Dominik Deffner
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dominikdeffner.bsky.social
Dominik Deffner
@dominikdeffner.bsky.social
1.4K followers 1K following 68 posts
Assistant Professor for Computational Modelling of Behaviour @unimarburg.bsky.social | (Social) decision-making and (cultural) evolution | Website: https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb04/team-deffner/deffner
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
alexthewitty.bsky.social
Over the moon to announce that, as of last Friday, I’m officially #PhDone! I’d like to thank everyone who supported me along the way, including, but not limited to, my amazing supervisor @thecharleywu.bsky.social, and all members (past or present) of the HMC lab and the @velezcolab.bsky.social 🎓
November 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
ehowaspi.bsky.social
Our New Paper is out in Nature Human Behaviour: 🚨 Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials! 🦧 www.nature.com/articles/s41.... See 🧵
Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials - Nature Human Behaviour
Howard-Spink et al. develop an empirically based model of orangutan diet development, which suggests that social learning is vital for orangutans to acquire varied diets.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
bjjbarrett.bsky.social
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...
files.newsletter2go.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
christophvoelter.bsky.social
Fully funded #PhDposition in Comparative Cultural Psychology @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social.
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.

All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
www.eva.mpg.de
November 13, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
benkawam.bsky.social
New paper!

We propose a framework to empirically study animal social relationships by modelling social network (SN) data as time-series—that is, without the need to aggregate them over time.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Each dyad (a, b) moves through four discrete states over time, represented by coloured circles. The dyad remains in a given state for a certain duration, or "holding time", before transitioning to a new state according to state-specific transition probabilities, indicated by arrows showing all possible (non-zero) transitions. Paintings by Sofia M. Pereira & Judith von Nordheim.
November 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
benjaminpitt.bsky.social
Do people remember where things are relative to their body (e.g. my left side) or relative to the environment (the North/uphill side)? The answer is both at once, according to my new paper now out in Psychological Science! 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
pengzell.bsky.social
This will spark some great papers: an open digital dataset of roads in the Roman Empire
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Google Maps’ for Roman roads reveals vast extent of ancient network
A high-resolution digital map nearly doubles the known length of the ancient road network.
www.nature.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
zamakany.bsky.social
Part of a startup project funded by Max Planck Innovation's MAX!mize program, we're developing next-generation software for automated analysis of animal social behavior. We have this opening:
Software Engineer (m/f/d) (80 - 100 %) Behavioral Analysis Platform Development
Details : lnkd.in/ewXgnBmV
November 7, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
matzekloft.bsky.social
The final paper of my dissertation has just been published in Psychometrika (@pmetricsoc.bsky.social). Many thanks to @bsiepe.bsky.social and @danielheck.bsky.social, who co-authored it with me.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
The Interval Consensus Model: Aggregating Continuous Bounded Interval Responses | Psychometrika | Cambridge Core
The Interval Consensus Model: Aggregating Continuous Bounded Interval Responses
www.cambridge.org
November 4, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
chelseaparlett.bsky.social
Does JavaScript….go hard?!??
sinistercinemastudios.art Kinell @sinistercinemastudios.art · Aug 28
This is some of the hardest shit I've seen in my life
October 24, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
davidwlawson.bsky.social
New paper out today with Zhian Chen.

We argue that modern intensive parenting is not only exhausting for parents, but in some cases disrupts healthy child development.

What is 'overparenting'? And can evolutionary theory help us understand how we got here?

academic.oup.com/emph/advance...
When parental care hurts: Extended parental care and the evolution of overparenting
Abstract. In recent years, childrearing in high-income countries has become described as ‘relentless’ in its demands on parents. In response to growing del
academic.oup.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
bsiepe.bsky.social
We built the openESM database:
▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place
▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software
▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python

Find out more:
🌐 openesmdata.org
📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
October 22, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
thecharleywu.bsky.social
Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution posted on October 16, 2025 We are currently seeking a highly motivated individual for a ful...
hmc-lab.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
bjornlindstrom.bsky.social
How do humans keep inventing tools and technologies that no single person could create alone?

Our new preprint, led by
@anilyaman.bsky.social & @ts-brain.bsky.social
shows that semantic knowledge guides innovation and drives cultural evolution. 🧠📘 arxiv.org/abs/2510.12837
October 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
dirkwulff.bsky.social
🚨 New preprint 🚨

Analyzing the academic trajectories of 78,216 psychology researchers, we demonstrate a persistent gender attrition gap, with women psychologists dropping out of academia at consistently higher rates than men psychologists.

Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2510.13273
October 16, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
thecharleywu.bsky.social
Great to see this work finally released! Fun fact, Valerii was the winner of the #COSMOS2023 poster prize with an earlier iteration of this project
October 15, 2025 at 3:42 PM
dominikdeffner.bsky.social
Which processes underlie collective intelligence in naturalistic human groups?

In new work led by Valerii Chirkov, we show that payoff selectivity is key in transforming a group of individuals into an intelligent collective 🤝🧠

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY7n...

Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
First-Person Perspective of the Voluntary Payoff-Sharing (VP) Condition
YouTube video by Valerii Chirkov
www.youtube.com
October 15, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
sonjawild.bsky.social
Out today in @plosbiology.org (1/5)

Siblings and non-parental adults provide alternative pathways to cultural inheritance in juvenile great tits 🐦🧩

Link to study:
10.0.5.91/journal.pbio...

Co-authors:
@lucymaplin.bsky.social
@galarconnieto.bsky.social
October 9, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
ehbea.bsky.social
EHBEA is looking for new PRESIDENT and SECRETARY for 2026-2029! 👀

If you know of anybody who could represent EHBEA, nominate them as president!

If you know with good organisational skills, nominate them as secretary!

DEADLINE: 16/12/2026

HERE IS THE FORM 👇

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
EHBEACommitteeNominationForm_Pres_Sec.doc
EHBEA Committee 2026-2029: Nomination Form The EHBEA Steering Committee is calling for nominations for the following open committee positions for 2026-2029. You are invited to nominate one or more c...
docs.google.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
nicoschuck.bsky.social
I am gonna take the option where I get more time to read, understand and write. maybe that AI can go to committee meetings for me?
October 7, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
enourani.bsky.social
🦅PhD position 🦅 in my new group at @fbm-unil.bsky.social in Switzerland, studying how the social and resource landscapes shape the learning process for soaring flight. Deadline: Oct 30. Pls repost! career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...
Golden eagle on the nest in Finland (by O. Karlin)
October 6, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
eslr.bsky.social
📢🚀 Are you an early-career researcher working on anything related to culture, behaviour or learning? 🧠🌍 Join ESLR, an interdisciplinary research community! We have a NEW website and our membership is now FREE. 👉 Sign up here to get updates and become a member: www.eslrsociety.com/membership
ESLR | Membership
www.eslrsociety.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
haneuljang.bsky.social
Finally in my hands! A new book from @mgurven.bsky.social on why we age, and how we can age better, through the lens of evolutionary anthropology💙 Very excited to dive in!
October 1, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Reposted by Dominik Deffner
ruben.the100.ci
Our fragmentation paper is now finally out! I put some of the dumb quips that didn't make the cut in the alt texts.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
A fragmented field. If we conceive of the constructs and concepts studied in behavioral science as a map, we would find that it is highly fragmented and directions are hard to come by. Scientists can hardly stand on each others' shoulders if they cannot manage to meet on common ground. Fragmentation has worsened, not decreased, as the field has grown. Partly, this happens because we have too many reverse Columbuses, who, in search of prestige, set out to find a new continent, but just end up renaming India. But partly, we face a real, solvable search problem when trying to connect our fuzzy constructs and flexible measures. Most measures are used only once. To be clear, we do not want to prevent or reduce refinements of existing constructs and measures. Revisions, translations, and other refinements can contribute to a more coherent, organized literature and improve measurement. We are most concerned with the measures conceived with limited planning and released into the literature without much commitment or much of a life expectancy. In ontologies, these are sometimes referred to as “orphan nodes.”
September 29, 2025 at 10:37 AM