A very important study. Many figured that chimp warfare was adaptive. Now we have proof. Lethal displacement of a neighbor doubled fertility and even had a greater impact on survivorship. However, as usual we need more details as other questions emerge. www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

MY NEW OP-ED: Why I doubt surveys suggesting a quiet revival among young adults in Britain www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/why-...

University of Southampton is hiring for FIVE permanent positions, including in social psychology. Please share with anyone on the job market! Three positions in social/clinical/health psychology: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPW618/l... Two cognitive/clinical neuro: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPW615/l...

Lecturers in Health/Clinical (mental health)/Social Psychology x 3 at University of Southampton

Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Lecturers in Health/Clinical (mental health)/Social Psychology x 3 on jobs.ac.uk!

jobs.ac.uk

New paper: Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity

Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core

Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity - Volume 7

cambridge.org

This video was made about our folk medicine project. It talks about our recent PNAS project, and also this study we did in Mauritius www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

God, witchcraft, and beliefs about illness in Mauritius

Why do people use supernatural concepts to explain and treat illness? In a Mauritian sample, we examined how uncertainty around the cause of symptoms, illness severity, and knowledge about past mor...

tandfonline.com

Centre for Culture and Evolution@brunelcce.bsky.social · 8mo ago

@michealdebarra.bsky.social and @aiyanakoka.bsky.social discuss all about this research in this short video 📹 👏🎬

New in Science, Macaques tap to the beat. Very cool study for its main result and its null one: consistent with nearly every other comparative study of music, monkeys don't differentiate beats by their relative strength—which even young children do innately. Monkeys have rhythm but not meter!

Monkeys have rhythm

Synchronizing movements to music is a hallmark of human culture, but its evolutionary and neurobiological origins remain unknown. This ability requires (i) extracting a steady rhythmic pulse, or beat,...

science.org

I wrote a paper on my least favourite theory of religion: HADD It’s good, you should read it! 😆

Centre for Culture and Evolution@brunelcce.bsky.social · 8mo ago

1/ 🎙️ New paper by Dr Aiyana Willard argues it’s time to retire HADD = “we’re hardwired to see agents EVERYWHERE” and replace it with something that *actually* fits the evidence 🪦➡️📚 @brunelpsy.bsky.social 🔗 Read it 👇

Rate your score on Factor Fexcectorn. Well done, Scientific Reports. pubpeer.com/publications...

A fascinating and deeply thoughtful analysis of the different motivations for faculty diversity by @azimshariff.bsky.social --essential reading for anyone interested in this issue (either pro- or anti-DEI) www.nature.com/articles/s44...

🚨 The Economist has been telling you for years that polygamy causes civil war by locking men out of marriage. A new article with @rebeccasear.bsky.social and @anthrolog.bsky.social explains that the demography of marriage markets doesn't actually work that way. 🧵 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

High rates of polygyny do not lock large proportions of men out of the marriage market | PNAS

There is a widespread belief, in both the scholarly literature and the popular press, that polygyny prevents large numbers of men from marrying by ...

pnas.org

Excited to be co-organizing this year's religion and spirituality preconference with @ncaluori.bsky.social, Cindel White, and @jordanmoon.bsky.social. See Nava's great thread below for our awesome group of invited speakers. We are accepting applications for talks, data blitzes, and posters!

Nava Caluori@ncaluori.bsky.social · 11mo ago

The @spspnews.bsky.social Religion & Spirituality Preconference is accepting applications for talks, data blitzes, & posters until 10/23! We're excited to hear from Kathleen Corriveau, @alexandraworm.bsky.social, @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social & @joshcjackson.bsky.social. More info: tinyurl.com/33x9za7r

There is a lot of hype about AI and empathy, but what role do we really want AI to play in enhancing empathy? 🤖 Here, Ethan Landes and I argue that AI should only develop human empathy as a tool for moral growth, not replace it 👇 osf.io/preprints/ps... @ethanlandes.bsky.social

New paper out in SPPS w/ @jaimiekrems.bsky.social (open access) doi.org/10.1177/1948... People who oppose abortion typically suggest that their position is motivated by concern for the unborn. But is there more going on?

Are women morally wonderful? Excited by this paper, with @jowylie.bsky.social, @anagantman.bsky.social, @lianeleeyoung.bsky.social, Peter Mende-Siedlecki, and Heleni Singer. osf.io/preprints/ps...

1/ 🌟📢 Applications for our MSc in Psychology, Culture & Evolution at @brunelpsy.bsky.social @brunelgradschool.bsky.social are OPEN for 2025/26 🎓 📢 Ever wondered how culture 🌍 and evolution 🧬 shape human behaviour? 🤔 This interdisciplinary program might be for you 🧵

Where do moralizing religions come from? Useless cognitive by-products?Cultural group selection for complex societies? Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵 w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social doi.org/10.1037/rev0...

The Manybabies4 paper is out! Infants' Social Evaluation of Helpers and Hinderers: A Large-Scale, Multi-Lab, Coordinated Replication Study onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... 1000 babies tested in 37 labs; "Overall, 49.34% of infants preferred Helpers over Hinderers in the social condition"

Infants’ Social Evaluation of Helpers and Hinderers: A Large‐Scale, Multi‐Lab, Coordinated Replication Study

Evaluating whether someone's behavior is praiseworthy or blameworthy is a fundamental human trait. A seminal study by Hamlin and colleagues in 2007 suggested that the ability to form social evaluatio...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1/ 🌟 @PNASNews Special Feature: Half a Century of Cultural Evolution 🎉 With @amesoudi.bsky.social, @glupyan.bsky.social & Pierce Edmiston, we review the field's key experimental methods, findings, and critiques—and present a new lab experiment. 👇 www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

📢📢📢💫 CCE's seminar series is kicking off in November with some amazing speakers lined up 💫📢📢📢 These are 🔓 open to all - in person and online - joining information shared closer to the date 📅 ⏲️ Talks are scheduled between 12:30 - 14:00 @Bruneluni

Our Evolutionary Anthropology seminars are starting up again in October at UCL Anthropology. Free/open to all, and we're a friendly bunch! evoanthucl.wixsite.com/blog/post/op... #EvoAnth #BioAnth

Open Events: UCL Evolutionary Anthropology Term 1 Seminars 2024

Join us for our UCL Evolutionary Anthropology in-person seminars this term! These seminars are free to attend & open to all, and takes place in the Daryll Forde Seminar Room on Floor 2 of the UCL Anth...

evoanthucl.wixsite.com

My book SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION will be out on May 20, 2025! Shamanism characterized the earliest religions, echoes in often unappreciated ways in the world around us, and will long outlive us. Pre-order it here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...

✨📢 To all the new people joining 💙 BlueSky 💙 in recent days I think a introduction is in order The Brunel Uni Centre for Culture and Evolution is a hub of world-leading (yes I do say myself 💅) researchers in evolutionary and cross-cultural approaches to psychology and behaviour We DO IT ALL (ish)

📢 Applications for our MSc in Psychology, Culture and Evolution are open for 24-25 at Psychology in Brunel University brunel.ac.uk/study/postgr... interested in an interdisciplinary take on psychology and behaviour using cross-cultural and evolutionary approaches? Then come study with us 🤓

Come do a postdoc with me in beautiful Canterbury, England and do cool stuff about the moral psychology of trust in AI 🤖 jobs.kent.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

osf.io/preprints/ps... New preprint with @jaimiekrems.bsky.social looking at how people evaluate different policies about abortion.

Lots of people I know got sick last week, starting Monday. On October 30, across the world there were huge increases in searches for COVID (4x as the day before), flu (nearly 4x), and common cold (1.5x), just on that day. You see the same thing in most countries I tested, even southern hemisphere

My social psych lab has moved to UCLA, + we're looking for driven graduate student applicants! (Especially those interested in human friendship.) More on the *NEW* UCLA Social Minds Lab👇. Please RT + share with your students! www.kremslab.com #psych #gradschool 🧪 #Stilldontunderstand#shere

UCLA Social Minds Lab

Social Psychology lab at UCLA. We do psychological science exploring friendship, women's cooperation & competition, reputation, stereotyping and prejudice.

kremslab.com

We are thrilled to announce that the Call for Abstracts for #EHBEA2024 is now open! Come join us in the picturesque and sunny city of Montpellier! To submit an abstract and/or register for the conference go to our dedicated website ehbea2024.com #BioAnth #CuluralEvolution #EvPsych