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David Pietraszewski

@dpietra.bsky.social

Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at University of California, Santa Barbara. Previously Research Scientist at Max Planck for Human Development in Berlin, Germany.

29 Posts453 Follower99 Folgt
David Pietraszewski @dpietra.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“The foraging economy is not organized by only two types of actors, nor captured by a simple sex-by-age matrix, but by a multi-actor network of individuals whose roles are shaped by the intersection of biological parameters, accumulated embodied capital, and current time-allocation demands…”

Eric Schniter@humannature.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Our new commentary is out: "More than the sum of its sexes" — on embodied capital & age-structured labor in forager economies. Big thanks to Venkataraman et al. for their excellent "Man the Hunter" piece that clarifies much. Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Max Planck Law@maxplancklaw.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The 23rd annual conference of the German Law and Economics Association will take place at the MPI-Freiburg on 16–17 July, organized by @hannesrusch.bsky.social and Nicholas Umashev. Register by 1 June: law.mpg.de/event/23rd-a... #Event #GLEA

23rd Annual Conference of the German Law and Economics Association (GLEA) - Max Planck Law

An invitation to legal scholars and criminologists to present their law-and-economics research and discuss it with economists.

law.mpg.de

David Pietraszewski @dpietra.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Why is domain-generality so intuitive? This paper makes a case for why we need an evolutionary psychology of psychology, and what it has to say about the study of intelligence, consciousness, domain-generality, and the theory crisis. @pdurkee.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

What a difference a mind makes: How evolved difference detecting mechanisms harm psychological science, and how an evolutionary psychology of psychology can help

From an adaptationist perspective, most of psychology's concepts that form the basis of empirical inquiry, such as memory, attention, consciousness, i…

sciencedirect.com

David Pietraszewski @dpietra.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I recall Jerry Fodor once making a joke about not needing to keep up with associationist psychology for at least a few decades, because it's all Hume over and over again. I'm trying to cite for a paper: Does anyone know where I saw/read this?

Benoît de Courson@bdecourson.bsky.social · 5mo ago

In poverty, do people take more or less risk? Some theories contend that they avoid risk out of caution. Others that they take risks (e.g. crime) out of desperation. In our new paper in BBS, we show that they are the two sides of the same coin: the desperation threshold. Peer commentary call soon!

Explaining the paradoxical effects of poverty on risk taking: The Desperation Threshold Model | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core

Explaining the paradoxical effects of poverty on risk taking: The Desperation Threshold Model

cambridge.org

David Pietraszewski @dpietra.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The tautology of “you don’t need specialization, just a bigger brain” is being called out: “accounts of brain size tend to be post hoc adaptationist accounts that try to relate the increase in brain size…to the evolution of certain cultural practices thought to necessitate…brain expansion…” 🔥🔥🔥

Ed Hagen@edhagen.net · 6mo ago

A much-needed critique of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) as applied to human evolution, by @evoroseman.bsky.social and Ben Auerbach (2026). Evolving a Field: Can Evolutionary Theory Provide What the Study of Human Evolution Requires? 🧪 #BioAnth onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

ABSTRACT The extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) is a school of thought that maintains that genetic determination and natural selection are over-emphasized in the study of evolution at the expense of non-genetic inheritance and processes of evolution beyond selection. Its proponents call for the de-emphasis of genetics and the adoption of a broader model of inheritance that includes cultural and epigenetic transgenerational effects and strong adaptive phenotypic plasticity. Presenting itself as a radical alternative to what it claims is a rigid and ossified theoretical orthodoxy, the EES has lately gained considerable traction among scholars of human evolution, and a distinct sub-branch of the EES unique to the biological anthropological study of human evolution has emerged (the EES in human evolution). To date, however, no direct comparison between the EES in human evolution and other contemporary evolutionary approaches has been attempted to evaluate whether the EES in human evolution affords researchers an edge in articulating good questions and structuring research programs to answer them. After reviewing the landscape of evolutionary theory, we evaluate whether the EES in human evolution is capable of delivering the processually pluralistic vision of evolution it has long promised and whether it brings something that the decades-long ongoing synthesis (OS) of evolutionary theory since the modern synthesis does not. We then conduct a head-to-head comparison to evaluate the relative explanatory efficacy of the EES and our preferred OS theoretical framework on several issues of human morphological evolution. We demonstrate that evolutionary perspectives as drawn from the OS have a much more clarifying effect on the investigation of human evolution than their EES-based competitor. Far from being a radical extension of evolutionary thought, the EES in human evolution offers little more than another idiom in which to tell adaptationist stories and triumphalist narr…
David Pietraszewski @dpietra.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I’m very proud of our new work on free will, which is in its early phases. This podcast episode is a good overview of how we’re thinking about it.

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) @epthepod.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Think there's nothing new under the sun about the problem of free will? This week, @dpietra.bsky.social talks about free will from an evolutionary, adaptationist perspective. youtu.be/N2mAms9StaA podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... www.podbean.com/eas/pb-336yu...

Guy Harling@harlingg.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Another great paper using social network data from >5000 Ethiopians by @drsarahmyers.bsky.social, @danielredhead.bsky.social et al. They show how attitudes towards IPV against women cluster socially on gender-homphilous ties. But opposite-gender ties actually predict *reverse* IPVAW attitudes ‬

Gender-biased clustering of attitudes towards physical intimate partner violence: A social network analysis in south-central Ethiopia

Abstract. Changing social norms, shared beliefs about what is acceptable, is a key focus of global health campaigns aimed at ending intimate partner violen

academic.oup.com

Thom Scott-Phillips@thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 8mo ago

No question, this is the most original paper I have ever written It says that something that seems plain and obvious - humans have an intuitive sense of what is and is not grammatical - and describes how this apparent common sense is actually misleading Thread coming soon!

Cadernos de Linguística@cadlin.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Why does “The rat the cat the dog chased killed ate the malt” feel wrong even though it is grammatical? Thom Scott Phillips links gut judgements to communicative usefulness, not abstract rules doi.org/10.25189/267... #langsky #linguistics

A clean, minimalist announcement card in soft beige tones. At the top, a thin horizontal line spans the width of the image. Just below it, small uppercase text reads: “NEW ARTICLE | CADERNOS DE LINGUÍSTICA.” Centered on the page, in large dark grey type, appears the title: “Why Do Humans Have Linguistic Intuition?” Near the lower left area, a tiny lavender circle precedes the author credit in uppercase: “THOM SCOTT-PHILLIPS.” Below the name, in smaller grey letters, it says: “Central European University.” In the bottom left corner, there is a small decorative icon composed of four short lines radiating upward, resembling a subtle stylized burst.
Annie Wertz@anniewertz.bsky.social · 9mo ago

🌱 There’s still time to apply to the open #PhD positions in my lab! 🌱 More information below; deadline is December 1st. Please help spread the word! 🌱

Annie Wertz@anniewertz.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I’m recruiting #PhD students to join my Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social! We study how infants learn about the natural world from others 🌱 If you’re interested in #devpsych, #EvPsych, and #infantstudies, please reach out and apply! More info below (1/2)

David W Lawson@davidwlawson.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New paper out today with Zhian Chen. We argue that modern intensive parenting is not only exhausting for parents, but in some cases disrupts healthy child development. What is 'overparenting'? And can evolutionary theory help us understand how we got here? academic.oup.com/emph/advance...

When parental care hurts: Extended parental care and the evolution of overparenting

Abstract. In recent years, childrearing in high-income countries has become described as ‘relentless’ in its demands on parents. In response to growing del

academic.oup.com

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) @epthepod.bsky.social · 11mo ago

This week, @anniewertz.bsky.social talks about her ground-breaking work exploring what infants know, and come prepared to learn, about 🌱plants🌿! (Annie gets credit for all plant-based puns in this episode). youtu.be/bMbDieccEtc www.podbean.com/eas/pb-67k8k... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Plants, Infants, and the Evolution of Social Learning with Annie Wertz

YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)

youtu.be

Annie Wertz@anniewertz.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm hiring a full-time #labmanager for my new Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at UCSB! The start date is flexible, but could be as early as August 1, 2025. Application review begins July 17th and will continue until the position is filled 👶🪴 recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02992 #academicjobs

Junior Specialist-Lab for Infant Learning And Cognition (LILAC), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.ap.ucsb.edu

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) @epthepod.bsky.social · last yr.

Helicopter parenting is not a human universal! In our sixth episode, @sheinalew.bsky.social discusses studying childhood in the Congo basin. www.podbean.com/ew/pb-bpsfw-... www.youtube.com/watch?v=12mI...

Childhood in the Congo Basin with Sheina Lew-Levy

Helicopter parenting is not a human universal! Guest Sheina Lew-Levy (Durham) explains what drew her to studying childhood among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin, and what parenting and childhood is...

podbean.com

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) @epthepod.bsky.social · last yr.

Our Fourth Episode is out today! Our first of many wonderful interviews. This one with Dan Conroy-Beam @dconroybeam.bsky.social where we discuss the good and less good of ep studies of mating. www.podbean.com/ew/pb-f8icb-... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m... www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0qR...

Mating with Daniel Conroy-Beam

Guest Daniel Conroy-Beam (UCSB) explains why human mating has occupied the interest of evolutionary psychologists, what consequences this has had on science, and how things might be done better. If yo...

podbean.com

David Pietraszewski @dpietra.bsky.social · 3y ago

Christian List is consistently clear-minded, explicit about argument structure, and concise. So, as usual, I really liked and learned something new from this paper; Maybe there’s no view from nowhere for the mind?

Christian List@clist.bsky.social · 3y ago

New paper: "The first-personal argument against physicalism". The standard physicalist worldview is third-personal. Some of the facts about conscious experience are first-personal. First-personal facts don't supervene on third-personal ones. So, standard physicalism is false. #consciousness #philsci

Kyle Ratner@kyleratner.bsky.social · 3y ago

📣 Seeking PhD applicants passionate about fMRI, EEG, & data science to study race/ethnicity & religion effects on how we see ourselves & world around us. We’re a supportive & hard-working lab committed to open science. Applications due 12/1. Still time to apply — spread the word! spl.psych.ucsb.edu