Léo Fitouchi
Cognitive & social scientist. Studying morality, religion, punishment, institutions.
Research fellow at @iastoulouse.bsky.social @tse-fr.eu. PhD ENS Paris.
Website: sites.google.com/view/leofitouchi/home
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiApplications for our upcoming Summer School have been extended until January 15! 🤝 Apply now: www.tse-fr.eu/toulouse-sum... @olkcampbell.bsky.social @maximederex.bsky.social @lfitouchi.bsky.social @cmolho.bsky.social @ccavaille.bsky.social
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiThis week, we talk to Léo Fetuchi about the moralization of self-control and the lack thereof. youtu.be/duLUU9e0i0k podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... www.podbean.com/eas/pb-99f5i...
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiThis week, we talk to @danielnettle.bsky.social about big picture issues in the evolutionary social sciences, craving sugar, income inequality, running, and more! youtu.be/-NPuZSolsEs podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9hsnf...
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiIn a new Review for @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social -- and my first first-authored paper! -- @manvir.bsky.social and I argue that experience shapes the emergence and evolution of seemingly extraordinary beliefs. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Thrilled to teach again this year, on the evolution of social cognition, at the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences! Apply before December 15th 👇 Brochure: lnkd.in/e_R7cQTP Application: lnkd.in/eey-fEJ
- 📣 Are you a PhD student in the quantitative social sciences interested in interdisciplnary research? Join us at the Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences (25 May-19 Jun 2026) at @tse-fr.eu. Apply by 15 Dec 2025 🎓🔍 👉 More info + application: www.tse-fr.eu/toulouse-sum...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi📣 New BBS preprint out now! 📣 "Models casting egalitarian societies as crucibles of equality perpetuate the factually uninformed notion that foragers are somehow more noble. Critiques portray egalitarianism as romantic fantasy. Neither characterization is wholly justified." doi.org/10.1017/S014...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiIt's hiring season at @iast.fr! - 2y research postdoc contract - Full autonomy, you are your own PI - Awesome multidisciplinary environment - All social and behavioral sciences welcome - Seed funding for projects and workshops - Gorgeous city in the south of France www.iast.fr/research-fel...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- thank you to all speakers for all the food for thought!
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi🧠 What?! A meeting just on disgust?! Yes!! 📍 @iast.fr, France | 🗓 Dec 4–5, 2025 💥 Keynotes by Paul Rozin @upenn.edu, @cr-amo.bsky.social, Philip Powell @sheffielduni.bsky.social & Cindy Kam 🌍 From Psychology to Politics, Biology & beyond 🎓 Abstract submissions until Aug 31: forms.gle/QBmkUB3aLDjY...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi🚨NEW PAPER from the @eegcam.bsky.social!🚨I have never been as proud of something as of the work that finally we can share today: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... - we show how a climatically driven Pan African meta population model explains our species genetic and morphological diversity 🧬💀
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi"Shamanism" by @manvir.bsky.social is now out. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339.... It's a deep, original, and fun book—highly recommended. My blurb:
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- 🧵New paper out in Cognition Why do people moralize harmless carnal sins (e.g. gluttony, masturbation)? @danielnettle.bsky.social & I find that these behaviors activate reciprocity-based moral judgment—no need for a distinct "purity" module. 50 days free link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1l18D2Hx2-...
- A core debate in moral psych: “monist” vs. “pluralist” theories. Monists argue that all moral judgments, despite their diverse content (e.g. purity, fairness), are produced by a single calculator in the mind (e.g. reciprocity). Pluralists disagree: we need distinct mechanisms beyond reciprocity.
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiAre dance & infant-directed song human universals? Like many people, I've long thought so. But in a new paper in Current Biology, Kim Hill & I report that the Northern Aché (Paraguay) lacked both behaviors, likely losing them after cultural collapse. Open-access link: www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi🙌 Hot off the presses @natcomms.nature.com! We created a custom #Minecraft environment to study a long-standing puzzle in cognitive science: How do humans flexibly adapt their individual and social learning strategies in dynamic, realistic situations? Check it out 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵👇
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiVery happy to announce that our paper “Sensory Horizons and the Functions of Conscious Vision” is now out as a target article in BBS!! @smfleming.bsky.social and I present a new theory of the evolution and functions of visual consciousness. Article here: doi.org/10.1017/S014.... A (long) thread 🧵
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiA year ago I linked to a paper by Deirdre Wilson and me entitled "Rethinking ostensive communication in an evolutionary, comparative, and developmental perspective." A much revised version has been accepted by Psychological Review. The preprint is available at osf.io/preprints/ps...
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiNew cultural evolution modelling paper with @bdecourson.bsky.social on @pnas.org! "Weak individual preferences stabilize culture" A quick 🧵 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiSydney's post goes on as a thread with an excellent summary of this work, and a link to the portal for submitting commentaries at BBS. Working on this with Sydney, Josh, and Nick was enormously productive in my own thinking about the structure and function of morality!
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi🚨 Now accepting commentary proposals!! 🚨Thrilled to share that our paper --- "Resource-rational contractualism: A triple theory of moral cognition" --- was accepted for publication at Behavioral and Brain Sciences and is open for commentary!
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Where 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...
- Across societies, people believe in moralistic supernatural punishment—gods or supernatural forces that punish antisocial behavior. Why do these religious beliefs develop so reliably?
- Thrilled that our paper with @manvir.bsky.social is covered on @peez.bsky.social's great podcast Very Bad Wizzard!! Listen here (starting at ∼31 min): verybadwizards.com/episode/epis... Paper: drive.google.com/file/d/1Xjcf...
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiStarter pack for evolutionary behavioral science! I know I am missing many ppl working in this area. Please add yourself and your colleagues! go.bsky.app/Rt4Kh26at://did:plc:tot44zxpy6jwdv2iiiqfvi7p/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lchgrn2whh22
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiNobel prize winner Katelyn Karikó has spent endless hours to gain unprecedented insights into nature. But she also enjoys the feelings of insight triggered by watching Columbo. Are there people who just enjoy feelings of insights more, whatever their source? Our recent findings suggest that yes:
- 🥳 My first publication ever in Personality and Individual Difference, with @edgardubourg.bsky.social and @hugoreasoning.bsky.social. Insight can arise from a wide range of experiences, from making groundbreaking discoveries to reading a whodunit. Are some people more interested in this feeling?
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Our new paper, on the evolution of institutions, is out in PNAS! How can institutions promote cooperation when they themselves rely on cooperation? Check out JB's awesome thread! Very proud of this paper with @jliep.bsky.social, N. Baumard, @jbaptistandre.bsky.social! www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi🤖 New paper with Simon Myers: People expect artificial moral advisors to be more utilitarian, and distrust utilitarian moral advisors 🤖 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @moralsmyers.bsky.social
- Reposted by Léo Fitouchi[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Léo FitouchiMega-thread of 50 psychology-related starter packs! Click here and scroll up! bsky.app/profile/mark... #Psychology #AcademicSky #EduSky 🧪
