Kristen Syme
@kristensyme.bsky.social
Research Fellow, University of Leicester, Psychology, Biocultural/Evolutionary Anthropology, kls52@leicester.ac.uk
Reposted by Kristen Syme
My first paper, out in PsychReview!!
Along with @orbenamy.bsky.social, Nik & @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social, @realadamhunt.bsky.social & I revisit an old theoretical question using concepts from evo psychiatry and anthro:
Why do mixed associations exist b/w social media & mental health?
A 🧵
Along with @orbenamy.bsky.social, Nik & @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social, @realadamhunt.bsky.social & I revisit an old theoretical question using concepts from evo psychiatry and anthro:
Why do mixed associations exist b/w social media & mental health?
A 🧵
November 4, 2025 at 8:04 AM
My first paper, out in PsychReview!!
Along with @orbenamy.bsky.social, Nik & @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social, @realadamhunt.bsky.social & I revisit an old theoretical question using concepts from evo psychiatry and anthro:
Why do mixed associations exist b/w social media & mental health?
A 🧵
Along with @orbenamy.bsky.social, Nik & @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social, @realadamhunt.bsky.social & I revisit an old theoretical question using concepts from evo psychiatry and anthro:
Why do mixed associations exist b/w social media & mental health?
A 🧵
Unfortunately, this is not surprising coming from Leiden University. Xenophobic and overtly racist practices by security staff are not isolated incidents—they’re institutionalized.
Academic spaces should foster inclusion, not paranoia.
www.mareonline.nl/en/news/how-...
Academic spaces should foster inclusion, not paranoia.
www.mareonline.nl/en/news/how-...
How one Arabic-speaking man sent university security into a panic: ‘Something is brewing’
Why was the Wijnhaven building closed two years ago and why has university security been tightened since? Newly released documents under the Open Government Act (WOO) reveal that the police and the un...
www.mareonline.nl
November 10, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Unfortunately, this is not surprising coming from Leiden University. Xenophobic and overtly racist practices by security staff are not isolated incidents—they’re institutionalized.
Academic spaces should foster inclusion, not paranoia.
www.mareonline.nl/en/news/how-...
Academic spaces should foster inclusion, not paranoia.
www.mareonline.nl/en/news/how-...
Reposted by Kristen Syme
it's wild that R, the ubiquitous statistical computing language, was co-created by a Māori prof (Ross Ihaka) — and yet the vast majority of scientists who use R don't know
this is like inventing the toaster. possibly the largest impact of a single member of an indigenous community on modern science
this is like inventing the toaster. possibly the largest impact of a single member of an indigenous community on modern science
December 14, 2023 at 10:35 AM
it's wild that R, the ubiquitous statistical computing language, was co-created by a Māori prof (Ross Ihaka) — and yet the vast majority of scientists who use R don't know
this is like inventing the toaster. possibly the largest impact of a single member of an indigenous community on modern science
this is like inventing the toaster. possibly the largest impact of a single member of an indigenous community on modern science
Reposted by Kristen Syme
Why we strike: Bargaining as an expression of human cooperation.
Dr @kristensyme.bsky.social considers labour action, and draws parallels with family conflict…
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
Dr @kristensyme.bsky.social considers labour action, and draws parallels with family conflict…
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
Why we strike: Bargaining as an expression of human cooperation | BPS
Dr Kristen Syme considers labour action, and draws parallels with family conflict…
www.bps.org.uk
October 10, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Why we strike: Bargaining as an expression of human cooperation.
Dr @kristensyme.bsky.social considers labour action, and draws parallels with family conflict…
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
Dr @kristensyme.bsky.social considers labour action, and draws parallels with family conflict…
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
Reposted by Kristen Syme
"After nearly 40 years, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, or ARCUS, will close September 30."
"The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives."
"The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives."
After Trump cut the National Science Foundation by 56 percent, a venerable Arctic research center closes its doors
The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives.
grist.org
September 28, 2025 at 2:10 PM
"After nearly 40 years, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, or ARCUS, will close September 30."
"The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives."
"The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives."
Reposted by Kristen Syme
📝 Writing Wednesday! Ph.D. Candidate Michael Gaffney first-authored an article on on how children communicate their needs through crying. This research was recently published in Human Nature, and his photo taken in Utila, Honduras made the cover image! Article: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
September 10, 2025 at 7:01 AM
📝 Writing Wednesday! Ph.D. Candidate Michael Gaffney first-authored an article on on how children communicate their needs through crying. This research was recently published in Human Nature, and his photo taken in Utila, Honduras made the cover image! Article: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Kristen Syme
Colleagues based at UK universities: please sign and share this letter to support Gazan students coming to study in the UK, in order to request Governmental deferral of the biometric data requirement and safe evacuation.
Open letter from UK university staff: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities
More than 40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study. We, the academic community hoping to welcome these scholars, ca...
docs.google.com
July 31, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Colleagues based at UK universities: please sign and share this letter to support Gazan students coming to study in the UK, in order to request Governmental deferral of the biometric data requirement and safe evacuation.
Reposted by Kristen Syme
Challenging alpha male’ norms: new study across #primates reveals that power relationships between males and females are less clear-cut than expected. An intl. team including D. Lukas @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social shows that context matters for which sex has power www.mpg.de/24986976/063...
Beyond the alpha male
Primate studies challenge male-dominance norms
www.mpg.de
July 8, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Challenging alpha male’ norms: new study across #primates reveals that power relationships between males and females are less clear-cut than expected. An intl. team including D. Lukas @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social shows that context matters for which sex has power www.mpg.de/24986976/063...
Reposted by Kristen Syme
Our new commentary on #Dyspraxia is out! We dive into misdiagnosis, lived experiences, identity, and the systemic barriers faced in an ableist world. Read more! 🧵
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
June 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Our new commentary on #Dyspraxia is out! We dive into misdiagnosis, lived experiences, identity, and the systemic barriers faced in an ableist world. Read more! 🧵
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Kristen Syme
Our paper in @natcomms.nature.com, we show how cognitive maps in the hippocampal system could solve the general problem of representing and relating multiple alternative action plans.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
With @doellerlab.bsky.social, Patrick Haggard, @vigano.bsky.social, Daniel Reznik
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
With @doellerlab.bsky.social, Patrick Haggard, @vigano.bsky.social, Daniel Reznik
May 8, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Our paper in @natcomms.nature.com, we show how cognitive maps in the hippocampal system could solve the general problem of representing and relating multiple alternative action plans.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
With @doellerlab.bsky.social, Patrick Haggard, @vigano.bsky.social, Daniel Reznik
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
With @doellerlab.bsky.social, Patrick Haggard, @vigano.bsky.social, Daniel Reznik
Here's the run down of my talk at #EHBEA2025 entitled 'Analysing the Form and Function of Rituals Using Large Language Models: Fasting'. I illustrate how we can use LLMs to measure the constituent properties of rituals across ethnographic texts to test theoretical models on a large-scale.
April 18, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Here's the run down of my talk at #EHBEA2025 entitled 'Analysing the Form and Function of Rituals Using Large Language Models: Fasting'. I illustrate how we can use LLMs to measure the constituent properties of rituals across ethnographic texts to test theoretical models on a large-scale.
For anyone who needs a crash course on power and resistance: www.newyorker.com/magazine/196...
James Baldwin: Letter from a Region in My Mind
From 1962: “Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.”
www.newyorker.com
February 16, 2025 at 7:47 PM
For anyone who needs a crash course on power and resistance: www.newyorker.com/magazine/196...
"Without theory, one can never understand the general underlying mechanisms that operate in many guises in different situations." Elinor Ostrom in Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action
February 14, 2025 at 10:14 AM
"Without theory, one can never understand the general underlying mechanisms that operate in many guises in different situations." Elinor Ostrom in Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action
Now published! Psychological adaptations for fitness interdependence underlie cooperation across human ecologies. psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
December 17, 2024 at 10:18 AM
Now published! Psychological adaptations for fitness interdependence underlie cooperation across human ecologies. psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...
Important research! War, forced migration, and mental health in youth
Intro for new followers. I'm a bio anthropologist who looks at how war gets "under the skin." Our most recent article (w/ Delaney Glass & Meredith Reiches) was about menarche.
"Coming of Age in War: Early Life Adversity, Age at Menarche, and Mental Health"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Coming of Age in War: Early Life Adversity, Age at Menarche, and Mental Health"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 13, 2024 at 1:15 PM
Important research! War, forced migration, and mental health in youth
Reposted by Kristen Syme
Meta-analysis of cooperation studies by Jin et al (2024): 'lower conflict of interests was associated with higher cooperation and... implementation of sanctions (i.e., reward and punishment of behaviors) and... allowing for communication most strongly enhanced cooperation.'
#ehbea #culturalevolution
#ehbea #culturalevolution
🚨Excited that our meta-analysis is out in JPSP @APA_Journals. We synthesized 6 decades (1958-2017) of empirical evidence on social dilemmas and tested which structural features (most strongly) promote cooperation:
doi.org/10.1037/pspi...
1/10
doi.org/10.1037/pspi...
1/10
November 13, 2024 at 9:45 AM
Meta-analysis of cooperation studies by Jin et al (2024): 'lower conflict of interests was associated with higher cooperation and... implementation of sanctions (i.e., reward and punishment of behaviors) and... allowing for communication most strongly enhanced cooperation.'
#ehbea #culturalevolution
#ehbea #culturalevolution
Reposted by Kristen Syme
"We demonstrate the clinical relevance of brain connectivity in youth depression and highlight a critical role of functional hub regions, especially those localized to the default mode and dorsal and ventral attention networks in youth MDD."
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
A mega-analysis of functional connectivity and network abnormalities in youth depression - Nature Mental Health
This mega-analysis of brain resting-state functional connectivity in young individuals with major depressive disorder scanned at six sites across four countries identified hub regions of the attention...
www.nature.com
November 9, 2024 at 6:01 AM
"We demonstrate the clinical relevance of brain connectivity in youth depression and highlight a critical role of functional hub regions, especially those localized to the default mode and dorsal and ventral attention networks in youth MDD."
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Kristen Syme
It feels like cultural evolution is going back to the idea that humans are in fact smarter than other animals (which does not seem that crazy indeed…) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Human culture is uniquely open-ended rather than uniquely cumulative - Nature Human Behaviour
How did human culture become ecologically dominant? Morgan and Feldman re-examine existing theoretical accounts and propose that, contrary to previous belief, cumulative change and high transmission f...
www.nature.com
November 7, 2024 at 6:16 PM
It feels like cultural evolution is going back to the idea that humans are in fact smarter than other animals (which does not seem that crazy indeed…) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
My new theory paper w/ Dan Balliet accepted to Psych Review, “Fitness Interdependence Underlies Cooperation across Human Ecologies” osf.io/preprints/os...
OSF
osf.io
November 8, 2024 at 3:19 PM
My new theory paper w/ Dan Balliet accepted to Psych Review, “Fitness Interdependence Underlies Cooperation across Human Ecologies” osf.io/preprints/os...