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qinyuxiao.bsky.social
Qinyu Xiao
@qinyuxiao.bsky.social
570 followers 730 following 40 posts
PhD candidate in behavioural science at the University of Vienna (@univie.ac.at @vdscobene.bsky.social). I study human cooperation, conflict, and social institutions.
https://qinyuxiao.github.io
https://social-econ-psych.univie.ac.at/team/qinyu-xiao
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Cooperation Colloquium this Friday:

Kristopher M. Smith @kris-smith.bsky.social

Long-distance friends and collective action in fisheries management

Date: Friday, November 21
Time: 16:00 UTC+1 / 10 am NYC (one hour later than usual!)

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: The management of shared natural resources often hinges on local cooperation, yet the social networks linking communities across space can both complicate and enable collective action. This talk examines how long-distance friendships—relationships that bridge community boundaries—shape trust, cooperation, and participation in fisheries management in coastal Tanzania. Drawing on theoretical models and multi-site ethnographic and survey data from the Tanga Sociality and Fisheries Project, I show that long-distance friendships provide key forms of material support similar to local friendships, suggesting they are a resilient social strategy for managing ecological and economic risk while fostering interdependence across villages. In turn, people with more long-distance friends express greater trust in non-local partners and are more likely to engage in collective monitoring and reporting of destructive fishing practices. Finally, I introduce a new measure, “long-distance orientation,” capturing individual variation in the motivation and capacity to form and sustain these ties, highlighting psychological and structural factors that facilitate cooperation at a distance. Together, these findings suggest that long-distance relationships can serve as a foundation for scaling up collective action and designing management systems that bridge community boundaries.
November 17, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
steamtraen.eu
Oops. Ooooooooooooops.

I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.

arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675

h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
nikoletaglyn.bsky.social
🗞️📣 New paper "Exact conditions for evolutionary stability in indirect reciprocity under noise" with @chilbe.bsky.social & @yohm.bsky.social

How can cooperation persist in large groups of unrelated individuals? Reputation 🗣️ But which social norms make this stable, even when mistakes happen?

🧵(1/6)
Exact conditions for evolutionary stability in indirect reciprocity under noise
Author summary Understanding how cooperation can evolve and be sustained is a central question in evolutionary biology and social science. One prominent explanation is indirect reciprocity, where indi...
journals.plos.org
November 3, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
cgravert.bsky.social
I am looking for a post-doc working on behavioral/environmental/urban/energy economics to join my group at the University of Copenhagen. Position is 2 years (possibly 3), good salary, free health insurance, one of the most livable cities in the world. Apply here: jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...
Postdoctoral Position in Behavioral and Environmental Economics
jobportal.ku.dk
November 3, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Cooperation Colloquium this week:

Terence Dores Cruz (University of Amsterdam)

The costs and benefits of gossip in reputation-based cooperation

Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 15:00 UTC+1 (Vienna) / 9am NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: Gossip is an ever-present feature of our social interactions. We gossip to update one another about the others in our social environment. Our persistent gossip shapes perceptions and behaviors that are key to forming, keeping, and severing social relationships. These uses of gossip have given rise to the perspective that gossip has cooperative functions. This entails that people gossip to provide information about how to (not) behave and who can(not) be trusted to cooperate. This informs people about others’ reputations, which can serve to make better decisions about whom to cooperate with and whom to avoid. First, I will present research that supports this perspective based on experience sampling, scenario studies, and behavioral experiments. I find that people use reputational information provided by gossip to shape how they think about the targets of gossip. These gossip-based impressions guide receivers’ cooperative behavior toward targets: they cooperate with people they learn are likely to be cooperative and avoid people who they learn are likely to violate norms. Second, I focus on the puzzle of gossip as key for a cooperative social life while also being commonly perceived very negatively. Gossip is needed but could lead to costs for gossipers that motivate refraining from gossip. Based on ongoing research using behavioral experiments, I will present the first steps towards understanding the puzzle of the costs and benefits of gossip. Receivers of gossip support gossip systems by punishing harm to the reputation-system from not contributing gossip or spreading false information and by rewarding accurate gossip.
November 3, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
aromano.bsky.social
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 Qinyu Xiao
lakens.bsky.social
Are you interested in thinking about which studies are worth replicating? Then you have 10 articles to dig into in Meta-Psychology, representing a very wide range of viewpoint on this topic, out now: open.lnu.se/index.php/me...
LnuOpen | Meta-Psychology
Original articles
open.lnu.se
October 30, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
robertboehm.bsky.social
We're hiring! @univie.ac.at is seeking a TT Assistant Professor in the Psychology of Digitalization. If your work is about automation, AI, or immersive technology (e.g., VR) in the context of work and organizations (broadly defined), we’d love to hear from you. 👇
October 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
matti.vuorre.com
🎉 @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)
Screenshot of https://powerlmmjs.rpsychologist.com/
October 28, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
icsd2026.bsky.social
🎉 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 Qinyu Xiao
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Today's Cooperation Colloquium!
simoncolumbus.bsky.social Simon Columbus @simoncolumbus.bsky.social · 28d
This week's Cooperation Colloquium:

Christian Ruff @ccruff.bsky.social

Neurocomputational mechanisms of mentalizing in social interaction

When: October 24, 15:00 UTC+2 (Vienna) / 9am NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: Successful cooperation depends on mentalization—the ability to infer and adapt to others’ beliefs, intentions, and strategies. Yet, most existing studies and models treat mentalizing as a static trait rather than an adaptive, dynamic process unfolding within interactive contexts. In this talk, I will present a modelling framework and experimental paradigm that capture adaptive mentalization: the capacity to continuously update one’s internal model of another person’s behavioral sophistication and to adjust one’s own strategy accordingly. Using a social strategic game combined with computational modeling and fMRI, we develop and validate a Bayesian model indexing how effectively individuals can adapt their mental models in response to changing partner behavior, and we identify a multivariate neural signature that can predict this adaptiveness of mentalization. This neural pattern generalizes across individuals and closely tracks the flexibility of mental-state inference during interaction. Applying this paradigm to individuals with varying levels of autistic traits, we find that reduced adaptive mentalization —both behaviorally and neurally—correlates with higher trait expression. These results reveal how subtle alterations in the adaptiveness of mentalization can influence the dynamics of social interactions. By grounding social interaction in formal models of belief-updating and strategy adjustment, our work advances a more mechanistic understanding of how humans coordinate minds in social contexts—and how individual differences in these computations shape social behavior.
October 24, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
This week's Cooperation Colloquium:

Christian Ruff @ccruff.bsky.social

Neurocomputational mechanisms of mentalizing in social interaction

When: October 24, 15:00 UTC+2 (Vienna) / 9am NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: Successful cooperation depends on mentalization—the ability to infer and adapt to others’ beliefs, intentions, and strategies. Yet, most existing studies and models treat mentalizing as a static trait rather than an adaptive, dynamic process unfolding within interactive contexts. In this talk, I will present a modelling framework and experimental paradigm that capture adaptive mentalization: the capacity to continuously update one’s internal model of another person’s behavioral sophistication and to adjust one’s own strategy accordingly. Using a social strategic game combined with computational modeling and fMRI, we develop and validate a Bayesian model indexing how effectively individuals can adapt their mental models in response to changing partner behavior, and we identify a multivariate neural signature that can predict this adaptiveness of mentalization. This neural pattern generalizes across individuals and closely tracks the flexibility of mental-state inference during interaction. Applying this paradigm to individuals with varying levels of autistic traits, we find that reduced adaptive mentalization —both behaviorally and neurally—correlates with higher trait expression. These results reveal how subtle alterations in the adaptiveness of mentalization can influence the dynamics of social interactions. By grounding social interaction in formal models of belief-updating and strategy adjustment, our work advances a more mechanistic understanding of how humans coordinate minds in social contexts—and how individual differences in these computations shape social behavior.
October 21, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
busrayelbuz.bsky.social
Are some people more selective in who they help?
Our new paper w/ Isabel Thielmann says: Yes!!

👉 psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
October 21, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social
Online Now: The hidden costs of human cooperation
The hidden costs of human cooperation
Cooperation enables humans to reshape entire environments and build complex societies. Although often celebrated, cooperation also has hidden costs. By presenting core mechanisms behind its emergence, we demonstrate that maintaining cooperation frequently relies on social control and coercion, which can lead to extortion and discrimination. Group cooperation further necessitates defining who belongs to the group, fostering exclusion and intergroup conflict. Free-rider concerns fuel scapegoating and polarization. These downsides challenge the notion of cooperation as a simple success story. The resulting conundrum for scientists is not just to explain cooperation but to identify institutions that harness its benefits while limiting its risks. Understanding these complexities is crucial to ensuring that human cooperation serves the common good rather than deepening social divides.
dlvr.it
October 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
ianhussey.mmmdata.io
Results of the replication are in!

Chocolate is more desirable than poop:

Cohen's d_rm = 6.20, 95%CI [5.63, 6.78]

N = 486, two single item 1-7 Likert scales of desirability.

w/
@jamiecummins.bsky.social
ianhussey.mmmdata.io Ian Hussey @ianhussey.mmmdata.io · Oct 13
Make an effect size prediction!

@jamiecummins.bsky.social and I are replicating Balcetis & Dunning's (2010) "chocolate is more desirable than poop" (Cohen's d = 4.52)

Let us known in the replies what effect size you think we'll find. Details of the study in the thread below.
October 14, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Today's Cooperation Colloquium!
simoncolumbus.bsky.social Simon Columbus @simoncolumbus.bsky.social · Oct 6
This week's Cooperation Colloquium:

Setayesh Radkani @setayeshradkani.bsky.social:

What people learn from punishment: A cognitive model

Date: Friday, Oct 10
Time: 15:00 UTC+2 Vienna / 9 am NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: Authorities, from parents of toddlers to leaders of formal institutions, use punishment to communicate disapproval and enforce social norms. However, punishment is often interpreted in contrasting ways: at times it teaches and enforces norms, but at other times it fails or even backfires, undermining the authority’s legitimacy. We show that these seemingly contradictory effects of punishment can only be understood by considering the cognitive processes in the minds of human observers of punishment. In a series of experiments, we showed the systematic variability in how adults and children interpret punishment. We developed a formal cognitive model, derived from a standard model of how people make sense of each others’ actions (Inverse Planning), that captures and explains these inferences quantitatively and parsimoniously. This work reveals the rational logic behind how people learn from punishment, and a key constraint on the function of punishment in establishing shared social norms.
October 10, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
hannesrusch.bsky.social
🚨 WE ARE HIRING! 🚨

Looking for a PhD-student to help us study the damages caused by cybercriminals. 🕵‍♂️⌨️🖥️ 📈

Join our interdisciplinary consortium of cybercrime researchers for your PhD journey!

All information & job details: csl.mpg.de/en/career/

We look forward to your applications! #EconSky
October 9, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
This week's Cooperation Colloquium:

Setayesh Radkani @setayeshradkani.bsky.social:

What people learn from punishment: A cognitive model

Date: Friday, Oct 10
Time: 15:00 UTC+2 Vienna / 9 am NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: Authorities, from parents of toddlers to leaders of formal institutions, use punishment to communicate disapproval and enforce social norms. However, punishment is often interpreted in contrasting ways: at times it teaches and enforces norms, but at other times it fails or even backfires, undermining the authority’s legitimacy. We show that these seemingly contradictory effects of punishment can only be understood by considering the cognitive processes in the minds of human observers of punishment. In a series of experiments, we showed the systematic variability in how adults and children interpret punishment. We developed a formal cognitive model, derived from a standard model of how people make sense of each others’ actions (Inverse Planning), that captures and explains these inferences quantitatively and parsimoniously. This work reveals the rational logic behind how people learn from punishment, and a key constraint on the function of punishment in establishing shared social norms.
October 6, 2025 at 9:33 AM
qinyuxiao.bsky.social
I had the great pleasure of spending the past week with Jörg Gross’s group in Zurich. Inspiring conversations, exciting projects, and a wonderful atmosphere throughout. Zurich itself was absolutely stunning.
October 3, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
mattansb.msbstats.info
Added 3 slides to my "dear students, don't use LLMs" slidedeck. Here's how it works:

1. Generated map of <our country/city> from prompt "Generate an image: a schematic map of the <X> with major roads, cities, and landmarks."
Discuss how obviously wrong it is. Very fun, many lolz, silly LLM. 🤣
October 2, 2025 at 6:41 AM
qinyuxiao.bsky.social
When asked who beyond my immediate circle has shaped my thinking the most, I often point to two names: Toshio Yamagishi and Gary Bornstein. It was an honour for me to write this short piece to pay tribute to Bornstein's classic work on intergroup conflicts.

Open-access link: rdcu.be/eH8te
September 26, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
nathumbehav.nature.com
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 Qinyu Xiao
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Join us in three hours for this week's Cooperation Colloquium!
simoncolumbus.bsky.social Simon Columbus @simoncolumbus.bsky.social · Sep 22
Cooperation Colloquium this week:

Talbot M. Andrews @talbotmandrews.bsky.social (Cornell):

Overcoming the social dilemma of climate change

Friday, Sep 26, 15:00 UTC+2 Vienna / 9 am NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: Mitigating the increasing threat of climate change poses a uniquely challenging cooperative problem. Multiple strategic features of climate change impede coordinating around successful action. For example, there is uncertainty about the timing and dynamics of climate change impacts. Different actors vary in their historic contribution to the problem and vulnerability now. There are many solutions available to mitigate climate change, but they differ in their effectiveness and probability of success. And, compounding all of this, there are asymmetries in information between elite decision-makers and the publics that they govern. In this talk, I argue economic games are well-suited to understand both how these strategic features delay successful climate action and provide insights into how to overcome these problems through public policy. Focusing on the case of governing emerging mitigation technologies, I will present the empirical evidence that people are willing to pay costs to avert climate disaster. While mistrust between the public and policymakers erodes cooperation, I will also present solutions that emerge from these experiments. I conclude by discussing how insights from the lab can inform real-world messaging and policymaking to encourage successful climate change mitigation.
September 26, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Qinyu Xiao
robertboehm.bsky.social
My PhD student @qinyuxiao.bsky.social has written a wonderful tribute to Gary Bornstein’s influential paper on team games (doi.org/10.1207/S153...) — a paper that remains as relevant today as it was over 20 years ago. You can read Qinyu’s short piece here: doi.org/10.1038/s441...
The multi-level social dilemmas of intergroup interactions - Nature Reviews Psychology
Nature Reviews Psychology - The multi-level social dilemmas of intergroup interactions
doi.org
September 25, 2025 at 2:40 PM