Valerie van Mulukom
Senior Lecturer in Psychology @ Oxford Brookes University, UK // Research on cognitive & evolutionary science of religious, secular, political, conspiracy belief & imagination. #COVIDisNotOver
- For yesterday's #WorldReligionDay, consider our research showing what religion can tell us about human nature. Religious rituals may seem like either stifled Sunday mornings or exotic events in lands far away, but neither capture the reality of these events 🧵
- Reposted by Valerie van MulukomDr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.
- Thinking about studying MSc psych? Discover what it’s like to study Psychology at Oxford Brookes (@obu-hst-research.bsky.social), meet members of the course team & gain a deeper understanding of the curriculum & learning experience. Find out more and register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/oxford-bro...
- We're looking for participants for a 10-15 minute survey asking about your favourite fiction genre, interests, worries & coping styles. brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... We're trying to better understand how engagement with fiction relates to how you engage with the world - let us know!
- We're looking for participants for a 10-15 minute survey on your favourite TV/film or book genre, as well as your interests, worries, and coping styles. I promise to report the results back here so you can reflect on what this says about you.. Thanks! brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
- To me it seems more like deeply engrained feudalism; either way, it is as frustrating.
- Relevant to research on true crime and related fiction: We love the feeling of insight we get from finding or hearing the solution to whodunits, crossculturally!
- "What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at midday, and three feet in the evening?" This riddle is thousands of years old, but why does it stick with us? In our new paper, we argue that the feeling of insight might explain the lasting success of some cultural products: tinyurl.com/4j756h9a
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- Did you know that crows participate in true crime investigations? vm.tiktok.com/ZNdR8RvNy/ Are you a fan of true crime? Participate in our 5-10 minute survey on fiction genre preferences, interests & coping styles! brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... We're still looking for +50 ppl; thnx!
- Reposted by Valerie van MulukomToday I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women. More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications. I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
- Thanks to all who have taken part already! We now have a large number of scifi & thriller fans 🛸🧟, but true crime, horror, drama, and fantasy fans are lagging (among others) 👮👹🧝 - where these fans at? Take part to tell us why your genre is your favourite & take a 5-10 min break from scrolling!
- 📺 Feel like a small break from scrolling to tell us about your favourite TV/movie genre?🎞️ Here is a 5-10 minute survey for our latest research project project on understanding the functions of fiction: brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... Thanks very much for participating (&/or RT/likes)!
- 📺 Feel like a small break from scrolling to tell us about your favourite TV/movie genre?🎞️ Here is a 5-10 minute survey for our latest research project project on understanding the functions of fiction: brookeshls.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... Thanks very much for participating (&/or RT/likes)!
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- It's so hard to believe it's true, but here we are.
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- Reposted by Valerie van Mulukomif you find yourself reluctant to support the guy at Columbia because you find some of the politics he espoused distasteful or even abhorrent, you should know that this is exactly the reaction that they hoped for in choosing him as a target for unlawful detention based on political speech.
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- I think it's time as a society that we face the implicit agreement we've made that if you don't financially contribute to the economy, you're not afforded the same human rights. It's horrific, and shows that we largely live in economies, not societies.
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- Unbelievable but true. My son's nursery keeps refusing air purifiers, even after all staff got sick and a child ended up in hospital a couple of months ago.
- We really need to get better at spotting abuse.
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- Very cool study finding that people engaged with negative content longer when it was presented as art vs non-art 🎨 I agree with the study's leading author that it's time we're embracing art's other functions beyond mere aesthetics. We discuss this aesthetic cognitivism in doi.org/10.31234/osf...
- Reposted by Valerie van Mulukom💥The Netherlands' largest pension fund, has sold its shares in Tesla, Meta, and Alphabet (Google). The fund with US $569 billion equivolent in assets is "directing more money to companies and projects that help to improve society and the environment." #Divest www.reuters.com/markets/euro...
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- George Dale, newspaper editor, fights back against the Klan 🔥 A great example, and a great story; link below.
- Reposted by Valerie van MulukomBit of a belated post, but hopefully still new exciting news for some! We are delighted to announce that the next Cultural Evolution Society Conference will be in Rabat, Morocco, provisionally 11-13 May 2026, at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. culturalevolutionsociety.org/news-and-eve...
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- I don't know the Scholar(s), but this PhD position at Durham sounds fantastic: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLZ057/f...
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- Every. Time! So lazy! ..or is it intentional ragebait? Glancing over the 3.1k reposts of this post..oops
- I think about this often - I don't think it would even cost that much in the end. Also, fewer cars on the road means it's safer for people to walk and cycle, too.
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- Some silliness left over from Valentine's, but you know, I think it kind of works? 😆 thetab.com/2025/02/12/s...
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- Reposted by Valerie van MulukomPhD opening in the UK: cognitive, computational, and sociocultural basis of pro-environmental decision-making www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...
- It'd be nice to get less hate as cyclist: "The data clearly demonstrates that it’s vital for Oxford’s health that suitable measures are introduced to help reduce the volume of private vehicles on the city’s roads to achieve improvements in air quality.” www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/2493344...
- Or in other words, one engages in sharing information on the basis of identity, and one on the basis of facts. Which one speaks to people is what we've now found out.
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[Not loaded yet] - Reposted by Valerie van MulukomWhere do moralizing religions come from? Useless cognitive by-products?Cultural group selection for complex societies? Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵 w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
- Just read this amazing piece by Peter Harrison in Aeon on the divide (or lack thereof) between science and religion, detailing the invention of the semantic distinction between natural vs supernatural. Lots to think about! #historyofscience #naturalism #religion #philosophy aeon.co/essays/inves...
- Apply for a fellowship to join us for 2 years at Oxford Brookes Uni! Deadline is 18 March. (<7 years of active full time postdoctoral experience at the time of application)
- If you're an early career researcher - perhaps based in a fledgling authoritarian state - and want an out, @britishacademy.bsky.social offer 2-year fellowships to come to a UK university (including relocation costs and research funds). www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/inte...
- Reposted by Valerie van MulukomIf your boss or company tells you to do something unethical: don't say yes. Make them write it down.
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- I wholeheartedly agree! What I don't get, though, is why *legal representation* is never mentioned in these statements. It isn't just privatised, it is hugely expensive - meaning, hard or impossible to obtain for many, with huge profits, despite Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Excellent article in the Guardian by Patience Akumu. The nuclear family is a mistake. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
- From the other app, yep. But it's especially shocking how many people really think like this. I'm seeing it in my research on worldviews as well: People put forward science as the explanation to *all* of life's questions (incl. morality).
- Beautiful. 10/10, no notes.
- The Proud Boys organization no longer controls the trademark, “Proud Boys”, and is now “barred from selling any merchandise with either its name or its symbols without the consent of a Black church in Washington that its members vandalized.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/u...
- Meanwhile in the UK: 16 peaceful climate activists are given a combined 41 years in jail. Thank goodness there are people who will speak out for them left. (If you want to help but can't be there: JustStopOil takes donations! juststopoil.org/donate/) www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- The thing is though, it's hard to be upbeat when you're working all hours and still dealing with the cost of living crisis and are constantly worried about what's coming next. So seeing things like this is great, and I agree it would be nice if we'd see it more often.
- For your daily dose of #wonder, I present: the long-nosed horned frog (Pelobatrachus nasutus)
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- Reposted by Valerie van Mulukom📢 Call for Papers–Special Issue Alert! How do digital & social media fuel alternative identities, extreme narratives & online communities in times of crisis? @polpsyispp.bsky.social invites you to submit your work! 🔗 Learn more here: bit.ly/4gqPgop 📅 Submission deadline: April 15, 2025
