead to the publication of a collective book, System Innovation for Sustainability 4. [29]

His current research focuses on the distribution of determinants of human behaviour between the physical space, mental space, and social space. He has published a book on this topic, entitled "Installation Theory: The Societal Construction and Regulation of Behaviour". [30] This work provides researchers and practitioners with a simple and powerful framework to understand, analyse, and change behaviour. Informed by a wide range of empirical evidence, it includes an accessible synthesis of former theories (ecological psychology, activity theory, situated action, distributed cognition, social constructionism, actor-network theory and social representations).

Lahlou's work defines "installations" as the familiar, socially constructed, apparatuses which elicit, enable, scaffold and control - and make predictable - most of our 'normal' behaviour. From shower-cabins or airport check-ins to family dinners, classes or hospitals. Installations consist of a set of components that simultaneously support and socially control individual behaviour. Installation Theory describes their threefold structure with a model enabling systematic and practical analysis of their components The components are distributed over the physical space (affordances), the subject (embodied competences) and the social space (institutions, enacted and enforced by other subjects). These components assemble at the time and place the activity is performed. Installation Theory details the mechanisms of their construction, resilience and evolution. Installation Theory is designed to inform intervention on social systems for behavioural change and business model betterment.” [31]

Publications

Books and special issues by Saadi Lahlou

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Lahlou, S. (1995) Penser Manger. Les représentations sociales de l'alimentation, thèse de doctorat de l'EHESS
  2. The Laboratory of Design for Cognition at EDF R&D (LDC)
  3. Lahlou, Saadi (2009) Experimental reality: principles for the design of augmented environments. In: Lahlou, Saadi, (ed.) Designing user friendly augmented work environments: from meeting rooms to digital collaborative spaces. Computer supported cooperative work . Springer, London, UK, pp. 113-158. ISBN   9781848000971,
  4. séminaire 2009-2010
  5. Cognitive Technologies Program Archived 2013-04-12 at archive.today
  6. Rufae
  7. BPS
  8. "Saadi Lahlou | European Institutes for Advanced Study (EURIAS) Fellowship Programme | 2015-2016". Archived from the original on 2014-11-26. Retrieved 2014-12-25.
  9. "Décret du 3 mars 2023 portant approbation d'élections à l'Académie des technologies".
  10. "Election at Academia Europaea".
  11. Aveline, F., Baudelot, C., Beverragi, M., Lahlou, S. Suicide et rythmes sociaux. Economie et statistique, n°168, 8/1985, pp. 71-76.
  12. Baudelot, C., Establet, R., Lahlou, S. « Le suicide, un fait social ». ‘’Données Sociales‘’ 1987.
  13. Challamel, MJ., Lahlou, S., Revol, M., Jouvet, M. (1985). "Sleep and Smiling In Neonate: a New Approach", Sleep 84, Koella WP, Ruther E. Schulz H, (eds). New-York : Gustav Fisher Verlag. pp. 290-292
  14. Challamel Marie-Josèphe, Lahlou S., Bret Daniel, Revol Michel, Jouvet Michel. Facial mimics during sleep in neonates: a contribution to the function of REM sleep. ‘’Journal of Sleep Research’’ 1(1) 39 (1992)
  15. Lahlou, Saadi (1995) ‘’Penser Manger’’, Paris, PUF (prix Trémolières, 1998).
  16. "IBD - Saadi Lahlou - Prix Jean Trémolières 1997 - Penser Manger : Les représentations sociales de l'alimentation". Archived from the original on 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  17. Review of Penser manger in Sciences Humaines
  18. Review of Penser manger in APA PsycNET
  19. "Anses - Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail". www.anses.fr. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  20. Lahlou, S. A method to extract social representations from linguistic corpora. Japanese Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 1996, 35, 3, pp. 278-291.
  21. Lahlou, S. Vers une théorie de l'interprétation en analyse des données textuelles. JADT 1995. 3rd International Conference on Statistical Analysis of Textual Data. S. Bolasco, L. Lebart, A. Salem (eds). CISU, Roma, 1995, Vol I, pp. 221-228.
  22. Lahlou, Saadi. L'activité du point de vue de l'acteur et la question de l’inter-subjectivité : huit années d’expériences avec des caméras miniaturisées fixées au front des acteurs (subcam). Communications, Nov. 2006, n°80: 209-234.
  23. Lahlou, S. (2011). How can we capture the subject's perspective? An evidence-based approach for the social scientist. Social Science Information. Vol. 50, n°3-4, 2011. 607-655
  24. Lahlou, Saadi (ed). Designing User Friendly Augmented Work Environments. London: Springer. Computer Supported Cooperative Work Series, Nov. 2009. 347p. ; EDF R&D (Lahlou). ISBN   978-1848000971.
  25. <lahlou, S. (ed.): Technologies Cognitives et environnement de travail, Intellectica, 30, 2000/1.
  26. Lahlou, Saadi. Identity, Social Status, Privacy and Face-Keeping in Digital Society. Social Science Information, vol. 47, n°3, pp. 227-252.
  27. Lahlou, S. (2010). Transferring Human Experience: Issues with Digitization. Social Science Information. Vol. 49, n°3, 2010. pp. 291-327. Sept 2010.
  28. "DNA" . Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  29. LAHLOU, Saadi (ed.). System Innovation for Sustainability 4: Case Studies in Sustainable Consumption and Production - Energy Use and the Built Environment. Sheffield: Greenleaf, 2010. 288p. ISBN   978-1906093259
  30. "Installation Theory | Applied psychology".
  31. "Installation theory societal construction and regulation behaviour | Applied psychology". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2019-03-07.