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Zach Garfield

@zhgarfield.com
3.2K followers 2.4K following 230 posts

Evolutionary anthropologist. Leadership, punishment, & conflict resolution. Asst. Prof of Anthropology @grinnellcollege.bsky.social. Co-Director @omovalleyresearchproject.org. Former RF @iast.fr. www.zhgarfield.com

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Reposted by Zach Garfield
Sheina Lew-Levy @sheinalew.bsky.social · 9h
Hey fieldworkers! Do you need documentation (health & safety protocols, codes of conduct, feedback forms)? Do you have documentation that you think could help others do better fieldwork, but don’t know where to share it? We’ve got you covered in our new Fieldwork Repo! osf.io/4h7bu/overview
osf.io
OSF
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Vivek V. Venkataraman @vivek123.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"...contemporary scientific systems progressively constrain high-risk and conceptually innovative research while being increasingly structured around short funding cycles, productivity-based evaluation criteria and risk-averse frameworks..." www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Haneul Jang @haneuljang.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
New preprint! 💙 Together with @amandinevisine.bsky.social, we observed that BaYaka hunter-gatherer women and girls flexibly alternate between childcare and subsistence responsibilities during foraging trips, a pattern we call “relay cooperation” osf.io/preprints/so...
 Schematic illustration of the relay cooperation mechanism
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 27/08/2026
still red
Biosketch slide showing all read institutional logos.
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 26/08/2026
Thanks to @timmiller.bsky.social & @thebulwark.com for triggering this one: What Many People Get Wrong About Tribalism | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ecol...
psychologytoday.com
What Many People Get Wrong About Tribalism
Piers Morgan says social media has regressed us 2,000 years to warring tribes. The psychology behind that claim is real. The anthropology behind it is mostly wrong.
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 24/08/2026
@grinnellcollege.bsky.social opennings #PYSC & #BIO: apply.interfolio.com/190648 apply.interfolio.com/190063 #highereducation #job I am VERY impressed by the support for research & the very effective support systems that facilitate teaching. It seems an amazing institution & community. And..
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 10/08/2026
What I want students to take from my new Evolution & Human Behavior course: an evolutionary lens gets you understandings and questions you wouldn't reach otherwise. There's grandeur in this view of life. zhgarfield.com/blog/evolution-and-h…
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 04/08/2026
I’m now @grinnellcollege.bsky.social in Anthropology where I’ll be offering a series of new courses on human #evolutionary social #science & #biologicalanthropology and launching a new lab to support student research and expand my research program. 🧪 #HBES 🌾💎 #Grinnell
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Damián Blasi @damianblasi.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
How many languages have existed over the Holocene—and what does that reveal about the design space of languages and cultures? Now out in @science.org www.science.org/eprint/QDZNY....
science.org
The rise and fall of language diversity through the Holocene
Characterizing the factors that have shaped linguistic diversity is fundamental for understanding human history, culture, and cognition. In this study, we combined statistical and social computational...
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Julien Lie-Panis @jliep.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Why do societies rely on rigid moral rules? Don't lie. Keep your promises. Don't steal. We all recognize there are good reasons to make exceptions. So why are moral rules so often categorical? Our new paper proposes an answer. 🧵
Screenshot of article title page, "Why human societies adopt rigid moral rules"
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 18/06/2026
The Mind Is a Computer. Now the Computer Is a Mind | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ecol...
psychologytoday.com
The Mind Is a Computer. Now the Computer Is a Mind
We evolved to follow the knowledgeable. Now, an AI knows it all and seems confident enough. Here's why your mind so easily defers, and what it overlooks.
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Ed Hagen @edhagen.net · 14/06/2026
1. Attempted cancellations of prominent scholars as proxy wars on ideas one doesn't like: the case of Margaret Mead...and a mea culpa 🧪 #AcademicSky
Margaret Mead with Samoan informants
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 14/06/2026
Autoposted from www.zhgarfield.com/outreach. zhgarfield.com/blog/science-and-soc…
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Dr Eve Holden (she/her) @chimpanzeve.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
What things are often missed out? Risk! Life history! Individual variation! Inequality! @psmaldino.bsky.social Speaking my language in his talk on Development of Risk Behaviours and thier Cultural Transmission #CES2026 @ces2026.bsky.social
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School of Collective Intelligence @um6p-sci.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Day 3 of the Cultural Evolution Society Conference (CES) 2026 is in full swing at the UM6P Rabat campus! After a great start 2 days ago, Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences (AIRES) and the SCI continue to host this incredible gathering of minds. #CES2026 #UM6P
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Charley Wu @thecharleywu.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Joe Henrich emphasizing the importance of formal models at #CES2026
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Charley Wu @thecharleywu.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Rob Boyd tracing the origins of Cultural Evolution as a field #CES2026
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Chiara Pertile @chiarapertile.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
#CES2026 is over - amazing days exploring new frontiers in animal culture and archaeology with so many talented people. Grateful to be in Rabat and happy to have presented my poster "Mapping Cultural Transmission in Human and Non-Human Primates" Thanks everyone - looking forward to the next CES✨
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Hélios Delbrassine @heliosdlbs.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
What a week! I had a wonderful time at #CES2026 and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to hang out with such amazing people and researchers, learn about their work and present my own. 🧬 I leave Morocco the head full of ideas, the heart full of friendship (and the stomach full of tajine) 🙌🏻
I am standing in front of a large screen displaying the second slide of my presentation regarding the use of genetics in cultural evolution studiesSelfie with Francesco d'Errico, Ivan Colagè, Andra Meneganzin, Chiara Pertile and myselfSelfie with Andra Meneganzin, Willem Church and myself Picture of the UM6P campus in Rabat at the golden hour
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Emile Bryon @emilebryon.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Just had a fantastic time at @ces2026.bsky.social ! I got to present some of my PhD work and to engage in stimulating discussions about the scope of chimpanzee social learning and their cultural potential 🙌 Excited to come back in 2028 ✨ A huge thanks to the organizers! #CES2026
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 17/05/2026
Sunset over the Atlantic during the HBES gala dinner.
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Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Final day of #HBES2026! 🌍 Parallel sessions kick off at 9:00, followed by Martin Daly’s lunch panel on the history of HBES, the Postdoctoral Investigator Award finalists, and our closing keynote at 15:05: Simon Baron-Cohen on “The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention.”
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HBES2026 @hbes2026.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
HBES 2026 | Day 2 at UM6P Rabat 📍 The 37th Annual Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference continues with a day full of exchanges and global perspectives
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HBES2026 @hbes2026.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Learn more about HBES2026: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/hbes2026
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Joint #HBES2026 / #CES2026 plenary 🎤 Hugo Mercier on "The evolution of reason and the cultural evolution of reasons." With Dan Sperber, he’s argued reason isn’t a fix-everything mechanism — it’s a social one. A thread 🧵
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The Welling Research Lab @wellinglab.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Great times with the EC at #HBES2026 in Morocco! 🇲🇦
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Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Plenary 1 at #HBES2026 🎤 Brooke Scelza on “More Than Our Differences: Moving beyond dichotomies in the study of human mating.” Drawing on 15 years with the Himba of NW Namibia, she pushed us to broaden how we frame sexual selection. A thread 🧵
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Anne Pisor @annepisor.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
What's really clear from today's #CES2026 - #HBES2026 panel is how much we've come to work together, across the evolutionary social & behavioral sciences. Monique Borgerhoff Mulder sums it up: "The gaps between evolutionary psychology, human behavior ecology, & cultural evolution have narrowed"
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ces2026 @ces2026.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
A strong start to the conference, bringing together scholars and researchers from diverse disciplines to exchange ideas and advance the field.
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ces2026 @ces2026.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Learn more about the conference agenda, discover our key speakers, and explore the highlights of Day 2 Agenda: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026 #CES2026
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HBES2026 @hbes2026.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
📢IMPORTANT NOTICE Participants are required to bring their passport with them to access the campus. Please do not forget it, as it is mandatory for entry. We are very excited to welcome you!
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ces2026 @ces2026.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
📢IMPORTANT NOTICE Participants are required to bring their passport with them to access the campus. Please do not forget it, as it is mandatory for entry. We are very excited to welcome you!
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Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias @ceciliapad.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
🚨FULLY FUNDED PHD POSITION!🚨 If you are interested in trying to answer the question of "How did climate shape the movements, interactions, and evolution of hominin populations?" Come join my lab at @humanorigins.bsky.social 🧬🧪 deadline 7th of June ⬇️ uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 08/05/2026
⭐️ to any @hbes2026.bsky.social or @ces2026.bsky.social attendees traveling across #Morocco who manage to spot our logo inspirations IRL #CESRabat #HBES2026
A line of riders in traditional dress performing a fantasia, galloping on horseback across sandy ground and firing rifles in unison, with smoke rising above them.Goats perched and climbing across the branches of an argan tree in a dry, open landscape under a clear blue sky.
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Omo Valley Research Project @omovalleyresearchproject.org · 08/05/2026
Thanks @unlincoln.bsky.social & @unlcas.bsky.social for promoting our work! sgis.unl.edu/news/lincoln...
sgis.unl.edu
From Lincoln to Ethiopia: alumnus expands access to education through global research | School of Global Integrative Studies | Nebraska
A University of Nebraska–Lincoln anthropology alumnus is applying his training to expand access to higher education in one of the most remote and culturally diverse regions of the world.Zachary Garfie...
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 06/05/2026
Fitting to see this out w/ @hbes2026.bsky.social around the corner. @rayhames.bsky.social, last year's #HBES Lifetime Achievement winner, gave us a brief history of the society. Martin Daly will build on it with a panel, The History & Prehistory of HBES See all you *The Podcast* talking heads soon
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Damián Blasi @damianblasi.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Join us in Barcelona for a postdoc! We are looking for candidates with a strong NLP/ML/AI background and an interest in linguistic diversity and human and machine cognition: dub.sh/blasi_nlp_po...
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Jorge Peña 🇵🇸 @jorgeapenas.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Thanks (in advance!) to the organizers of @ces2026.bsky.social and @hbes2026.bsky.social for hosting these two conferences in Morocco, thus giving me (and many others) the excuse to visit this magical country and continent (for the first time!) Shukran bezzaf. See you soon in Rabat.
Bab Bou Jeloud, Fez, Morocco.
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 01/05/2026
@lfanpsych.bsky.social set up this participant-driven ride share sheet for @hbes2026.bsky.social attendees arriving to the Rabat airport for #HBES2026 This is not managed by the local organizers or @humbehevosoc.bsky.social, but we're happy to spread the word. 

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com
HBES Rabat Ride Share (Self-organized)
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 01/05/2026
Colleagues and I happy for any feedback. 🧪 #HBES Third-party punishment is common across human societies but varies with socioecology osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io
OSF
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 30/04/2026
Conference update emails for #HBES2026 and #CESRabat will be sent soon. In the meantime, updated programs are live on both conference websites: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/hbes2026 airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026 Check them out! @ces2026.bsky.social @hbes2026.bsky.social
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Jorge Peña 🇵🇸 @jorgeapenas.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
I'll be presenting this work at the Cultural Evolution Society (CES) 2026 Conference in Rabat, Morocco (airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026) on May 13. If you attend the conference and are interested in this, let's talk!
airess.fgses-um6p.ma
Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES
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Jaimie Arona Krems @jaimiekrems.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
How do filmmakers portray POWER? Pretty closely to how evolutionary social scientists would tell them to. Here's a great video on power in film: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaIF... ... ...which echoed this paper beautifully: Durkee et al. PNAS (2020) www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1... Science + art 🎨
youtube.com
when the filmmakers actually show you what it means to play the king in a movie
YouTube video by CinemaStix
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Jeremy Koster @jeremykoster.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
There is a fully-funded PhD position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to pursue dissertation research among the Mayangna of Nicaragua, expanding a longitudinal study of subsistence strategies and behavioral ecology. Please share the posting! www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 14/04/2026
Q: How’s the end of the semester going? A: 🎾 @weratedogs.com
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Daniel Lakens @lakens.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
If you want to collaborate on Qmd, Rmd, or md files for reproducible manuscripts, try out the alpha version of Quarto Review! It does track changes, comments, syncs with git, shows differences between versions! github.com/Lakens/Quart... Tell me the bugs and feature requests!
github.com
GitHub - Lakens/QuartoReview: Editor for Qmd files
Editor for Qmd files. Contribute to Lakens/QuartoReview development by creating an account on GitHub.
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Statistical Rethinking 2026 is done: 20 new lectures emphasizing logical and critical statistical workflow, from basics of probability theory to causal inference to reliable computation to sensitivity. It's all free, made just for you. Lecture list and links: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 22/03/2026
Evidence for the parasite chemoprophylaxis hypothesis of tobacco...nest building. @edhagen.net www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/s...
nytimes.com
Why Some Birds Seem to Be Developing a Cigarette Habit
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Zach Garfield @zhgarfield.com · 15/03/2026
What I find particularly striking is the within-species between-group variation in rates of observed aggression... #BioAnth 🧪 doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Figure from manuscript illustrating distributions of rates of aggression for each group by each species. It shows there's much overlap, but the most and least aggressive groups seems distinct. 

Caption from MS:

Fig. 6. Posterior sample distributions for the group intercepts for aggression. (A) shows distribution for total aggression, and (B) shows distribution for contact aggression only. Black lines reflect a 95% CI.
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Vivek V. Venkataraman @vivek123.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
I’m happy to announce that our paper "The Meanings and Dividends of Man the Hunter" has now been published in Evolution and Human Behavior. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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