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Nicolas BAUMARD
Researcher
Research Director
Cognitive Studies
ENS-PSL
Department of Cognitive Studies
Published on
12 July 2021
, updated on
18 May 2022
I am interested in how cognitive adaptations selected during human evolution (e.g., moral sense, exploratory preferences, romantic love, etc.) can explain the structure and dynamics of social and cultural phenomena: social norms, religious beliefs, political institutions, fictions, and arts. My work is thus situated at the intersection of the natural sciences (evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, experimental psychology), the social sciences (social anthropology, economic history, political science) and the humanities (cultural history, moral philosophy, literary theory).
Publications
- Baumard, N., Huillery, E., Hyafil, A. and Safra, L. (2022) The cultural evolution of love in history, Nature Human Behavior (Supplementary material, supplementary review, data and code here, as well as the Ancient World Values Survey). See also PNAS and France 24 coverages
- Dubourg, E., Thouzeau, V., de Dampierre, C., & Baumard, N. Exploratory preferences explain the cultural success of imaginary worlds in modern societies
- Baumard, N., Huillery, E., Hyafil, A. and Safra, L. (in review) The cultural evolution of love in history
- Martin, M. & Baumard, N. (2020) The rise of prosociality in fiction preceded democratic revolutions in Early Modern Europe, PNAS
- Safra, L., Chevallier, C., Grèzes, J., Baumard, N. (2020) Tracking the rise of trust in history using machine learning and paintings, Nature Communication
- De Courson, B. & Baumard, N., Quantifying the Scientific Revolution (heatmaps of scientific productivity in the 16th c., 17th c. and 18th c.) SocArXiv, 6 Dec. 2019. Web