Something tells me im in the right place for studying cultural evolution
More positive news from #EHBEA2025, as @durhamdcerc.bsky.social picks up their third prize
Congrats @emilymljeffries.bsky.social & again to @georgiamt.bsky.social & @amandinevisine.bsky.social for smashing it out of the park
2/ Shout out to the extraordinary organizing team for #EHBEA2025 ✒️🐧📝
@tvpollet.bsky.social
@jeannebovet.bsky.social
@francescadp.bsky.social
@amrotella.bsky.social
@gillianpepper.bsky.social
@mdconstable.bsky.social
@lrrenner.bsky.social
Martin Tovee
Connor Leslie
Tamsin Saxton
& Kris McCarty
1/ We are so happy to say that #EHBEA2025 was a huge success!! 👏 🥳 👩🔬
We'd like to thank everyone who presented & attended the conference - you made it one to remember!
👇 And, big thanks to organizers!
Hope to see you next year in Leiden! #EHBEA2026
@ehbea.bsky.social #Evolution #Science
#ehbea2025 was such a great meeting full of interesting talks (with delicious croissants!).
Now heading back to Tokyo. See you later, UK!
Here's the run down of my talk at #EHBEA2025 entitled 'Analysing the Form and Function of Rituals Using Large Language Models: Fasting'. I illustrate how we can use LLMs to measure the constituent properties of rituals across ethnographic texts to test theoretical models on a large-scale.
Many thanks to all organisers of #EHBEA2025 for putting on such an inclusive and welcoming conference! @ehbea.bsky.social @ehbea2025.bsky.social
I just had an amazing week at @ehbea2025.bsky.social where I was able to present the results of my upcoming meta-analysis on human personality traits and resource availability!
#ehbea2025
#ehbea
Picture of an iron bridge over the river Tyne, with the Sage Gateshead(?) venue in the background, but no fog
Leaving the amazing city of Newcastle after a wonderful #ehbea2025. HUGE thanks to the organisers for putting on such a successful conference 🙏👏👏 See you all in Leiden next year 😊
Metal leopard reclining on a white plinth
Ceramic blue-footed booby
Image of an art gallery with brick walls and high ceilings, and a leaping polar bear(?) in the foreground
Newcastle’s Biscuit Factory was a fantastic location for the #ehbea2025 conference dinner 🍴🍷
And in an exciting new development, @emilymljeffries.bsky.social of @durhamanthropology.bsky.social wins the other best student talk prize!
Amazing day for @durhamuniversity.bsky.social and @durhamdcerc.bsky.social PhD students.
#ehbea #ehbea2025
Super happy end to the conference as my and @zannaclay.bsky.social 's student Georgia Tuohy wins best talk! And @amandinevisine.bsky.social who works with @sheinalew.bsky.social wins best poster (pic to follow).
@durhamdevsci.bsky.social on a roll! 😆
@durhampsych.bsky.social
#ehbea #ehbea2025
Final presentation of #ehbea2025 from @davidwlawson.bsky.social on gender roles, demonstrating evidence for performative masculinity and misperceptions of other men’s beliefs in Tanzania
Thematic analysis of views towards abortion presented by Ssanyu Kayser and Konstantina Sifaki - ““I just want women to actually be seen as people and not reproductive cows”: Women’s reproductive autonomy in the wake of Dobbs” (first time I’ve seen the socio-ecological model presented at #ehbea2025)
When is IPV deemed acceptable in south-Central Ethiopia??
➡️ Sarah Myers presents acceptance data:
- women > men
- older > younger
- religious leaders > other professions
- wealthy > poorer
➡️ are these transmitted?
- yes, within & beyond households
#ehbea2025 #ipv
@drsarahmyers.bsky.social
Are there sex/gender differences in children's play across cultures?? 🌎
➡️ Sunday Ukam present meta-analysis results with a HUGE effect size: gender differences in play d=2.7
➡️ these differences are remarkably consistent across cultures & time
#ehbea2025
Amazing work on the marriage patterns in Vanuatu showing the complexity behind residence patterns! 🇻🇺
#EHBEA2025
@ehbea.bsky.social
@ehbea2025.bsky.social
@heidicolleran.bsky.social
How does economy & male absence patterns impact marriage in Vanuatu?? 🇻🇺
➡️ there's within-society variation in residence systems 🏘
➡️ neither male absence nor market integration predict matrilocality
#ehbea2025 #marriage #MarketIntegration #change
What drives the evolution of #monogamous marriage?? 💒
➡️ there's considerable cultural variation in marriage practices, monogamy remains a puzzle 🧩
➡️ Gabriel Saffa models alternative hyotheses, ⬆️ support for rival wealth hypothesis, ⬇️ Intergroup competiton
#ehbea2025 #marriage #monogamy #ecology
Heading back to Glasgow after attending my first @ehbea.bsky.social conference. Such a wonderful program, and I had the chance to meet old friends and new people there. #ehbea2025
Now, onto marriage practices! 💍
Ruth Mace: Why does bride-kidnapping persists in Kyrgyzstan? 👰♀
➡️ there's consensual & nonconsensual bride-kidnapping (men report more as consented, women as nonconsent) 👨 👩
➡️ in decline 📉
➡️ transmits in families - parents & older brothers
#ehbea2025 #marriage
Valerie Baettig asks whether Tsimane women experience PMS. Answer: possibly slightly but not enough that they notice.
Also: across the 10 women cycles were super variable hormonally. More evidence we need hormone controls in cycle studies!
#ehbea #ehbea2025
Dominik Jud shows that amongst the Tsimane, market integration-linked stressors may reduce cortisol (because they're better resourced?), but other stressors increase them.
#ehbea
#ehbea2025
Abigail Colby shows that Oxytocin levels are broadly repeatable within individuals over time in Tismane (49% of variance is at indl level vs observation). Weak link to RS in men and small genetic contribution - so selection for Ox is possible but very weak.
#ehbea #ehbea2025
@emilymljeffries.bsky.social at #EHBEA2025
Contrary to expectations cooperative stories weren't gained more than lost over time
Stories w/ anti-cooperative behavs were lost less than cooperative stories
Maybe prosocial message transmission is done more via cautionary tales of 'what not to do' 🤔
Many thanks to the amazing panellists at #ehbea2025 Stand Up For Science panel: Louis Bachaud, David Coall, Reuben Fakoya-Brooks, Ula Marcinkowska & @abbeyepage.bsky.social. Had nothing but positive feedback & more ideas from attendees, & #ehbea2026 organisers are interested in a follow-up session
Rounding out the session, we have a great talk by Saein Lee talking about #conformity & #prosociality!
➡️ Comparing tight vs loose: Tighter cultures show more prosociality, only for behaviours, not self-report! 🌏
#ehbea2025
#SocialNorms
@saeinlee.bsky.social
Reuben Fakoya-Brooks shows that an expected effect of local sex ratio (as proxy for mate competition) on competitiveness in economc games flips or even disappears when he controls/limits to own age SR where prospective mates are more likely. Need to abandon OSR measures?
#ehbea #ehbea2025
Interesting talk showing the complexities behind the relationship between sex ratio and intrasexual competition 🤔
#EHBEA2025
@ehbea.bsky.social
@ehbea2025.bsky.social
@ruthmace.bsky.social
Then... Gregoire Darcy finds that in tighter cultures, people who are less cooperative also want to #punish noncooperators 🤯🔒
#SocialNorms #Culture
#ehbea2025
Michal Stefanczyk looks at moral judgements in front of attractive women! ⚖️
➡️ finds more likely to pull lever in trolley dilemma in front of attractive women 👩
➡️ but this is because they are less #delontological - less normative!
#ehbea2025
