The strictest moral rules ignore context on purpose, and the reason comes down to how easily a good excuse can be faked. #cogsci dailyneuron.com/rigid-moral-...

The Rules We Treat as Sacred Are Really Built on Distrust - Daily Neuron

The strictest moral rules ignore context on purpose, and the reason comes down to how easily a good excuse can be faked.

dailyneuron.com

Very happy and proud to see this paper published, led by an exceptionally talented young researcher.

Julien Lie-Panis@jliep.bsky.social · 4w ago

Why do societies rely on rigid moral rules? Don't lie. Keep your promises. Don't steal. We all recognize there are good reasons to make exceptions. So why are moral rules so often categorical? Our new paper proposes an answer. 🧵

Why do societies rely on rigid moral rules? Don't lie. Keep your promises. Don't steal. We all recognize there are good reasons to make exceptions. So why are moral rules so often categorical? Our new paper proposes an answer. 🧵

Baumard and André (B&A) responded to the (many) comments that their original piece (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...). Their response is linked in Alberto's post. I just got a pdf copy and will read it now; this will be a thread with my first thoughts...

The ecological approach to culture

The prevailing view in the literature treats cultural dynamics as fundamentally distinct from other ecological processes—governed by a second system o…

sciencedirect.com

Alberto Acerbi@acerbialberto.com · 5mo ago

Baumard & André answer to the commentaries to "The ecological approach to culture". An important conversation for everybody interested in application of evolutionary theory to culture. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Baumard & André answer to the commentaries to "The ecological approach to culture". An important conversation for everybody interested in application of evolutionary theory to culture. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Evolved psychology, eco-phenotypic feedbacks and the social construction of culture

This paper responds to more than twenty commentaries on The Ecological Approach to Culture, written by researchers in evolutionary biology, behavioral…

sciencedirect.com

🧵 1/4 Last year, Nicolas Baumard and I published a target article in EHB, where we propose that cultural phenomena emerge from feedbacks between evolved psychology and ecological legacies, the same mechanisms at work in any ecosystem: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The ecological approach to culture

The prevailing view in the literature treats cultural dynamics as fundamentally distinct from other ecological processes—governed by a second system o…

sciencedirect.com

Last call! Applications close tomorrow. Apply to the Master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr. 🗓 Deadline: February 24, 2026 (23h59 Paris time)

New @aeon.co essay just out! On how institutions let us scale trust and cooperation - and when things start to unravel. Big thanks to editor Sam Dresser. For the more technical version, see thread & paper below👇

Aeon Magazine@aeon.co · 6mo ago

Institutions are the social technologies that power our world, allowing us to rely on complete strangers every day of our lives. But how do we ensure that this trust isn’t misplaced? In this Essay, the game theorist Julien Lie-Panis explores what makes institutions function @jliep.bsky.social

#voxprimato #master #sciencescognitives inscription au Master de sciences cognitives de l'ENS / UPS / EHESS de Paris, avec spécialité en Psychological science, Cognitive neuroscience, Cognitive modeling, neurotheory & AI, Social sciences & humanities, Philosophy, Linguistics date limite 24/02/2026 👇🏽

Jean-Baptiste André@jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 7mo ago

1/ 📢 Come study cognitive science in Paris! The Master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr is now accepting applications for the next academic year. 🗓 Deadline: February 24, 2026 💻 Apply here: master-cognitive-science.ens.psl.eu/en/applicati...

Only a few days left to apply to the Cognitive Science Master’s. !!!! Deadline: Feb 24 !!!!

Jean-Baptiste André@jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 7mo ago

1/ 📢 Come study cognitive science in Paris! The Master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr is now accepting applications for the next academic year. 🗓 Deadline: February 24, 2026 💻 Apply here: master-cognitive-science.ens.psl.eu/en/applicati...

1/ 📢 Come study cognitive science in Paris! The Master’s program in Cognitive Science at @ENS_ULM, @psl_univ, and @EHESS_fr is now accepting applications for the next academic year. 🗓 Deadline: February 24, 2026 💻 Apply here: master-cognitive-science.ens.psl.eu/en/applicati...

Don’t forget to submit your #EHBEA2026 abstract before Dec 15! See you in beautiful Leiden in April! @ehbea2026.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social

a minion from the movie despicable me is standing on a wooden floor with a red light on its head .

ALT: a minion from the movie despicable me is standing on a wooden floor with a red light on its head .

media.tenor.com

EHBEA 2026@ehbea2026.bsky.social · 9mo ago

📢 Call for abstracts! 🚀 The time has come — abstract submission for #EHBEA2026 is officially OPEN since this week! 🎉 🗓 Submission Nov 1st – Dec 15th 📝 300 words 🧠 Important: Make an OpenReview account before submitting — it takes time! 👉 www.ehbea2026.com

[PhD track in Cognitive Science at Département d'Études Cognitives, ENS-PSL] Applications are now open for the PSL PhD Track 2026–2027 in Cognitive Science! This 5-year integrated program is aimed at talented students eager to tackle the scientific challenges of the future and to start shaping 1/2

PhD track in cognitive science | PSL

Faire un don

psl.eu

Help us strengthen trust in climate scientists in the US! Join our megastudy 👇

🚨𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀! www.ehbea2026.com is now live for our 2026 European Human Behaviour & Evolution Association (EHBEA) conference in Leiden (NL🇳🇱) Check for 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, first 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 & the [𝗔𝗜]𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸! 🗓️ 14–17 Apr 2026 | CBEN pre-conf 14 Apr 📍Pesthuis #EHBEA2026

Overview | EHBEA2026

ehbea2026.com

EHBEA is looking for new PRESIDENT and SECRETARY for 2026-2029! 👀 If you know of anybody who could represent EHBEA, nominate them as president! If you know with good organisational skills, nominate them as secretary! DEADLINE: 16/12/2026 HERE IS THE FORM 👇 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

EHBEACommitteeNominationForm_Pres_Sec.doc

EHBEA Committee 2026-2029: Nomination Form The EHBEA Steering Committee is calling for nominations for the following open committee positions for 2026-2029. You are invited to nominate one or more c...

docs.google.com

Ever wanted to read about an old problem almost nobody cares about anymore? Well, I wrote about it. 🧵

📢 Apply to our (2-year) research fellowships at @iast.fr Join a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and indisciplinary group of scholars in Toulouse, walkable/cyclable pink city of chocolatines in the South of France. Deadline: November 15, 2025. www.iast.fr/research-fel...

Research Fellowships

Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...

iast.fr

Our #study finds that #male #dominance isn't the norm among #primates, and starts to unravel what shapes flexibility in intersexual power paper (OA) https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2500405122 press release https://www.mpg.de/24986976/0630-evan-beyond-the-alpha-male-150495-x?c=2249

EHB commentaries on Baumard and André's "The ecological approach to culture" are growing (see "Commentaries" section at the end). Good. www.sciencedirect.com/journal/evol...

a man in a red jacket is eating a sandwich

ALT: a man in a red jacket is eating a sandwich

media.tenor.com

"a forest is not treated as the output of a second inheritance system or as a group-level adaptation... culture is not a transmitted substance; it is the structured context that emerges from repeated and overlapping individual actions"

Reconciling Our Three Traditions: Human Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Cultural Evolution - HBES

– by Nicolas Baumard & Jean-Baptiste André The evolutionary social sciences are grounded in the idea that evolutionary theory provides a unified framework to explain human behavior, including social n...

hbes.com

Nicolas Baumard & Jean-Baptiste Andre’s “ecological view of culture” provides an exciting new perspective that links Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology, & Cultural Evolution. Read more in their HBES blog post: www.hbes.com/reconciling-...

Reconciling Our Three Traditions: Human Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Cultural Evolution - HBES

– by Nicolas Baumard & Jean-Baptiste André The evolutionary social sciences are grounded in the idea that evolutionary theory provides a unified framework to explain human behavior, including social n...

hbes.com

Here, weird guy from X, I fixed it for you: "If a scientific society wants to be welcoming to [...] students & researchers [from the Global South], does it make sense to hold its next annual conference in a country that's notorious for [being located in the Global South]?" The answer is Yes.

We have a lovely new paper out, showing that even ignorant people can be very good at recognising who's knowledgeable based on minimal cues

Edgar Dubourg@edgardubourg.bsky.social · last yr.

We often have to judge who is knowledgeable—precisely when we are not. Can humans really do that? Our new paper in Psychological Science shows that, surprisingly, we can. drive.google.com/file/d/1b15E...

We often have to judge who is knowledgeable—precisely when we are not. Can humans really do that? Our new paper in Psychological Science shows that, surprisingly, we can. drive.google.com/file/d/1b15E...

the functional form of moral judgment is (sometimes) the nash bargaining solution new preprint👇

I think the BabyLM Challenge is really interesting, but also feel that there is something fundamentally ill-posed about how it maps onto the challenge facing human children. It's true that babies only get a relatively limited amount of linguistic experience, but...

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · last yr.

Alona Fyshe @alonaf.bsky.social on the BabyLM Challenge, a competition that trains language models (LMs) on smaller datasets, more akin to how a baby learns, in search of solutions to some of the major challenges of today’s LLMs. #NeuroAI #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/neuroai/the-...

🧵New paper out in Cognition Why do people moralize harmless carnal sins (e.g. gluttony, masturbation)? @danielnettle.bsky.social & I find that these behaviors activate reciprocity-based moral judgment—no need for a distinct "purity" module. 50 days free link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1l18D2Hx2-...

The PCI Psychology website is live! psych.peercommunityin.org We're working hard to be ready for launch (planned May 2025) but there's plenty you can do in the meantime to help it along. Go check it out! #psychscisky #scipub

Two more weeks to apply! Spread the word and reach out with any questions.

Eleanor Power@eapower.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨Job alert! Two-year postdoc to join the Rep2SI project at @lsemethodology.bsky.social! We're looking for a modeller to join our team of ethnographers & experimentalists studying the role of reputation and reputational concern in perpetuating social inequality. Apply by 4 May: tinyurl.com/yjccd3vv