Samuel Veissière, Ph.D.
Anthropologist, cognitive scientist, clinician, consultant
Professeur associé (adjunct professor), Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, McGill University
Affiliate Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Concordia University
Samuel Veissière is an anthropologist, psychosocial clinician, and behavioural consultant working at the intersection of psychiatry, cognitive science and the social sciences. His work combines ethnographic, experimental, clinical, evolutionary, contemplative, and psychoanalytic perspectives on human cognition, consciousness, sociality, and mental health.
While working at McGill University (Visiting Professor of Psychiatry & Anthropology, 2014-2017; Assistant Professor & Founding Co-director of the Culture, Mind & Brain Program, 2017-2023), Dr. Veissière held multiple research grants to study the impact of the Internet on cognition, wellbeing and social relations. His work on social and behavioural dimensions of screen addiction led to one of the first interventions to reduce problematic smartphone use successfully tested in a randomized controlled trial. Past research includes leading experimental studies on social, symbolic, and ritual dimensions of placebo effects, and making original contributions to theoretical models of the co-evolution of cognition and culture that draw on Bayesian brain, active inference, and ecological niche construction paradigms.
His current works examines risk and protective factors against violent radicalization and extremism, with an emphasis on digital, narrative, and gendered dimensions of social polarization.
Dr. Veissière also maintains a small, targeted private clinical practice for select clients (families, couples, individuals) in Montreal. To inquire about the waitlist, please contact the Milestone Clinic: 👉 https://cliniquemilestone.ca/