Cecilia Heyes
@CeliaHeyes
Theoretical psychologist studying the evolution of human cognition. Cognitive Gadgets https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674980150
Discussion Forum on my "Rethinking Norm Psychology", edited by @dryan149. journals.sagepub.com/topic/collecti…. 14 great commentaries by Pete Richerson, Kim Sterelny, @rosspainrp, @kati_kish, @ehud, @birchlse, Susana Monso, Richard Moore, @thepsychologist ...

All Souls College, University of Oxford, is advertising a senior academic position in philosophy. Closing date - 19 September 2025. #PhilosophyJob #PhilJobs #PhilosophyTwitter asc.ox.ac.uk/senior-researc…

A new book on “the everyday wonder of human conceptual thought” by the brilliant Nick Shea. Come for the seamless fusion of philosophy and cognitive science; stay for “the playground of thought”. Free pdf. philpapers.org/rec/SHECAT-11
We are recruiting two postdocs for an interdisciplinary NSF-funded project in collective behavior. Joint project with @enfascination(@ucdavis), @daltonconley (@Princeton), Ofer Tchernichovski(@CUNY) and @norijacoby (@Cornell). Please forward this thread to relevant people! 1/n
“Social learning in models and minds” Now out in Synthese (open access) w/ @CeliaHeyes link.springer.com/article/10.100… @bbkpsychology @OxExpPsy
What can computational models tell us about social learning? What can’t they tell us (yet)? 🧠 A new paper from me and @CeliaHeyes @bbkpsychology @OxExpPsy osf.io/preprints/psya…
Calling academics thinking of doing a sabbatical in 2025–2026... All Souls College Visiting Fellowships now open for applications. Deadline 2 Sept. Come visit us @UniofOxford! For more information see: asc.ox.ac.uk/visiting-fello…
Hmm, don't recognise this quote from @CeliaHeyes The closest match I can see in the book is from page 2 where she says something more measured: "they are products of cultural rather than genetic evolution". That's not the same as saying they are "untouched by genetic evolution"
Interview with Cecilia Heyes about her book Cognitive Gadgets. Discusses various "cognitive gadgets" such as literacy and imitation, which Heyes argues are not biologically programmed, but culturally evolved feats of cognition. @NaturedNurture @CeliaHeyes thepodcastbrowser.com/cecilia-heyes-…
"The cognitive processes that make cognitive inheritance of facts & skills possible, they are themselves culturally inherited. Now in a way that idea is deeply scary. It suggest that within very few generations a society could, for example, completely change the kinds of models…
@CeliaHeyes is a great experimentalist & theorist. Her work on the development of imitation - basically disproving "mirror neurons" - was both fantastic (and against the crowd at the time). Deeply influenced me in grad school for the better...
Cecilia Heyes' 2018 book Cognitive Gadgets has revolutionized how I think about human nature. overcomingbias.com/p/hail-cecilia…
Dan Dennett was a great philosopher, a kind and gentle man, and a dear friend to me and many others. We shall all be poorer without his wisdom, and I shall miss him immeasurably.
We're looking for a new PhD student to come and work with us on the topics of cognitive control and reinforcement learning! Deadline April 26th. For more information, please see users.ugent.be/~sbraem/. @GhentCCN
In this episode, Greg talks with Michael Strevens from New York University, exploring the balance between empirical data and the broader intellectual landscape in scientific inquiry. Check the full episode at buff.ly/43yFrju
An Open Address to the Jewish Mainstream - by Brian Klug contendingmodernities.nd.edu/global-current…
Saying goodbye to 2023 with Dr Salter’s Daydream lookup.london/dr-salter-scul… Happy new year.

Quick thread on inheritance tax: Something that is massively under-discussed in this debate is how the “it’s unfair” argument is completely flipped on its head when you consider it from the perspective of the next generation instead of the person passing on the inheritance.
Learning to imitate for cultural inheritance with a lean starter kit - from some very smart people at Google DeepMind nature.com/articles/s4146… @ESLRSociety
Many thanks to Philip Gerrans for a generous and penetrating review of Cognitive Gadgets in the British J Philosophy of Science
New on the BJPS Review of Books 𝘾𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙂𝙖𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 —by Cecelia Heyes (@CeliaHeyes) Reviewed by Philip Gerrans Read it here: thebsps.org/reviewofbooks/… #philsci
Huge congratulations to Senior Lecturer @danieljamesyon, who has been announced as this year’s winner of the Experimental Psychology Society Prize! The annual award recognises distinguished, independent & original contributions to experimental psychology: bit.ly/3QMiNhN