David Pietraszewski

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...

First Episode arrives May 20th.
epthepod.podbean.com
www.youtube.com/@Evolutionar...

"A Psychological Explanation of the Problem of Free Will"
with Thomas Hills @thomhills.bsky.social

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Christian List is consistently clear-minded, explicit about argument structure, and concise. So, as usual, I really liked and learned something new from this paper; Maybe there’s no view from nowhere for the mind?

📣 Seeking PhD applicants passionate about fMRI, EEG, & data science to study race/ethnicity & religion effects on how we see ourselves & world around us. We’re a supportive & hard-working lab committed to open science. Applications due 12/1. Still time to apply — spread the word! spl.psych.ucsb.edu

New paper with Christophe Heintz, in PNAS:

"Great ape interaction: Ladyginian but not Gricean"

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

New preprint on how our evolved psychology may be getting in the way of theory progress in Psychology. Highlights include jumping spiders and the concept of difference-detecting mechanisms. @speciestypical.bsky.social Based on my talk @ehbea.bsky.social Comments welcome!
osf.io/preprints/ps...

Really pleased to announce that the University of Toronto has an Assistant Professor position in personality/social psychology. Please spread the word!
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...

Introducing the Center for Conflict and Cooperation at New York University We are launching a new Center at New York University to conduct and coordinate global, large-scale research on intergroup relations

I'm excited to launch the CENTER FOR CONFLICT & COOPERATION @NYU. We are planning research around the world on topics related to social identity, intergroup relations, polarization & social media.

Subscribe to learn about—and join—our research: jayvanbavellab.substack.com/p/introducin...