Alex Mesoudi

@alexmesoudi.com

2K followers 390 following 150 posts

Cultural evolution researcher at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus), UK.
President of the Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
Website: alexmesoudi.com

Videos

Sociology 29%

Psychology 21%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi

michael chimento @mchimento.bsky.social · 6d

🎉🍾 very excited to see this out before 2025 ends doi.org/10.1111/2041... with Will Hoppitt in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social. This paper is an overview of our new R package STbayes, a user-friendly toolkit for performing Bayesian NBDA analyses. @cbehav.bsky.social @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social

STbayes: An R package for creating, fitting and understanding Bayesian models of social transmission

A critical consequence of joining social groups is the possibility of social transmission of information related to novel behaviours or resources. Network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA) has emerg...

doi.org

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Alex Mesoudi, Olivier Morin

Oleg Sobchuk 🇺🇦 @sobchuk.bsky.social · 8d

I got wonderful news: I was granted a position of Max Planck independent group leader at the MPI for Empirical Aesthetics ⬇️ (@ae.mpg.de) in Frankfurt, which I'll join in early 2026. It's a huge honor: being trusted with academic freedom offered by MPG. My group will study the evolution of arts. 1/3

The building of the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi

David W Lawson @davidwlawson.bsky.social · 21d

Excited to get this paper published! 🌟

We argue that men exaggerate patriarchal beliefs in an effort to signal conformity to others, which in turn fuels misperceptions about peers - making patriarchal norms resistant to change.

royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Rebecca Sear, Alex Mesoudi , and 2 more Simon J. Greenhill, Rebecca Sear, Alex Mesoudi, Luke Rendell, David W. Lawson

Rachel Kendal @rachkendal.bsky.social · 22d

Today sees the publication of the Theme Issue featuring the CES Transformation Fund grant scheme. Enjoy! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...
@durhamdcerc.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @cultevolfunding.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social

Picture of front cover of Theme Issue entitled "Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures." The image on the front cover is of a Yao honey hunter in Mozambique holding retrieved honeycomb.

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · 22d

Part of a special issue:

Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures

royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...

Volume 380 Issue 1940 | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | The Royal Society

Influential themed journal issues across the life sciences.

royalsocietypublishing.org

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · 22d

New paper out in Phil Trans with Angel Jimenez, Keith Jensen and Lei Chang

From information free-riding to information sharing: how have humans solved the cooperative dilemma at the heart of cumulative cultural evolution?

royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

From information free-riding to information sharing: how have humans solved the cooperative dilemma at the heart of cumulative cultural evolution?

Abstract. Cumulative cultural evolution, where populations accumulate ever-improving knowledge, technologies and social customs, is arguably a unique featu

royalsocietypublishing.org

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi

Simon Columbus @simoncolumbus.bsky.social · 25d

This week's Cooperation Colloquium:

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com

Experimental evidence that reputation-based partner choice facilitates information sharing in humans

Date: December 5
Time: 15:00 UTC+1 (Vienna) / 9 am ET (NYC)

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...

Abstract: A necessary prerequisite for the accumulation of beneficial knowledge, or ‘cumulative cultural evolution’, is the sharing of information via social learning. Yet little work in the field of cultural evolution has examined the mechanisms that support information sharing in the face of exploitative information free-riding and information hoarding. We ran a series of online interactive experiments (N = 716) combined with computational reinforcement and social learning models to test whether the mechanism of reputation-based partner choice can effectively support information sharing. Participants in groups chose whether to (i) engage in costly innovation and (ii) whether to share the resultant knowledge. Sharers received increased reputations for sharing and participants could use reputations to select recipients of knowledge. Study 1 found, in participants from the UK and China, high levels of information sharing but only weak partner choice. Study 2 replicated this finding with various methodological improvements. Study 3 showed that participants used partner choice to exclude non-sharing artificial bots from receiving information. Study 4 found that when partner choice was impossible, preferences for information sharing declined to levels comparable to non-sharing. Overall, our findings provide tentative positive experimental evidence that partner choice can facilitate information sharing and enable cumulative cultural evolution.

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, David W. Lawson

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · 27d

Working my way slowly through the @manymindspod.bsky.social back catalogue. This one with @iyadrahwan.bsky.social is really good on a cultural evolution analysis of machine / digital culture

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

The rise of machine culture

Podcast Episode · Many Minds · 31/10/2024 · 1h 20m

podcasts.apple.com

Reposted by David Lazer, Hugo Mercier, Paul E. Smaldino , and 2 more David Lazer, Hugo Mercier, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi, Alberto Acerbi

Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · Nov 17

Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz

files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...

files.newsletter2go.com

Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Nathan Nunn, Rebecca Sear , and 2 more Hugo Mercier, Nathan Nunn, Rebecca Sear, Alex Mesoudi, David W. Lawson

Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · Nov 15

The submission deadline for #CESRabat has been extended to 30 November

@ces2026.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social

ces2026 @ces2026.bsky.social · Nov 10

👉 A reminder that the deadline for submitting your abstract to the CES 2026 #CESRabat is the 16th of November.

🔗Submit here: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026

We look forward to seeing you in Rabat!

ces2026 @ces2026.bsky.social · Sep 19

We’re delighted to share that the CES2026 Conference website is now live!

We warmly invite researchers, scholars, and practitioners to submit their presentation proposals by November 16th through the submission portal on the website.

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · Nov 14

Deadline 12th January, some programming and data science skills required

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Rebecca Sear, Paul E. Smaldino , and 2 more Dave O’Brien, Rebecca Sear, Paul E. Smaldino, Mohammad Atari, David W. Lawson

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · Nov 14

Come and do a PhD at Exeter with me and Chico Camargo (Computer Science) on human-genAI coevolution

"Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Data-Driven Agent-Based Modelling of Online Cultural Dynamics"

www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/recr...

More details here:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

www.exeter.ac.uk

Reposted by Paul E. Smaldino

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · Nov 11

Congratulations to Andoni Sergiou for defending his PhD thesis today! And special thanks to @psmaldino.bsky.social and @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social for examining his thesis

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi

Erik Postma @erikpostma.bsky.social · Nov 10

A week before his defence @rug.nl, the publication of @euantheyoung.bsky.social's chapter on the lifespan cost of reproduction in @science.org Advances - with @hannahdugdale.bsky.social, @lummaalab.bsky.social and myself - couldn't have been better timed! 👍 🥳 🥂https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz6422

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Alex Mesoudi, David W. Lawson

ces2026 @ces2026.bsky.social · Nov 10

ces2026 @ces2026.bsky.social · Sep 19

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi

Jolyon Troscianko @jtroscianko.bsky.social · Nov 6

BehaveAI is live!

Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.

Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.

Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI

Reposted by Rebecca Sear

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · Nov 5

Really enjoyed this podcast with @sheinalew.bsky.social and @dorsaamir.bsky.social on evolution and childhood. Super-smart people talking about a super-interesting topic

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

Varieties of childhood

Podcast Episode · Many Minds · 10/07/2025 · 1h 29m

podcasts.apple.com

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · Nov 4

Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES

aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi , and 3 more Hugo Mercier, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi, Alberto Acerbi, Andreas De Block, Massimiliano Simons

Charley Wu | hiring PhDs/Postdocs @thecharleywu.bsky.social · Oct 20

Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏

ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution

ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution posted on October 16, 2025 We are currently seeking a highly motivated individual for a ful...

hmc-lab.com

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Alex Mesoudi

Tim Waring @twaring.bsky.social · Oct 17

Excited to announce the first ACE Course Design Awards for excellent cultural education teaching. Those award winning classes will be placed in an open teaching repository for anyone looking to enhance cultural evolution content in their courses.
culturalevolutionsociety.org/news-and-eve...

ACE Course Design Awardees Announced - Cultural Evolution Society

culturalevolutionsociety.org

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · Oct 14

Agreed! It was one of my 5 recommended books on cultural evolution here:
shepherd.com/best-books/c...

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi , and 1 more Rebecca Sear, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi, Luke Rendell

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · Oct 10

We're pleased to announce and congratulate the winners of the Advancing Cultural Evolution Course Design Awards! This competition recognises leading educators in the field of cultural evolution and their existing efforts to advance its teaching.

We have 7 winners and 2 runners up (listed below):

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Alex Mesoudi

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · Oct 1

ACE Teaching Innovation Awards empower scholars to incorporate high-quality cultural evolution course materials into their teaching. This is a great opportunity for those from majority-world countries and ECR academics, but everyone can apply!

culturalevolutionsociety.org/grants-and-a...

Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management

The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

vuw.qualtrics.com

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi, Hansraj Gautam

Darren Croft @darrencroft.bsky.social · Sep 23

We are hiring - PDRA position exploring how information access shapes social dynamics in killer whales. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social Prof Dan Franks (York) start 1st Nov (or ASAP) end 31st Oct 2028. Apps close on 19th Oct.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOT336/p...

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi

David Garzón Ramos @dgarzonramos.com · Sep 16

🚨 Last days to submit! 🚨

Join the Workshop on Cultural Evolution of Planet X at @alife2025.bsky.social (Kyoto, Oct 7).

We welcome abstracts on cultural evolution and emergent culture in artificial systems. Work presented elsewhere too!

📅 Deadline: Sept 20
🔗 sites.google.com/view/planetx...

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, John Kennedy, Ruth Mace , and 5 more Joanna Bryson, John Kennedy, Ruth Mace, Alistair Munro, Charles West, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi, Dean Eckles

Bret Beheim @babeheim.bsky.social · Sep 16

How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!

400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!

Miyagawa Shuntei's 1898 painting, "Playing Go (Japanese Chess)"

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Hugo Mercier, Rebecca Sear

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · Sep 15

Abstract submission now open for the next Cultural Evolution Society conference in Rabat, Morocco next May @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @ces2026.bsky.social

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · Sep 13

We are delighted to announce that the CES2026 conference website is now live! We invite you to submit your presentation proposals using the link on the webpage, deadline November 16th:
airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026

Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES

airess.fgses-um6p.ma

Reposted by Ruth Mace, Simon J. Greenhill, Nathan Nunn , and 5 more Ruth Mace, Simon J. Greenhill, Nathan Nunn, Rebecca Sear, Paul E. Smaldino, Alex Mesoudi, Alberto Acerbi, David W. Lawson

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · Sep 13

The count down starts for #CESRabat! Follow @ces2026.bsky.social and join us May 11-13 next year for an exciting meeting in Rabat, Morocco.

Massive thanks to the #CESRabat organising committee:
Sarah Alami (co-chair)
Mathieu Charbonneau (co-chair)
Zachary Garfield
Edmond Seabright

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Hugo Mercier, Nathan Nunn , and 1 more Simon J. Greenhill, Hugo Mercier, Nathan Nunn, Alex Mesoudi

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · Sep 13

Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES

airess.fgses-um6p.ma

Reposted by Alex Mesoudi

Kenji Itao @kenjiitao.bsky.social · Sep 12

🔔ACE Seminar:
We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Siyang Luo from Sun Yat-sen University!

🗓 Mon, Sep 22 at 7:00 PM JST (18:00 (Perth/Singapore/Beijing), 19:00 (Tokyo/Seoul), 20:00 (Sydney))
✉️ To receive the Zoom link, send a blank email to: ace-seminar+subscribe@googlegroups.com

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