Sheina Lew-Levy

Sheina Lew-Levy

@sheinalew.bsky.social

Associate Professor at @durhampsych.bsky.social. I look at how culture influences children's learning, and how learning makes us human.

1.6K followers4.3K following75 posts

Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

Was great fun to talk about kids, peer cultures, and cultural evolution with Jay and Tanay!

The Cognitations podcast@cognitations.bsky.social

Typically, childhood is seen as a preparatory period for adulthood, where kids just passively absorb complex cultural knowledge that adults pass down to them. Is this really the case? We discuss this and much more with @sheinalew.bsky.social youtu.be/32lr2EGnqfI

youtu.beHow Kids Drive Cultural Evolution | Sheina Lew-LevyYouTube video by The Cognitations Podcast

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Bruce Rawlings
@brucerawlings.bsky.social

Check out our new pre print on play and innovation, led by the awesome Elena Miu 👇

Elena Miu@elenamiu.bsky.social

A new preprint, co-authored with a great group of collaborators who joined us in Aarhus almost a year ago: osf.io/preprints/ps...

osf.ioPlaying at scale: a long-term population perspective on the relationship between play and innovationThe multifaceted relationship between play and innovation has long fascinated scholars across disciplines. Yet, we lack robust empirical evidence regarding the causal pathways that may connect these t...
Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

This is so cool, peer learning in solitary organgutans!

Brendan Barrett@bjjbarrett.bsky.social

Our paper on how orangutan mothers plan and alter their space use at personal costs so their offspring may play with similarly aged offspring (independent of kinship and fruit productivity) has transitioned from preprint to peer reviewed publication doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

doi.orgMaternal ranging strategies facilitate offspring social play at energetic cost in the most solitary ape | PNASIn most vertebrates, social play among peers is considered essential for behavioral development. Yet in solitary species bearing single offspring, ...
Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

We've got examples of authorship guidelines, codes of conduct, fieldwork debriefs, medical clearance forms, and safety plans. We'd love more, so please do contribute! We also have a working bibliography of fieldwork-related scholarship!

Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

🚨 Our new lab paper, led by @amandinevisine.bsky.social, examines exploration, group composition, and play activities among BaYaka children and teens living in a village context! Amandine is currently on fieldwork following up on this for her PhD 🎯 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.comCongolese BaYaka children's learning and exploring in a village contextChildhood is a key period for acquiring and transmitting cultural knowledge and skill. Hunter-gatherer children, such as the Congolese BaYaka, learn a…

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Felix Riede
@felixthehauskat.bsky.social

Tools as teachers in chimps! This process has also been argued to occur in humans and became formalised through scaled-down but functional miniatures: toys! link.springer.com/article/10.1... @elenamiu.bsky.social @mathildevm.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @ndersen.bsky.social

link.springer.comToys as Teachers: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Object Use and Enskillment in Hunter–Gatherer Societies - Journal of Archaeological Method and TheoryStudies of cultural transmission—whether approached by archaeological or ethnographic means—have made great strides in identifying formal teaching and learning arrangements, which in turn can be close...
On Humans Podcast@ilarimakela.bsky.social

Chimpanzee teachers! "We found that tool transfer constitutes a type of teaching in Dindefelo. Our results support the idea that teaching and facilitation, mainly from mothers, contribute to the acquisition of technological skills in immature chimpanzees." #Primatology

frontiersin.orgFrontiers | Savanna chimpanzee tool and fruit transfers facilitate the transmission of technological behaviours at Dindefelo, SenegalSocial learning is a key factor in the transmission of technological behaviours amongst primates. We studied chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) social intera...

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Zanna Clay
@zannaclay.bsky.social

Great apes reassure one another to maintain the peace Our new study shows that friendly touch before stressful events, like embracing, patting and even kissing, promotes tolerance and peace in chimpanzees and bonobos. Some BBC coverage 🙂 open-access paper below! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.ukGreat Apes kiss and cuddle to keep the peace, says studyHugging before stressful events may be an ancient way of building trust, say scientists studying apes.

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Dorsa Amir
@dorsaamir.bsky.social

A little example of children's peer culture in the wild: my 5-year-old son and his classmates worked together to make these (truly stunning) pieces of art. I asked to take them home & frame them. To quote Picasso: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Cornish Jackdaw Project
@cornishjackdaws.bsky.social

A recent paper by Sheina Lew-Levy & @dorsaamir.bsky.social highlights the vital role of children in human cultural evolution. @katiemcauliffe.bsky.social and I argue that the same is true in other species. Youngsters are a powerful cultural force! tinyurl.com/2v75zevc @uniexecec.bsky.social

tinyurl.comThe role of juveniles in animal culture | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge CoreThe role of juveniles in animal culture - Volume 49

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Dorsa Amir
@dorsaamir.bsky.social

Replying to @dorsaamir.bsky.social

On a personal note, this was one of my favorite scientific experiences to date; the BBS format remains unrivaled in its ability to stimulate fruitful discussion, and we are immensely grateful to the commentators who took the time to read & respond to our work.

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Dorsa Amir
@dorsaamir.bsky.social

When we consider children in cultural evolution, we tend to cast them as recipients of adult culture. In our BBS target article, @sheinalew.bsky.social & I argued there's more: through 'peer cultures', children actively drive cultural adaptation. Our final paper + a rich set of responses is out now!

cambridge.orgChildren as agents of cultural adaptation | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge CoreChildren as agents of cultural adaptation - Volume 49

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Adam Rutherford
@adamrutherford.bsky.social

This is cultural suicide and intellectual vandalism. In an era where humanities-illiterate tech bros have unearned god-like powers, we need historians, philosophers, ethicists, classicists more than ever.

deplorable.isdeplorable.is
Francesca Stavrakopoulou@proffrancesca.bsky.social

I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH

c.orgSign the PetitionStop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Dr Eve Holden (she/her)
@chimpanzeve.bsky.social

Check out our 🌟new paper🌟 on observational data collection in children through adolescence Such methods can capture complexity & richness of experiences across diverse contexts, something that is missing from a lot of developmental psychology! Open-access: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Lara Wood@larawood.bsky.social

As part of our ESRC-funded project on age-based imitation, we have produced a methods paper reflecting on naturalistic observations of children and adolescents in diverse contexts, detailing methods, challenges and recommendations doi.org/10.1002/icd....

doi.orgNaturalistic Observations of Children and Adolescents in Diverse Contexts: Methods, Challenges and RecommendationsThe understanding of child development benefits from varied research approaches, including those that reflect the complexity of children's experiences across diverse and real-world contexts. This art...

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Lara Wood
@larawood.bsky.social

Replying to @larawood.bsky.social

We hope this will be useful addition to any developmental psychology researchers and/or educators wanting to understand more about the benefits and approaches within naturalistic observations.

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Lara Wood
@larawood.bsky.social

As part of our ESRC-funded project on age-based imitation, we have produced a methods paper reflecting on naturalistic observations of children and adolescents in diverse contexts, detailing methods, challenges and recommendations doi.org/10.1002/icd....

doi.orgNaturalistic Observations of Children and Adolescents in Diverse Contexts: Methods, Challenges and RecommendationsThe understanding of child development benefits from varied research approaches, including those that reflect the complexity of children's experiences across diverse and real-world contexts. This art...
Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

Across cultures, parents consistently reported that children should learn from adults via mechanisms like imitation and teaching, but with peers via collaboration! As always, special thanks to our participants, who took the time to help us understand their points of view!

Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

This is a REALLY useful guide

Not that other guy, that's for sure@neogliberal.bsky.social

Are you new or recent faculty, and are you attending CES/HBES. Some thoughts: gavinbuckingham.wordpress.com/2024/10/09/a...

gavinbuckingham.wordpress.comA guide to attending conferences for new faculty (guest post by Dr Rohan Kapitany)I’ve written about conferencing as PhD student or postdoc, but haven’t really given much thought to how this world changes when you become a lecturer. Thankfully, I’ve been lucky …

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Adam Rutherford
@adamrutherford.bsky.social

Coming out in a couple of weeks. 30k new words!

Matthew Cobb@matthewcobb.bsky.social

The new, updated and thoroughly revised 10th anniversary edition of @adamrutherford.bsky.social’s brilliant book. Written with such clarity, insight and brio!

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Centre for Culture and Evolution
@brunelcce.bsky.social

1/ Important retraction news 👇📰 A recent article using “national IQ” data to claim that a country’s “national intelligence” causes economic growth has been retracted @rebeccasear.bsky.social was among those who raised concerns - a good example of the importance of responsibility in science 💪 🧪

nature.comRetraction Note: Beyond GDP: national intelligence quotient as a catalyst for sustainable socioeconomic welfare - Humanities and Social Sciences CommunicationsHumanities and Social Sciences Communications - Retraction Note: Beyond GDP: national intelligence quotient as a catalyst for sustainable socioeconomic welfare
Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

Recently we had a paper rejected from a major journal™️. Embedded within some helpful feedback were comments on our null results from a pre-registered experiment. One reviewer was very complimentary, but rejected our paper because the findings were "weak" (1/3)

Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛@rmcelreath.bsky.social

The normative fraud that Errington describes is something I've seen my whole career. A biologist once told me, if p is very small, it can't be a false positive. Teams condition on null being false, see anything that makes p small as truth-seeking. These traditions spread bc they get you published.

Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

Another suggested that null results should always be anchored to positive results.... even though we didn't have any. Yet another suggested we make a bigger deal of our null results, because they were important. We're revising in light of this latter comment! (2/3)

Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

Frankly, we're still recovering from the feeling of editorial betrayal. It feels very far from the constructive and rigorous experiences I've had publishing in more field-specific journals. It reinforced the idea that publishing needs to change for scientific practices to change, too (3/3)

Sheina Lew-Levy
@sheinalew.bsky.social

A great PhD with a great team, highly recommend!

Jeremy Koster@jeremykoster.bsky.social

There is a fully-funded PhD position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to pursue dissertation research among the Mayangna of Nicaragua, expanding a longitudinal study of subsistence strategies and behavioral ecology. Please share the posting! www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

Sheina Lew-Levy reposted

Jordan S. Martin
@jsmartin.bsky.social

Our paper on generalized dynamic phylogenetic models is finally out in MEE 🥳 The brainchild of @err-ring.bsky.social, GDPMs open up a vast new space for comparative studies on complex, coevolving traits, greatly aided by @scottclaessens.bsky.social's work on the accompanying R package. Check it out!

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.comTrait coevolution and causal inference using generalized dynamic phylogenetic modelsPhylogenetic comparative methods are widely used to study trait coevolution across biological and cultural domains. The most common methods are phylogenetic generalized linear (mixed) models, phyl...