Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social
Associate Professor at @durhampsych.bsky.social. I look at how culture influences children's learning, and how learning makes us human.
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Really enjoyed chatting with @michaelhobbes.bsky.social for this episode! In addition to being a delight to talk to, Michael was _extremely_ committed to getting the facts right & engaged very earnestly with our feedback. A scientist's dream.
Episode 46: Sapiens
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
It's an ambitious goal to write the entire history of humanity in just 400 pages. It's even more ambitious to do it without reading any research.
Sapiens
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 11/20/2025 · 1h 38m
podcasts.apple.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Really enjoyed chatting with @michaelhobbes.bsky.social for this episode! In addition to being a delight to talk to, Michael was _extremely_ committed to getting the facts right & engaged very earnestly with our feedback. A scientist's dream.
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
At the Budget, the Green Party's message is clear: Cut Bills. Tax Billionaires.
November 19, 2025 at 8:20 AM
At the Budget, the Green Party's message is clear: Cut Bills. Tax Billionaires.
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
files.newsletter2go.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Postdoc position in individual-level incentives, social
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
learning, and payoff-biased imitation shape group-level accuracy in complex prediction and decision-making tasks in Konstanz
files.newsletter2go.com/l3slzozn/s_i...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
This looks super interesting. I get frustrated by both the weird idealisation of foragers as perfect societies and the opposite simplification. Great to see a prompt for a different way of thinking.
📣 New BBS preprint out now! 📣
"Models casting egalitarian societies as crucibles of equality perpetuate the factually uninformed notion that foragers are somehow more noble. Critiques portray egalitarianism as romantic fantasy. Neither characterization is wholly justified."
doi.org/10.1017/S014...
"Models casting egalitarian societies as crucibles of equality perpetuate the factually uninformed notion that foragers are somehow more noble. Critiques portray egalitarianism as romantic fantasy. Neither characterization is wholly justified."
doi.org/10.1017/S014...
Egalitarianism is not Equality: Moving from outcome to process in the study of human political organisation | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Egalitarianism is not Equality: Moving from outcome to process in the study of human political organisation
doi.org
November 18, 2025 at 9:09 AM
This looks super interesting. I get frustrated by both the weird idealisation of foragers as perfect societies and the opposite simplification. Great to see a prompt for a different way of thinking.
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
The deadline has been extended - there is still time to get your abstracts in to join us in Morocco!
The submission deadline for #CESRabat has been extended to 30 November
@ces2026.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
@ces2026.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
👉 A reminder that the deadline for submitting your abstract to the CES 2026 #CESRabat is the 16th of November.
🔗Submit here: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
We look forward to seeing you in Rabat!
🔗Submit here: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
We look forward to seeing you in Rabat!
November 16, 2025 at 3:40 AM
The deadline has been extended - there is still time to get your abstracts in to join us in Morocco!
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Come and do a PhD at Exeter with me and Chico Camargo (Computer Science) on human-genAI coevolution
"Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Data-Driven Agent-Based Modelling of Online Cultural Dynamics"
www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/recr...
More details here:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
"Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Data-Driven Agent-Based Modelling of Online Cultural Dynamics"
www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/recr...
More details here:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
www.exeter.ac.uk
November 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Come and do a PhD at Exeter with me and Chico Camargo (Computer Science) on human-genAI coevolution
"Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Data-Driven Agent-Based Modelling of Online Cultural Dynamics"
www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/recr...
More details here:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
"Leveraging Natural Language Processing for Data-Driven Agent-Based Modelling of Online Cultural Dynamics"
www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/recr...
More details here:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
The Labour Government reeling off the same far-right talking points on immigration. And look who is celebrating. The far-right.
There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture
join.greenparty.org.uk
There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture
join.greenparty.org.uk
November 16, 2025 at 10:28 AM
The Labour Government reeling off the same far-right talking points on immigration. And look who is celebrating. The far-right.
There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture
join.greenparty.org.uk
There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture
join.greenparty.org.uk
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
🚨 🐍 Our new paper on the consequences men face when countering patriarchal norms in rural Tanzania 🐍.🚨
We carried out focus groups and detailed interviews with a whopping 172 women and men about their perceptions of men who support women's empowerment... 📝 1/5
We carried out focus groups and detailed interviews with a whopping 172 women and men about their perceptions of men who support women's empowerment... 📝 1/5
“A snake with no teeth”: Urbanization shifts perceptions of men who support women’s empowerment in Northwestern Tanzania
Achieving gender equality requires the support of all genders, but efforts to engage men in women’s empowerment initiatives have been fraught with res…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:45 PM
🚨 🐍 Our new paper on the consequences men face when countering patriarchal norms in rural Tanzania 🐍.🚨
We carried out focus groups and detailed interviews with a whopping 172 women and men about their perceptions of men who support women's empowerment... 📝 1/5
We carried out focus groups and detailed interviews with a whopping 172 women and men about their perceptions of men who support women's empowerment... 📝 1/5
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
For a party that has always, and always will, stand up for refugee rights - join.greenparty.org.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:06 PM
For a party that has always, and always will, stand up for refugee rights - join.greenparty.org.uk
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
JOB KLAXON
1 Yr Project Researcher @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social working on @britishacademy.bsky.social funded *Prehistoric Policies* with Ben Elliott (@archsoundscapes.bsky.social), Alice Rudge (@alicerudge.bsky.social) and me. Contact me with queries.
Pls share!
my.corehr.com/pls/coreport...
1 Yr Project Researcher @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social working on @britishacademy.bsky.social funded *Prehistoric Policies* with Ben Elliott (@archsoundscapes.bsky.social), Alice Rudge (@alicerudge.bsky.social) and me. Contact me with queries.
Pls share!
my.corehr.com/pls/coreport...
November 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
JOB KLAXON
1 Yr Project Researcher @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social working on @britishacademy.bsky.social funded *Prehistoric Policies* with Ben Elliott (@archsoundscapes.bsky.social), Alice Rudge (@alicerudge.bsky.social) and me. Contact me with queries.
Pls share!
my.corehr.com/pls/coreport...
1 Yr Project Researcher @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social working on @britishacademy.bsky.social funded *Prehistoric Policies* with Ben Elliott (@archsoundscapes.bsky.social), Alice Rudge (@alicerudge.bsky.social) and me. Contact me with queries.
Pls share!
my.corehr.com/pls/coreport...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
This paper clearly exposes the hereditarian project for the pseudoscience it is 👇 Also highlights how overtly political are those who promote the claim there are evolved racial differences in cognitive and behavioural traits, despite strong protestations to the contrary
Today is the day! Our reply to the two concurrent critiques (from the same set of authors) is now published in the journal Intelligence 🧵 1/
November 12, 2025 at 4:13 PM
This paper clearly exposes the hereditarian project for the pseudoscience it is 👇 Also highlights how overtly political are those who promote the claim there are evolved racial differences in cognitive and behavioural traits, despite strong protestations to the contrary
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Zadie Smith.
November 12, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Zadie Smith.
Such a cool paper! Congrats @mandolinguist.bsky.social!!!
⚠️ New paper! Why do words sound so similar? In an agent-based model + communication game, we show that production/comprehension pressures trade off to shape lexicon structure.
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The lexicon adapts to competing communicative pressures: Explaining patterns of word similarity
Cross-linguistically, lexicons tend to be more phonetically clustered than required by the phonotactics of the language; that is, words within a langu…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Such a cool paper! Congrats @mandolinguist.bsky.social!!!
Some very clever colleagues have written this toolkit paper, offering "a set of recommendations for evaluating development across middle childhood, with attention to the eco-cultural context of maturation" Highly recommend!!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Field Methods for Investigating Onset and Progression of Middle Childhood Physical, Hormonal, Cognitive and Social Development
Child development is biocultural, meaning both genetics and experience with the ecocultural context shape ontogeny. Developmental systems—physical, hormonal, cognitive, social, among others—are dynam....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Some very clever colleagues have written this toolkit paper, offering "a set of recommendations for evaluating development across middle childhood, with attention to the eco-cultural context of maturation" Highly recommend!!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Evolutionary psychology makes a big to-do about their finding that sexual selection favors a "feminine body type" that "signals fertility/reproductive potential", including some rather... silly research. Turns out, those traits don't seem to signal reproductive success. Oops! doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Evolutionary psychology makes a big to-do about their finding that sexual selection favors a "feminine body type" that "signals fertility/reproductive potential", including some rather... silly research. Turns out, those traits don't seem to signal reproductive success. Oops! doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Latest paper: Boxgrove is a key European site dating to 480,000 years ago. At GTP17, hominins knapped handaxes and then butchered an adult female horse. A fragment of the horse's scapula appeared to have evidence of impact from a wooden spear.....
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Super proud to have hosted at @aiasdk.bsky.social an excellent group of researchers to think through all things play, childhood, and innovation. I'll be buzzing about this for a while!
November 7, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Super proud to have hosted at @aiasdk.bsky.social an excellent group of researchers to think through all things play, childhood, and innovation. I'll be buzzing about this for a while!
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
New research on wild chimpanzees shows juvenile innovation is not play but a cultural engine. Young chimps invent tools, refine adult techniques, and introduce novelty. What if childhood experimentation drove early human cultural evolution too? #Primatology #Anthropology #Archaeology #HumanOrigins
Young chimpanzees invent tools, modify adult techniques, and explore in ways that spark cultural change. New research suggests childhood curiosity may have fueled innovation long before Homo sapiens shaped history. #Anthropology #Primates #Evolution #Science www.primatology.net/p/the-little...
The Little Inventors of the Forest
Young chimpanzees build tools, break rules, and may hold clues to how culture first evolved
www.primatology.net
October 31, 2025 at 2:44 AM
New research on wild chimpanzees shows juvenile innovation is not play but a cultural engine. Young chimps invent tools, refine adult techniques, and introduce novelty. What if childhood experimentation drove early human cultural evolution too? #Primatology #Anthropology #Archaeology #HumanOrigins
New paper! We found that intensifying market integration in Rep. Congo does not uniformly shape BaYaka and Bantu adolescent behaviour and consumption, and that adolescents may be contributing to shifts in norms regarding the sharing of money.
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
BaYaka forager and Bantu fisher‐farmer adolescent engagement with intensifying market integration in the Republic of the Congo
A substantial body of anthropological research has investigated how subsistence communities engage with market-based economies. In this study, we contribute to this body of work by examining adolesce...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:21 AM
New paper! We found that intensifying market integration in Rep. Congo does not uniformly shape BaYaka and Bantu adolescent behaviour and consumption, and that adolescents may be contributing to shifts in norms regarding the sharing of money.
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
Karen's work on how children's contributions to the family are essential in underwriting high fertility is really excellent, and described nicely in this podcast. Also something that doesn't get enough attention in current debates about low fertility
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
November 2, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Karen's work on how children's contributions to the family are essential in underwriting high fertility is really excellent, and described nicely in this podcast. Also something that doesn't get enough attention in current debates about low fertility
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
I’ll be considering graduate school applications for Fall 2026 – positions are fully funded, typically for 5 years. Deadline to apply to the Cognition program is December 1. Come do science with me in beautiful Amherst, Massachusetts! www.umass.edu/natural-scie...
PhD in Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience : College of Natural Sciences : UMass Amherst
Engage in research centered on fundamental theoretical questions about cognitive function using multiple experimental methods and data analysis.
www.umass.edu
October 27, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I’ll be considering graduate school applications for Fall 2026 – positions are fully funded, typically for 5 years. Deadline to apply to the Cognition program is December 1. Come do science with me in beautiful Amherst, Massachusetts! www.umass.edu/natural-scie...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be joining the faculty at @umassamherst.bsky.social next year as an assistant professor in Psychological & Brain Sciences! 🥳
a cartoon of homer simpson says whoo-hoo in front of a stone wall
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson says whoo-hoo in front of a stone wall
media.tenor.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be joining the faculty at @umassamherst.bsky.social next year as an assistant professor in Psychological & Brain Sciences! 🥳
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
👋 Meet Sarah, our Secretary!
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
October 23, 2025 at 4:32 PM
👋 Meet Sarah, our Secretary!
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
@anthrosarah.bsky.social is an Assistant Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
As secretary, she helps connect with the evolutionary social sciences community, planning events and collaborating with the team to shape the future of W+EBS. (1/2)
#WplusEBS
Sustainable education should include Indigenous knowledge
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Sustainable education should include Indigenous knowledge - Nature Human Behaviour
Formal education systems rarely include the knowledge and skills of hunter-gatherer societies. This can lead to cultural erosion and knowledge decline. For education to be both high quality and sustai...
www.nature.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Sustainable education should include Indigenous knowledge
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"In our research with hunter-gatherer communities in the Global South, we see that participation in education often undermines Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural integrity."
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Sheina Lew-Levy
New paper out on the important role of social learning in breastfeeding! academic.oup.com/emph/article...
Social learning is critical to breastfeeding success: evidence from rural Namibian pastoralists
AbstractBackground and objectives. Lactation is one of the defining features of mammals, yet many humans struggle with breastfeeding. One reason for this i
academic.oup.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:21 PM
New paper out on the important role of social learning in breastfeeding! academic.oup.com/emph/article...