David W Lawson
@davidwlawson.bsky.social
Professor of Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara
Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab 🌍🌏🌎
Human Behavioral Ecology
Global Health, Family, Gender Norms 🏳️🌈
aea-lab.com
Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab 🌍🌏🌎
Human Behavioral Ecology
Global Health, Family, Gender Norms 🏳️🌈
aea-lab.com
Reposted by David W Lawson
Thanks to all who have signed so far. We have 73 signatories across a variety of disciplines. Let's see if we can break 200 before we send it off next week. Please re-post and send on to your colleagues. Thank you!
All, Agustin Fuentes and I, with the help of numerous others, have drafted a letter to Congress regarding the recent archiving of NSF/ SBE DDRI (doctoral dissertation research improvement) grants, which you can find here: docs.google.com/document/d/1....
DDRI Congress Letter
Dear [Senator/ Representative], Alternate CCs (SBE Assistant Director, etc.) We write to urge the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to reinstate its Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (...
docs.google.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Thanks to all who have signed so far. We have 73 signatories across a variety of disciplines. Let's see if we can break 200 before we send it off next week. Please re-post and send on to your colleagues. Thank you!
Reposted by David W Lawson
Excited for the new Transmissions episode on ASU's Sarah Mathew on how human warfare evolved, and her fieldwork in Kenya.
Watch here:
youtu.be/eUqEcxf5uBQ?...
New Episodes monthly! Created by @ferylbadiani.bsky.social and @ahnisnaahsi.bsky.social
CC: @arizonastateuni.bsky.social
Watch here:
youtu.be/eUqEcxf5uBQ?...
New Episodes monthly! Created by @ferylbadiani.bsky.social and @ahnisnaahsi.bsky.social
CC: @arizonastateuni.bsky.social
Transmissions Episode 2 with Dr Sarah Matthew
YouTube video by Cultural Evolution Society
youtu.be
January 13, 2026 at 3:39 PM
Excited for the new Transmissions episode on ASU's Sarah Mathew on how human warfare evolved, and her fieldwork in Kenya.
Watch here:
youtu.be/eUqEcxf5uBQ?...
New Episodes monthly! Created by @ferylbadiani.bsky.social and @ahnisnaahsi.bsky.social
CC: @arizonastateuni.bsky.social
Watch here:
youtu.be/eUqEcxf5uBQ?...
New Episodes monthly! Created by @ferylbadiani.bsky.social and @ahnisnaahsi.bsky.social
CC: @arizonastateuni.bsky.social
Reposted by David W Lawson
Competition for heritable wealth, not cultural group selection, drives the evolution of monogamy | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
January 4, 2026 at 11:17 PM
Competition for heritable wealth, not cultural group selection, drives the evolution of monogamy | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by David W Lawson
New paper, led by Estelle McLean, on the value of data from Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems. These data sources are particularly suitable for complex longitudinal analyses which require consideration of household and familial contexts, but their complexity may result in their under-use
Versatility, value and limitations of using health and demographic surveillance system data for secondary analyses: guidance for researchers, using examples from existing analyses - Journal of Populat...
Journal of Population Research - Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) are geographic open cohorts operating in countries with absent/incomplete vital registration. Data on demographic...
link.springer.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:16 AM
New paper, led by Estelle McLean, on the value of data from Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems. These data sources are particularly suitable for complex longitudinal analyses which require consideration of household and familial contexts, but their complexity may result in their under-use
Reposted by David W Lawson
This week, we talk to Sara Mathew about the psychology of killing, PTSD, and the relationship between our evolved psychology and cultural evolution.
youtu.be/mgDerXD0djI
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-qypm9...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
youtu.be/mgDerXD0djI
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-qypm9...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Culture, Killing, and PTSD with Sarah Mathew
YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)
youtu.be
December 16, 2025 at 4:13 PM
This week, we talk to Sara Mathew about the psychology of killing, PTSD, and the relationship between our evolved psychology and cultural evolution.
youtu.be/mgDerXD0djI
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-qypm9...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
youtu.be/mgDerXD0djI
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-qypm9...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Reposted by David W Lawson
My first PhD paper is published! 🎉 We compared how wild bonobo and chimpanzee infants (0-5.5y) become independent from their mothers. Here is the open-access link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
🧵(1/5)
🧵(1/5)
Great Ape Childhoods: Social and Spatial Pathways to Independence in Bonobo and Chimpanzee Infants
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:19 PM
My first PhD paper is published! 🎉 We compared how wild bonobo and chimpanzee infants (0-5.5y) become independent from their mothers. Here is the open-access link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
🧵(1/5)
🧵(1/5)
Reposted by David W Lawson
Work (also) with me!
Two years postdoc in the @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, based in Edinburgh. Will do transmission chain experiments to understand the spread of heritage-based hostility, online and elsewhere.
More info
⬇️⬇️⬇️
Two years postdoc in the @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, based in Edinburgh. Will do transmission chain experiments to understand the spread of heritage-based hostility, online and elsewhere.
More info
⬇️⬇️⬇️
📣 PDRA JOB (2 Years, full-time) based in Psychology, @schoolofppls.bsky.social: We are hiring a Post-doctoral Research Associate, to work on Strand B (experimental) of our @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, generously funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk.
December 16, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Work (also) with me!
Two years postdoc in the @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, based in Edinburgh. Will do transmission chain experiments to understand the spread of heritage-based hostility, online and elsewhere.
More info
⬇️⬇️⬇️
Two years postdoc in the @weaponisedpasts.bsky.social project, based in Edinburgh. Will do transmission chain experiments to understand the spread of heritage-based hostility, online and elsewhere.
More info
⬇️⬇️⬇️
Reposted by David W Lawson
Congratulations to Hanna Kokko for receiving this year’s ASAB medal! Hanna has done extraordinary work and we are so pleased to honour her at #ASABWinter2025
December 16, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Congratulations to Hanna Kokko for receiving this year’s ASAB medal! Hanna has done extraordinary work and we are so pleased to honour her at #ASABWinter2025
Reposted by David W Lawson
In this blog post, Guest Editor @rachkendal.bsky.social discusses their #PhilTransB issue, 'Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures': royalsociety.org/blog/2025/12...
December 13, 2025 at 2:01 PM
In this blog post, Guest Editor @rachkendal.bsky.social discusses their #PhilTransB issue, 'Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures': royalsociety.org/blog/2025/12...
Reposted by David W Lawson
Each semester I go in my classroom and I try to figure out what we would use to block the doors, if it would be safe to crawl out the windows, where we could hide if there was a mass shooter in campus. It’s such an indictment of this country how we have normalized these preventable tragedies.
December 13, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Each semester I go in my classroom and I try to figure out what we would use to block the doors, if it would be safe to crawl out the windows, where we could hide if there was a mass shooter in campus. It’s such an indictment of this country how we have normalized these preventable tragedies.
Reposted by David W Lawson
A new PNAS paper finds that polarization increased immediately after the invention of smartphones and the advent of social media, which both appeared around the same year, 2008.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
December 14, 2025 at 5:29 PM
A new PNAS paper finds that polarization increased immediately after the invention of smartphones and the advent of social media, which both appeared around the same year, 2008.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by David W Lawson
"misinformation is widespread in biological systems spanning levels of organization, and [...] is probably an inevitable property that inherits from fundamental constraints on biological communication systems, rather than a pathology"
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...
A brief natural history of misinformation
Abstract. The idea that organisms benefit by acquiring information through social connections is a cornerstone of our understanding of social evolution and
royalsocietypublishing.org
December 14, 2025 at 6:36 AM
"misinformation is widespread in biological systems spanning levels of organization, and [...] is probably an inevitable property that inherits from fundamental constraints on biological communication systems, rather than a pathology"
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...
I miss London!
December 13, 2025 at 11:56 PM
I miss London!
Reposted by David W Lawson
🚨New article on gender differences (Rajasekhar et al 2025): 'self-reported empathy appears to be related to social desirability and broader social attitudes, which suggests that a range of cultural and social factors might contribute to gender differences in empathy'. 🧪
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Gender difference in self-reported empathy: Effects of task instructions and exposure to gender essentialism primes
Women often score higher on average than men on self-report measures of empathy. However, self-report estimates of empathic tendencies and other attributes could be susceptible to a range of biases. F...
dx.plos.org
December 13, 2025 at 11:08 AM
🚨New article on gender differences (Rajasekhar et al 2025): 'self-reported empathy appears to be related to social desirability and broader social attitudes, which suggests that a range of cultural and social factors might contribute to gender differences in empathy'. 🧪
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Reposted by David W Lawson
Thanks to Adeela Shafi, @drtwymanghoshal.bsky.social, Acheampong Charles Afriyie, Samuel Copland & Omar El Masri for their hard work in bringing together this excellent collection of articles.
Our upcoming book will be out TOMORROW:
'Innovations in Decolonising the Curriculum: Multidisciplinary Perspectives'
bookstore.emerald.com/innovations-...
'Innovations in Decolonising the Curriculum: Multidisciplinary Perspectives'
bookstore.emerald.com/innovations-...
December 12, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Thanks to Adeela Shafi, @drtwymanghoshal.bsky.social, Acheampong Charles Afriyie, Samuel Copland & Omar El Masri for their hard work in bringing together this excellent collection of articles.
Reposted by David W Lawson
Innovations in Decolonising the Curriculum: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
– a new book about how to decolonize the curriculum, by Adeela ahmed Shafi et al.
www.emerald.com/books/edited...
Here is our chapter:
– a new book about how to decolonize the curriculum, by Adeela ahmed Shafi et al.
www.emerald.com/books/edited...
Here is our chapter:
December 12, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Innovations in Decolonising the Curriculum: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
– a new book about how to decolonize the curriculum, by Adeela ahmed Shafi et al.
www.emerald.com/books/edited...
Here is our chapter:
– a new book about how to decolonize the curriculum, by Adeela ahmed Shafi et al.
www.emerald.com/books/edited...
Here is our chapter:
Reposted by David W Lawson
New special issues in Philosophical Transactions B highlight advances in cultural evolution and why they matter for challenges like inequality, cooperation, conservation, and education.
🔹 Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures
🖇️👇
🔹 Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures
🖇️👇
Volume 380 Issue 1940 | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | The Royal Society
Influential themed journal issues across the life sciences.
royalsocietypublishing.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
New special issues in Philosophical Transactions B highlight advances in cultural evolution and why they matter for challenges like inequality, cooperation, conservation, and education.
🔹 Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures
🖇️👇
🔹 Transforming cultural evolution research and its application to global futures
🖇️👇
Reposted by David W Lawson
Don’t forget to submit your #EHBEA2026 abstract before Dec 15! See you in beautiful Leiden in April! @ehbea2026.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social
December 11, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Don’t forget to submit your #EHBEA2026 abstract before Dec 15! See you in beautiful Leiden in April! @ehbea2026.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social
Reposted by David W Lawson
This new issue of #PhilTransB expands the field of cultural #evolution and shows why it matters for today’s biggest challenges. It highlights research funded by the @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social's Transformation Fund, which focused on #DEI: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...
December 11, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This new issue of #PhilTransB expands the field of cultural #evolution and shows why it matters for today’s biggest challenges. It highlights research funded by the @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social's Transformation Fund, which focused on #DEI: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...
Reposted by David W Lawson
Super proud of this paper with @apvelilla.bsky.social and @babeheim.bsky.social, now out in Psych Review.
Non-paywalled version (preprint) here: osf.io/preprints/so...
Non-paywalled version (preprint) here: osf.io/preprints/so...
How likely are you to invest in a new business? Ask your partner to marry you? Move to a new country?
A new model by SFI External Professor Paul Smaldino and colleagues explains how wealth, experience, and environment shape our risk tolerance — and how those effects persist across generations.
A new model by SFI External Professor Paul Smaldino and colleagues explains how wealth, experience, and environment shape our risk tolerance — and how those effects persist across generations.
Personal risk tolerance has sweeping implications for how societies evolve
How much risk is any individual willing to take on? That depends, in part, on their individual resources and environment, which shape the learning strategies that influence their personal proclivity t...
www.santafe.edu
December 9, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Super proud of this paper with @apvelilla.bsky.social and @babeheim.bsky.social, now out in Psych Review.
Non-paywalled version (preprint) here: osf.io/preprints/so...
Non-paywalled version (preprint) here: osf.io/preprints/so...
End of quarter vibes.
December 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
End of quarter vibes.
Reposted by David W Lawson
"This Issue stems from the Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund, designed to bridge the social & natural sciences, promote equity, diversity & inclusion & support work with policy relevance. This diversification of the CE field strengthens its capacity to positively shape global futures"
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
@durhamdcerc.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @cultevolfunding.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 8:28 PM
"This Issue stems from the Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund, designed to bridge the social & natural sciences, promote equity, diversity & inclusion & support work with policy relevance. This diversification of the CE field strengthens its capacity to positively shape global futures"
Was great to contribute to this conversation about advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in the evolutionary behavioral sciences. Still a LONG way to go, but I'm optimistic things are moving in the right direction.
royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...
Advancing equity in collaborative research: reflections from the Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund
Abstract. As the field of cultural evolution marks its fiftieth anniversary, it has an opportunity not only to evolve in theory and scope, but also in ethi
royalsocietypublishing.org
December 4, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Was great to contribute to this conversation about advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in the evolutionary behavioral sciences. Still a LONG way to go, but I'm optimistic things are moving in the right direction.
royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...
royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...
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...
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...
December 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM
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...
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 David W Lawson
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
@durhamdcerc.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @cultevolfunding.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 11:07 AM
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
@durhamdcerc.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @cultevolfunding.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social