IACESR 2026 – 10th Biennial Meeting
We’re excited to announce our keynote speakers:
Will Gervais • Rebekah Richert • Quentin Atkinson • Larisa Heiphetz Solomon
📍 Brno, Czech Republic
📅 1–3 July 2026 | Masaryk University
Registration open soon. Stay tuned.
#IACESR2026 #CognitiveScienceOfReligion
Can we all just agree that if your evolutionary theory of humans posits we all evolved to have the social values of 1950s American it’s probably wrong? Thanks.
We have extended the submission deadline to Feb 20th, some people needed more time. Like me. I was one of the people we needed more time 😅
We have extended the submission deadline to Feb 20th, some people needed more time. Like me. I was one of the people we needed more time 😅
1/ New paper from @brunelpsy.bsky.social CCE in Evolution & Human Behavior looks at secularisation in Mauritius 🇲🇺
Nachita Rosun, @matthewmgervais.bsky.social and @aiyanakoka.bsky.social have been testing big theories outside the usual Western settings 🌏
🔗 👇
New paper lead by Dr Nachita Rosun that I am super proud of! We look at religious changes in Mauritius and find that differences in religious socialisation matter the more in predicting religiosity as material security gets higher www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Call for papers closes tomorrow Feb 6th! iacesr.com/conferences/
We’re organizing IACESR 2026 in Brno (July 1–3) — CFP closes Feb 6.
If you work on cognitive or evolutionary approaches to religion, we’d be very happy to welcome you in Brno :)
📢 Talk announcement bringing together @brunelcce.bsky.social and CCN research centres! 📢
Dr Conrad Hackett (Pew Research Center) joins us on 📆29th Jan, 2-4pm to unpack the latest global religion survey and how it diverges from Pew’s influential 2015 projections 🌍📊
Open to all! 🔓
IACESR call for paper closes Feb 6th. Come join us to talk about the cognitive and evolutionary science of religion in Brno in July! iacesr.com/conferences/
New paper: Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity
😂
Sometimes I forget that mummers are a thing, and then I remember and it fills me with joy all over again.
But Simon, it’s a light hearted Canadian tradition full of joy and cheer! 😂
I see your Krampus and Mari Lwyd, and raise you Newfoundland Mummers as the most terrifying Christmas tradition 🎄❄️🧟♀️
This video was made about our folk medicine project. It talks about our recent PNAS project, and also this study we did in Mauritius www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Fun fact the [donkey] in the paper was added because PNAS did not want us to use ‘ass’ from the original translation 🫏
On a roll with papers this week. PNAS paper with @michealdebarra.bsky.social giving some evidence to the idea that people turn to the supernatural because of uncertainty about causal processes. BONUS of curing whooping cough with donkeys and warts with snails 🐌
1/ 🎙️ New paper by Dr Aiyana Willard argues it’s time to retire HADD = “we’re hardwired to see agents EVERYWHERE” and replace it with something that *actually* fits the evidence 🪦➡️📚
@brunelpsy.bsky.social
🔗 Read it 👇
I wrote a paper on my least favourite theory of religion: HADD
It’s good, you should read it! 😆
It’s a shame Maya isn’t on here. I would like to be embarrassing.
This is my wee baby cousin who I used to babysit. The hippy Willards are just out there spawning scientists 😆 www.mcgill.ca/channels/art...
I am with Abbey. Let chaos reign. Besides, your vibe is really more of cultivating shock when people find out you are in fact a professional, and you wear that well.
THAMES mnemonic for reading science: T Theory •What BIG IDEA is the focus? H Hypothesis •What SMALLER IDEA is actually getting tested? A Assumptions & Alternatives •What needs to be true to connect T:H? •What else could explain results/predictions? M Methods: Measures & Manipulations •Were methodological tools validated? •Evidence that we’re measuring/manip what’s claimed? E Evidence & Ethics •Are claims calibrated to EVIDENCE? Is EVIDENCE appropriate? •ETHICALLY sound in practice/intent/implication/application? S Sampling Statistical Model •Who was studied? Who are claims about? •Do stat results match verbal ideas?
Teaching a fun science & critical thinking course this semester.
Trying out THAMES as a handy mnemonic for what to look for in evaluating science papers & such (obvs not all are as relevant for every paper)...
DO IT.
🧵 1/ Excellent and impactful work from CCE second in command @loraadair.bsky.social published in the New Metro over the weekend about Outcry Witness
It’s an anonymous website where sexual-assault survivors can safely tell their stories.
No names, no pressure. Just a record in their own words 🗣️🛡️
First day of school, grade 33? (I think?)
I am soaking up all the beauty and nostalgia on this trip - it gets more and more the closer we get to Alberta. I come to the west coast most years but I grew up in Alberta and I haven’t been back in maybe 10 years .
Yes! Here!
I am on vacation in the place I grew up. I used to come here (meeting of the waters, Illecillewaet) everytime we drove through the rockies when I was a kid. At least once a year. Still as impressive as I remember it.
