Angelo Romano
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aromano.bsky.social
Angelo Romano
@aromano.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at Leiden University and behavioral scientist interested in the evolutionary, cultural, and psychological foundations of conflict and cooperation among individuals and groups | cooperation, conflict, reciprocity, reputation & culture.
Pinned
🚨New article in Proc B:
"Reciprocity evolves more readily in competitive than cooperative socio-ecologies"

Using agent-based evolutionary models, we show that reciprocity emerges more reliably in competitive environments with high exploitation risk.

🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reciprocity evolves more readily in competitive than cooperative socio-ecologies | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Tracking what others did and matching other’s expected actions is seen across a range of biological systems. As reciprocal matching rewards and reinforces cooperators and punishes and discourages non-...
royalsocietypublishing.org
We are excited for our upcoming CBEN preconference in Leiden on April 14th on “Socio-Ecological Variation in Conflict and Cooperation”.

Keynotes: Daniel Balliet, Elisabetta Palagi.

Submit your abstract by Nov 30.
More info can be found here:

www.cognitionbehaviorevolution.nl?p=1120
October 31, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
🚨 Excited to share our new paper in @nathumbehav.nature.com!
In a cross-societal online behavioural experiment with 3,371 participants in 13 societies, we found that perceived societal honour norms predict both greater competition and greater cooperation.
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/9
Honour, competition and cooperation across 13 societies - Nature Human Behaviour
This online study with 3,371 participants from 13 societies found that perceived societal honour norms predicted both greater competition and greater cooperation at both societal and individual levels.
www.nature.com
September 29, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
📈 New research: Financial scarcity is associated with less perceived control over one's life, but cultural values may be more effective than formal institutions in buffering individuals against these psychological effects.

Read more in #SPPS: ow.ly/uB6050WuAAb
July 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
🚨New article in Proc B:
"Reciprocity evolves more readily in competitive than cooperative socio-ecologies"

Using agent-based evolutionary models, we show that reciprocity emerges more reliably in competitive environments with high exploitation risk.

🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reciprocity evolves more readily in competitive than cooperative socio-ecologies | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Tracking what others did and matching other’s expected actions is seen across a range of biological systems. As reciprocal matching rewards and reinforces cooperators and punishes and discourages non-...
royalsocietypublishing.org
July 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM
🚨New article in Proc B:
"Reciprocity evolves more readily in competitive than cooperative socio-ecologies"

Using agent-based evolutionary models, we show that reciprocity emerges more reliably in competitive environments with high exploitation risk.

🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reciprocity evolves more readily in competitive than cooperative socio-ecologies | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Tracking what others did and matching other’s expected actions is seen across a range of biological systems. As reciprocal matching rewards and reinforces cooperators and punishes and discourages non-...
royalsocietypublishing.org
July 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Do you study cooperation and how it varies across societies, including those that are under-represented? Are you interested in how AI is fundamentally reshaping human cooperation?

If so, don’t miss our special issue on Current Directions in Social Dilemmas Research
Hi Everyone,

Angela Dorrough, Giuliana Spadaro, @shuxianjin.bsky.social, and I are guest-editing a special issue at JESP on current directions in social dilemmas research.

More info can be found here: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

We look forward to receiving many exciting submissions!
July 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
We're thrilled to announce the winners of this first edition:
- Dr. Sisi Wang
- Assistant Professor Matthias Nau
- Assistant Professor Giuliana Spadaro
July 4, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Excited this week to present "The Nasty Neighbor Effect in Humans" @imebess.bsky.social: Contrary to coop situations, when interacting with ingroup members in comp situations, humans are actually nastier with ingroups than outgroups.

More can be found here: www.science.org/doi/full/10....
May 19, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
🏳️📝
Giuliana Spadaro and I are looking for someone who can assist us with the Rumanian translation of study materials for a cross-cultural study on corruption and social decision-making.

We need your help to spread our call to any potentially interested person!📣
May 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
An open letter supporting the international bachelor’s psychology programs threatened for cuts. Proceeding with these cuts would damage some of the most important and impactful psychology departments globally. #supportdutchpsychology

openletter.earth/against-lang...
Against Language Barriers: A Call to Protect International Education in Dutch Academia
openletter.earth
April 28, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
Hi Everyone,

Angela Dorrough, Giuliana Spadaro, @shuxianjin.bsky.social, and I are guest-editing a special issue at JESP on current directions in social dilemmas research.

More info can be found here: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

We look forward to receiving many exciting submissions!
March 7, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Hi Everyone,

Angela Dorrough, Giuliana Spadaro, @shuxianjin.bsky.social, and I are guest-editing a special issue at JESP on current directions in social dilemmas research.

More info can be found here: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

We look forward to receiving many exciting submissions!
March 7, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
🚨Excited that our meta-analysis is out in JPSP @APA_Journals. We synthesized 6 decades (1958-2017) of empirical evidence on social dilemmas and tested which structural features (most strongly) promote cooperation:
doi.org/10.1037/pspi...
1/10
November 5, 2024 at 9:40 AM
See call for translators for a cross-cultural study on corruption and social decision-making 👇
🏳️📝
Giuliana Spadaro and I are looking for someone who can assist us with the Swedish translation of study materials for a cross-cultural study on corruption and social decision-making.

We need your help to spread our call to any potentially interested person!📣
September 18, 2024 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
🚨🚨New paper out at with Jörg Gross & @dedreu.bsky.social: The nasty neighbor effect in humans. Across 51 societies and >14,000 participants, and against pre-registered predictions, we find that humans compete more within than between groups:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The nasty neighbor effect in humans
Humans not only cooperate but also compete more with in-group members than with out-group members and strangers.
www.science.org
July 6, 2024 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
Join us on Friday for the first Cooperation Colloquium of the autumn semester!

Angelo Romano @aromano.bsky.social
The nasty neighbour effect in humans

Sep 6, 15:00 UTC+2 / 9 am ET

Sign up here: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
September 3, 2024 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
We are delighted to announce the Autumn 2024 Cooperation Colloquia!

With @aromano.bsky.social, Young-eun Lee, @lfitouchi.bsky.social, @arkadykonovalov.bsky.social, @davidschultner.bsky.social, Hirotaka Imada, Astrid Dannenberg

Sign-up here: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
August 28, 2024 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
In-group cooperation coexists with neighbour nastiness—research by @aromano.bsky.social et al found participants competed more when paired to others with the *same* group affiliation than when paired to others with an “out-group” or unknown affiliation: buff.ly/3XNPC2X
July 27, 2024 at 6:21 AM
🚨🚨New paper out at with Jörg Gross & @dedreu.bsky.social: The nasty neighbor effect in humans. Across 51 societies and >14,000 participants, and against pre-registered predictions, we find that humans compete more within than between groups:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The nasty neighbor effect in humans
Humans not only cooperate but also compete more with in-group members than with out-group members and strangers.
www.science.org
July 6, 2024 at 1:20 PM
Does indirect reciprocity foster or undermine large scale cooperation between groups? And is indirect reciprocity bounded by group membership?

Take a look at our recent comment:

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Indirect reciprocity can foster large-scale cooperation | PNAS
Indirect reciprocity can foster large-scale cooperation
www.pnas.org
June 25, 2024 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
Thanks to JEP:G, my collab. Ruthie Pliskin & Carsten De Dreu, and some constructive reviewers, our paper sees the light of day!

Honoring that humans often have multiple public goods in which they can choose to invest resources, we explore the realm of ✨multiple-public-goods provision problems✨
April 25, 2024 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
We are thrilled to curate a Special Issue on “Field Experiments to Reduce Inequality” in the European Economic Review!

Guest editors: @lergetporer.bsky.social @michelebelot.bsky.social @henninghermes.com @fpeter.bsky.social & @simonwiederhold.bsky.social  

Details: tinyurl.com/38hzxdte

#EconSky
January 22, 2024 at 6:00 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
📢 New deadline for abstract submission!

The organizing committee for the International Conference on Social Dilemmas has extended the deadline for abstract submission until *January 29th*.

Don't miss out the chance to submit an abstract for talks, short talks & poster sessions! 🤩
The abstract submission portal for the International Conference on Social Dilemmas is open!

Make sure to send your submission until 15th of January 2024. 

We look forward to learning about your interesting research!

socialdilemma.com/icsd2024-abs...

#PsychSciSky #BehSci #SocialPsyc #AcademicSky
January 12, 2024 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
📢 4 days left to apply to our PhD position on the effects of inequality on cooperation and competition at Leiden University!

📋 Deadline: 18th December
December 15, 2023 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Angelo Romano
Out now on Psych Inquiry is my commentary on the interesting claim by Pinsof et al. (2023) that morality does not factor into ideologies. The issue also features great commentaries by @mjbsp.bsky.social , @cmfederico.bsky.social and many others.
The Full Equation: On the Context-Dependency of Ideological Morality
Published in Psychological Inquiry: An International Journal for the Advancement of Psychological Theory (Vol. 34, No. 3, 2023)
bitly.ws
December 13, 2023 at 1:29 PM