Michael Muthukrishna @mmuthukrishna Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

Michael Muthukrishna

@mmuthukrishna

6,339

Followers

946

Following

543

Media

6,608

Statuses

Prof #LSE . Author: A Theory of Everyone. Researching & spreading the word on how to evolve a better world.

London, England

https://t.co/LDdEgzBAw3

Joined July 2009

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

Pinned Tweet

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

10 months

🚨Three years in the making, the day has finally arrived! A Theory of Everyone was released in the UK, Australia, and Commonwealth today. At 6:30pm, @matthewsyed & I will be chatting about why the world is breaking & what we can do about it. Pickup:

17

25

95

Last Seen Profiles

@mevtr151101

@tomektarasiuk

@Martinu01281899

@YaserBehbehani

@peasfn

@ursaeron

@baabslevrai

@Martinu01281899

@honeyrry_

@fabulousbull

@AshtonHackman

@tomektarasiuk

@SubManL

@BinorRaja

@starryjinjiru

@adertaloka

@BobooMvx

@Martinu01281899

@angelusss__

@alouw10

@koralynko

@Maydi0

@pjm972pjm

@Davincij15

@SAlryad55568

@MarvinDock

@Martinu01281899

@Bzsyyy

@stw_pdg

@drawing_angie

@Dawgsfan4ever

@CraigReid_2

@camewwmeww

@yama6_mcbb01

@abrahim1078

@Moctarian

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

10 months

Paper on cultural evolutionary behavioral science:

Tweet media one

@Anviksiki

Raghava Krishna | రాఘవ కృష్ణ

10 months

There is a new paradigm in public policy. The 4th wave. Prof @mmuthukrishna calls it culture-evolutionary-behavioral paradigm. Draws from a wider pool of disciplines and collective experience. @priya_27_ traces the contours here. Eventually, it will get to Dharma metaphysics

0

7

30

7

282

1K

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

🚨New target article in @BBSJournal : "Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability" w/ @RyutaroUchiyama & @RachelASpicer Preprint: BBS: Long thread, but important topic. Helps to resolve controversies such as IQ differences 1/

Tweet media one

22

246

727

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

New paper: we argue that the replication crisis is rooted in more than methodological malpractice and statistical shenanigans. It's also a result of a lack of a cumulative theoretical framework: &

Tweet media one

12

322

705

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

I'm creating a list of 5 of the "best books that will change how to see the world" for @Shepherd_books . I went through the (extensive!) Further Readings list in A Theory of Everyone and have narrowed it down to 15 books. Please help me shortlist with ♥️, 🔁 & 💬! 🧵

Tweet media one

8

129

672

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

🚨New paper on "The Origins and Psychology of Human Cooperation" in Annual Review of Psychology w/ @JoHenrich . Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain human cooperation. How well do they explain the breadth, intensity, & variation across societies, history, & domain? 1/

Tweet media one

10

186

567

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

🚨Now out! Beyond WEIRD Psychology: Measuring and Mapping Scales of Cultural and Psychological Distance Summary thread: 1/ The world is not WEIRD vs non-WEIRD. How psychologically and culturally distant is the US from Canada? China from Japan?

Tweet media one

6

182

444

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

🚨New paper on "What makes us smart?" w/ @johenrich Unpacked in my soon-to-be-released book, "A Theory of Everyone" Take home: Studying hardware won't help you understand the capabilities of pivot tables in Excel nor Code Interpreter in ChatGPT. 1/

Tweet media one

12

116

409

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

Nudge theory ignores the systems-level says @NickJChater & Loewenstein, summarized in @FT by @TimHarford . Totally agree. Cultural evolution is the missing science of the systems-level. Cultural evolutionary behavioral science is the natural next step:

Tweet media one

15

116

401

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

A preview of a forthcoming piece @schimmelrob & I are putting the finishing touches on: cultural evolutionary behavioral science is the natural next step for behavioral science.

Tweet media one

@TempletonWorld

Templeton World Charity Foundation

@TempletonWorld

3 years

Applied cultural evolutionary behavioral science is in its infancy but promises to impact public health, sustainable development, & digital behavior. Learn more about its potential use in public policy from @mmuthukrishna & @schimmelrob #HumanFlourishing

Tweet media one

1

9

27

21

80

383

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

Does science self correct such that non-replicating papers get cited less? Apparently not. The prediction market can predict what won't replicate, but apparently the field doesn't. #metascience2019

Tweet media one

7

88

273

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

8 months

@AAAzzam I met Terry in the early 2000s. He had recently won the Fields & I was just an eager undergraduate but he took the time to chat and answer my many questions. The epitome of "the nicest, most humble people are those with nothing to prove". Other than challenging conjectures...

Tweet media one

0

1

194

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

Religiosity-IQ correlation is weakly negative. Education seems to make religious beliefs more complex. It's a mistake to think atheism is a product of IQ rather than cultural transmission. Imo, the secular/sacred separation is WEIRD / isn't carving nature at its joints.

@_alice_evans

Alice Evans

2 years

@akhivae I’m prepared to accept that some irreligious people may struggle with intellectual coherence … I recall @mmuthukrishna tweeting that atheism doesn’t correlate with iQ …

1

0

4

6

28

178

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

Story time: In 2018 we launched a new BSc in Psychological & Behavioural Science at the LSE. We just got the NSS satisfaction scores: 100% satisfaction! The first cohort graduate tomorrow. I'm incredibly proud of all of them and the program we’ve co-created. How we got here: 1/

4

24

174

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

🚨New paper on "Psychology as a historical science" w/ @JoHenrich & @slingerland20 in Annual Review of Psychology. Catalyzing the field of "historical psychology" by reviewing work on: origins of psychology and institutions today, psychology of the past (data from dead minds) 1/

Tweet media one

7

57

157

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

I updated "Beyond WEIRD Psychology: Measuring & Mapping Scales of Cultur..." on @SSRN to final forthcoming version @PsychScience : Glad so many people find it useful! Update to website soon🤞. DM if you'd like a preview.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

4

49

150

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

🎉 Book Cover Reveal! 🎉 I am so excited that I can officially unveil the book covers for my new book “A Theory of Everyone”. 📚 I'll be talking a lot more about the book between now and September. All retweets, likes, and other help getting the book out to your networks would

Tweet media one

3

40

138

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

8 months

Two of my students were recently sexually harassed at Blackfriars Station while walking home. I encouraged them to submit a police report, which they were brave enough to do. This was the response. Closing a case because of "an error in download times" is unacceptable @BTP .

Tweet media one

@BTP

British Transport Police

8 months

We can all do our bit to end violence against women and girls. You don't need to be a victim of sexual harassment to report to British Transport Police. If you witness someone being made to feel uncomfortable on the network, report it. #16DaysOfAction #SpeakUpInterrupt #VAWG

Tweet media one

3

14

25

8

13

134

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 months

Singapore is run like a corporation. The Prime Minister is paid like a CEO (~$2M) and other ministers like executives. Pay is decided by an independent commission and pegged to the top incomes in the country (to incentivize the best people to choose politics instead) and economic

@lukas_ohl

L🇬🇧as Ohl

3 months

@mmuthukrishna @s8mb Can you expand on this? How are MPs salaries tied to outcomes in Singapore?

1

0

1

2

45

131

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

🎉 Exciting news! The first glimpse of my new book is here-and available for pre-order! 📚 A Theory of Everyone is a blueprint for a better future, covering: 💡 energy, 🚀 innovation, 👥 cooperation, & 🧬evolution. *Substack subscribers can get a signed copy. Cover next week!

Tweet media one

8

21

126

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Honored to be one of this year's @SPSPnews SAGE Early Career Trajectory Award winners. Congratulations also to fellow award winners @CydneyDupree , @JimACEverett , Erika Hall, @Ivuoma ! Check out the other awards here:

14

5

126

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

🚨New cultural distance website is ready for testing! . Faster, prettier, and hopefully easier to use. Comments most welcome!

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

🚨Now out! Beyond WEIRD Psychology: Measuring and Mapping Scales of Cultural and Psychological Distance Summary thread: 1/ The world is not WEIRD vs non-WEIRD. How psychologically and culturally distant is the US from Canada? China from Japan?

Tweet media one

6

182

444

4

49

124

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

🚨New paper (& #RStats pckg) in Psych Methods: "Parsimony in Model Selection: Tools for Assessing Fit Propensity" w/ Carl Falk Say you have 2 theories rep in 2 stats models. Which theory/model is correct? The one that best fits the data right? Ok, but what about parsimony? 1/

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

6

34

121

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

My friend @contemplatethis is creating an animation series on cultural evolution. I think it's great. Check it out below:

Tweet card media

Cultural Evolution - part 1 of 3: Competition, cooperation, and the...

Part I of a three part series on Cultural Evolution, created by Sue Borchardt in collaboration with Michael Muthukrishna. Sue Borchardt is a research artist living…

6

38

113

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

10 months

In just 7 days, A Theory of Everyone will be released in the UK, AU & rest of the Commonwealth with an LSE launch hosted by @thetimes @matthewsyed . I thought I’d share a little bit about my background and why I wrote this book. Let’s go back to 1997. 1/

Tweet media one

2

25

103

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

. @PsychScience nails it on the "Grand Challenges of Psychological Science" including: 1. Moving beyond WEIRD toward globalization & diversity 2. Rigor, reproducibility, generalizability 3. Greater integration across fields & disciplines 4. Better theory

Tweet card media

The Grand Challenges of Psychological Science

An unprecedented confluence of forces has created what many psychological scientists consider an existential threat to the field. APS members share their concerns and hopes.

www.psychologicalscience.org

1

29

102

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

We make exactly this case, for historical psychology or psychology as a historical science, in this forthcoming @AnnualReviews (w/ @JoHenrich & @slingerland20 ). Paper:

Tweet media one

@EricNeumannPsy

Eric Neumann

@EricNeumannPsy

4 years

Someone mentioned this in class and now I cannot stop thinking about this. What if we're not only overgeneralizing from WEIRD populations, but also forget we live in a particular time as a species? We can hardly sample participants from the past, certainly not from the future.

19

15

155

6

27

101

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

Exciting new paper! Cultural evolution+behavioral science=efficient, endogenous & legitimate social norm interventions New @NatureHumBehav via Efferson, Vogt & Fehr: My News&Views on promise of Cultural Evolutionary Public Policy:

Tweet media one

1

36

101

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

Ironically, copying without understanding is what enables innovation without understanding #CollectiveBrain #CulturalEvolution

Tweet card media

Innovation in the collective brain | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological...

Innovation is often assumed to be the work of a talented few, whose products are passed on to the masses. Here, we argue that innovations are instead an emergent property of our species' cultural...

royalsocietypublishing.org

@SteveStuWill

Steve Stewart-Williams

5 years

This is what developmental psychologists call overimitation 😂

16

278

1K

4

29

99

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Honored to be among the APS Rising Stars. Many thanks to my amazing mentors who have supported me over the years and continue to inspire me!

@LSE_PBS

LSE Psychological & Behavioural Science

3 years

🎉 Congratulations @mmuthukrishna who has been selected as a @PsychScience APS Rising Star in recognition of his accomplishments in Economic Psychology. @LSEnews Find out more about Michael, his research and projects:

Tweet media one

2

2

17

7

1

97

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

After the 88 tweet long thread on our recent BBS paper - "Cultural evolution of genetic heritability" - I thought it was only fair to tweet each of the comments we received. Our response has taken us longer than expected, but we're almost done! 1/

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

🚨New target article in @BBSJournal : "Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability" w/ @RyutaroUchiyama & @RachelASpicer Preprint: BBS: Long thread, but important topic. Helps to resolve controversies such as IQ differences 1/

Tweet media one

22

246

727

1

29

97

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Here it's easier to see that heritability is a function not only of genes, traits, and ecology, but also of an evolving cultural environment. The environment is not an inert backdrop against which genes should be evaluated. It evolves in relation to both genes and ecology. 13/

Tweet media one

1

22

89

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Academic jobs - in this climate? Yes. LSE is hiring two new Assistant Professors: Psychological and Behavioural Science | Behavioral Science. Applications due April 4. Please retweet! #AcademicTwitter #academicjobs 1: 2:

2

112

91

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

We're giving away money to researchers who want to use the Database of Religious History (DRH) data to answer questions in cultural evolution, historical psychology, and more. Details below. Please retweet! 🫰💰🏧🏦💲

Tweet media one

4

62

84

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

New paper: Societies more susceptible to social learning (e.g. China) more culturally stable, but also more susceptible to rapid transformation. Punctuated cultural equilibrium. Models differences in cross-cultural social networks and influence. Why? 1/3

Tweet media one

1

30

82

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

I am honored to receive this recognition as a Rising Star from the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES). It's humbling to be named alongside such esteemed colleagues in our field: @KhandisBlake , @dconroybeam , @JaimieKrems , @PatrickESavage . Thank you to my collaborators,

@HumBehEvoSoc

HBES

1 year

HBES congratulates its amazing Rising Stars: Khandis Blake, Daniel Conroy-Beam, Jaimie Krems, Michael Muthukrishna, & Patrick Savage. And its new HBES Fellows: David Puts, Josh Tybur, Daniel Sznycer. Amazing work from all!

0

3

58

5

4

84

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

🚨 What's the cultural evolution of genetic heritability? We got a lot of commentaries on our article. Here's a 🧵 summary of our reply "Integrating cultural evolution and behavioral genetics". But first, in case you missed it, here's the target article summary.

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

🚨New target article in @BBSJournal : "Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability" w/ @RyutaroUchiyama & @RachelASpicer Preprint: BBS: Long thread, but important topic. Helps to resolve controversies such as IQ differences 1/

Tweet media one

22

246

727

3

25

84

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

Excellent paper on why stats is no substitute for theory. "Lack of theory building and testing impedes progress in the factor and network literature" by @EikoFried forthcoming in Psychological Inquiry

Lack of theory building and testing impedes progress in the factor and network literature

The last decade has brought reforms to improve methodological practices, with the goal to increase the reliability and replicability of effects. However, explanations of effects remain scarce, and a...

2

28

84

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

Tensions from #metascience2019 : Our job is not to publish papers. Our job is to figure out how the world works. Papers should be the altruistic act of letting people know what we found, but the incentives are all in publishing papers. How to fix?

5

17

78

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

I'm looking to hire data scientist/s. The role straddles industry and academia. If you'd like more details, send me an email. Tell your friends. Please retweet. #DataScience

3

90

76

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

Economic history meets cultural evolution in this masterful chapter by @Harvard economist @DrNathanNunn . Recognizing history as evolution offers a deeper understanding of human capital, innovation, gender roles, barriers to sustained economic growth, and more. #EconTwitter

@nberpubs

NBER

4 years

Benefits of viewing history through an evolutionary lens, from @DrNathanNunn

Tweet media one

3

89

281

1

19

73

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

6 years

New @PBS #documentary on cultural evolution. Well almost. On the rise of "First #Civilizations ". Premieres Tuesday. I discuss #innovation , #inequality , sociality & collective brains in E3 on #Cities . #History #Tokyo #CivilizationsPBS . Trailer, more clips:

6

32

66

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

6 months

🎉 So exciting to see A Theory of Everyone in @Nature 's list of 5 of the best science picks!

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

2

10

68

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

If national IQ were properly measured, you might still find diffs. Data quality is a big problem, but a bigger problem is how we interpret IQ. IQ tests aren't just culturally-biased-there's no such thing as culture-free IQ. More: &

Tweet media one

@RebeccaSear

Rebecca Sear

2 years

Are there 'race' differences in intelligence? Evidence supposedly comes from 'national IQ' datasets, but when you look at the data...there's a problem: ‘National IQ’ datasets do not provide accurate, unbiased or comparable measures of cognitive ability

36

166

558

0

11

67

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Genes & culture are intertwined: e.g. our jaws too weak and guts too short for a world w/o controlled fire & cooked food. It's obvious that ↘️environmental variation will ↗️heritability scores. Less obvious how culture can mask or unmask genetic variation... 6/

1

8

61

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

If cultural evolution is correct, our psychology should vary across culture *and* across history. We need cultural psychologists and historical psychologists. (And theory to guide both) #WEIRDPeopleProblem #metascience2019

2

21

65

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

Great paper! Puzzle: Big 5 don't replicate in small-scale societies; more correlated in less complex societies Theory: Computational model, consistent with cultural evolutionary framework Theory makes new prediction: trait variance increases with complexity Predictions tested

@psmaldino

Paul Smaldino

5 years

Our paper, "Niche Diversity Can Explain Cross-Cultural Differences in Personality Structure," is out today in @NatureHumBehav . (with @SpeciesTypical , @RuedenChris , and Michael Gurven).

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

4

56

146

1

22

64

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

11 months

With @thetimes ranking The London School of Economics (LSE) #1 for psychology, I thought I'd re-up the story of our undergraduate BSc in Psychological and Behavioral Science. It remains one of the things I'm most proud of in my career. #psychology #university

Tweet media one

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

Story time: In 2018 we launched a new BSc in Psychological & Behavioural Science at the LSE. We just got the NSS satisfaction scores: 100% satisfaction! The first cohort graduate tomorrow. I'm incredibly proud of all of them and the program we’ve co-created. How we got here: 1/

4

24

174

2

10

66

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Quick summary: We reconcile behavioral genetics and cultural evolution under a dual inheritance framework. A cultural evolutionary behavioral genetic approach cuts through the nature–nurture debate and helps resolve controversies such as IQ. 2/

Tweet media one

4

7

59

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

Wow!📚 #1 New Release on Amazon! People are clearly not judging "A Theory of Everyone" by its cover... it doesn't have one yet. But seriously, I'm blown away by the early support. Publicity hasn't officially started, so thank you for the early pre-orders!📖🎉

Tweet media one

6

4

58

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Quick common misinterpretation - heritability is not an index of the genetic basis of a trait or a measure of the relative contribution of nature : nurture. It's the proportion of phenotypic variance for some trait that is explained by genetic variance. 9/

1

7

58

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

Ever peeked at Wikipedia list of cognitive biases (or the attached image)? It's a mess. We desperately need more work like this paper on the evolutionary (gene & culture) & individual learning bases of our heuristics and biases. @ptshpark is one to watch.

Tweet media one

@JoHenrich

Joe Henrich

2 years

Fascinating evolutionary model by our lab's @ptshpark illustrating how our species' reliance on social learning and CREDs might create some of our individual decision-making biases: @mmuthukrishna @robert_t_boyd @rlmcelreath

0

24

70

1

21

58

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

2. Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell Why? Probably the best lay introduction to economics that I'm aware of. If you have opinions about the vices or virtues of capitalism, liberalism, socialism, inequality, it offers a rigorous discussion of the underlying considerations.

Tweet media one

1

4

59

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

Link to the paper (forthcoming, Psychological Science): Current website for downloading distances: (Update coming soon)

2

24

58

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

🚨New paper: "Paradox of diversity in the collective brain" in PhilTrans B @royalsociety @RSocPublishing w/ @schimmelrob @layla_razek @eric_schnell Paper: 1/

Tweet card media

Paradox of diversity in the collective brain | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B:...

Human societies are collective brains. People within every society have cultural brains—brains that have evolved to selectively seek out adaptive knowledge and socially transmit solutions. Innovati...

royalsocietypublishing.org

1

22

58

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 months

@SashaGusevPosts "We are experiencing higher than normal call volumes" 🙄

0

2

56

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

🚨 @BBSJournal paper "Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability" is finally out! Check out the article, many commentaries, and our reply. Great back and forth! Here's an explainer thread of the target article:

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

🚨New target article in @BBSJournal : "Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability" w/ @RyutaroUchiyama & @RachelASpicer Preprint: BBS: Long thread, but important topic. Helps to resolve controversies such as IQ differences 1/

Tweet media one

22

246

727

1

17

52

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 months

🎉 We did it! As I predicted, LSE is now ranked #1 for psychology in the UK! 🎉 Proud of our team, our students, and our commitment to excellence. Your move @Cambridge_Uni , @UniofOxford @LSE_PBS @CambPsych @OxExpPsy @LSEnews

Tweet media one

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

Higher entry standards and higher research quality than both @Cambridge_Uni ( #1 ) and @UniofOxford ( #2 ). Our graduate outcomes just aren't public yet. But I know where our students went. See you next year Oxbridge!

0

1

10

4

6

50

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

A new theory of Western civilization. @JoHenrich

2

14

50

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

The present methodological and statistical solutions to the replication crisis will only help ensure solid stones; they don’t help us build the house. Preregistration and multiple replications(this time with larger samples!)are great, but a solution to decades of distrusted data?

Tweet media one

2

9

48

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Public talk on "The Cultural Brain Hypothesis, Collective Brains, and the Evolution of Intelligence" tomorrow (Tuesday March 9) at 12:15 EST / 17:15 GMT.

Tweet media one

@seregavr

Sergey Gavrilets

4 years

DySoC webinars "Human origins and cultural evolution: Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Descent of Man" @CulturalEvolSoc @HumBehEvoSoc @Journal_EHS @JoHenrich @ChrisStringer65 @mmuthukrishna @mnvrsngh @SarahMathew1 @TomCurrieEvo @radicalanthro

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

0

89

147

1

16

50

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

6 years

The Cultural Brain Hypothesis (CBH): a more general theory for brain evolution across species that unifies more specific explanations around environmental hypotheses and social brain hypotheses. The theory is formalized using an analytical and a computational model. 1/

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

6 years

Hard to imagine, but our brains have gotten bigger. New paper with Doebeli, Chudek, and @JoHenrich explains why: The Cultural Brain Hypothesis. Summary: Press release: Paper:

Tweet media one

1

21

36

2

28

49

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

🚨New paper on "Cultural similarity among coreligionists..." in @PNASNews w/ White & Norenzayan. Are major world religions "super-ethnic" identities, crossing national borders as predicted by cultural evolution? Yes. Tested using CFst. Link: 1/

Tweet media one

2

17

50

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

"Of the 6,000 plant species humans have eaten over time, the world now mostly eats nine, of which just three — rice, wheat and maize — provide 50% of all calories." The decreasing diversity of our food ingredients.

How Changing Diets Leave Us Exposed to War, Extreme Weather and Market Turbulence

The convergence of global diets means just three crops provide 50% of the world’s calories. When shocks come, they hurt.

www.bloomberg.com

1

16

47

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

11 months

🇪🇪Estonia, a small northern European nation, has quietly emerged as a global leader in technology and innovation. This small country has made monumental strides, punching well above its weight, and achieving remarkable accolades. It's setting itself up to become the Silicon

Tweet media one

3

7

49

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

6. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan Why? This is like the historical complement to David Reich's book, on how ideas we think of as rooted in the Greeks (or earlier in Europe) are ultimately from further down the Silk Road, shared, recombined back and

Tweet media one

1

3

47

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Top N lists are always contentious, but some favorites off the top of my head in no particular order: - refining and making more precise predictions for social learning strategies (e.g. ) @RachKendal @_lrendell . 1/

Tweet card media

Social Learning Strategies: Bridge-Building between Fields - PubMed

While social learning is widespread, indiscriminate copying of others is rarely beneficial. Theory suggests that individuals should be selective in what, when, and whom they copy, by following...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

@Oliver_S_Curry

Oliver Scott Curry

@Oliver_S_Curry

3 years

@mmuthukrishna @schimmelrob Michael, what would you say are the top ten (or five or three) discoveries that have been made by ‘cultural evolution’? What has it explained that we didn’t understand before?

0

0

6

1

15

48

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

6 years

I'm hiring a 3 year post-doc. Well paid. To riff on @rlmcelreath , I care more about mad skills and less about long pub lists. You can be from anywhere in the world and from any field. Drop me an email if you have any questions. Please retweet. #AcademicJob

Tweet media one

2

85

47

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

9. Cultural evolution books I'm going to cheat here and include several of the most recent books on cultural evolution. Why? More people are now familiar with the term, but still don't fully appreciate the implications. Cultural evolution is the backbone of my book, at the

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

2

5

46

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

10 months

The proposal for A Theory of Everyone was submitted before the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, rising inflation and cost of living, and now the horrific events in the Middle East. I wrote the book because once you see the links between energy, innovation, cooperation and

@ProfPaulPoast

Paul Poast

10 months

Why are we witnessing a "cascade" of wars around the world? [THREAD]

Tweet media one

169

583

2K

3

11

45

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Congratulations to Dr @RyutaroUchiyama who passed his viva w/ no corrections! Ryu is the lead author of this recent @BBSJournal paper on the "Cultural evolution of genetic heritability". He's also good person to know if you're looking to run studies in Singapore! Well done Ryu!

Tweet media one

6

5

46

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

. @JonHaidt on our commitment to truth and why he'll be quitting @SPSPnews at the end of this year: Thoughtful, well argued piece.

Tweet media one

2

3

44

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

Science is an abductive process with incomplete data and large to infinite space of hypotheses. Better theory can far reduce the possible or likely hypotheses and offer explanations we might not consider based on the data alone.

5

9

43

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

New paper "The ties that bind us" in LSE Public Policy Review. I review the evolutionary literature on cooperation & ways it can be applied in policies for reciprocity across the lifecycle (e.g. pensions and welfare): Rest of issue:

Tweet media one

@LSEPress

LSE Press

3 years

📢 NEW issue of LSE Public Policy Review is all about reciprocity and you can read all six articles here for free 👉 #Reciprocity #SocialContract #OpenAccess

Tweet media one

2

13

20

0

21

45

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Excited to join this amazing, multidisciplinary group of scholars working on the problem of how we move toward global cooperation.

@CIFAR_News

CIFAR

3 years

Our Boundaries, Membership & Belonging program welcomes three new CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars: @EDerenoncourt ( @berkeleyecon ), @mmuthukrishna ( @LSEnews ) & @yangyang_zhou ( @UBCPoliSci ).

Tweet media one

2

2

24

2

3

45

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

🌎 Immigration and multicultural policies are the lifeblood of a diverse society🌍 But if they are poorly designed, they can be bad for both immigrants and existing populations alike. The beauty of a mosaic lies in the harmony of its varied pieces. The symphony of flavors in a

Tweet media one

2

15

44

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

🧵of 🧵s of papers I've tweeted about. A selected publications list / Twitter CV. First, some older papers I quite like before I was more active on Twitter. More here:

PUBLICATIONS - MICHAEL MUTHUKRISHNA

Under Review or In Preparation Li, X., Schimmelfennig, R., & Muthukrishna, M. (2024). Economic Growth and the Evolution of Evil Eye and Witch Hunts. Spicer, R., Monroe, M. W., Slingerland, E., &...

www.michael.muthukrishna.com

2

8

41

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 years

8 Rejected Papers That Won the Nobel Prize

0

33

42

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

As promised, I've added visualizations of the cultural distance data between the regions of Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine is a culturally distinct country. Details and descriptions in the original post: #UkraineRussianWar #UkraineRussiaWar

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

3

13

43

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

3. Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the new science of the human past by David Reich Why? The new science of DNA reveals a lot about how we think about identity. Humans are a migratory species and our stories are complicated. Ancient DNA don't always match

Tweet media one

1

3

42

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

10 months

📢Leadership Quarterly paper call on "Theory in leadership and management" Spearheaded by outgoing editor @JohnAntonakis & in the spirit of A Problem in Theory, the goal is more theoretical rigor in the leadership & management literature. Please retweet!

Tweet media one

1

21

41

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

We're hiring again - 2 tenure track positions in psychological and behavioral science @LSE_PBS Please retweet!

0

45

39

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

1 year

📚✨ Reader reactions are flooding in and I'm floored! One of life's great joys is seeing your work recognized by those you deeply respect. Experts from biology, psychology, economics, anthropology, behavioral science, history, archeology, philosophy, business, policy, and more👇

2

14

41

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

1. The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe by Arthur Koestler Why? It's a history of scientific advances, particularly in cosmology. I'm considering it because it influenced my thinking a lot when I was a teenager. Many advances in science require

Tweet media one

1

3

41

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Correction: looks like @NatureHumBehav are making it a requirement during peer review, not hiring professionals. I'm concerned you'll have a supply issue - how many reviewers will have the skills and time for this?

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

Great move by @NatureHumBehav . Professional code review to remove the burden from reviewers.

2

2

36

4

5

40

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

5 years

Cultural Evolutionary Neuroscience w/ @RyutaroUchiyama Cultural evolution models are 'mind-blind'. Just as the messy details of genetics inform and constrain, so too should understanding the architectural and computational particulars of nervous systems.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

1

14

41

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

The Cultural Brain Hypothesis: How culture drives brain expansion, sociality, and life history

Tweet media one

@ed_hagen

Ed Hagen

3 years

Ever wonder why we evolutionary psychologists argue that our *human-specific* cognitive abilities evolved in the Pleistocene? This is why:

Tweet media one

26

122

491

0

10

41

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

11 months

Fun article, but can't say this enough - we have a problem in theory: @JoHenrich

Tweet card media

A problem in theory

Nature Human Behaviour - Muthukrishna & Henrich argue that solving the replication crisis in psychology partly requires well-specified, overarching theoretical frameworks. They outline how...

@paulbloomatyale

Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

11 months

One of the smartest and most depressing discussions of psychology I've seen in a long time, by the always-interesting @a_m_mastroianni

27

186

714

3

7

39

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

"Afghanistan is getting the government many want" 99% favor making Sharia the law of the land: 81% favor corporal punishment for theft 85% favor stoning as punishment for adultery 79% favor a death penalty for leaving Islam Institutions need norms.

Tweet media one

7

8

37

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

Eating breakfast in beautiful St Andrews, Scotland while I wait for the @DivIntelligence students to arrive. We're discussing what makes humans intelligent, including this short new paper with @johenrich :

Tweet media one

0

7

38

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

4. Energy and the Wealth of Nations: An Introduction to Biophysical Economics by Charles Hall and Kent Klitgaard Why? From the key figure in calculating energy return on investment (EROI), it's a book that should have launched debates and discussions about how our economies are

Tweet media one

1

6

38

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

3 years

🎙️"Cultural Evolutionary Psychology" #HBES2021 talk on YouTube: w/ intro by @JoHenrich .

Tweet media one

0

8

38

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 months

8. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez Why? One of my favorite documentaries is Good Hair by Chris Rock. It's about African American perceptions and practices around hair, something that I hadn't really thought about. It was

Tweet media one

1

5

37

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

6 years

Hard to imagine, but our brains have gotten bigger. New paper with Doebeli, Chudek, and @JoHenrich explains why: The Cultural Brain Hypothesis. Summary: Press release: Paper:

Tweet media one

1

21

36

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

7 years

Cetaceans: evolutionary aliens with surprising similarities to primates. @NatureEcoEvo paper w/ @Susanne_Shultz , Fox

Tweet card media

The social and cultural roots of whale and dolphin brains

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Cetaceans show a similar increase in brain size as is seen in human evolution. Here, this increase is shown to be linked to an expansion in the social and...

1

12

34

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

⚡️New WP: Parsimony in Model Selection Models may better fit data not because they're more correct, but because they better fit any data, even nonsense - low parsimony. #RStats pkg (ockhamSEM) for SEM but problem of quantifying parsimony is broader.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

2

11

38

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

Great book! Why is the West peculiar and prosperous? @JoHenrich must be the only prof on the planet w/ tenure in econ, psych, anthro, & evolutionary bio. It shows in the breadth and depth of this thesis, freely drawing on disciplines to answer the question. #CatholicChurch #family

Tweet media one

@JoHenrich

Joe Henrich

4 years

Just arrived! 10 years of work, materialized in a compact form. @FSGtweets @whitneypeeling

Tweet media one

26

140

952

0

10

34

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

@joelstein @emollick Author here. Non-metric multidimensional scaling axes. Basically the best 2D projection/ shadow of what's really a multidimensional object (many dimensions of cultural distance).

5

0

36

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

2 years

Love the idea of DALL-E 2 as a way to tap into our collective brain. Along the same lines, GPT-3 is a mirror that reveals as much about us as it does about AI. GPT-3 is astonishingly human because most of what humans say is also derivative and recombinatorial.

0

3

35

@mmuthukrishna

Michael Muthukrishna

4 years

This forthcoming paper discusses some of these points: Quick thread of notes: WEIRD is a clever, but contrived backronym that might be a victim of its own success. Societies don't lie along a spectrum from WEIRD to non-WEIRD.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

@dsznycer

Daniel Sznycer

4 years

Is the WEIRD acronym falsifiable? Good question! [Thread]

2

27

69

1

15

36