Laura Simone Lewis
laurasimonelewis.bsky.social
Laura Simone Lewis
@laurasimonelewis.bsky.social
Asst. Prof. in Psychological and Brain Sciences and Anthropology @ UC Santa Barbara | UC PPFP Fellow | Fascinated by great ape social cognition!

https://www.laurasimonelewis.com/
https://www.originsofmindlab.com/
Hi friends! Tomorrow at 9 am PT/12 pm ET/6 pm CET I'll be presenting a Proceedings B Ecology and Evolution Seminar about my recently published paper: Chimpanzees and children are curious about social interactions 🥳 Tune in to learn more about comparative curiosity! cassyni.com/events/R9W1m...
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October 14, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Laura Simone Lewis
Spread the word: I'm looking to recruit a PhD student for Fall 2026 to @ucsb.bsky.social! Reach out if you are applying this cycle and hoping to study infant and child social cognition, specifically expectations about friendship and/or groups. Bonus: live in paradise! And.. 1/3
October 2, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Laura Simone Lewis
New paper in Open Mind, with @emmayu23.bsky.social, Megan Richardson, and @ashleyjthomas.bsky.social! We find that by 6 years of age, children think that close friends know the content of each other’s minds.

direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...

@openmindjournal.bsky.social
Developing Intuitions That Close Friends Know the Content of Each Other’s Minds
Abstract. To maintain and develop close relationships, people need to accurately represent the minds of their social partners. Although studies have characterized many aspects of children’s intuitive ...
direct.mit.edu
October 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM
New paper just dropped🎉 With novel "Curiosity Boxes", we find that chimps & children are very curious about social interactions, & some even give up a reward to gain info! Fun collaboration with @alisongopnik.bsky.social, @janengelmann.bsky.social & others royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Chimpanzees and children are curious about social interactions | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Curiosity is adaptive, enhances learning, and reduces uncertainty. Social curiosity is defined as the motivation to gain information about the actions, relationships, and psychology of others. Little ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
June 6, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Laura Simone Lewis
New paper from Laura Lewis and Jan Engelmann et al. (including me) with a clever new method. Chimps and kids will forgo reward to get a chance to look at social interactions
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
Chimpanzees and children are curious about social interactions | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Curiosity is adaptive, enhances learning, and reduces uncertainty. Social curiosity is defined as the motivation to gain information about the actions, relationships, and psychology of others. Little is known about the developmental and evolutionary roots ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
June 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Laura Simone Lewis
Chimpanzees are, just like humans, very curious about other's social relationships. In some cases, they even give up a material reward to watch social interactions. Check out this exciting new work by @laurasimonelewis.bsky.social
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
Chimpanzees and children are curious about social interactions | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Curiosity is adaptive, enhances learning, and reduces uncertainty. Social curiosity is defined as the motivation to gain information about the actions, relationships, and psychology of others. Little ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
June 5, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Laura Simone Lewis
My book SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION will be out on May 20, 2025! Shamanism characterized the earliest religions, echoes in often unappreciated ways in the world around us, and will long outlive us.

Pre-order it here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...
September 17, 2024 at 10:23 PM