When is friendship jealousy helpful, and when is it hurtful? My undergrad RA Diana spent the last year looking over the literature and has pulled out some common threads. See her write-up of her work here: www.ayerslab.org/blog/when-is...

When is friendship jealousy harmful or helpful?

H!, I’m Diana! I’ve been a part of the APE Lab since Fall 2024 and graduated from Boise State University in May 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. This fall, I will conti

ayerslab.org

Why is lower wealth often associated with greater empathy? New work at SPPS w @jessicadayers.bsky.social Yul Kwon Peter Todd @athenaaktipis.bsky.social shows lower wealth cultivates empathy via challenges and helping - but only among moderate helpers🧵https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506261449280

Helping People in Times of Need Cultivates Empathy Over Time - Diego Guevara Beltran, Jessica D. Ayers, Jung Yul Kwon, Peter M. Todd, Athena Aktipis, 2026

Why is lower social class often associated with greater empathy? We test whether less wealthy people experience more challenges, thereby motivating them to help...

doi.org

Do you want a lot of friend, or only a few that your really close with? In our new paper, we ( @psycheddiego.bsky.social D. Mercado & @athenaaktipis.bsky.social) present the concept, structure, and validation of friendship making orientation kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

In our new paper (with Keelah Williams and her amazing undergrads), we examine cross-societal evidence for sex difference in preferences for emotional support in friends. We find that women place more importance on this trait than men do kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

and is also featured in the EHB blog, in both English and Spanish! www.hbes.com/whom-should-... @jessicadayers.bsky.social @jeremykoster.bsky.social @athenaaktipis.bsky.social + Daniel Balliet, Lee Cronk

Whom Should We Help? People Track Shared Fate to Solve Cooperation Dilemmas - HBES

– by Diego Guevara Beltran English Imagine you live in a small community where food is often scarce; storms, droughts, pests, and fires can destroy crops, disease and injuries can keep you from workin...

hbes.com

Our last talk of the day is Kristina Durante talking to us about dealing with the mismatch of how are brains are built and the world we live in currently #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Mitchell Landers talks to us about how status helps us predict coalitions #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Hojeong Lee talks to us about why REALLY kind people do not make the best romantic partners #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

@psycheddiego.bsky.social talks to us about cooperation and interdependence in the Mayangna

Eyal Aharoni talks to us about punishment preferences #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Marius Unnvik talks about the 5 meta analyses that show germ aversion and pathogen disgust are moderately correlated, only germ aversion is associated with SOI, and political orientation changed its association post 2020 #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Kaelyn Sabree provides cross-cultural data that people are rating sounds associated with (fluid) expulsion as more disgusting than non-expulsion sounds with 17k participants #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Do people bond or bridge in their social networks when under pathogen threat? Ocla Jeong says we bond, more than bridge, using multi decade pathogen threat data #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Next we have our fabulous panel with @sarahehillphd.bsky.social Damian Murray and Steve Neuberg on the challenges and opportunities facing the field #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Next Alex Shaw talks about my favorite topic: friendship! But we get to talk about the dark side and when we are upset with them (we need more research!). #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

And now we have Maanasa Raghaven is giving us a great talk in paleogenetics and and appreciation of how we became who we are #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Turned out that social unpredictability and resource unpredictability are conceptually distinct and predict different outcomes/ solve different problems #EPatSPSP2026

Jessica D Ayers@jessicadayers.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Next Krystina Boyd-Frenkel talks about how different forms of unpredictability are associated with different forms of problems humans have to solve #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Next Krystina Boyd-Frenkel talks about how different forms of unpredictability are associated with different forms of problems humans have to solve #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social

Do moral values change with the seasons? The answers appear to be yes! #EPatSPSP2026

Jessica D Ayers@jessicadayers.bsky.social · 5mo ago

First talk of the #EPatSPSP2026 evolutionary psychology preconference is Mark Schaller’s talk on seasonal cycles and how they influence human psychology @spspnews.bsky.social

First talk of the #EPatSPSP2026 evolutionary psychology preconference is Mark Schaller’s talk on seasonal cycles and how they influence human psychology @spspnews.bsky.social

You can still register through 2/13 @spspnews.bsky.social

Jessica D Ayers@jessicadayers.bsky.social · 6mo ago

At the 2026 EP preconference (ep2026.mystrikingly.com), we will host a panel on challenges and opportunities in the field featuring @sarahehillphd.bsky.social , Steve Neuberg, & Damian Murray. If you have questions, submit them here! forms.gle/M5yf5DEpHiTi... #EPatSPSP2026 @ahrako.bsky.social

At the 2026 EP preconference (ep2026.mystrikingly.com), we will host a panel on challenges and opportunities in the field featuring @sarahehillphd.bsky.social , Steve Neuberg, & Damian Murray. If you have questions, submit them here! forms.gle/M5yf5DEpHiTi... #EPatSPSP2026 @ahrako.bsky.social

2026 Chicago on Strikingly

ep2026.mystrikingly.com

What an exciting new platform to talk about all of the cool things that can influence us. athenaaktipis.substack.com I’m personally excited for the ones on hijacking and how it might not be only bad! @athenaaktipis.bsky.social

Not for Peer Review: Field Notes From The Edge of Chaos | Athena Aktipis | Substack

After publishing over 100 peer-reviewed papers—an essential but slow process—I’m opening decades of notebooks to explore the evolution of life, the practice of living well now, and the work of buildin...

athenaaktipis.substack.com

Missed the deadline? This just in!! Preconference submissions will remain OPEN until Monday (10/27) at 8 am ET!!! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by! @ahrako.bsky.social @spspnews.bsky.social #EPatSPSP2026

Jessica D Ayers@jessicadayers.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Friends!!!! It’s that time again… Submit abstracts for @spspnews.bsky.social EP preconference: my.spsp.org/Events/Submi... We are accepting data blitz & poster submissions! We (@ahrako.bsky.social &me) are so excited to see y’all in Chicago! Https://ep2026.mystrikingly.com #EPatSPSP2026 #SPSP2026

It’s the last day friends!! Submit those abstracts!!! #EPatSPSP2026

Jessica D Ayers@jessicadayers.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Friends!!!! It’s that time again… Submit abstracts for @spspnews.bsky.social EP preconference: my.spsp.org/Events/Submi... We are accepting data blitz & poster submissions! We (@ahrako.bsky.social &me) are so excited to see y’all in Chicago! Https://ep2026.mystrikingly.com #EPatSPSP2026 #SPSP2026

Registration and housing is OPEN!! But the submission portal closes soon (IN TWO DAYS)! Submit your abstracts if you haven’t yet!!! @ahrako.bsky.social #EPatSPSP2026

Jessica D Ayers@jessicadayers.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Friends!!!! It’s that time again… Submit abstracts for @spspnews.bsky.social EP preconference: my.spsp.org/Events/Submi... We are accepting data blitz & poster submissions! We (@ahrako.bsky.social &me) are so excited to see y’all in Chicago! Https://ep2026.mystrikingly.com #EPatSPSP2026 #SPSP2026

💞 Friendship isn’t about keeping score. It’s about helping when it counts. In our new The Conversation article, @jessicadayers.bsky.social & I explore why true friendship works like risk-pooling, not exchange. Read here 👉 doi.org/10.64628/AAI... #Friendship #Psychology

Friendships aren’t just about keeping score – new psychology research looks at why we help our friends when they need it

Friendship isn’t a tit-for-tat balance sheet, but that’s how researchers have traditionally defined it. New studies are refining the model to be less about transactions and truer to real life.

doi.org

Do we really keep score in our friendship? See what @athenaaktipis.bsky.social and I have to say about why this isn’t always the case theconversation.com/friendships-...

Friendships aren’t just about keeping score – new psychology research looks at why we help our friends when they need it

Friendship isn’t a tit-for-tat balance sheet, but that’s how researchers have traditionally defined it. New studies are refining the model to be less about transactions and truer to real life.

theconversation.com

Glad to have had the chance to pitch why we need to research friendship to @boisestate.bsky.social stake holders as an ASSERT (www.boisestate.edu/ifits/facult...) fellow at today’s pitch event.

ASSERT

Aligning Stakeholders and Structures to Enable Research Transformation (ASSERT) is a cohort faculty development program where faculty, from all ranks and various academic units, become an ASSERTive co...

boisestate.edu

Submit those abstracts! @ahrako.bsky.social and I cant wait to review them!

Jessica D Ayers@jessicadayers.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Friends!!!! It’s that time again… Submit abstracts for @spspnews.bsky.social EP preconference: my.spsp.org/Events/Submi... We are accepting data blitz & poster submissions! We (@ahrako.bsky.social &me) are so excited to see y’all in Chicago! Https://ep2026.mystrikingly.com #EPatSPSP2026 #SPSP2026