David Pietraszewski

I am currently trying a submission; seven weeks in and I there are still no reviewers secured. Is this typical? I'm all for giving this venue a chance, but it needs to work. Is my experience atypical?

There is also the question of the quality and novelty of the science. This paper--in PNAS--essentially argues that Nowak re-invented kin selection under different terms (there is an entire Nowak section of the Supplmental Materials).
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I recall Jerry Fodor once making a joke about not needing to keep up with associationist psychology for at least a few decades, because it's all Hume over and over again. I'm trying to cite for a paper: Does anyone know where I saw/read this?

In poverty, do people take more or less risk? Some theories contend that they avoid risk out of caution. Others that they take risks (e.g. crime) out of desperation.

In our new paper in BBS, we show that they are the two sides of the same coin: the desperation threshold.

Peer commentary call soon!

😂

It’s a great paper! Beautifully written.

The tautology of “you don’t need specialization, just a bigger brain” is being called out: “accounts of brain size tend to be post hoc adaptationist accounts that try to relate the increase in brain size…to the evolution of certain cultural practices thought to necessitate…brain expansion…” 🔥🔥🔥

^ Also my teaching philosophy

I’m very proud of our new work on free will, which is in its early phases. This podcast episode is a good overview of how we’re thinking about it.

Gender-biased clustering of attitudes towards physical intimate partner violence: A social network analysis in south-central Ethiopia Abstract. Changing social norms, shared beliefs about what is acceptable, is a key focus of global health campaigns aimed at ending intimate partner violen

Another great paper using social network data from >5000 Ethiopians by @drsarahmyers.bsky.social, @danielredhead.bsky.social et al.

They show how attitudes towards IPV against women cluster socially on gender-homphilous ties. But opposite-gender ties actually predict *reverse* IPVAW attitudes
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No question, this is the most original paper I have ever written

It says that something that seems plain and obvious - humans have an intuitive sense of what is and is not grammatical - and describes how this apparent common sense is actually misleading

Thread coming soon!

Oxford University Has Failed Women Over Harassment Concerns, Staff Say The university has repeatedly been slow to act against male academics accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, a Bloomberg investigation found.

This—on my former university, department, and advisor—is harrowing but required reading for all social psychologists. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Fantastic! But is it in fact even cheaper (e.g., in the long run)?

This is so fantastic. 🔥🔥🔥I can’t wait to read it!

🌱 There’s still time to apply to the open #PhD positions in my lab! 🌱 More information below; deadline is December 1st. Please help spread the word! 🌱

When parental care hurts: Extended parental care and the evolution of overparenting Abstract. In recent years, childrearing in high-income countries has become described as ‘relentless’ in its demands on parents. In response to growing del

New paper out today with Zhian Chen.

We argue that modern intensive parenting is not only exhausting for parents, but in some cases disrupts healthy child development.

What is 'overparenting'? And can evolutionary theory help us understand how we got here?

academic.oup.com/emph/advance...

Social learning is critical to breastfeeding success: evidence from rural Namibian pastoralists AbstractBackground and objectives. Lactation is one of the defining features of mammals, yet many humans struggle with breastfeeding. One reason for this i

New paper out on the important role of social learning in breastfeeding! academic.oup.com/emph/article...

This is also why there’s a theory crisis

There’s a reason why this is happening: there’s a strong norm in psychology that you’re not allowed to think, believe, or talk about something without data for it. The idea that you would decrease your incertainty by using knowledge of how something was engineered is very foreign.

YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast) Plants, Infants, and the Evolution of Social Learning with Annie Wertz

This week, @anniewertz.bsky.social talks about her ground-breaking work exploring what infants know, and come prepared to learn, about 🌱plants🌿! (Annie gets credit for all plant-based puns in this episode).

youtu.be/bMbDieccEtc

www.podbean.com/eas/pb-67k8k...

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Aww, thanks @dconroybeam.bsky.social !! 😂😂😂

New preprint! Led by Bill Pepe, with @brandonwoo.bsky.social and @ashleyjthomas.bsky.social. We asked if infants think helping and hindering stem from actors' dispositions (i.e. good/nice v bad/mean) or their social relationships, by testing expectations for future behavior: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Junior Specialist-Lab for Infant Learning And Cognition (LILAC), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!

I'm hiring a full-time #labmanager for my new Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at UCSB! The start date is flexible, but could be as early as August 1, 2025. Application review begins July 17th and will continue until the position is filled 👶🪴

recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02992

#academicjobs

Helicopter parenting is not a human universal! In our sixth episode, @sheinalew.bsky.social discusses studying childhood in the Congo basin.

www.podbean.com/ew/pb-bpsfw-...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=12mI...

That photo was very likely taken here (in our old neighborhood in Dahlem), which is currently the Hahn-Meitner building owned by the FU maps.app.goo.gl/fuHYKupYkqNY...

Friendship with Jaimie Krems Podcast Episode · Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) · 06/17/2025 · 2h 2m

Fifth episode is up! @jaimiekrems.bsky.social on friendship!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

epthepod.podbean.com/e/friendship...

youtu.be/fbrW4Hq0hFc?...

Our Fourth Episode is out today! Our first of many wonderful interviews. This one with Dan Conroy-Beam @dconroybeam.bsky.social where we discuss the good and less good of ep studies of mating.
www.podbean.com/ew/pb-f8icb-...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0qR...

This looks fantastic—a great line up of speakers!

Thanks, Dan! I’ve re-listened to every episode (14ish) and I’m surprised how interesting I find them (I don’t get a chance to casually listen the first time around 😂). It’s a testament to David and our interesting colleagues. Next episode is about controversies and then we begin interviews.

Basement Cults Podcast Episode · Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) · 05/27/2025 · 2h 10m

My very personal story about how I discovered evolutionary psychology.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...