Olivier Morin
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oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin
@oliviermorin.bsky.social
680 followers 360 following 36 posts

Researcher at Ecole Normale Supérieure / CNRS in Paris. Culture, cognition, things in between. https://linktr.ee/oliviermorin

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Sociology 19%
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oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Feb 19
🚨 New paper! 🚨 by Yoolim Kim, @helenamiton.bsky.social, Marc Allassonnière Tang, & myself, in Journal of Memory and Language. We tried to do for letter shapes what phonologists did for speech sounds. doi.org/10.1016/j.jm... A 🧵 (1/14)

Reposted by Olivier Morin

andreskarjus.bsky.social
Andres Karjus @andreskarjus.bsky.social · 8d
Come work with us! Tallinn Uni is hiring a second lecturer in DH&AI. Estonian proficiency not required, foreign applicants welcome, required phd can be in progress (expected to be completed), competitive salary+benefits, nice working environment close to the sea
candidate.recrur.com/public/jobad...

Reposted by Olivier Morin

koenfucius.bsky.social
koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 9d
Monsters are ubiquitous imaginary creatures. Neither of both main competing anthropological accounts—monsters as anomalies or predators—fully explain the phenomenon.

Morin and Sobchuk synthesize the two to explain why anomalous animals are dangerous:

buff.ly/i22x0k9

Reposted by Fotis Jannidis, Olivier Morin

smpouli.bsky.social @smpouli.bsky.social · 14d
📢 CfP now open for the Computational Cultural Science Workshop (Paris, 18-19 May 2026) until 16 February.

Topics of interest:
*️⃣AI and cultural datasets
*️⃣Theory-driven humanities research
*️⃣Document-based modelling of historical and social processes
*️⃣Cultural analytics

👉 c2s.sciencesconf.org
Computational Cultural Science Worshop - Sciencesconf.org
Workshop description
c2s.sciencesconf.org

Reposted by Olivier Morin

luciewolters.bsky.social
Lucie Wolters @luciewolters.bsky.social · 28d
New paper with @inbalarnon.bsky.social and @simonkirby.bsky.social! Learnability pressures drive the emergence of core statistical properties of language–e.g. Zipf's laws–in an iterated sequence learning experiment, with learners’ RTs indicating sensitivity to the emerging sequence information.
Cultural Transmission Promotes the Emergence of Statistical Properties That Support Language Learning
Language is passed across generations through cultural transmission. Prior experimental work, where participants reproduced sets of non-linguistic sequences in transmission chains, shows that this pr...
doi.org

Reposted by Olivier Morin

sobchuk.bsky.social
Oleg Sobchuk 🇺🇦 @sobchuk.bsky.social · Dec 18
One research direction of my group will be the evolution of European literature, relying on my ERC starting grant. Another direction will be the cultural evolution of films, music & other diverse artforms. I'll be hiring postdocs & PhD students starting in March 2026, so there will be job posts! 3/3

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Alex Mesoudi, Olivier Morin

sobchuk.bsky.social
Oleg Sobchuk 🇺🇦 @sobchuk.bsky.social · Dec 18
I got wonderful news: I was granted a position of Max Planck independent group leader at the MPI for Empirical Aesthetics ⬇️ (@ae.mpg.de) in Frankfurt, which I'll join in early 2026. It's a huge honor: being trusted with academic freedom offered by MPG. My group will study the evolution of arts. 1/3
The building of the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt

Reposted by Olivier Morin

acerbialberto.com
Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · Dec 12
US song lyrics have become more negative in the last 50 years, but societal shocks (like 9/11 and COVID) corresponds to *attenuation* of this trend.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023 - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023
www.nature.com

oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Dec 9
www.thebsps.org/reviewofbook...
Armin Schulz, It’s Only Human | BJPS Review of Books
Olivier Morin reviews It’s Only Human, by Armin Schulz
www.thebsps.org

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop, Brigitte Nerlich , and 9 more

smutclyde.bsky.social
Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex @smutclyde.bsky.social · Nov 26
Rate your score on Factor Fexcectorn.

Well done, Scientific Reports. pubpeer.com/publications...

Reposted by Olivier Morin, Jonathan Phillips

jfkominsky.bsky.social
Jonathan F. Kominsky @jfkominsky.bsky.social · Nov 24
Looking for a funded Ph.D. in #CogSci in an interdisciplinary, research-first program? Apply to CEU!

cognitivescience.ceu.edu/admission

Deadline February 4, 2026. Please share with any interested students!

#PsychSciSky #DevPsych #CogPsych
Applications Are Now Open for Academic Year 2026-2027 | Department of Cognitive Science
cognitivescience.ceu.edu

Reposted by Simon J. Greenhill, Olivier Morin

laserhedvig.bsky.social
laserhedvig.bsky.social @laserhedvig.bsky.social · Nov 17
Today, we published a paper on the strength of language universals (if language has X, it also has Y) given spatial & phylogenetic autocorrelation in @nathumbehav.nature.com ! It is a cool research project, led by the brilliant Annemarie Verkerk at @uni-saarland.de
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Enduring constraints on grammar revealed by Bayesian spatiophylogenetic analyses - Nature Human Behaviour
Despite their great diversity, human languages are shaped by recurring grammatical universals. Verkerk et al. show that about one-third of the proposed universals hold cross-linguistically through ana...
www.nature.com

Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Olivier Morin

mariusmercier.bsky.social
Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Nov 13
🎉 New preprint: Bayesian Competence Inference guides Knowledge Attribution and Information search

If someone knows that Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates clockwise, will they also know what Earth’s only natural satellite is? What about which planets have no moons at all?

oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Nov 12
thanks!

oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Nov 12
Interesting! Curious to know what
@docteur-drey.bsky.social thinks.
ricardsole.bsky.social Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · Nov 12
How “intelligent” is a slime mold? When it solves mazes, it might not be thinking:it’s obeying physics. Our new paper with
@jordiplam.bsky.social shows how it follows a least action principle,letting physics do the job arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08531
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social @docteur-drey.bsky.social

Reposted by Olivier Morin

ricardsole.bsky.social
Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · Nov 12
How “intelligent” is a slime mold? When it solves mazes, it might not be thinking:it’s obeying physics. Our new paper with
@jordiplam.bsky.social shows how it follows a least action principle,letting physics do the job arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08531
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social @docteur-drey.bsky.social

oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Nov 6
Too bad — and in it makes sense, in hindsight, given the weaknesses of cognitive dissonance reduction as a theory. Still, on literary merits alone, When prophecy fails remains a gem of a book.

Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, David Lazer, Scott L. Greer , and 10 more

nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
Nathanael Larigaldie @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social · Nov 5
Ok, just wow. If the content of this article is right, this is depressing. We're slowly reaching the point where ~100% of what I was taught in Social Psych was either innocently wrong or plainly frauded

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”
In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Kori Schake, Joanna Bryson, Meredith Broussard , and 47 more

lswisnom.bsky.social
Dr Selena Wisnom @lswisnom.bsky.social · Nov 3
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Olivier Morin

edgardubourg.bsky.social
Edgar Dubourg @edgardubourg.bsky.social · Oct 31
Excited to see our research highlighted in @psychscience.bsky.social Observer!
With @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social , and Thomas Dheilly, we explored how people infer others’ knowledge: even from a single answer, they can estimate how much someone knows about a topic!
Unearthing the Nature of Knowing
Research reveals how people process information, how they acquire—and sometimes reject—knowledge, and how that compares to artificial intelligence systems’ abilities to do the same.
www.psychologicalscience.org

Reposted by Olivier Morin

aedwardslevy.bsky.social
Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · Oct 30
i never saw two trunkless legs
i never hope to see 'em
but i can tell you, anyhow,
i'd rather see than be 'em
richterscale.bsky.social Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · Oct 30
Now Ozymandias was from the Himalayas, where a cold wind howls and blows.
Why he left his home in the peaks to roam 'round the sands, God only knows.
His statue fell down, the desert's boundless and completely bare;
Though it's still scrawled on his pedestal that "ye Mighty should despair!"
jeannieprinsen.bsky.social Jeannie Prinsen @jeannieprinsen.bsky.social · Oct 30
The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
And the lone, level sands
Stretched far, far away.

Reposted by Ruth Mace, Olivier Morin

ctennie.bsky.social
Claudio Tennie @ctennie.bsky.social · Oct 27
Just out - "Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission" by Straffon & Tennie
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission
www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Olivier Morin

rmcelreath.bsky.social
Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · Oct 14
"Dunbar's Number" is a zombie that lives forever in the science press it seems. Estimates of Dunbar's Number with 95% intervals, for a range of model specifications (from doi.org/10.1098/rsbl... ):

Reposted by Olivier Morin

replicatedtypo.bsky.social
James Winters @replicatedtypo.bsky.social · Oct 14
My favourite book by Mokyr is A Culture of Growth: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb.... Here, Mokyr draws on cultural evolutionary theory to develop some his key ideas about the evolution of science, technology and the origins of modern economic growth. Really accessible and packed with ideas!
A Culture of Growth
Why Enlightenment culture sparked the Industrial Revolution
press.princeton.edu

oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Sep 25
Huge congratulations to @alexeykoshevoy.bsky.social l who defended his PhD thesis today!! with his co-supervisor @sblldtrch.bsky.social and jury members @simonkirby.bsky.social @gboleda.bsky.social Paula Rubio Fernandez & Benjamin Spector.

oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Sep 16
also with @kakapitan.bsky.social @sobchuk.bsky.social @artjomshl.bsky.social @hugoreasoning.bsky.social & many others
acerbialberto.com Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · Sep 12
Looking forward to be in Paris for the launch of the CultureLab!
jbcamps.bsky.social Jean-Baptiste Camps @jbcamps.bsky.social · Sep 12
We're officially launching the new PSL CultureLab in 10 days !
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...

Reposted by Ruth Mace, Olivier Morin

acerbialberto.com
Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · Sep 12
Looking forward to be in Paris for the launch of the CultureLab!
jbcamps.bsky.social Jean-Baptiste Camps @jbcamps.bsky.social · Sep 12
We're officially launching the new PSL CultureLab in 10 days !
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
Colloque inaugural du Grand programme de recherche CultureLab | PSL
Recherche, CultureLab inaugure ses travaux le 22 septembre 2025 au Campus Condorcet avec une journée consacrée aux sciences humaines et sociales computationnelles et à l’évolution culturelle. , Le Gra...
psl.eu

Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Alberto Acerbi, Olivier Morin

jbcamps.bsky.social
Jean-Baptiste Camps @jbcamps.bsky.social · Sep 12
We're officially launching the new PSL CultureLab in 10 days !
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
Colloque inaugural du Grand programme de recherche CultureLab | PSL
Recherche, CultureLab inaugure ses travaux le 22 septembre 2025 au Campus Condorcet avec une journée consacrée aux sciences humaines et sociales computationnelles et à l’évolution culturelle. , Le Gra...
psl.eu

oliviermorin.bsky.social
Olivier Morin @oliviermorin.bsky.social · Sep 4
Amazing Oleg!

Reposted by Olivier Morin

sobchuk.bsky.social
Oleg Sobchuk 🇺🇦 @sobchuk.bsky.social · Sep 4
Great news from the @erc.europa.eu today: I received an ERC Starting Grant to study the cultural evolution of literature 🔥

www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/a...
Charting the evolution of European literature
Oleg Sobchuk has received an ERC Starting Grant to study 200 years of European literary evolution
www.eva.mpg.de

Reposted by Olivier Morin

goldyoshi.bsky.social
Gold Yoshi @goldyoshi.bsky.social · Sep 4
enshittification definition covered in ads