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simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Simon Columbus
@simoncolumbus.bsky.social
970 followers 430 following 490 posts
Lecturer, University of St Andrews | I work on cooperation, norms, institutions, & personality | http://simoncolumbus.com
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Simon Columbus @simoncolumbus.bsky.social · Mar 6
Some personal news: In April, I will be joining the University of St Andrews as a lecturer @standrewspsyneuro.bsky.social (~assistant professor for non-UK folks).

I work on cooperation, institutional legitimacy, and personality. If you're in the area and share some interests, I'd love to chat.
Reposted by Simon Columbus
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
First Cooperation Colloquium of the year:

Caroline Graf (University of Zürich):
Boosting prosocial behavior through incentives and conditional giving: Experimental evidence from 42 societies

Friday, January 30 | 15:00 UCT+1 Vienna / 9:00 ET NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abtract: Prosocial behavior is key to addressing global collective-action challenges. Two prominent tools to promote prosociality are incentives and the use of conditional preferences, yet existing evidence is mixed and largely based on WEIRD populations. We study how incentives and conditionality shape prosocial behavior across diverse cultural contexts, and how cultural characteristics moderate these effects. 15,600 participants from 42 countries completed an online experiment in which prosociality was measured as the donation of earned bonus points to international charities (e.g., UNICEF). In the incentive condition, donors received additional points worth half of the donated amount. In the conditionality treatment, participants could condition their donation on the share of other donors in their country. Preregistered analyses show that incentives increase prosocial behavior overall, but that their effectiveness varies across societies. Incentive effects are stronger in societies where the reputational costs of benefiting personally from prosocial acts are lower, that is, where incentivized donors are perceived as relatively more likable. Conditional giving also increases prosocial behavior, yet the effects are larger in societies characterized by a higher prevalence of conditional preferences and stronger generalized fairness concerns. Together, these findings highlight that the effectiveness of behavioral interventions depends systematically on cultural context, underscoring the importance of moving beyond WEIRD samples not only for advancing theory, but also for culturally tailored policy design.
January 27, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
harrydcoulson.bsky.social
Highly recommend Replication Games!

Key takeaways:
1. Great way to learn about other psych methods
2. Improve on stats
3. More enjoyable with others
4. Realised my own code needs improving after being on the other side of a paper (replicating)

Thanks @fialalenka.bsky.social @rujoanna.bsky.social
i4replication.bsky.social Institute for Replication @i4replication.bsky.social · 3d
On Jan 19th, we held the first Replication Games of 2026 at the University of Zurich! We had 47 participants reproducing papers from economics, political science, and psychology with great success. Many thanks to local organizers Johannes Ullrich and Joanna Rutkowska!
January 27, 2026 at 2:25 PM
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
First Cooperation Colloquium of the year:

Caroline Graf (University of Zürich):
Boosting prosocial behavior through incentives and conditional giving: Experimental evidence from 42 societies

Friday, January 30 | 15:00 UCT+1 Vienna / 9:00 ET NYC

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abtract: Prosocial behavior is key to addressing global collective-action challenges. Two prominent tools to promote prosociality are incentives and the use of conditional preferences, yet existing evidence is mixed and largely based on WEIRD populations. We study how incentives and conditionality shape prosocial behavior across diverse cultural contexts, and how cultural characteristics moderate these effects. 15,600 participants from 42 countries completed an online experiment in which prosociality was measured as the donation of earned bonus points to international charities (e.g., UNICEF). In the incentive condition, donors received additional points worth half of the donated amount. In the conditionality treatment, participants could condition their donation on the share of other donors in their country. Preregistered analyses show that incentives increase prosocial behavior overall, but that their effectiveness varies across societies. Incentive effects are stronger in societies where the reputational costs of benefiting personally from prosocial acts are lower, that is, where incentivized donors are perceived as relatively more likable. Conditional giving also increases prosocial behavior, yet the effects are larger in societies characterized by a higher prevalence of conditional preferences and stronger generalized fairness concerns. Together, these findings highlight that the effectiveness of behavioral interventions depends systematically on cultural context, underscoring the importance of moving beyond WEIRD samples not only for advancing theory, but also for culturally tailored policy design.
January 27, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
We're excited to announce the Spring 2026 Cooperation Colloquia!

With @yanchenl.bsky.social @minhuayan.bsky.social @saptarshi.bsky.social @aronszekely.bsky.social @shafenbraedl.bsky.social @shuxianjin.bsky.social @smconstantino.bsky.social and more

Sign up here: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
List of speakers: 2026-01-30 | Caroline Graf (University of Zürich) 2026-02-13 | Yan Chen (University of Michigan) 2026-02-27 | Taylor Kessinger (University of Pennsylvania) 2026-03-13 | Manon Schweinfurth (University of St Andrews) 2026-03-27 | Minhua Yan (Institute for Advanced Study Toulouse) 2026-04-10 | Saptarshi Pal (Harvard (University) 2026-04-24 | Aron Szekely (UCL) 2026-05-08 | Sebastian Hafenbrädl (IESE Business School) 2026-05-22 | Shuxian Jin (Peking University & University of Sussex) 2026-06-19 | Sara Constantino (Stanford University)
January 21, 2026 at 12:03 PM
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
We're excited to announce the Spring 2026 Cooperation Colloquia!

With @yanchenl.bsky.social @minhuayan.bsky.social @saptarshi.bsky.social @aronszekely.bsky.social @shafenbraedl.bsky.social @shuxianjin.bsky.social @smconstantino.bsky.social and more

Sign up here: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
List of speakers: 2026-01-30 | Caroline Graf (University of Zürich) 2026-02-13 | Yan Chen (University of Michigan) 2026-02-27 | Taylor Kessinger (University of Pennsylvania) 2026-03-13 | Manon Schweinfurth (University of St Andrews) 2026-03-27 | Minhua Yan (Institute for Advanced Study Toulouse) 2026-04-10 | Saptarshi Pal (Harvard (University) 2026-04-24 | Aron Szekely (UCL) 2026-05-08 | Sebastian Hafenbrädl (IESE Business School) 2026-05-22 | Shuxian Jin (Peking University & University of Sussex) 2026-06-19 | Sara Constantino (Stanford University)
January 21, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
hirotakaimada.bsky.social
I am also hiring a PhD student (4-years, home student only to join the project, starting in September 2026🌏

Please share it widely!
www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-her...
January 19, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
hirotakaimada.bsky.social
I am hiring a 4y postdoc for my Leverhulme-funded project on the role of beliefs about what in/outgroup members believe/do about climate change in shaping pro-climate behaviours🌏

Start date: May 2026 at latest
Deadline: Feb 8

Please share it widely!

jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
Job Opportunity at Royal Holloway University of London: Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Full-Time, Fixed-Term (48 months)Applications are invited for a 4-year, full-time Postdoctoral Research Assistant position in the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London. The successful candidate will join Dr. Hirotaka...
jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk
January 9, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
icsd2026.bsky.social
#ICSD2026 abstract submission is due TODAY
Don't miss it!
sites.google.com/view/icsd202...
ICSD 2026 - Abstract Submission
The abstract submission system is now LIVE at: https://amarys-jtb.jp/ICSD2026/ Abstract submission will close on December 22, 2025 January 5, 2026, 23:59 JST (14:59 UTC).
sites.google.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
cmolho.bsky.social
🚨 Call for abstracts 🚨

Join our EASP pre-conference on 'Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior: Cross-Cultural Perspectives and Methods' on June 30, 2026.

We invite flash talk submissions from researchers at all career stages.

📝 Deadline: January 5 2026

🔗 More info: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Call for submissions_Molho&Jin_modified.docx
Call for submissions EASP Pre-Conference on ‘Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior: Cross-Cultural Perspectives and Methods’ Deadline: January 5, 2026 Dear colleagues, We are happy to announce the pre-con...
docs.google.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
icsd2026.bsky.social
We have extended the abstract submission deadline to January 5th, 2026!!! Enjoy your holiday season😘

sites.google.com/view/icsd202...
ICSD 2026 - Abstract Submission
The abstract submission system is now LIVE at: https://amarys-jtb.jp/ICSD2026/ Abstract submission will close on December 22, 2025 January 5, 2026, 23:59 JST (14:59 UTC).
sites.google.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
jamesbland.bsky.social
Hello #EconSky, and in particular experimental economists. Do you have a paper where you estimate preferences and then use these estimates on the right-hand-side of a regression (or logit, tobit, etc)? I'm looking for a good example dataset for a chapter idea I have for my book.
December 8, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
qinyuxiao.bsky.social
The final colloquium of this semester will take place in two hours!
simoncolumbus.bsky.social Simon Columbus @simoncolumbus.bsky.social · Dec 1
This week's Cooperation Colloquium:

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com

Experimental evidence that reputation-based partner choice facilitates information sharing in humans

Date: December 5
Time: 15:00 UTC+1 (Vienna) / 9 am ET (NYC)

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: A necessary prerequisite for the accumulation of beneficial knowledge, or ‘cumulative cultural evolution’, is the sharing of information via social learning. Yet little work in the field of cultural evolution has examined the mechanisms that support information sharing in the face of exploitative information free-riding and information hoarding. We ran a series of online interactive experiments (N = 716) combined with computational reinforcement and social learning models to test whether the mechanism of reputation-based partner choice can effectively support information sharing. Participants in groups chose whether to (i) engage in costly innovation and (ii) whether to share the resultant knowledge. Sharers received increased reputations for sharing and participants could use reputations to select recipients of knowledge. Study 1 found, in participants from the UK and China, high levels of information sharing but only weak partner choice. Study 2 replicated this finding with various methodological improvements. Study 3 showed that participants used partner choice to exclude non-sharing artificial bots from receiving information. Study 4 found that when partner choice was impossible, preferences for information sharing declined to levels comparable to non-sharing. Overall, our findings provide tentative positive experimental evidence that partner choice can facilitate information sharing and enable cumulative cultural evolution.
December 5, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
ruben.the100.ci
Want to make nice graphs with me, starting next year? I'm hiring for a position at the University of Witten/Herdecke.
uni-wh.softgarden.io/job/61280592...
‘A fragmented field: Construct and measure proliferation in psychology.’ (2025) From ‘Language models accurately infer correlations between psychological items and scales from text alone.’ (2025) From ‘Not within spitting distance: salivary immunoassays of estradiol have subpar validity for predicting cycle phase.’ (2023) Work in progress with cycle tracking data from the app Clue
December 3, 2025 at 12:48 PM
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Ein Stapel-Stapel, sozusagen.
December 4, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
jordanaxt.bsky.social
Implicit racial attitudes accounted for ~2.5% of variance in behavior beyond explicit racial attitudes, an effect size that was *just* over our agreed upon threshold for what would constitute a practically significant effect. Explicit racial attitudes still explained much more variance (~45%).
December 2, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
icsd2026.bsky.social
Updates for #ICSD2026
1. Instructions for ID registration and abstract submission of the system have been uploaded.

2. A Travel Stipend for Presenters from Developing Countries is additionally provided.

See the conference site for details.
sites.google.com/view/icsd202...
ICSD 2026
The abstract submission and registration system is now LIVE! Please visit the Abstract Submission page for details.
sites.google.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:53 AM
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
This week's Cooperation Colloquium:

Alex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com

Experimental evidence that reputation-based partner choice facilitates information sharing in humans

Date: December 5
Time: 15:00 UTC+1 (Vienna) / 9 am ET (NYC)

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: A necessary prerequisite for the accumulation of beneficial knowledge, or ‘cumulative cultural evolution’, is the sharing of information via social learning. Yet little work in the field of cultural evolution has examined the mechanisms that support information sharing in the face of exploitative information free-riding and information hoarding. We ran a series of online interactive experiments (N = 716) combined with computational reinforcement and social learning models to test whether the mechanism of reputation-based partner choice can effectively support information sharing. Participants in groups chose whether to (i) engage in costly innovation and (ii) whether to share the resultant knowledge. Sharers received increased reputations for sharing and participants could use reputations to select recipients of knowledge. Study 1 found, in participants from the UK and China, high levels of information sharing but only weak partner choice. Study 2 replicated this finding with various methodological improvements. Study 3 showed that participants used partner choice to exclude non-sharing artificial bots from receiving information. Study 4 found that when partner choice was impossible, preferences for information sharing declined to levels comparable to non-sharing. Overall, our findings provide tentative positive experimental evidence that partner choice can facilitate information sharing and enable cumulative cultural evolution.
December 1, 2025 at 2:22 PM
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Great opportunity to work with an amazing team of researchers!
cmolho.bsky.social Catherine Molho @cmolho.bsky.social · Dec 1
🚨Two postdoc positions @tse-fr.eu @iast.fr 🚨

We are recruiting two postdocs as part of the ANR-funded project ENFORCE.

Join me, @giuliandr.bsky.social, & @zhgarfield.com, to study punitive systems across societies.

Full time, 2 years, no teaching.

Deadline: Jan 23

www.tse-fr.eu/groups/depar...
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
www.tse-fr.eu
December 1, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
robertboehm.bsky.social
🚨NEW PAPER🚨 led by @qinyuxiao.bsky.social, with @simoncolumbus.bsky.social and me: "Self-serving intergroup aggression escalates and prevails over parochial cooperation." It's now published in Evolution and Human Behavior by @humbehevosoc.bsky.social. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 1, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
bjoernhommel.bsky.social
🚨 SynthNet is out 🚨
Researchers propose new constructs and measures faster than anyone can track. We (@anniria.bsky.social @ruben.the100.ci) built a search engine to check what already exists and help identify redundancies; indexing 74,000 scales from ~31,500 instruments in APA PsycTests. 🧵1/3
November 26, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
fusaroli.bsky.social
CogSci in Aarhus is hiring, open rank (assi, asso or full prof).
We want somebody working on and teaching computational modelling of cognitive processes and/or social processes. Students are amazing, work/life balance very satisfactory, and colleagues are nice!

international.au.dk/about/profil...
Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor of Cognitive Science - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at School of Communication and Culture - Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, Dept. of, Aarhus University
international.au.dk
November 26, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
renemottus.bsky.social
For those coming to the ECP22 in Edinburgh, 2026:

You can now book more affordable Summer Stay rooms (75 rooms currently available at a cheaper price)

For details:
www.ecp22edinburgh.org/accommodation
November 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Cooperation Colloquium this Friday:

Kristopher M. Smith @kris-smith.bsky.social

Long-distance friends and collective action in fisheries management

Date: Friday, November 21
Time: 16:00 UTC+1 / 10 am NYC (one hour later than usual!)

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: The management of shared natural resources often hinges on local cooperation, yet the social networks linking communities across space can both complicate and enable collective action. This talk examines how long-distance friendships—relationships that bridge community boundaries—shape trust, cooperation, and participation in fisheries management in coastal Tanzania. Drawing on theoretical models and multi-site ethnographic and survey data from the Tanga Sociality and Fisheries Project, I show that long-distance friendships provide key forms of material support similar to local friendships, suggesting they are a resilient social strategy for managing ecological and economic risk while fostering interdependence across villages. In turn, people with more long-distance friends express greater trust in non-local partners and are more likely to engage in collective monitoring and reporting of destructive fishing practices. Finally, I introduce a new measure, “long-distance orientation,” capturing individual variation in the motivation and capacity to form and sustain these ties, highlighting psychological and structural factors that facilitate cooperation at a distance. Together, these findings suggest that long-distance relationships can serve as a foundation for scaling up collective action and designing management systems that bridge community boundaries.
November 17, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Simon Columbus
sfiscience.bsky.social
For undergraduates curious about complex systems research, applications are now open for the 2026 Undergraduate Complexity Research (UCR) program — a fully funded, 10-week summer research experience at the Santa Fe Institute.

Apply by Jan. 14, 2026: santafe.edu/ucr
November 17, 2025 at 6:30 PM
simoncolumbus.bsky.social
Cooperation Colloquium this Friday:

Kristopher M. Smith @kris-smith.bsky.social

Long-distance friends and collective action in fisheries management

Date: Friday, November 21
Time: 16:00 UTC+1 / 10 am NYC (one hour later than usual!)

Sign up: list.ku.dk/postorius/li...
Abstract: The management of shared natural resources often hinges on local cooperation, yet the social networks linking communities across space can both complicate and enable collective action. This talk examines how long-distance friendships—relationships that bridge community boundaries—shape trust, cooperation, and participation in fisheries management in coastal Tanzania. Drawing on theoretical models and multi-site ethnographic and survey data from the Tanga Sociality and Fisheries Project, I show that long-distance friendships provide key forms of material support similar to local friendships, suggesting they are a resilient social strategy for managing ecological and economic risk while fostering interdependence across villages. In turn, people with more long-distance friends express greater trust in non-local partners and are more likely to engage in collective monitoring and reporting of destructive fishing practices. Finally, I introduce a new measure, “long-distance orientation,” capturing individual variation in the motivation and capacity to form and sustain these ties, highlighting psychological and structural factors that facilitate cooperation at a distance. Together, these findings suggest that long-distance relationships can serve as a foundation for scaling up collective action and designing management systems that bridge community boundaries.
November 17, 2025 at 10:47 AM