Zach Garfield
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zhgarfield.com
Zach Garfield
@zhgarfield.com
3.1K followers 2.3K following 160 posts
Evolutionary anthropologist & behavioral scientist. Leadership, punishment, conflict resolution.

Asst. Prof at UM6P in FGSES & AIRESS. Co-Director of @omovalleyresearchproject.org. Former RF @iast.fr.

📍 Rabat 🇲🇦
🌐 https://zhgarfield.github.io
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November 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM
zhgarfield.com
Ahh...the png from the article doesn't cross-post well. Here's the figure from the manuscript (zhgarfield.github.io/files/garfie...) :
Figure from cross-cultural coding from ethnographic data showing the percentage of societies supporting six features of reputation: Cultural group unity (about 80% of societies), Social & material success (about 60%), Neural capital (about 60%), Dominance (about 50%), Supernatural healing (about 45%) and Sexuality (about 23%). Caption from manuscript: Percentage of cultures providing evidence for reputation features (95% CI estimated via cluster bootstrap).
September 18, 2025 at 2:42 PM
zhgarfield.com
"“After all these years, it hit me,” she says. “The reason that all of these interventions are working is because they make people feel more connected to others."

The psychs should've talked to the anthros. Sociality is the key.

w/ work by @dingdingpeng.the100.ci

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/m...
from: Happiness in the Amazon: Folk Explanations of Happiness in a Hunter-Horticulturalist Society in the Bolivian Amazon According to free listings, the Tsimane’ sense of happiness centers on social relations (i.e., spending time with close family, drinking home-brewed beer, having visitors) and success in common subsistence activities (i.e., hunting, fishing, agriculture). Possession of material goods and money, and participation in market-based activities (i.e., buying and selling), do not appear as important sources of happiness for the Tsimane’. Frequency of responses varied between Tsimane’ living near to and far from the market town
May 2, 2025 at 7:07 AM
zhgarfield.com
With @sheinalew.bsky.social: Teaching is associated with the transmission of opaque culture and leadership across 23 egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies, in @naturecomms.bsky.social

#evolution #culture 🧪 #LeadSciSky #CultEvo

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Quote: " In sum, leader-directed teaching of opaque cooperative norms would be a mutually beneficial strategy, where the costs incurred by influential teachers are, at least partly, outweighed by the long-term benefits of cultivating cooperation within the group." Mosaic plot illustrating the relationship between evidence for teaching and non-teaching social learning, based on a binary researcher-coded measure of teaching. "Although instrumental cultural transmission frequently occurs through both teaching and non-teaching social learning, opaque cultural information is predominantly transmitted through teaching, with relatively fewer instances of non-teaching social learning."
April 11, 2025 at 7:35 AM
zhgarfield.com
Biri's wife just gave birth to their second daughter! They are so happy.

Biri is in his fourth year at Jinka University, studying accounting and finance. He is currently completing an internship at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in Jinka, Ariksha branch.

Aid is important.
BIri is holding his newborn daughter. The baby, unclothed, rests in his arms while looking away from the camera. Sunlight streams in from an opening behind them, casting a warm glow on their faces. The background consists of earthen walls and wooden beams. Biri's wife is wearing traditional beaded necklaces and bracelets and sits inside a dimly lit tradiational house, cradling her newborn daughter wrapped in cloth. Beside her, her first daughter is wearing a red top and beaded jewelry sits on the floor, looking toward the camera. The setting has earthen walls, with sunlight filtering through gaps in the structure.
February 8, 2025 at 3:17 PM
zhgarfield.com
“In the famine seasons, sometimes everyone in the Kebele would get USAID for maybe two months or three months in a year. During this time, we had no food. This was our only access to food.” – Biri, from a Hamar village in Ethiopia.

Biri is a student supported by @omovalleyresearchproject.org.
Biri sits on a bench inside a dimly lit traditional Hamar house. He has a warm expression as he holds a small child on his lap, his daughter. The child, dressed in a red and black striped wrap with colorful beaded necklaces and bracelets, looks at the camera while holding a small biscuit. The man points slightly toward the camera with a relaxed posture. The setting has an earthy, rustic feel, with natural light filtering in, illuminating their faces
February 8, 2025 at 3:09 PM
zhgarfield.com
A chilly morning in Vancouver in 2016 we first talked about motherhood as a force in the evolution of prestige & leadership.

The Computational Services model weaves together 10+ years of thinking on..a lot

work led by @edhagen.net. 🧪 #LeadSciSky #Evolution

authors.elsevier.com/c/1kR2W3tz49...
ur theory proposes that when there were asymmetries in information or computational resources, many of the diverse cognitive adaptations that evolved to benefit the individual could have been deployed as computational services to benefit others in exchange for various payments, thereby helping subsidize the large fixed energetic cost of maintaining the brain
January 16, 2025 at 4:17 PM
zhgarfield.com
Also, feel free to use this #colorpalette put together at the Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakesh from the Marinid dynasty:
This image shows a person's feet wearing white sneakers while standing on the historic zellige tilework floor of the Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakech, Morocco. The traditional Moroccan geometric tilework displays a checkerboard pattern featuring tiles in white, black, amber/honey, and cobalt blue - colors that are characteristic of Moroccan Islamic architecture from this period. Built in the 14th century and later rebuilt in the 16th century, the Ben Youssef Madrasa was once the largest Islamic college in North Africa. The tiles show signs of age and wear from centuries of use, with a patina that adds to their historical character. The image is composed as a looking-down perspective, contrasting modern white sneakers and blue jeans against the ancient geometric patterns. There's a glimpse of a green-painted surface visible in the top left corner, likely one of the madrasa's architectural elements. This style of geometric tilework (zellige) is a hallmark of Moroccan Islamic art and architecture, where intricate patterns were used to create beautiful spaces for learning and worship, as mathematical and geometric patterns were considered a reflection of divine order in Islamic artistic tradition.
December 4, 2024 at 8:49 PM
zhgarfield.com
Same story but different data (under review AFAIK): osf.io/preprints/os....

Overall, trust in science is high. However, many countries we might not expect score below the global mean. I stitched together the attached plot from the preprint for a presentation.
A plot from the linked preprint shows several countries and their mean scores for the trust in science measure based on survey reports. Egypt and India score the highest, and several relatively developed countries score below the global mean.
December 1, 2024 at 7:25 PM
zhgarfield.com
Open house today at UM6P-FGSES. 3000+ visitors learning about our #interdisciplinary programs, including our undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs in behavioral science.

#BehSci #BehSciSky #Morocco
Students, families, and professors interact under pergolas and palm trees at UM6P’s Rabat campus. Students, families, and professors interact under pergolas and palm trees at UM6P’s Rabat campus. Students, families, and professors interact under pergolas and palm trees at UM6P’s Rabat campus. Students, families, and professors interact under pergolas and palm trees at UM6P’s Rabat campus.
November 23, 2024 at 12:49 PM
zhgarfield.com
Today at the AIRESS
@matcharbonneau.bsky.social on open-ended technological evolution; explored how tools not only solve problems but amplify our problem-solving abilities, creating a feedback loop that fuels human uniqueness. #CulturalEvolution #EHBEA 🧪 #BehavoiralScience
Photo of Mathieu giving a talk for the Africa Institute of Research in Economics and Social Sciences seminar. Title slide pictured. Coauthor with James Winters. UM6P AIRESS logo
November 20, 2024 at 5:06 PM
zhgarfield.com
Screenshot of the paper PDF with the abstract and significant statement.
November 19, 2024 at 12:25 PM
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Rad “I voted” stick with the wolf designed by the kid from Michigan
November 5, 2024 at 7:03 AM
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Margaret Mead foresaw the future impact of interdisciplinary and evolutionary anthropology in 1957.

resource.rockarch.org/story/margar...
Quote: “I expect important contributions from those anthropologists who are alive to the use of models from communication theory, and ethology, to the need for micro-analysis by the use of modern methods of recording, to the possibilities of pattern analysis using large numbers of variables suitable for computer treatment, to contemporary work on the brain.” Margaret Mead, Ford Foundation letters (1957)
February 20, 2024 at 11:31 AM
zhgarfield.com
Job search news: FGSES at UM6P is seeking applications for a Permanent Professor position in Behavioral Science. Come join a truly interdisciplinary environment at a dynamic and growing university in Morocco!

The new call should be updated here soon: www.fgses-um6p.ma/jobs?field_t...
January 23, 2024 at 5:17 PM
zhgarfield.com
I'm teaching a course on leadership and inequality this semester & students are reading Lewis' 1974 classic ethnographic survey. It dawned on me: it's the 50th anniversary of this pure masterpiece of anthropological and leadership theory. Herb is a fantastic scholar. This is a must-read:
Cover of the printed essay which reads: LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS: SOME ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES HERBERT S. LEWIS The In this comparative study of leadership and follower relations, specially stress is placed on the lessons to be learned from anthropology and comparative ethnography. There is a detailed discussion of the dynamics of certain political processes, includingthe element of transaction and exchange in social relationships.
January 17, 2024 at 10:38 AM
zhgarfield.com
Roads? To get to Kwegu country you may have to build your own. w/ Temechegen, Maud & Sindi. Teamwork makes the field work.
A muddy river crossing, to mushy to drive across. We added sticks and brush and branches. We’re setting all the debris in place to make a road. A nice grass road to cross the river.
December 20, 2023 at 2:45 PM
zhgarfield.com
Call for papers in Hunter Gatherer Research. Special issue: Leadership, Power, and Politics in Forager and Post-Forager Societies 🧪

liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/pb-assets/do...
December 10, 2023 at 7:56 AM
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November 30, 2023 at 8:04 AM
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Just here to work. 🇫🇷
Entrance of the TSE building. Delicious pain perdu.
November 27, 2023 at 2:28 PM
zhgarfield.com
Here's a picture from the last time I saw and chatted with John, commemorating the reception of the 2020 Jean-Nicod Prize with Leda, pictured with @manvir.bsky.social
John Tooby and Leda Cosmides engaging in a panel discussion with Manvir Singh.
November 14, 2023 at 1:21 PM
zhgarfield.com
John was mentored by primatologist Irven DeVore and got his Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology. John trained multiple anthropologists. A part of his enduring legacy lies in laying the groundwork for today's integrated biological and social sciences
"John Tooby's Network" shows his Ph.D advisor, DeVore, DeVore's other students, and John's students. The network is not complete. From https://www.bioanthtree.org/
November 14, 2023 at 1:20 PM
zhgarfield.com
Our study on interpersonal conflicts and third-party mediation in a pastoralist society is now available online via *Evolution and Human Behavior*:

authors.elsevier.com/a/1i34C3tz49...

#HBES #cssky #bioanth #EHBEA
Screen shot of the webpage for the paper: Evolution and Human Behavior Available online 8 November 2023 In Press, Corrected Proof Evolution and Human Behavior Interpersonal conflicts and third-party mediation in a pastoralist society Zachary H. Garfield, Luke Glowacki Human societies depend on the ability of their members to coordinate and cooperate with others. Yet, within-group conflict can threaten group stability. This threat is severe among humans due to the scale of our societies and the frequent low levels of relatedness between members. Our ability to resolve inter-individual conflicts is a key aspect of our species' success. Despite the importance of conflict resolution in human sociality, the socio-ecology of how within-group conflicts are resolved in naturalistic settings is underexplored. Using a sample of 160 inter-individual conflicts reported by 81 adults from an agro-pastoralist community in southwest Ethiopia, we identify the primary causes of interpersonal conflict and the features associated with third-party mediation and conflict outcomes. We find that both men and women experience relatively severe inter- and intra-gender conflicts; conflicts between women are more likely to be social in nature, while conflicts between men are m
November 8, 2023 at 3:57 PM
zhgarfield.com
This will be a first: presenting my cross-cultural and evolutionary anthropological research directly to a group of diverse decision-makers and real-world leaders.

I hope they're excited to learn about leopard skin chiefs, Umealik, Ariki, and Ekila.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWqL...
October 26, 2023 at 1:05 PM
zhgarfield.com
You've read about *the* WEIRD people problem. But have you read about weird people's problems?
Cover of, "Weirdest People in the World" (1965) Section of the cover depicts a skeleton sitting in a chair, with the caption, "Safe in her parlor, she suddenly turned into devouring flame."
October 25, 2023 at 1:52 PM