🚨 PNAS paper: "Indirect reciprocity undermines indirect reciprocity destabilizing large-scale cooperation" w/ Eric Schnell How do we achieve global cooperation on climate or conflict reduction? The problem isn't selfishness as much as it is cooperation itself - at a smaller scale. 1/

The leading theory for why animals evolve big brains is social: Bigger brains manage bigger, complex groups 👫👬 👊🐙 Octopuses break that rule: mostly solitary, no parenting, and still the smartest invertebrates alive. 🧠 So why the big brain? Taking a look at a new study. 🐙 Thread 🧵(with sources)

🚨 New paper in iScience: "Ecological not social factors explain brain size in cephalopods" In 2017, we published the Cultural Brain Hypothesis, a model of human brain evolution. It made an unexpected prediction: non-social animals could evolve big brains too, if their ecology was rich enough. 1/

New research! 📚 We built the largest database to date of cephalopod species - octopuses, squids and cuttlefish - and their brains, habitats and behaviors 🐙🧠📈 What did we find?👇 Press release: www.lse.ac.uk/news/ecologi... Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🐙 Ecological factors, not social behaviour, explain brain size in cephalopods. New research by @michael.muthukrishna.com & co-authors challenges the 'social brain hypothesis', which suggests that intelligence evolved primarily to support complex social interactions.

Research News | Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish | Evolution

The findings challenge one of the most influential explanations for the evolution of intelligence: the ‘social brain hypothesis’, which argues that larger brains evolved primarily to manage complex so...

lse.ac.uk

Rob Boyd reflects on his and Pete Richerson's early work on cultural evolution

🎉🦜NEW PAPER ALERT 🦜🎉 Which social learning biases underly the acquisition of novel food in wild parrots ? We (@lucymaplin.bsky.social, @bjjbarrett.bsky.social, @sonjawild.bsky.social, @drjohnmartin.bsky.social) presented >700 cockies with a novel, artificial food (🧵1/6)

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · 3mo ago

Adopting novel food is vital to colonize novel environments, but what is the role of social learning? Study of urban #cockatoos by @clevercockierp.bsky.social shows them to rapidly adopt novel food via #SocialLearning, with juveniles showing conformist preferences @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4uq6NVq

Postdoctoral Fellow in Agent-based Human–Earth System Modelling at the Anthropocene Laboratory at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Deadline: June 15. @brunelcce.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @durhamdcerc.bsky.social @michael.muthukrishna.com

Postdoctoral Fellow in Agent-based Human–Earth System Modelling

Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) is a leading international centre in sustainability science at Stockholm University. The Centre advances scientific understanding of the dynamic interactions between

su.varbi.com

How do you align AI in a world of plural, conflicting, and evolving human values? A starting point is human society itself. @sydneylevine.bsky.social and I are hiring a postdoc at NYU to combine insights from cultural evolution, computational moral cognition, and AI safety. Please share widely!1/

@michael.muthukrishna.com and I are hiring a postdoc to join our labs at NYU!  We're looking for someone excited to work on one of society's newly emerging and potentially generation-shaping challenges: the multi-agent alignment problem.

Highly educated people from non-WEIRD countries are culturally similar to WEIRDos, research by White & @michael.muthukrishna.com suggests (and this is not the case for high income or subjective social status individuals): buff.ly/V8JYs52

📚️ Does education make you WEIRD? New research co-authored by @michael.muthukrishna.com suggests that, around the world, higher levels of education are linked to cultural values commonly found in the US, the UK, other Anglo‑industrialised countries, and Western Europe.

Higher education linked to Western cultural values worldwide

Higher education is linked to Western cultural values worldwide, according to new research co-authored by LSE analysing data from 95 countries.

buff.ly

"There are reasons that people adopt this worldview and perhaps a bit more empathy would go a long way in understanding this type of thinking instead of dismissing it as irrational." -- Sahil Chinoy

Nathan Nunn 🇨🇦 🇰🇷@nathannunn.bsky.social · 4mo ago

How a win–lose mindset affects political and policy preferences www.aeaweb.org/research/zer... via @aeajournals.bsky.social

📢CfP: The Cultural Evolution of Migration and Diversity conference @wzb.bsky.social We want to bring together cultural evolution scholars & social scientists to explore how evolutionary perspectives can contribute to empirical research on migration & diversity. Keynote by @michael.muthukrishna.com

In a recent @timeshighered.bsky.social article, Professor @michael.muthukrishna.com highlights the lack of opportunity for academics to take their research where it can inform decision-making. Our @academicsbureau.bsky.social initiative tackles this issue: academicspeakersbureau.com

You can register here: contextualscience.org/the_cbs_supe... @myacbs.bsky.social @michael.muthukrishna.com

The CBS Superlab

What is the CBS Superlab? With the release of the ACBS Task Force Report on the Strategies and Tactics of Contextual Behavioral Science Research, high-level discussion around how to roll out the propo...

contextualscience.org

This is a fascinating bit of research diving into why some octopuses have larger brains than others. #science #intelligence #evolution It was great talking to @michael.muthukrishna.com, @pkatz.bsky.social and Robin Dunbar about this for @newscientist.com 🧪 🦑 🧠 www.newscientist.com/article/2512...

Octopuses prompt rethink of why animals evolve big brains

A popular idea suggests a link between big brains and a rich social life, but octopuses don't fit the pattern, which suggests something else is going on

newscientist.com

In our latest free teaching resource, we explore #AI and #socialsciences with researchers from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in the UK. futurumcareers.com/the-future-o... @michael.muthukrishna.com @eugeniedugoua.bsky.social @lizstokoe.bsky.social

Starting the countdown to Christmas with Besample's very own Advent Calendar of Insights from Beyond the West — 24 daily reminders that the world is bigger, more diverse, and far less WEIRD than many behavioral scientists assume. This one was gifted to us by our advisor @michael.muthukrishna.com

If you want to do a PHD in social psychology at New York University, I strongly urge you to apply to Michael Muthukrishna! He does fantastic research at the interface of culture, economic decision making, & cooperation and is looking to build a brand new lab.

Michael Muthukrishna@michael.muthukrishna.com · 9mo ago

I’m recruiting PhD students at NYU (start Sept 2026). Focus: cultural evolution, innovation & cooperation, AI & society, progress studies & development. Deadline to apply is Dec 1- very soon. I’ll share more about the move & new work soon. Please share with students & retweet!

I’m recruiting PhD students at NYU (start Sept 2026). Focus: cultural evolution, innovation & cooperation, AI & society, progress studies & development. Deadline to apply is Dec 1- very soon. I’ll share more about the move & new work soon. Please share with students & retweet!

"A timely, fundamentally humane book that points the way to a more honest, forgiving, and principled society." — @michael.muthukrishna.com "The Hypocrisy Trap" by @mhallsworth.bsky.social is available now: bit.ly/3KPISNK #BehavioralScience 📚💙

Policy applications, by @schimmelpfennig.bsky.social @michael.muthukrishna.com Charles Efferson and others Chapter: academic.oup.com/edited-volum... Paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Female genital cutting is not a social coordination norm

New data from Sudan question an influential approach to reducing female genital cutting

science.org

Congrats to all involved in the production of the massive Oxford Handbook of cultural evolution. You can read our paper The Cultural Evolution Of Science here: cailinoconnor.com/wp-content/u...

This thicc 71-chapter book (academic.oup.com/edited-volum...) arrived just in time to use as the textbook for my new "Cultural Evolution" class I've just started teaching! Featuring this chapter from @cailinmeister.bsky.social @psmaldino.bsky.social & Jingyi Wu as well as much more including...

Cailin O’Connor@cailinmeister.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Congrats to all involved in the production of the massive Oxford Handbook of cultural evolution. You can read our paper The Cultural Evolution Of Science here: cailinoconnor.com/wp-content/u...

What is innovation and why is it one of the laws of life? @michael.muthukrishna.com explains in my latest podcast episode. Thanks to @templetonrelig.bsky.social for sponsoring this season on the beauty and burdens of innovation. www.beautyatwork.net/p/the-laws-o...

The Laws of Life

S4E1: Dr. Michael Muthukrishna

beautyatwork.net

Redefine how the world measures progress! 🌍🧑‍🌾🌽🌎🌴🐬🌏🚵‍♀️🍄🌐👍 Join the Global Expert Consultation to develop The Nature Relationship Index (NRI) @undp.org <15 mins to make a difference anu.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... > Deadline: Oct 15, 2025 > Background: rdcu.be/etpiQ

In this weekend’s read from the archive, Evan Nesterak and @michael.muthukrishna.com plumb a sweeping “theory of everyone,” a possible key to advancing social and behavioral science.

Moving Behavioral Science from Alchemy to Chemistry: A Conversation with Michael Muthukrishna (Part 1) - By Evan Nesterak - Behavioral Scientist

Michael Muthukrishna wants to integrate the science of human beings, from genes to culture to our environments, into ‘a theory of everyone.’ Doing so, he says, is key to advancing social and…

behavioralscientist.org

Human aspirations for better lives can be mobilized to ensure that the natural world thrives along with people. Says Pedro Conceição @undp.org Read his op-ed in the Financial Times, which builds on the paper published in Nature in June ⬇️Proud to be working alongside the @undp.org & others on this

Don’t ask what nature can do for you . . .

Measuring and ranking countries’ efforts to protect animal and plant life will incentivise us to achieve a better future

ft.com

👩‍💻 AI has the power to revolutionise education, but tech alone is not enough @michael.muthukrishna.com and several brilliant PBS students explore how AI can transform learning - but only if embedded in human-centred, culturally adaptive systems. #OpenAccess #Research #AI #Education #Teaching

AI Can Revolutionise Education but Technology Is Not Enough: Human Development Meets Cultural Evolution

Artificial Intelligence could dramatically boost educational outcomes and close gaps – but only if policymakers take a human-centred, systems-level approach to AI integration. Cultural evolution, t...

tandfonline.com