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Eric Mandelbaum

@ericman.bsky.social

2.1K followers 380 following 180 posts

CUNY Prof of Philosophy & Psychology, Director of Cognitive Science, other stuff too

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Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 2d

Such cool work!

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 2d

Fantastic researcher, open-minded thinker, dedicated mentor, and one of the absolute nicest people in the field.

Mark Ho @markkho.bsky.social · 2d

I'm recruiting grad students!! 🎓

The CoDec Lab @ NYU (codec-lab.github.io) is looking for PhD students (Fall 2026) interested in computational approaches to social cognition & problem solving 🧠

Applications through Psych (tinyurl.com/nyucp) are due Dec 1. Reach out with Qs & please repost! 🙏

codec-lab.github.io

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 12d

So good that it's 'Supernormal' which is the normalist. Nothing more normal than drawing upon a publicly available data set of 793 sex dolls

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 12d

just more evidence why that doctrine has gotta go

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 12d

Jake gives me a normal running total and it’s always going like 0 for 15. I was due

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 12d

Shooters gotta shoot

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 12d

Sex dolls: the Evolutionary Psychologist’s electrode

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 15d

See also www.ign.com/articles/bab...)
"I wasn’t expecting one of my favorite games of 2025 to be about a socially awkward blob in a stained onesie with such poor motor skills that he ragdolls to the ground on the slightest of uneven surfaces, but here we are."--IGN
& www.polygon.com/baby-steps-r...

Baby Steps Review - IGN

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · 15d

My friends @foddy.net and @gcuzzillo.bsky.social's game @babystepsgame.bsky.social came out today and it looks amazing. @foddy.net is an artist and philosopher in the truest sense of the words, who just happens to be using video games as his medium at the moment: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/a...

When You Fall on Your Face, a Philosophical Designer Succeeds

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Eric Mandelbaum

Nic Porot @nicporot.bsky.social · 26d

Our entry (with @ericman.bsky.social ) for the Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, “The Language of Thought Hypothesis”, is now out.

doi.org/10.21428/e27...

The Language of Thought Hypothesis

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Sep 6

Why didn’t you come??

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Sep 6

It was so great! Really lucky to have been able to listen and learn from Barbara, Liuba, & Benedek. Some of the most insightful research happening today, from just the absolutely nicest, coolest people.

Barbara Pomiechowska @bpomie.bsky.social · Sep 5

Heading for my last day of the ESPP in Warsaw. Amazing to see philosophers and psychologists in one room. It was a privilege to talk about how symbols and compositionality emerge in babies alongside @ljubapi.bsky.social and @benedek.bsky.social 💕 to @ericman.bsky.social for organizing the symposium!

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Aug 22

Bob Clark for mayor

THE CITY @thecity.nyc · Aug 21

Bob Clark, VP of marketing for Herr Foods, Inc., said the company was surprised to see it was mentioned in the press.

“While we can’t speak to the details of the story,” he said, “we can confirm that our Sour Cream & Onion flavor is money.”

www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/21/w...

The Chips Fall as Rivals Fry the Mayor

The jokes and jabs are flying as Eric Adams’ closest aides was slapped with new criminal charges the day after another of his longtime allies offered a reporter cash inside a potato chip bag.

www.thecity.nyc

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Aug 16

Is it possible to hold colloquium in the pool?

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Aug 16

Hard to think of a better gig. So cool for Cornell too

David Rand @dgrand.bsky.social · Aug 15

Apply for funding to work with me and Gord at Cornell!

Gordon Pennycook @gordpennycook.bsky.social · Aug 15

Interested in doing a postdoc with me & @dgrand.bsky.social? Consider applying to Cornell's Klarman Fellowship: as.cornell.edu/research/kla...

It involves a competitive internal application process, but it's 3 years of funding @$80k/year

Please email me/Dave if you're interested! Oct 15th deadline

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Aug 8

My god

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Aug 3

Recommend averting your eyes but here goes…

foundersleague.cc

Founders League

Founders League is the exclusive, national pickleball league for founders and CEOs.

foundersleague.cc

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Jul 14

Excited about this in large part because Raphael is the absolute best

Raphaël Millière @raphaelmilliere.com · Jul 14

Happy to share this updated Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on 'Associationist Theories of Thought' with
@ericman.bsky.social. Among other things, we included a new major section on reinforcement learning. Many thanks to Eric for bringing me on board!

plato.stanford.edu/entries/asso...

Associationist Theories of Thought (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

plato.stanford.edu

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Jul 5

This work is so cool, (and Vlad rules to boot)

Vlad Chituc @vladchituc.bsky.social · Jul 5

Do women feel some emotions more strongly than men do? Out today in Affective Science, I argue that claims like this make a notoriously subtle mistake. What is it? And what does it have to do with an astigmatic painter and thyroid medicine? A short thread...

(1/14)

The El Greco Fallacy, this Time with Feeling: How (not) to Measure Group Differences in Emotional Intensity - Affective Science

We all get angry. And some of us get angrier than others. But are such differences systematic across groups? Affective scientists often make claims about group differences in emotional intensity by co...

link.springer.com

Reposted by Eric Mandelbaum

David Melnikoff @d-melnikoff.bsky.social · Jun 21

A key takeaway from 20+ years of computational RL is: model-free=automatic, model-based=deliberate. My new paper w/ @benedek.bsky.social challenges this view, suggesting that MB algos are more ubiquitous, & automatic processing more sophisticated, than currently thought: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Model-based algorithms shape automatic evaluative processing | PNAS

Computational theories of reinforcement learning suggest that two families of algorithm—model-based and model-free—tightly map onto the classic dis...

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Jun 15

This is really impressive. Hard to imagine a more painful (or dangerous) rollercoaster than the Cyclone: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWi_...

YouTube video by Brad Lander for NYC

www.youtube.com

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Jun 8

Thank you! But all praise should go to my coauthors, the fantastic @griffinpion.bsky.social and @elliotschwartz.bsky.social

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · Jun 8

I was hacked!

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · May 29

Ummmm the Inside the NBA crew is at center court, watching Inside the NBA?

Eric Mandelbaum @ericman.bsky.social · May 25

No one is gonna top this, but I'm glad Cuomo is trying