Léo Fitouchi
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lfitouchi.bsky.social
Léo Fitouchi
@lfitouchi.bsky.social
970 followers 500 following 59 posts
Cognitive & social scientist. Studying morality, religion, punishment, institutions.

Research fellow at @iastoulouse.bsky.social @tse-fr.eu. PhD ENS Paris.

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/leofitouchi/home
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lfitouchi.bsky.social
Léo Fitouchi @lfitouchi.bsky.social · May 6
🧵New paper out in Cognition

Why do people moralize harmless carnal sins (e.g. gluttony, masturbation)?

@danielnettle.bsky.social & I find that these behaviors activate reciprocity-based moral judgment—no need for a distinct "purity" module.

50 days free link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1l18D2Hx2-...
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
zhgarfield.com
One week left to submit your abstracts to #HBES2026

16 Jan deadline!

@hbes2026.bsky.social
@humbehevosoc.bsky.social

We’re scouting banquet locations. Hope to see you in Rabat!!
January 8, 2026 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
iast.fr
Applications for our upcoming Summer School have been extended until January 15! 🤝

Apply now: www.tse-fr.eu/toulouse-sum...

@olkcampbell.bsky.social @maximederex.bsky.social @lfitouchi.bsky.social @cmolho.bsky.social @ccavaille.bsky.social
Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences Application
Application to the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences taking place from May 25th to June 19th, 2026 in Toulouse, France Application deadline: January 15th, 2026 Applicants will be ...
www.tse-fr.eu
January 5, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
epthepod.bsky.social
This week, we talk to Léo Fetuchi about the moralization of self-control and the lack thereof.
youtu.be/duLUU9e0i0k
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-99f5i...
Moralizing Self-Control with Léo Fetuchi
YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)
youtu.be
December 31, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
epthepod.bsky.social
This week, we talk to @danielnettle.bsky.social about big picture issues in the evolutionary social sciences, craving sugar, income inequality, running, and more!
youtu.be/-NPuZSolsEs
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9hsnf...
Evolutionary Social Sciences with Dan Nettle
YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)
youtu.be
December 24, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
eselster.bsky.social
In a new Review for @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social -- and my first first-authored paper! -- @manvir.bsky.social and I argue that experience shapes the emergence and evolution of seemingly extraordinary beliefs.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
The ubiquity of extraordinary beliefs across human societies, such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and supernatural beliefs, is a long-standing…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social
For the curious, I have put the author accepted manuscript of our new BBS Target Article on researchgate.

You can view it here:

www.researchgate.net/publication/...
November 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
lfitouchi.bsky.social
Thrilled to teach again this year, on the evolution of social cognition, at the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences! Apply before December 15th 👇

Brochure: lnkd.in/e_R7cQTP
Application: lnkd.in/eey-fEJ
jorgeapenas.bsky.social Jorge Peña @jorgeapenas.bsky.social · Nov 13
📣 Are you a PhD student in the quantitative social sciences interested in interdisciplnary research? Join us at the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences (25 May-19 Jun 2026) at @tse-fr.eu.

Apply by 15 Dec 2025 🎓🔍

👉 More info + application: www.tse-fr.eu/toulouse-sum...
Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences
www.tse-fr.eu
November 25, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social
📣 New BBS preprint out now! 📣

"Models casting egalitarian societies as crucibles of equality perpetuate the factually uninformed notion that foragers are somehow more noble. Critiques portray egalitarianism as romantic fantasy. Neither characterization is wholly justified."

doi.org/10.1017/S014...
Egalitarianism is not Equality: Moving from outcome to process in the study of human political organisation | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Egalitarianism is not Equality: Moving from outcome to process in the study of human political organisation
doi.org
November 18, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
w-plus-ebs.bsky.social
Happy #WplusEBSWednesday, folks!

This week, we're spotlighting the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences (May 26–June 19), hosted by @tse-fr.eu and @iast.fr .

Applications due Dec. 15!

Great opportunity for PhD students - check it out at the link :)
www.tse-fr.eu/toulouse-sum...
Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences Application
Application to the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences taking place from May 25th to June 19th, 2026 in Toulouse, France Application deadline: December 15th, 2025 Applicants will be...
www.tse-fr.eu
November 19, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
jfbonnefon.bsky.social
It's hiring season at @iast.fr!

- 2y research postdoc contract
- Full autonomy, you are your own PI
- Awesome multidisciplinary environment
- All social and behavioral sciences welcome
- Seed funding for projects and workshops
- Gorgeous city in the south of France

www.iast.fr/research-fel...
September 20, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
w-plus-ebs.bsky.social
👋 Meet Haneul, our Membership Officer/Treasurer!

@haneuljang.bsky.social is a Research Fellow at @iast.fr, studying women's cooperation among BaYaka foragers.

As Membership Officer, she manages new membership, recruiting new members at conferences and explaining the society. (1/2)

#WplusEBS
October 22, 2025 at 3:48 PM
lfitouchi.bsky.social
Same!
dansperber.bsky.social Dan Sperber @dansperber.bsky.social · Oct 22
Join me in signing the #JewsDemandAction petition calling on governments around the world to impose meaningful consequences on the Israeli government, including appropriate sanctions, enforcement of ICJ and ICC rulings and warrants, and withholding of arms. jewsdemandaction.org jewsdemandaction.org
Jews Demand Action
jewsdemandaction.org
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
danielnettle.bsky.social
In a new paper, we show from longitudinal UK and France data that income volatility (fluctatuations month to month) are bad for mental and general health. And it is much badder than you would expect given the lowness of the low months:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ss...
Redirecting
doi.org
October 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
zhgarfield.com
>The Multi-Capital Leadership theory explains why #leadership emerges and why it varies among human societies and throughout individual life histories.

w/@chrisvonrueden.bsky.social & @edhagen.net

#LeadSciSky #HBES 🧪

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The Multi-Capital Leadership Theory - Human Nature
Human leadership and followership take many forms, shaped by the social, economic, political, and cultural contexts of our groups and societies. Underlying this complexity, we argue, are key elements of human social psychology regarding social comparison and the resolution of coordination and collective action problems. The Multi-Capital Leadership (MCL) theory posits that leader emergence and effectiveness depend on perceptions of individuals’ abilities to provide benefits or impose costs in solving challenges of group living, through the deployment of different forms of capital: material, social, somatic (e.g., physical formidability, height, immune functionality), and neural (e.g., knowledge, intelligence, personality, supernatural abilities). We integrate this framework with a review of leadership across human societies, including in non-state and non-industrial contexts, and with novel comparative analyses of ethnographic data. This synthesis highlights how context-specific demands for coordination and collective action, and the accuracy of social comparison, shape the structure and dynamics of leadership and followership across cultures.
link.springer.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
lfitouchi.bsky.social
thank you to all speakers for all the food for thought!
fondationfyssen.bsky.social Fondation Fyssen @fondationfyssen.bsky.social · Oct 8
A week full of ideas at the offices of the Fyssen Foundation!
Many thanks to Jonathan Lanman, member of the Scientific Council, for initiating this exciting seminar!
Speakers: Pascal Boyer, Robert McCauley, Harvey Witehouse, Ann Taves, Oliver Curry, Leo Fitouchi, Zachary Garfield, Julia Ebner
October 9, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
eselster.bsky.social
New commentary out w/ @manvir.bsky.social
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Strategy and experience required: Social learning cannot explain the varieties of supernatural belief
Published in Religion, Brain & Behavior (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
September 24, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
lemonde.fr
« Je voudrais un toit pour mon fils » : le nombre d’enfants à la rue avant la rentrée atteint un nouveau record
« Je voudrais un toit pour mon fils » : le nombre d’enfants à la rue avant la rentrée atteint un nouveau record
Le 7ᵉ baromètre de l’Unicef et de la Fédération des acteurs de la solidarité fait état de 2 159 enfants laissés sans solution d’hébergement au soir du 18 août, après que leur famille a réussi à joindre le 115.
www.lemonde.fr
August 27, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
csarabian.bsky.social
🧠 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 Léo Fitouchi
cmolho.bsky.social
📣 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
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
devikrishna.bsky.social
I had the most incredible opportunity to attend the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences at @tse-fr.eu and learn from @lfitouchi.bsky.social , @cmolho.bsky.social & @jorgeapenas.bsky.social on the "Evolution of Human Sociality"
Toulouse was warm and welcoming, so was TSE !!
June 25, 2025 at 1:27 PM
lfitouchi.bsky.social
Actually, we checked for halo effect by also measuring perceptions of warmth. In many conditions, people do not expect lower warmth to follow—only lower self-control or cooperativeness. So, as far as we can tell, it doesn't look like a halo effect.
June 16, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
ceciliapad.bsky.social
🚨NEW PAPER from the @eegcam.bsky.social!🚨I have never been as proud of something as of the work that finally we can share today: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... - we show how a climatically driven Pan African meta population model explains our species genetic and morphological diversity 🧬💀
Pan-African metapopulation model explains Homo sapiens genetic and morphological evolution
Emerging evidence has challenged the traditional view of a single-region origin for Homo sapiens, suggesting instead that our species arose and diversified across multiple geographically distinct popu...
www.biorxiv.org
May 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
robsica.bsky.social
"progress in the social sciences is stymied by the widespread misconception that evolution and learning are opposing explanations for behavior... the 'evolution vs. learning' dichotomy is fallacious... explanatory partners rather than explanatory competitors" psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
May 22, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
paulbloomatyale.bsky.social
"Shamanism" by @manvir.bsky.social is now out. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339.... It's a deep, original, and fun book—highly recommended. My blurb:
May 20, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Léo Fitouchi
cmolho.bsky.social
Very happy to be giving a talk at my favorite colloquium series! Tune in if you're interested in prosociality, willful ignorance, or cross-cultural research.
simoncolumbus.bsky.social Simon Columbus @simoncolumbus.bsky.social · May 19
This weeks's Cooperation Colloquium:

Catherine Molho @cmolho.bsky.social

Guilt drives prosocial behavior across countries

Date: May 23
Time: 15:00 UTC+2 (Vienna) / 9 am ET (NYC)

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: Influential theories have proposed that impersonal prosociality varies across human societies. At the same time, different societies may rely on distinct mechanisms—guilt and internalized norms versus shame and external pressures—to promote prosocial behavior. We examine these mechanisms in a pre-registered experiment with 7,978 participants across 20 culturally diverse countries. Participants made monetary allocation decisions between themselves and strangers. To examine how guilt and shame affected prosociality, we introduced two variations to this standard decision-making task. First, to activate guilt, we varied information about the consequences of participants’ decisions (full versus hidden). Second, to activate shame, we varied the observability of participants’ decisions (public versus private). Additionally, we measured guilt- and shame-proneness at the individual and country levels. We find robust evidence for guilt-driven prosociality and willful ignorance across all countries. Allowing individuals to avoid information about the consequences of their actions substantially decreases prosociality. Guilt-prone, rather than shame-prone, individuals are more responsive to the presence of information about the negative consequences of their actions. In contrast, we find that making decisions observable among strangers has negligible effects on prosociality. Our study provides a first comprehensive investigation of how guilt and shame affect prosociality around the world.
May 19, 2025 at 2:46 PM