Mike Moncrieff
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mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Mike Moncrieff
@mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
160 followers 180 following 22 posts
Cognitive/evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Geneva.🇨🇭Focused on collective violence, radicalization, counterterrorism effectiveness, and International Humanitarian Law/Human Rights Law research.

Whoa! Science! 👨‍💻
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mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Mike Moncrieff @mikemoncrieff.bsky.social · Jul 9
Ecstatic to be on @epthepod.bsky.social with @davidpinsof.bsky.social and @dpietra.bsky.social. A rare chance to talk in depth about my work, especially with such exceptional colleagues.

Highly recommend their other episodes too!
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
epthepod.bsky.social
This week, we discuss the evolved logic of shame, guilt, and other self-conscious emotions with Daniel Sznycer

youtu.be/OkCBaBSvSzs?...

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

www.podbean.com/eas/pb-xyz24...
Shame, Pride, and Guilt with Daniel Sznycer
YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)
youtu.be
October 21, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
hggaddy.bsky.social
🚨 The Economist has been telling you for years that polygamy causes civil war by locking men out of marriage. A new article with @rebeccasear.bsky.social and @anthrolog.bsky.social explains that the demography of marriage markets doesn't actually work that way. 🧵

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
High rates of polygyny do not lock large proportions of men out of the marriage market | PNAS
There is a widespread belief, in both the scholarly literature and the popular press, that polygyny prevents large numbers of men from marrying by ...
www.pnas.org
October 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
mgurven.bsky.social
Released today!
SEVEN DECADES: HOW WE EVOLVED TO LIVE LONGER
Now available at your favorite bookseller.

Leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon if you can.

Please help spread the word!

#sevendecades @princetonupress.bsky.social
September 16, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
psypost.bsky.social
Evolutionary psychology reveals patterns in mass murder motivations across life stages
Evolutionary psychology reveals patterns in mass murder motivations across life stages
Mass murderers tend to be either socially rejected young men or middle-aged men facing personal collapse, according to a new systematic review. The findings highlight how developmental stage and stress exposure shape violent behavior through evolved psychological mechanisms.
www.psypost.org
September 12, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
paulbloomatyale.bsky.social
This New Yorker essay about New Yorker fact-checkers is terrific.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
September 7, 2025 at 8:58 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
This article dovetails well with my ongoing research on the status threat regulatory system and its links to envy and violence. Looking forward to seeing how @keithminihane.bsky.social and his colleagues continue advancing this important line of work.
The Bimodal Age Distribution of Mass Murder: a Systematic Review Using Evolutionary and Life History Perspectives - Evolutionary Psychological Science
Research has identified a bimodal age distribution among mass murderers, with younger offenders typically in late adolescence and older offenders in middle age. An evolutionary perspective offers a co...
doi.org
August 22, 2025 at 8:05 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Ecstatic to be on @epthepod.bsky.social with @davidpinsof.bsky.social and @dpietra.bsky.social. A rare chance to talk in depth about my work, especially with such exceptional colleagues.

Highly recommend their other episodes too!
July 9, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
psmaldino.bsky.social
New preprint w/ Nathan Gabriel & @avbell.bsky.social: The Evolution of Identity Signals for Coordination in Diverse Societies

The model tackles multiple nested/overlapping identities and complex signaling structure. Recovers lots of old results and adds several new ones osf.io/preprints/so...
Individual social identities indicate group affiliations and are typically associated with 3 group-typical preferences, signals that indicate group membership, and the propensity to condition actions on the social signals of others, resulting in group-differentiated interaction norms. Past work modeling identity signaling and coordination has typically assumed that individuals belong to one of a discrete set of groups. Yet individuals can simultaneously belong to multiple groups, which may be nested within larger groupings. Here, we introduce the generalized Bach or Stravinsky game, a coordination game with ordered preferences, which allows us to construct a model that captures the overlapping and hierarchical nature of social identity. Our model unifies several prior results into a single framework, including results related to coordination, minority disadvantage, and cross-cultural competence. Our model also allows agents to express complex social identities through multidimensional signaling, which we use to explore a variety of complex group structures. Our consideration of intersectional identities exposes flaws in naive measures of group structure, illustrating how empirical studies may overlook some social identities if they do not consider the behaviors that those identities function to afford.
July 1, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
johnhorgan.bsky.social
As Political Violence Surges, Trump Shuts Down a Top Prevention Program

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Political violence is surging as Trump kills prevention efforts, a top security expert warns
Former DHS official William Braniff talks about building an innovative model for stopping terrorism—and how its loss may harm America.
www.motherjones.com
June 26, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
w-plus-ebs.bsky.social
Meet the speakers behind our #WplusEBS panel at #HBES2025:

“Gender and identity in the evolutionary human sciences”
🗓️Friday, June 6th
⏰4:50pm - 6:10pm

We’re highlighting each panelist in this thread so read on! 👇1/6
May 28, 2025 at 5:24 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
LGBTQ+ or an ally? Don't miss the LGBTQ+ Networking & Social Event at #HBES2025, Atlantic City! 🌈 / June 4 at 8 PM at 10 North Lounge inside the Tropicana. Make new friends, reconnect with old ones, and spark collaborations. Questions? Contact @mbarlev.bsky.social or @mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
May 28, 2025 at 12:06 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
🙌 can’t wait for this!
May 15, 2025 at 6:43 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
New research reinforces the link between envy and mass violence: ‘Manifestos of envious mass murderers show narcissism, grievances, and desire for social/romantic status.’ bit.ly/4bJyz70. This aligns with my own research on envy’s role in radicalization.
Envy and Jealousy: An Evolutionarily Informed Typology of Global Mass Murder - Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology
This study uses latent class analysis to examine a global sample of mass murderers, identifying two distinct offender categories analyzed through an evolutionary lens. “Envy type” offenders were typic...
bit.ly
March 12, 2025 at 8:45 AM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Indeed, I think this is exactly why the internet plays such a prominent role in the radicalization process. Hitting upon collectively endorsed justifications likely green-lights harmful actions.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine
A rationale is always just a scroll or a click away.
www.theatlantic.com
January 6, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
dpmoriarity.bsky.social
"A study of federally funded research projects in the United States estimated that principal investigators spend on average about 45% of their time on administrative activities related to applying for and managing projects rather than conducting active research"

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
January 4, 2025 at 1:26 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Arie is right, and envy is responsible for such violent responses to perceptions of lowered status. “‘When people feel disempowered because of immigration, economic inequalities […] they are motivated [and] may be compelled to take violent action...” bit.ly/4iZ5iZf
‘A perfect storm’: Extremism online and political polarization are increasing risk of attacks, experts say
Accessing extremism online has never been easier, the threat has never been higher, and the ideology of those conducting attacks has never been more splintered.
bit.ly
January 4, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Mike Moncrieff
beckety.bsky.social
New paper from Adam Anderson's lab at Cornell showing evidence of visual "affective affordances" - predicting human valence ratings from low level image statistics independently of centrally modulated valence arising from image content and arousal. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Direct perception of affective valence from vision
Nature Communications - The authors show that affective valence is tied to visual processing. They identify a direct route from visual features to valence experience, separate from higher-order...
www.nature.com
December 31, 2024 at 3:23 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Why is impulsivity so strongly linked to radicalization? Our findings show that envy connects impulsivity to radicalization, revealing an ‘impulsive-envious pathway’ to aggression. 🧵
Envy, Emotional Urgency, and Radicalization: The Impulsive Route is Paved in Malice
Impulsivity is recognized as a significant radicalization risk factor, yet its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Previous research suggests that impulsive actions are emotionally driven. If so,...
doi.org
December 19, 2024 at 12:51 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
The UnitedHealth assailant exemplifies envious radicalization: a rapid decline in social status, a zero-sum framing of the situation, the search for perceived causal agents, and the drive to eliminate or depower them through violence. See: doi.org/10.1007/s408...
From Envy to Radicalization - Evolutionary Psychological Science
Models of radicalization have typically placed grievances at the heart of radicalization. In contrast, we argue that viewing the radicalizing agent as decidedly proactive, and less reactive, better ac...
doi.org
December 11, 2024 at 7:52 AM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Over one year and still missing Pierre. The moments we spent working together will always be among the best of my life. So proud of what we were able to discover. I’m so thrilled to share the next round of publications (coming soon) as a result of our friendship.
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social Mike Moncrieff @mikemoncrieff.bsky.social · Nov 16
What psychological mechanisms drive the dramatic changes observed during radicalization? We argue that the functional mechanisms of envy should take center stage in future research.

Excited to celebrate this article’s one-year anniversary at the end of the month!
From Envy to Radicalization - Evolutionary Psychological Science
Models of radicalization have typically placed grievances at the heart of radicalization. In contrast, we argue that viewing the radicalizing agent as decidedly proactive, and less reactive, better ac...
link.springer.com
December 1, 2024 at 8:08 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Come join my team as we close out and celebrate our last 6 years of research! It’s bitter sweet as I will certainly miss working so closely with such an amazing team of brilliant scholars and the many others who we have been so fortunate to have as dear friends and collaborators.

lnkd.in/eUAgJCge
November 29, 2024 at 6:03 PM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
What psychological mechanisms drive the dramatic changes observed during radicalization? We argue that the functional mechanisms of envy should take center stage in future research.

Excited to celebrate this article’s one-year anniversary at the end of the month!
From Envy to Radicalization - Evolutionary Psychological Science
Models of radicalization have typically placed grievances at the heart of radicalization. In contrast, we argue that viewing the radicalizing agent as decidedly proactive, and less reactive, better ac...
link.springer.com
November 16, 2024 at 5:33 AM
mikemoncrieff.bsky.social
Making the move from X.
November 16, 2024 at 5:18 AM