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Jessica D Ayers

@jessicadayers.bsky.social
642 followers 246 following 86 posts

Evolutionary Social Psychologist | Studies behavioral expressions of genetic conflict 🧬 | CSUF🐘and ASUpsych 🔱🌵alum | Assistant professor BoiseStatePsych jessicaayers.org

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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Lifeslices: the one about friendship Listen to me talk about one of my favorite research topics! lifeslices.podbean.com/e/lifeslices...
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Check out this episode of Science Quickly @sciam.bsky.social (you might hear someone you recognize) www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
scientificamerican.com
How many friends do we really need?
Assistant professor of psychology Jessica Ayers’s new research challenges assumptions about the kind of friendships we need
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Early career members @spspnews.bsky.social 🚨🚨🚨Don’t forget to submit to the Early Career Mini-Conference. Abstracts due 9/30 by 11:59 pm PT spsp.org/events/early...
spsp.org
Fresh Perspectives in Personality & Social Psychology: Early Career Virtual Mini-Conference | SPSP
A half-day virtual conference highlighting innovative research and professional development from early career scholars in personality and social psychology.
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Early career members of @spspnews.bsky.social, please take our anonymous survey about the benefits of your early career membership and intentions to renew! essex.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... We appreciate you! - Early Career Member Network Committee
essex.eu.qualtrics.com
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Do we really pick between the quantity and quality of our friends? Check out @psycheddiego.bsky.social and my new piece in the @us.theconversation.com theconversation.com/a-lot-of-cas...
theconversation.com
A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade-off
Friendships are integral to human health and well being, yet researchers know very little about how people make friends. A new study investigated what people prioritize for new friendships.
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
When is friendship jealousy helpful, and when is it hurtful? My undergrad RA Diana spent the last year looking over the literature and has pulled out some common threads. See her write-up of her work here: www.ayerslab.org/blog/when-is...
ayerslab.org
When is friendship jealousy harmful or helpful?
H!, I’m Diana! I’ve been a part of the APE Lab since Fall 2024 and graduated from Boise State University in May 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. This fall, I will conti
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Reposted by Jessica D Ayers
Diego Guevara Beltran @psycheddiego.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Why is lower wealth often associated with greater empathy? New work at SPPS w @jessicadayers.bsky.social Yul Kwon Peter Todd @athenaaktipis.bsky.social shows lower wealth cultivates empathy via challenges and helping - but only among moderate helpers🧵https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506261449280
doi.org
Helping People in Times of Need Cultivates Empathy Over Time - Diego Guevara Beltran, Jessica D. Ayers, Jung Yul Kwon, Peter M. Todd, Athena Aktipis, 2026
Why is lower social class often associated with greater empathy? We test whether less wealthy people experience more challenges, thereby motivating them to help...
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
I love this paper (I read it when it was first published online)!!!
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Do you want a lot of friend, or only a few that your really close with? In our new paper, we ( @psycheddiego.bsky.social D. Mercado & @athenaaktipis.bsky.social) present the concept, structure, and validation of friendship making orientation kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
In our new paper (with Keelah Williams and her amazing undergrads), we examine cross-societal evidence for sex difference in preferences for emotional support in friends. We find that women place more importance on this trait than men do kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me
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Reposted by Jessica D Ayers
Diego Guevara Beltran @psycheddiego.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
and is also featured in the EHB blog, in both English and Spanish! www.hbes.com/whom-should-... @jessicadayers.bsky.social @jeremykoster.bsky.social @athenaaktipis.bsky.social + Daniel Balliet, Lee Cronk
hbes.com
Whom Should We Help? People Track Shared Fate to Solve Cooperation Dilemmas - HBES
– by Diego Guevara Beltran English Imagine you live in a small community where food is often scarce; storms, droughts, pests, and fires can destroy crops, disease and injuries can keep you from workin...
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
She provided a framework she is working on! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a picture of the slide!
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
What our current habitats look like
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Our current habitats look very different from the habitats we evolved to live in, and this has major implications for how we feel in the modern world
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Our last talk of the day is Kristina Durante talking to us about dealing with the mismatch of how are brains are built and the world we live in currently #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Some preliminary ideas about how we gain information about status and update our estimates of status
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Humans form groups. So we can’t just assume that individual formality equates to who will win contests
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Mitchell Landers talks to us about how status helps us predict coalitions #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Ultra prosocials are the least desirable as a partner, even though they are considered to be the kindest and most wanted as a community member
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Hojeong Lee talks to us about why REALLY kind people do not make the best romantic partners #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Interdependence strongly guides partner choice, giving help, and getting help from people in your network #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
@psycheddiego.bsky.social talks to us about cooperation and interdependence in the Mayangna
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
It seems that humans prefer punishments of the same kind and have deterrence premiums for these punishments
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Eyal Aharoni talks to us about punishment preferences #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Marius Unnvik talks about the 5 meta analyses that show germ aversion and pathogen disgust are moderately correlated, only germ aversion is associated with SOI, and political orientation changed its association post 2020 #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Kaelyn Sabree provides cross-cultural data that people are rating sounds associated with (fluid) expulsion as more disgusting than non-expulsion sounds with 17k participants #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Do people bond or bridge in their social networks when under pathogen threat? Ocla Jeong says we bond, more than bridge, using multi decade pathogen threat data #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Next we have our fabulous panel with @sarahehillphd.bsky.social Damian Murray and Steve Neuberg on the challenges and opportunities facing the field #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
There are so many things we don’t know about friendships, and the fact that we are just scratching the surface on the darker sides of friendship goes so much promise to future research! #EPatSPSP2026
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
The coolest thing so far is that there seems to be a loyalty psychology (that comes online 7/8/9 years of age) and makes younger kids (5-6) upset at neutrality from everyone, not just friends! #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
We don’t like neutral responses, but ONLY when it’s our friends that stay neutral when something happens to us!
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Next Alex Shaw talks about my favorite topic: friendship! But we get to talk about the dark side and when we are upset with them (we need more research!). #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
We can look at community patterns in DNA 🤯 we see that Neanderthals had small groups, which meant their genetic relatedness is similar to modern gorilla groups #EPatSPSP2026
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Looking at genetic variation across the world, and finding support for genetic variation starting in Africa
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
The graphs and figures in these slides are fantastic! Humans have moved everywhere, yet humans are “uninteresting” to study from the terms of genetic variation. So many knowledge drops in Maanasa’s talk and we still have so much more to talk about!
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
And now we have Maanasa Raghaven is giving us a great talk in paleogenetics and and appreciation of how we became who we are #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Turned out that social unpredictability and resource unpredictability are conceptually distinct and predict different outcomes/ solve different problems #EPatSPSP2026
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Next Krystina Boyd-Frenkel talks about how different forms of unpredictability are associated with different forms of problems humans have to solve #EPatSPSP2026 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
We also see seasonal implicit prejudices too! But not for explicit attitudes and prejudices.
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Do moral values change with the seasons? The answers appear to be yes! #EPatSPSP2026
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
First talk of the #EPatSPSP2026 evolutionary psychology preconference is Mark Schaller’s talk on seasonal cycles and how they influence human psychology @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
You can still register through 2/13 @spspnews.bsky.social
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
At the 2026 EP preconference (ep2026.mystrikingly.com), we will host a panel on challenges and opportunities in the field featuring @sarahehillphd.bsky.social , Steve Neuberg, & Damian Murray. If you have questions, submit them here! forms.gle/M5yf5DEpHiTi... #EPatSPSP2026 @ahrako.bsky.social
ep2026.mystrikingly.com
2026 Chicago on Strikingly
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
What an exciting new platform to talk about all of the cool things that can influence us. athenaaktipis.substack.com I’m personally excited for the ones on hijacking and how it might not be only bad! @athenaaktipis.bsky.social
athenaaktipis.substack.com
Not for Peer Review: Field Notes From The Edge of Chaos | Athena Aktipis | Substack
After publishing over 100 peer-reviewed papers—an essential but slow process—I’m opening decades of notebooks to explore the evolution of life, the practice of living well now, and the work of buildin...
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Missed the deadline? This just in!! Preconference submissions will remain OPEN until Monday (10/27) at 8 am ET!!! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by! @ahrako.bsky.social @spspnews.bsky.social #EPatSPSP2026
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
It’s the last day friends!! Submit those abstracts!!! #EPatSPSP2026
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Registration and housing is OPEN!! But the submission portal closes soon (IN TWO DAYS)! Submit your abstracts if you haven’t yet!!! @ahrako.bsky.social #EPatSPSP2026
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Reposted by Jessica D Ayers
Athena Aktipis @athenaaktipis.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
💞 Friendship isn’t about keeping score. It’s about helping when it counts. In our new The Conversation article, @jessicadayers.bsky.social & I explore why true friendship works like risk-pooling, not exchange. Read here 👉 doi.org/10.64628/AAI... #Friendship #Psychology
doi.org
Friendships aren’t just about keeping score – new psychology research looks at why we help our friends when they need it
Friendship isn’t a tit-for-tat balance sheet, but that’s how researchers have traditionally defined it. New studies are refining the model to be less about transactions and truer to real life.
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Do we really keep score in our friendship? See what @athenaaktipis.bsky.social and I have to say about why this isn’t always the case theconversation.com/friendships-...
theconversation.com
Friendships aren’t just about keeping score – new psychology research looks at why we help our friends when they need it
Friendship isn’t a tit-for-tat balance sheet, but that’s how researchers have traditionally defined it. New studies are refining the model to be less about transactions and truer to real life.
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Jessica D Ayers @jessicadayers.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Glad to have had the chance to pitch why we need to research friendship to @boisestate.bsky.social stake holders as an ASSERT (www.boisestate.edu/ifits/facult...) fellow at today’s pitch event.
boisestate.edu
ASSERT
Aligning Stakeholders and Structures to Enable Research Transformation (ASSERT) is a cohort faculty development program where faculty, from all ranks and various academic units, become an ASSERTive co...
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