When we consider children in cultural evolution, we tend to cast them as recipients of adult culture. In our BBS target article, @sheinalew.bsky.social & I argued there's more: through 'peer cultures', children actively drive cultural adaptation. Our final paper + a rich set of responses is out now!

New paper published in @journalrep.bsky.social by myself and @mhayes.bsky.social! In this paper we investigate whether MCs are responsive to their African American constituents by leveraging redistricting-induced changes in MCs' constituencies. 1/x

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · last mo.

#OpenAccess from @journalrep.bsky.social - Redistricting and Policy Responsiveness to African Americans in the U.S. House - https://cup.org/4whomYF - @mzarate.bsky.social & @mhayes.bsky.social #FirstView

New paper with @mohitmukherji.bsky.social, Mona Lebrun, and @marjorierhodes.bsky.social @JEP:G! Did you ever wonder whether saying things like “boys can wear dresses too” is effective at reducing stereotypical inferences? We find that they’re probably not—check out more here: doi.org/10.1037/xge0...

Hi everyone! My paper on cognitive representations of relationships and their developmental origins is finally out! I had a blast responding to the commentary and was honored to be able to engage with people who laid the foundation for my research program. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Pointing out that “everyone else is already doing it!” is a classic way to motivate prosocial behavior. But how can we encourage actions which aren't popular yet? In a new paper in @jexpsocpsych.bsky.social, Mike Norton and I had a lot of fun testing a method using "collective streaks." (1/5)

New paper out in Child Development (@srcdorg.bsky.social) with Dave Sobel (@candmlab.bsky.social)! ✨ We investigated how 5- to 7-year-old children decide to take on easy versus hard tasks while pursuing a goal. doi.org/10.1093/chid...

Children's decision to challenge themselves on a novel task relates to their metacognitive monitoring of their ability

Abstract. We examined potential processes by which children decide to make hard as opposed to easy choices to accomplish a goal. Five- to 7-year olds (N =

doi.org

Very excited that this paper is out! www.science.org/doi/full/10.... Led by the fabulous @dorsaamir.bsky.social with invaluable contributions from many awesome collaborators.

The emergence of cooperative behaviors, norms, and strategies across five diverse societies

Children’s cooperative behaviors and norms develop along distinct cultural pathways shaped by local norms.

science.org

postdoc opportunity! would be a good fit for an intergroup person with NLP chops interested in the role of historical narratives bonus, Edinburgh is a phenomenal city to live in with wonderful, walkable quality of life elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Excited to share our new paper in Cognitive Development! We replicate that children punish for both retributive and consequentialist reasons — and, surprisingly, intergroup context doesn’t change these effects. tinyurl.com/ycyhcn5a Check in out! ✨

Motivational context does not influence children’s third-party punishment in intergroup contexts

Children punish to reciprocate harm (retributive motives) and to prevent future wrongdoing (consequentialist motives). Building on this idea, we wante…

sciencedirect.com

TEN DAYS left to submit your work to the Origins of the Social Mind Preconference at #SPSP2026! 👶🐒🌍 This year, our morning timeslot is compatible with a variety of fantastic afternoon preconferences (e.g., Social Cognition, Gender, Economic Inequality). See you there! spsp.org/events/annua...

Brown’s Department of Cognitive & Psychological Sciences is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor, working in the area of AI and the Mind (start July 1, 2026). Apply by Nov 8, 2025 👉 apply.interfolio.com/173939 #AI #CognitiveScience #AcademicJobs #BrownUniversity

🚨Out in PNAS🚨 with @joshtenenbaum.bsky.social & @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social Punishment, even when intended to teach norms and change minds for the good, may backfire. Our computational cognitive model explains why! Paper: tinyurl.com/yc7fs4x7 News: tinyurl.com/3h3446wu 🧵

🚨We're hiring! The Mind & Morality Lab is seeking a Lab Manager to start this September. Excited about research on social cognitive development? Apply here: forms.gle/4rKXD2x1vmkD.... Learn more about us: sites.brown.edu/mindmorality.... ⏳ We’re reviewing applications on a rolling basis—apply early!

Big congrats to @rthompkins.bsky.social on this paper! Happy to finally see this out in the world. Our work builds on findings from @juliamarshall.bsky.social on the impact of social relationships on moral expectations, with a focus on how children think about lying and liars.

Rodney Tompkins@rtompkins.bsky.social · last yr.

New paper with past honors student Vanessa Chao and @zoeliberman.bsky.social in press at JECP: “Children can consider social relationships when evaluating liars” By the early elementary school years, people judge it as worse and meaner for a friend (vs. classmate) to lie. doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

It's just one month until the @phair-society.bsky.social Animal Advocacy Conference in Edinburgh! I caught up with @marikasbell.bsky.social and Luke McGuire to talk all things conference on the Deal with Animals Podcast! www.thedealwithanimals.com/post/what-sp... phair2025.co.uk

What Sparks Change in Our View of Animals? PHAIR 2025 with Dr. Matti Wilks and Dr Luke McGuire

This discussion reiterates the critical intersection where psychology meets animal advocacy. This knowledge is not just for academics but for anyone eager to contribute to a world where compassion ext...

thedealwithanimals.com

🥳🥳 New paper in @nathumbehav.nature.com: “When development constricts our moral circle." Contrary to popular belief, younger kids may start out with broader moral circles than older ones. Check it out here 👉 rdcu.be/eoaSe w/ @mattiwilks.bsky.social @karrineldner.bsky.social & Lucius Caviola

When development constricts our moral circle

Nature Human Behaviour - Although many believe our moral circles expand with age, this Perspective discusses an early-emerging tendency to care for others.

rdcu.be

🚨 I’m hiring a full-time lab manager to help me build my lab start in July or August 2025! 🚨 If you know any stellar candidates who might be interested, please send this their way. 🗓 Application review begins April 15 ⏰ Final deadline is April 25 📎 Apply here ➡️ lnkd.in/evhfqzTP

I am hiring a lab manager to start ~ July 1st. sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Sear...

I'm hiring a lab manager to start this summer/fall, to work on transformative experience, identity change, and empathy in the digital age. Details here: www.crockettlab.org/research-spe... Please share!

Check out @katiemcauliffe.bsky.social, @juliamarshall.bsky.social, and Abby McLaughlin's new feature review in TICS! Beyond punishment: psychological foundations of restorative interventions: Trends in Cognitive Sciences www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

Beyond punishment: psychological foundations of restorative interventions

Work on the psychology of justice has largely focused on punishment. However, punishment is not our only strategy for dealing with conflict. Rather, emerging work suggests that people often respond to...

cell.com

The @spspnews.bsky.social Origins of the Social Mind preconf is 19 days away! This year, our guiding theme is "Understanding the building blocks of social group dynamics." This topic is so important & we're learning from THE experts (look at the lineup!). I believe in this precon so much that...1/2

Register to attend the VIRTUAL Origins fo the Social Mind Preconference at SPSP! We have a great line-up of folks and are excited to foster discussions on the building blocks of social group dynamics. Looking forward to see people there!

🎉 I'm hiring a lab manager to start August 2025 and help build my lab at Lehigh. Submit a CV, cover letter, transcript, and 2 reference contacts by March 14th. The full job description is linked below. Please share with any students or mentees who might be interested! #devpsy tinyurl.com/33vtvy79

🎉Postdoc Alert! I am recruiting a postdoc to start Summer 2025 in the Mind & Morality Lab at Brown. If you're interested, please send a CV, cover letter, and names of at least two references to julia_marshall1@brown.edu by 2/28. If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out!

Excited to share that our BBS target article — "Children as agents of cultural adaptation" — is online & open for commentary! In it, @sheinalew.bsky.social & I argue that children's peer cultures might play an important & understudied role in cultural adaptation. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

New Paper is out with @romanfeiman.bsky.social and Athulya Aravind in @psychscience.bsky.social We argue that children are not biased to assume that words are mutually exclusive. We speculate that previous experiments find mutual exclusivity because they present (grammatically) biased words

For decades, developmental psychologists have noticed that optimism declines with age. Why does this presumably good thing decrease across development? In this Nature Reviews Psych article, @jessicas.bsky.social and I draw from prior hypotheses to offer an integrated account.

Jessica Sommerville@jessicas.bsky.social · 2y ago

New paper with the BRILLIANT and always amazing @julia-a-leonard.bsky.social! Developmental declines in optimism and their potential causes:

Very excited to announce the launch of Cooperation Island, a new research platform for measuring social decision-making in children ages 5+. Shout out to co-pilots Julia Marshall and Shalini Gautam! Check it out at: cooperationisland.com

Excited that the Origins of the Social Mind pre-conference will be back at the 2025 SPSP conference! We've assembled a stellar line-up of speakers and are accepting poster submissions to the pre-conference. See the line-up here: tinyurl.com/2uwcmafy. & submit posters by 10/17: tinyurl.com/2z63hv3p

Cooperation Colloquium this week: Julia Marshall @juliamarshall.bsky.social The role of intergroup dynamics in shaping cooperative behavior in development Friday, June 7 15:00 UTC+2 // 9 am ET Sign-up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...