Catherine Molho
banner
cmolho.bsky.social
Catherine Molho
@cmolho.bsky.social
Psychologist studying cooperation, punishment, and norms.

Assistant professor at the Toulouse School of Economics and Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).

https://catherinemolho.github.io/
Pinned
📣 New registered report in @nathumbehav.nature.com with Ivan Soraperra, @jonathanschulz.bsky.social, and Shaul Shalvi: rdcu.be/eAcMA

With data from 7,978 participants in 20 countries, we find that information about negative externalities promotes prosociality, especially in guilt-prone individuals.
Guilt drives prosociality across 20 countries
Nature Human Behaviour - This Registered Report of 7,978 people in 20 countries found that guilt and information about consequences drive prosocial behaviour. Guilt-prone individuals gave more when...
rdcu.be
Reposted by Catherine Molho
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.

It's *scientific publishing*.

We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.

Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...

Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
November 12, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
How can we use disgust to make more sustainable choices?

Our 3rd keynote at Disgust Across Borders is Philip Powell @sheffielduni.bsky.social with "Putting the gross in domestic product: Disgust and consumer behaviour"

📍 @iast.fr
Toulouse 🇫🇷 | Dec 4–5
🎉 Program & abstracts: tinyurl.com/2tprm9cn!
November 8, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
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 Catherine Molho
Leiden looking good today ;-)
📢 Abstract submission will be open Nov 1st – Dec 15th for EHBEA 2026
⚡Present your research, connect & collaborate 14-17 April
📝 300 words (extendable to 800 after acceptance)
For more information & our full call for abstracts, check www.ehbea2026.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
I’ll be considering graduate school applications for Fall 2026 – positions are fully funded, typically for 5 years. Deadline to apply to the Cognition program is December 1. Come do science with me in beautiful Amherst, Massachusetts! www.umass.edu/natural-scie...
PhD in Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience : College of Natural Sciences : UMass Amherst
Engage in research centered on fundamental theoretical questions about cognitive function using multiple experimental methods and data analysis.
www.umass.edu
October 27, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
🎉 @rpsychologist.com 's PowerLMM.js is the online statistics application of the year 2025 🎉

powerlmmjs.rpsychologist.com

- Calculate power (etc) for multilevel models
- Examine effects of dropout and other important parameters
- Fast! (Instant results)
October 28, 2025 at 2:37 PM
📢 Two weeks left to apply for a (2-year) research fellowship @iast.fr

A fantastic opportunity to work full-time on your own research, in an interdisciplinary environment, and in a lovely city in the South of France.

Deadline: November 15, 2025

How to apply: www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Research Fellowships
Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...
www.iast.fr
October 28, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
🎉 We're excited to announce that the #ICSD2026 (Jun 1-5, 2026)website is now live! sites.google.com/view/icsd2026
📅 Key dates
Nov 2025: Abstract submission opens
Dec 22, 2025: Submission deadline
Late Feb 2026: Acceptance notifications
Apr 3, 2026: Registration closes
Jun 1, 2026: Conference begins
ICSD 2026
Welcome TO ICSD 2026 We are delighted to announce that the International Conference on Social Dilemmas will be held in Shimonoseki, Japan, on June 1-5, 2026, at the Shimonoseki Grand Hotel. The confer...
sites.google.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
How do humans keep inventing tools and technologies that no single person could create alone?

Our new preprint, led by
@anilyaman.bsky.social & @ts-brain.bsky.social
shows that semantic knowledge guides innovation and drives cultural evolution. 🧠📘 arxiv.org/abs/2510.12837
October 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
We're psyched to discuss all things disgust in our upcoming conference on Disgust Across Borders! 🦠

Our 2nd (online) keynote is Paul Rozin who will address a fundamental question in Disgustology:
"Is disgust a unitary emotion?"

📍 @iast.fr Toulouse 🇫🇷 | Dec 4–5
👀 Stay tuned at tinyurl.com/2tprm9cn!
October 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
🚨New paper led by Lei Fan, with Florian van Leeuwen, @hirotakaimada.bsky.social, and @joshtybur.bsky.social, out in Cognition & Emotion:

🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0269...

In two preregistered studies from Japan 🇯🇵 , we find that anger relates to confrontation while disgust to gossip and social exclusion.
Linking anger and disgust to motives and anticipations of aggression in the East: testing a socio-functional account of moral emotions in Japan
Anger and disgust often underlie responses to social transgressions, yet their links to aggressive punishments have been primarily studied in Western populations. Across two studies sampling from J...
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
🦠 Hi disgust nerds! Our 1st keynote at Disgust Across Borders is Caroline Amoroso (@cr-amo.bsky.social, Univ. of Virginia).

She’ll dive into evolution & ecology of infection avoidance — how organisms detect, avoid, and resist pathogens.

tinyurl.com/2tprm9cn

📍 Toulouse 🇫🇷 | Dec 4–5
👀 More 🔑🗒️ soon!
October 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
In an online study with 3,371 participants from 13 societies, Jin et al. found that perceived societal honour norms predicted both greater competition and cooperation.
@shuxianjin.bsky.social
@ayseuskul.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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 26, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
📢 Apply to our (2-year) research fellowships at @iast.fr

Join a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and indisciplinary group of scholars in Toulouse, walkable/cyclable pink city of chocolatines in the South of France.

Deadline: November 15, 2025.

www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Research Fellowships
Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...
www.iast.fr
September 22, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
💙New paper!💙

How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?

With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society
Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli
academic.oup.com
September 14, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
Why do societies reliably develop strikingly similar traditions like dance songs, hero stories, shamanism & justice institutions?

In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
August 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
📣 New registered report in @nathumbehav.nature.com with Ivan Soraperra, @jonathanschulz.bsky.social, and Shaul Shalvi: rdcu.be/eAcMA

With data from 7,978 participants in 20 countries, we find that information about negative externalities promotes prosociality, especially in guilt-prone individuals.
Guilt drives prosociality across 20 countries
Nature Human Behaviour - This Registered Report of 7,978 people in 20 countries found that guilt and information about consequences drive prosocial behaviour. Guilt-prone individuals gave more when...
rdcu.be
August 18, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
⚡ Autumn 2025 Cooperation Colloquia ⚡

We are excited to announce the next run of Cooperation Colloquia. With @talbotmandrews.bsky.social, @setayeshradkani.bsky.social, @kris-smith.bsky.social, @alexmesoudi.com, & more.

Every second Friday, 15:00 CE(S)T

Sign up here: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
August 26, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
🧠 What?! A meeting just on disgust?! Yes!!
📍 @iast.fr, France | 🗓 Dec 4–5, 2025
💥 Keynotes by Paul Rozin @upenn.edu, @cr-amo.bsky.social, Philip Powell @sheffielduni.bsky.social & Cindy Kam
🌍 From Psychology to Politics, Biology & beyond
🎓 Abstract submissions until Aug 31: forms.gle/QBmkUB3aLDjY...
August 22, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
🚨 We’re hiring! 🚨
The Social&Environmental Psychology Group @ruhr-uni-bochum.de is recruiting 2 PhDs and 1 Postdoc
as part of the ERC-funded SUSCON project on sustainable consumption.

Details here:

PhDs:👉 jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/7...

Postdoc:👉 jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/e...
Doctoral Researcher (m,f,x)
jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
August 26, 2025 at 7:41 AM
📣 Call to all disgust nerds out there: Join our interdisciplinary conference on 'Disgust across borders'!

🗓️ Dec 4 & 5
📍Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse @iast.fr
💡Four fantastic keynotes, roundtables, & more

Submit your abstracts and register by *August 31* here: forms.gle/QBmkUB3aLDjY...
August 20, 2025 at 10:20 AM
📣 New registered report in @nathumbehav.nature.com with Ivan Soraperra, @jonathanschulz.bsky.social, and Shaul Shalvi: rdcu.be/eAcMA

With data from 7,978 participants in 20 countries, we find that information about negative externalities promotes prosociality, especially in guilt-prone individuals.
Guilt drives prosociality across 20 countries
Nature Human Behaviour - This Registered Report of 7,978 people in 20 countries found that guilt and information about consequences drive prosocial behaviour. Guilt-prone individuals gave more when...
rdcu.be
August 18, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
A Registered Report of 7,978 people in 20 countries by @cmolho.bsky.social et al finds that decision-makers willfully ignore inconvenient information. Information about the negative consequences drives prosociality, especially among guilt-prone individuals.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Guilt drives prosociality across 20 countries - Nature Human Behaviour
This Registered Report of 7,978 people in 20 countries found that guilt and information about consequences drive prosocial behaviour. Guilt-prone individuals gave more when they were informed about th...
www.nature.com
August 11, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Catherine Molho
Through experiments and simulations, this study shows how individuals learn to learn from others, dynamically shaping the processes involved in cultural evolution. @davidschultner.bsky.social @bjornlindstrom.bsky.social
@lucasmolleman.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Feature-based reward learning shapes human social learning strategies - Nature Human Behaviour
This research advances a mechanistic reward learning account of social learning strategies. Through experiments and simulations, it shows how individuals learn to learn from others, dynamically shapin...
www.nature.com
July 23, 2025 at 11:29 AM
📣 We are excited (or should we say disgusted?) to announce the conference 'Disgust across borders' at IAST! @iast.fr

🗓️ Join us on Dec 4 & 5 for two days full of disgust research across species and disciplines.

Registration and abstract submission are open (until Aug 31): forms.gle/QBmkUB3aLDjY...
July 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM