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Jean-Baptiste André

@jbaptistandre.bsky.social

810 followers 650 following 29 posts

Evolutionary biologist studying human behavior and societies through adaptationist reasoning. CNRS researcher @ Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL & Institut Jean Nicod.

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Psychology 21%

Sociology 19%

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Jean-Baptiste André @jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 15d

Ever wanted to read about an old problem almost nobody cares about anymore?

Well, I wrote about it.

🧵

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Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Jean‐Baptiste André, David W. Lawson

EHBEA @ehbea.bsky.social · 2d

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

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Jean-Baptiste André @jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 15d

6/ Read the article @royalsocietypublishing.org 👉 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Evolutionary parsimony: an equilibrium refinement that sharply constrains the space of outcomes in games with multiple equilibria | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Evolutionary game theory loses much of its predictive power in games with multiple equilibria. For such games, this article introduces a simple and general refinement principle, grounded in evolutiona...

doi.org

Jean-Baptiste André @jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 15d

5/ Main consequence: in plausible evolutionary equilibria, reciprocal cooperation is guided by real cues of mutual benefit, never by bizarre rules tied to arbitrary cues unrelated to payoffs.

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Jean-Baptiste André @jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 15d

4/ What this article shows:
 In reality, the bizarre strategies of the folk theorem simply have no chance of ever emerging in the first place. So there is no need for mechanisms to choose between them—the problem is essentially an artefact of misapplied game theory.

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Jean-Baptiste André @jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 15d

3/ The most common solution in the literature: group selection. 
Since equilibria are too many, you (supposedly) need group selection to pick the most cooperative ones.

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Jean-Baptiste André @jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 15d

2/ Why is this a problem?
Because it prevents game theory from making precise predictions about social behavior.

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Jean-Baptiste André @jbaptistandre.bsky.social · 15d

1/ The old problem: the folk theorem and the extravagant diversity of equilibria in repeated games.
Game theory allows a proliferation of bizarre, counterintuitive patterns of behavior to qualify as equilibria.

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Reposted by Paul E. Smaldino, Jean‐Baptiste André, David W. Lawson

Jorge Peña @jorgeapenas.bsky.social · 17d

📢 Apply to our (2-year) research fellowships at @iast.fr

Join a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and indisciplinary group of scholars in Toulouse, walkable/cyclable pink city of chocolatines in the South of France.

Deadline: November 15, 2025.

www.iast.fr/research-fel...

Research Fellowships

Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...

www.iast.fr

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Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Olivier Morin, Jean‐Baptiste André

Edgar Dubourg @edgardubourg.bsky.social · Jun 2

We often have to judge who is knowledgeable—precisely when we are not. Can humans really do that? Our new paper in Psychological Science shows that, surprisingly, we can. drive.google.com/file/d/1b15E...

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Reposted by Stanislas Dehaene, Jean‐Baptiste André

Franck Ramus @franckramus.bsky.social · Dec 19

MOOC "la psychologie pour les enseignants"
Fun Mooc, ENS- PSL et Réseau Canopé
Pour remédier à l'éparpillement des sites, voici un lien unique pour accéder à toutes les vidéos, parcours et ressources:

MOOC psycho pour enseignants | Linktree

Tous les liens!

linktr.ee

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Reposted by Hugo Mercier, Jean‐Baptiste André

Dieter Lukas @dieterlukas.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy · Jul 8

Our #study finds that #male #dominance isn't the norm among #primates, and starts to unravel what shapes flexibility in intersexual power

paper (OA) https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2500405122

press release https://www.mpg.de/24986976/0630-evan-beyond-the-alpha-male-150495-x?c=2249

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · Jul 7

EHB commentaries on Baumard and André's "The ecological approach to culture" are growing (see "Commentaries" section at the end). Good.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/evol...

a man in a red jacket is eating a sandwich

ALT: a man in a red jacket is eating a sandwich

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · Jul 1

"a forest is not treated as the output of a second inheritance system or as a group-level adaptation... culture is not a transmitted substance; it is the structured context that emerges from repeated and overlapping individual actions"

Reconciling Our Three Traditions: Human Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Cultural Evolution - HBES

– by Nicolas Baumard & Jean-Baptiste André The evolutionary social sciences are grounded in the idea that evolutionary theory provides a unified framework to explain human behavior, including social n...

www.hbes.com

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

Human Behavior & Evolution Society @humbehevosoc.bsky.social · Jun 30

Nicolas Baumard & Jean-Baptiste Andre’s “ecological view of culture” provides an exciting new perspective that links Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology, & Cultural Evolution. Read more in their HBES blog post: www.hbes.com/reconciling-...

Reconciling Our Three Traditions: Human Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Cultural Evolution - HBES

www.hbes.com

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

Jorge Peña @jorgeapenas.bsky.social · Jun 24

Here, weird guy from X, I fixed it for you:

"If a scientific society wants to be welcoming to [...] students & researchers [from the Global South], does it make sense to hold its next annual conference in a country that's notorious for [being located in the Global South]?"

The answer is Yes.

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Reposted by Olivier Morin, Eric Hehman, Jean‐Baptiste André

Hugo Mercier @hugoreasoning.bsky.social · Jun 2

We have a lovely new paper out, showing that even ignorant people can be very good at recognising who's knowledgeable based on minimal cues

Edgar Dubourg @edgardubourg.bsky.social · Jun 2

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

xavier roberts-gaal @xrg.bsky.social · May 20

the functional form of moral judgment is (sometimes) the nash bargaining solution

new preprint👇

figure 2 from our preprint, reporting the results from two experiments

we measure moral judgments about dividing money between two parties and manipulate the degree of asymmetry in the outside options each party has

we find that moral judgments track predictions from rational bargaining models like the nash bargaining solution and the kalai-smorodinsky solution in a negotiation context

by contrast, in a donation context, moral intuitions completely reverse, instead tracking redistributive and egalitarian principles

preprint link: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/3uqks_v1

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · May 19

Alona Fyshe @alonaf.bsky.social on the BabyLM Challenge, a competition that trains language models (LMs) on smaller datasets, more akin to how a baby learns, in search of solutions to some of the major challenges of today’s LLMs.

#NeuroAI #neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/neuroai/the-...

Can babies inspire more efficient learning algorithms?

A competition that trains language models on smaller datasets, more akin to how a baby learns, seeks solutions to some of LLM’s major challenges.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Reposted by Nichola Raihani, Jean‐Baptiste André

Léo Fitouchi @lfitouchi.bsky.social · May 6

🧵New paper out in Cognition

Why do people moralize harmless carnal sins (e.g. gluttony, masturbation)?

@danielnettle.bsky.social & I find that these behaviors activate reciprocity-based moral judgment—no need for a distinct "purity" module.

50 days free link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1l18D2Hx2-...

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Reposted by Johannes Breuer, Jean‐Baptiste André

PCI Psychology @psych.peercommunityin.org · Apr 23

The PCI Psychology website is live! psych.peercommunityin.org We're working hard to be ready for launch (planned May 2025) but there's plenty you can do in the meantime to help it along. Go check it out! #psychscisky #scipub

PCI Psychology

Peer Community in Psychology

psych.peercommunityin.org

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

Dr Sam Roberts @samroberts7.bsky.social · Apr 18

Many thanks to all organisers of #EHBEA2025 for putting on such an inclusive and welcoming conference! @ehbea.bsky.social @ehbea2025.bsky.social

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

Prof. Gillian Brown @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social · Apr 16

Looking forward to EHBEA 2026 in Leiden, Netherlands. Dates for diary: 15-17 Apr 2026 #ehbea2025

Slide with information about next year's conference.

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 15

🧠✨ EHBEA 2025 — Tuesday Highlights ✨🧠

From cultural transmission to chatbots and grandmothers, here's what's coming up on Day 2 (April 15) at #EHBEA2025.

A thread 👇

@ehbea.bsky.social #HumanBehaviour #EvPsych #Anthropology #Research #EHBEA

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 14

Today is the day!! #EHBEA2025 is now here!! 😁🎉

Come find us at registration, which opens at 2pm!

Then:
- Pre-conference panel on big team science, 2-3pm
- Conference opening @330pm
- Plenary by Russell Hill @4pm
- Reception @5pm

Can't wait to see you all today!

@ehbea.bsky.social

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 12

✨️Guess what?!?✨️

We're putting together a starter pack to make it easy to follow EHBEA 2025 presenters and attendees!! 🔥👩‍🔬

Want to be added? Drop a comment below! 👇

#EHBEA2025 #Evolution #HumanBehaviour

@ehbea.bsky.social

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 11

🚨 We’re so excited to welcome you to #EHBEA2025 — starting THIS MONDAY in Newcastle! 🎉

We’re opening with a bang 💥: A pre-conference panel on Big Team Science at 2pm!

What worked, what didn't & more!

📝 Register: tinyurl.com/RegisterTeam...

#TeamScience #HumanBehaviour #EHBEA
@ehbea.bsky.social

Home | EHBEA2025

www.ehbea2025.com

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 9

Last, but denfinitely not least:

🧭 Code of Conduct

We take your safety and wellbeing seriously.

Please review EHBEA’s Code of Conduct.

Concerns? Speak to Amanda Rotella, Paula Sheppard, or David Coall. [10/10]

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Reposted by Jean‐Baptiste André

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 9

✅ What to Bring

No conference swag = more sustainable & better catering! 🥗

Don’t forget:
• Notepad & pen
• Bag
• Refillable water bottle

More info on the website: www.ehbea2025.com [9/10]

Home | EHBEA2025

www.ehbea2025.com

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