Emory Richardson
@emoryrchrdsn.bsky.social
cognitive scientist.
intuitive theories, collaboration, cumulative culture, networks, philosophy of science/mind/bio, language. Also kettlebells.
past: @UMich @Yale @UChicago @stjohnscollege.
https://rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/
intuitive theories, collaboration, cumulative culture, networks, philosophy of science/mind/bio, language. Also kettlebells.
past: @UMich @Yale @UChicago @stjohnscollege.
https://rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/
like the ultimatum game, there's a pot of money to split.
One person gets to decide how to split it. The other player has no say - but they can reject the "offer", in which case neither gets any money.
The threshold seems to be ~30% - so the $10/20 split here would be rejected!
One person gets to decide how to split it. The other player has no say - but they can reject the "offer", in which case neither gets any money.
The threshold seems to be ~30% - so the $10/20 split here would be rejected!
August 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
like the ultimatum game, there's a pot of money to split.
One person gets to decide how to split it. The other player has no say - but they can reject the "offer", in which case neither gets any money.
The threshold seems to be ~30% - so the $10/20 split here would be rejected!
One person gets to decide how to split it. The other player has no say - but they can reject the "offer", in which case neither gets any money.
The threshold seems to be ~30% - so the $10/20 split here would be rejected!
Thanks! My sense is it's useful to think about AI as an intermediary between you and the wisdom of crowds. And the wisdom of crowds is notoriously unwise for things where expert opinion has left popular opinion behind, similar to the finding here: www.nature.com/articles/nat...
August 4, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Thanks! My sense is it's useful to think about AI as an intermediary between you and the wisdom of crowds. And the wisdom of crowds is notoriously unwise for things where expert opinion has left popular opinion behind, similar to the finding here: www.nature.com/articles/nat...
New blog post inspired by my 5yo's most recent library book: asking an LLM for help is kind of like asking Amelia Bedelia for help!
AKA, why the range of tasks where using AI is worth your time is probably a lot narrower than you think.
rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/blog/20...
AKA, why the range of tasks where using AI is worth your time is probably a lot narrower than you think.
rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/blog/20...
August 4, 2025 at 1:37 AM
New blog post inspired by my 5yo's most recent library book: asking an LLM for help is kind of like asking Amelia Bedelia for help!
AKA, why the range of tasks where using AI is worth your time is probably a lot narrower than you think.
rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/blog/20...
AKA, why the range of tasks where using AI is worth your time is probably a lot narrower than you think.
rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/blog/20...
And in a 2nd task, we showed that inferences about decision speeds differ from inferences about decision outcomes. When we asked participants which propeller each team would *actually* choose (best, or not?), they expected majority rule - whether or not that propeller was best.
June 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
And in a 2nd task, we showed that inferences about decision speeds differ from inferences about decision outcomes. When we asked participants which propeller each team would *actually* choose (best, or not?), they expected majority rule - whether or not that propeller was best.
We told participants to “pretend we know” that both teams had chosen the *best* propeller (highlighted in yellow), and asked which team had taken longer. Adults expected slower decisions from the team with less consensus, even when it was smaller — kids expected the opposite.
June 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
We told participants to “pretend we know” that both teams had chosen the *best* propeller (highlighted in yellow), and asked which team had taken longer. Adults expected slower decisions from the team with less consensus, even when it was smaller — kids expected the opposite.
We showed participants robotics teams choosing a drone propeller, and told them that since the teammates disagreed, they’d have to talk together to decide on a propeller. All ages expect slower decisions from teams with more people & factions, but # of factions > # of people.
June 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
We showed participants robotics teams choosing a drone propeller, and told them that since the teammates disagreed, they’d have to talk together to decide on a propeller. All ages expect slower decisions from teams with more people & factions, but # of factions > # of people.
We focused on 3 intuitions that suggest straightforward inferences (see table). We expected both children (ages 6-9) and adults to make the first two inferences. That’s exactly what we found in our first experiment.
June 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
We focused on 3 intuitions that suggest straightforward inferences (see table). We expected both children (ages 6-9) and adults to make the first two inferences. That’s exactly what we found in our first experiment.
New paper!
Managing speed-accuracy tradeoffs is an important part of commonsense psychology. But how do we do it in groups, where no single person controls decision speed?
The two teams below need to make a decision — and it probably feels obvious that the green team will take longer.
But why?
Managing speed-accuracy tradeoffs is an important part of commonsense psychology. But how do we do it in groups, where no single person controls decision speed?
The two teams below need to make a decision — and it probably feels obvious that the green team will take longer.
But why?
June 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
New paper!
Managing speed-accuracy tradeoffs is an important part of commonsense psychology. But how do we do it in groups, where no single person controls decision speed?
The two teams below need to make a decision — and it probably feels obvious that the green team will take longer.
But why?
Managing speed-accuracy tradeoffs is an important part of commonsense psychology. But how do we do it in groups, where no single person controls decision speed?
The two teams below need to make a decision — and it probably feels obvious that the green team will take longer.
But why?
This is what’s really confusing to me. Like, how did we go from DOGE being transparent bullshit before Jan 21 to the federal gov’t rolling over for some 19 yr old with the screenname bigballs and Justin Timberlake’s haircut from 1999? How do you not just slap this kid if he shows up in yr office?
February 3, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This is what’s really confusing to me. Like, how did we go from DOGE being transparent bullshit before Jan 21 to the federal gov’t rolling over for some 19 yr old with the screenname bigballs and Justin Timberlake’s haircut from 1999? How do you not just slap this kid if he shows up in yr office?
Meme from the other site that resonated: my last couple of years have been chaotic.
Probably as a result I keep thinking about how much Aristotle emphasized wealth as a precondition to a virtuous life by enabling a well-ordered household.
I hated that as an 18 year old. Now it’s clicking😑💫🫥🙄🤷♂️
Probably as a result I keep thinking about how much Aristotle emphasized wealth as a precondition to a virtuous life by enabling a well-ordered household.
I hated that as an 18 year old. Now it’s clicking😑💫🫥🙄🤷♂️
December 21, 2024 at 6:20 PM
Meme from the other site that resonated: my last couple of years have been chaotic.
Probably as a result I keep thinking about how much Aristotle emphasized wealth as a precondition to a virtuous life by enabling a well-ordered household.
I hated that as an 18 year old. Now it’s clicking😑💫🫥🙄🤷♂️
Probably as a result I keep thinking about how much Aristotle emphasized wealth as a precondition to a virtuous life by enabling a well-ordered household.
I hated that as an 18 year old. Now it’s clicking😑💫🫥🙄🤷♂️
I’m so tickled, I’ve never been on a list before
November 11, 2024 at 11:00 PM
I’m so tickled, I’ve never been on a list before
naive question: IF there were any demographic shifts, wouldn't they have to be calculated in light of the fact that Harris got 15 million fewer votes than Biden, while Trump only got 2M fewer than he did in 2020?
doesn't that make the informative Q "who DIDN'T turn out for Harris and why"?
doesn't that make the informative Q "who DIDN'T turn out for Harris and why"?
November 6, 2024 at 3:57 PM
naive question: IF there were any demographic shifts, wouldn't they have to be calculated in light of the fact that Harris got 15 million fewer votes than Biden, while Trump only got 2M fewer than he did in 2020?
doesn't that make the informative Q "who DIDN'T turn out for Harris and why"?
doesn't that make the informative Q "who DIDN'T turn out for Harris and why"?
Bluesky is great, but the only thing I want on my social media other than research threads is academic shitpoasting.
November 5, 2024 at 11:12 PM
Bluesky is great, but the only thing I want on my social media other than research threads is academic shitpoasting.
Meow Wolf. The huge Ptolemaic armillary sphere on St. John’s campus. All of the museums on Museum Hill + the Georgia O’Keefe museum. Chimayo or Taos if you’re up for an extra hour in the car.
October 21, 2024 at 11:56 PM
Meow Wolf. The huge Ptolemaic armillary sphere on St. John’s campus. All of the museums on Museum Hill + the Georgia O’Keefe museum. Chimayo or Taos if you’re up for an extra hour in the car.
highlighting: "too many cooks in the kitchen" is imo a perfect description of what this email is describing - maybe in part because it sounds a lot like some labs I've encountered - and I wonder how common it is in psych more broadly.
generalizing a portrait of an academic psych lab:
1/
generalizing a portrait of an academic psych lab:
1/
October 1, 2024 at 3:33 PM
highlighting: "too many cooks in the kitchen" is imo a perfect description of what this email is describing - maybe in part because it sounds a lot like some labs I've encountered - and I wonder how common it is in psych more broadly.
generalizing a portrait of an academic psych lab:
1/
generalizing a portrait of an academic psych lab:
1/
I once heard a guy put a poem by Boris Pasternak over a Mos Def beat, absolutely blew me away. Here’s a translation
August 13, 2024 at 11:44 PM
I once heard a guy put a poem by Boris Pasternak over a Mos Def beat, absolutely blew me away. Here’s a translation
randomly relevant: Nate Silver may be an asshat, but he's not *wrong* here, & thinking that "intellectual" action happens mainly in academia is often the same silly prejudice that makes people think non-academics don't have intellectual interests
January 24, 2024 at 2:18 AM
randomly relevant: Nate Silver may be an asshat, but he's not *wrong* here, & thinking that "intellectual" action happens mainly in academia is often the same silly prejudice that makes people think non-academics don't have intellectual interests
Also see: "Science as amateur software development", a Richard McElreath talk from a few years ago. youtube.com/watch?v=zwRd...
January 24, 2024 at 2:16 AM
Also see: "Science as amateur software development", a Richard McElreath talk from a few years ago. youtube.com/watch?v=zwRd...
yeah, I was surprised by the lack - mine is %ni%, and every time I write it I hear monty python in my head
December 1, 2023 at 4:49 PM
yeah, I was surprised by the lack - mine is %ni%, and every time I write it I hear monty python in my head
just realized that even though menswear guy is on bluesky, you'd never get a take this good here -- still not enough bad-take accounts to provide the foils
so wait, are good-take bad-take dynamics like predator-prey population sizes?
so wait, are good-take bad-take dynamics like predator-prey population sizes?
November 10, 2023 at 3:44 PM
just realized that even though menswear guy is on bluesky, you'd never get a take this good here -- still not enough bad-take accounts to provide the foils
so wait, are good-take bad-take dynamics like predator-prey population sizes?
so wait, are good-take bad-take dynamics like predator-prey population sizes?
I love Tolstoy, and just came across this essay where he's claiming Shakespeare is an awful writer (🤨🤯??), which was so dumbfoundingly wildly wrong that I started googling it, and apparently Orwell wrote a response to it....and as much as I like Tolstoy in general - man, Orwell has his number
November 10, 2023 at 2:20 AM
I love Tolstoy, and just came across this essay where he's claiming Shakespeare is an awful writer (🤨🤯??), which was so dumbfoundingly wildly wrong that I started googling it, and apparently Orwell wrote a response to it....and as much as I like Tolstoy in general - man, Orwell has his number
I would take a (small) pay cut to live within biking distance of someone who roasts hatch green chilis in the fall 😄 Also, these kinds of views basically in your backyard are a huge selling point
August 30, 2023 at 11:45 PM
I would take a (small) pay cut to live within biking distance of someone who roasts hatch green chilis in the fall 😄 Also, these kinds of views basically in your backyard are a huge selling point
Reskeet with a meme that lets us all get to know you better
August 17, 2023 at 1:55 AM
Reskeet with a meme that lets us all get to know you better