These publications are also indexed on Google Scholar.
Working papers and papers in review:
André, J. B., Debove, S., Fitouchi, L., & Baumard, N. (2022). Moral cognition as a Nash product maximizer: An evolutionary contractualist account of morality.
Boon-Falleur, M., Baumard, N., & André, J. B. (2022). Optimal resource allocation and its consequences on behavioral strategies, personality traits and preferences.
Langlais, P. C., Camps, J. B., Baumard, N., & Morin, O. (2022, July). From Roland to Conan: First results on the corpus of French literary fictions (1050-1920). In Digital Humanities 2022 (DH2022).
Fitouchi, L., André, J. B., Baumard, N., & Nettle, D. (in prep.). Harmless bodily pleasures are moralized because they are perceived as reducing self-control and cooperativeness.
Martins, M. & Baumard, N. (in review) Loving, Fast and Slow: A Quantitative History of Passion and Tenderness in Early Modern Europe
Martins, M., Barner, D. & Baumard, N. (in review) Quantifying Numeric Cognition in Early Modern Theatre: Psychological and Environmental Determinants of Numeracy Before the Industrial Revolution
Dubourg, E., Thouzeau, V., de Dampierre, C., & Baumard, N. (in review) Exploratory preferences explain the cultural success of imaginary worlds in modern societies. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/d9uqs
Baumard, N., Huillery, E. and Zabrocki, L. (in review) The Economic Origins of Ascetic Values : Evidence from Medieval Europe
De Courson, B. & Baumard, N., (in review) Quantifying the Scientific Revolution (heatmaps of scientific productivity in the 16th c., 17th c. and 18th c.) SocArXiv, 6 Dec. 2019.
Baumard, N. (2022) From Chariclea and Theagen to Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng: How romantic fictions inform us about the cultural evolution of pair-bonding in Eurasia. Working paper
Accepted and published papers:
889. Fitouchi, L., André, JB., Baumard, N. (2021) Moral disciplining: the cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality Behavioral and Brain Sciences
88. Dubourg, E.*, Fitouchi, L.*, Baumard, N. (2023). When instrumental inference hides behind seemingly arbitrary conventions. Commentary to ‘Tradition and Invention: The Bifocal Stance Theory of Cultural Evolution’ by Jagiello et al., Behavioral and Brain Sciences. (URL) (PDF)
87. Fitouchi, L., André, JB., Baumard, N. (2022) Are there really so many moral emotions? Carving morality at its functional joints, to appear in the Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions edited by Laith Al-Shawaf and Todd Shackelford
86. 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 coverage.
85. Martins, M.J.D. and Baumard, N. (2022) How to Develop Reliable Instruments to Measure the Cultural Evolution of Preferences and Feelings in History? Front. Psychol. 13:786229.
84. Fitouchi, L., André JB, & Baumard, N., (2022) From supernatural punishment to big gods to puritanical religions: clarifying explanatory targets in the rise of moralizing religions, Religion, Brain & Behavior
83. Boon-Falleur, M., Grandin, A., Baumard, N. and Chevallier C. (2022) Leveraging social cognition to promote effective climate change mitigation. Nature Climate Change
82. Dubourg, E., & Baumard, N. (2022) Why and How Did Narrative Fictions Evolve? Fictions as Entertainment Technologies. Frontiers in Psychology, 277.
81. Hyafil, A. & Baumard, N. (2022) Evoked and Transmitted Culture models: Using bayesian methods to infer the evolution of cultural traits in history, Plos One
80. Baumard, N. (2022) Postface à l’édition critique de Pourquoi notre cerveau a inventé le bien et le mal de Stéphane Debove, Université d’État d’Anacréon). English versions: Afterword to the Critical Edition (Anacreon State University – 2,859 GE)
79. Safra, L, Baumard, N., Chevallier, C. (2021) Why would anyone elect a narcissistic untrustworthy leader? Working paper
78. Dubourg, E. & Baumard, N. (2021) Why Imaginary Worlds? The psychological foundations and cultural evolution of world-dominant fictions, Behavioral and Brain Sciences
77. Boon-Falleur, M., Baumard, N., & André, J. (2021). Risk-seeking or impatient? Disentangling variance and time in hazardous behaviors. Evolution and Human Behavior
76. Mell, H., Baumard, N., & André, J. B. (2020). Time is money. Waiting costs explain why selection favors steeper time discounting in deprived environments. Evolution and Human Behavior
75. Dubourg, E., André, JB, and Baumard, N. (2021) The evolution of music: one trait, two ultimate-level explanations. Commentary to ‘Origins of music in credible signaling’ by Mehr et al., Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
74. Fitouchi, L., André, JB, and Baumard, N. (2021) The intertwined cultural evolution of ascetic spiritualities and puritanical religions as technologies of self-discipline, Religion, Brain & Behavior
73. Mell, H., Safra, L., Demange, P., Algan, Y., Baumard, N., Chevallier, C. (2021) Early life adversity is associated with diminished social trust in adults, Political Psychology
72. Dubourg, E., André JB, and Baumard N., (2021) L’origine des fictions : l’hypothèse des fonctions évolutionnaires sociales, Fabula, 25.
71. Jacquet, P.O., Pazhoohi, F., Findling C., Mell, H., Chevallier, C., Baumard, N. (2021) Predictive multivariate modelling of religiosity in 295 000 individuals from WEIRD and non-WEIRD populations, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
70. Martin, M. & Baumard, N. (2020) The rise of prosociality in fiction preceded democratic revolutions in Early Modern Europe, PNAS
69. Safra, L., Chevallier, C., Grèzes, J., Baumard, N. (2020) Tracking the rise of trust in history using machine learning and paintings, Nature Communication
68. André, JB., & Baumard, N. (2020) Cultural evolution by capital accumulation, Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, E18.
67. Mell, H., André, J.B., Baumard, N. (2020) Time is money. Waiting costs explain why selection favors steeper time discounting in deprived environments. Evolution and Human Behavior
66. Lettinga, N., Jacquet, P. O., André, J. B., Baumard, N., & Chevallier, C. (2020). Environmental harshness is associated with lower investment in collective actions. PlosOne 15(7): e0236715. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236715
65. Safra, L., Wyart, V., Baumard, N., Chevallier C., (2020) Motivation for social bonding promotes high- stakes cooperative strategies, PloS one, 15(4), e0230011
64. Baumard, N. (2019) Psychological Origins of the Industrial Revolution, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Target article, Commentaries and Response, 1-63
63. Geoffroy, F., Baumard, N., André, JB., (2019) Why cooperation is not running away, Journal of Evolutionary Biology
62. Jacquet P.O., Safra L., Wyart V., Baumard N., Chevallier C. (2018) The ecological roots of human susceptibility to social influence: a pre-registered study investigating the impact of early life adversity. Royal Society Open Science 5, 180454
61. Mell, H., Safra, L. Algan, Y, Baumard, N and Chevallier, C. (2018) Childhood Environmental Harshness Predicts Coordinated Health and Reproductive Strategies: A Cross-sectional Study Of A Nationally Representative (France) Sample`. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(1), 1-8.
60. Sheskin, M., Chevallier, C., Kanovsky, M. Hulin, M., Ivanescu, A., Lenfesty, H., Regnier, D., Berniunas, R., Castelain, T., Sebesteny A., & Baumard, N. (2018). The needs of the many: Judging sacrifices for the group across cultures. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 18(1-2), 205-223
59. Baumard, N., Chevallier, C., & André, J. B. (2018). Fairness, more than any other cognitive mechanism, is what explains the content of folk-economic beliefs. Commentary to ‘Folk-economic beliefs: Anevolutionary cognitive model’ by Petersen and Boyer, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41.
58. Baumard, N. (2018). Increased affluence, life history theory, and the decline of shamanism. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41.
57. Safra, L., Baumard, N., Chevallier, C. (2018) No strong evidence that authoritarian attitudes are driven by a lack of control (commentary to When the appeal of a dominant leader is greater than a prestige leader) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (6), E1076-E1077
56. Viciana, H., Cova, F., Baumard, N., & Morin, O. (2018). De la coopération à la culture. In La Cognition. Andler, Collins and Talon-baudry (Eds.) Gallimard, Paris.
55. Umbres, R. & Baumard, N., (2018) ‘Cooperation’ in Hilary Callan (Ed.) Wiley-Blackwell’s International Encyclopedia of Anthropology
54. Safra, L., Algan, Y., Grèzes, J., Tecu, T., Baumard, N. & Chevallier, C., (2017) Childhood harshness induces long-lasting preference for authoritarian leaders Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(5), 645-651.7.
53. Debove, S., Baumard, N. and André, J.-B. (2017) On the evolutionary origins of equity, PloS one, 12(9), e0184459.
52. Mell, H., André, J.B., Baumard, N. (2017) Both collection risk and waiting costs give rise to the behavioural constellation of deprivation (on Pepper and Nettle’s The Behavioral Constellation of Poverty”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41
51. Mell, H., Safra, L., Baumard, N. and Jacquet, P.O. (2017) Climate is not a good candidate to account for variations in aggressionand violence across space and time (on ‘Aggression and violence around the world: A model of CLimate, Aggression, and Self-control in Humans (CLASH)’), Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40.
50. Baumard, N. Phenotypic Plasticity, 2017 : What Scientific Term Or Concept Ought To Be More Widely Known?, Edge.
49. Boyer, P. & Baumard, N., (2017) Cognitive attractors in the evolution and diffusion of religious representations in Luther Martin and Don Wiebe (Eds.) Religion Explained: The Cognitive Science of Religion Twenty-Five Years On
48. Boyer, P. & Baumard, N., (2017) The diversity of religious systems: An evolutionary and cognitive framework, in Liddle and Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion
47. Baumard, N. (2016) The Origins of Fairness : How Evolution Explains our Human Nature, Oxford University Press, Oxford(translation of Comment nous sommes devenus moraux : Une histoire naturelle du bien et du mal, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2010)
46. Safra, L., Tecu, T., Lambert, S., Sheskin, M., Baumard, N., Chevallier, C. (2016). Neighborhood Deprivation Negatively Impacts Children’s Prosocial Behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1760
45. Sheskin, M. & Baumard, B. (2016) Switching Away from Utilitarianism: The Limited Role of Utility Calculations in Moral Judgment, PloS one, 11(8), e0160084.
44. Debove, S., Baumard, N., & Andre, J. B. (2016). Models of the evolution of fairness in the ultimatum game: a review and classification. Evolution and Human Behavior.
43. Baumard, N. (2016) Why are religions so judgemental? Ask evolution, New Scientist, 230(3071), 34-35.
42. Jacquet, P., Baumard, N. and Chevallier, C., (2016) Does Culture Get Embrained?, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113(21), E2873-E2873.
41. Sheskin, M., Lambert, S. & Baumard, N., (2016) Biological Markets Explain Human Ultrasociality, Commentary to ‘The economic origins of ultrasociality’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
40. Boyer, P. & Baumard, N., (2016) Projecting WEIRD features on ancient religions (Commentary to ‘The cultural evolution of prosocial religions’ by Norenzayan et al.), Behavioral and Brain Sciences
39. Baumard, N., & Chevallier, C. (2015). The nature and dynamics of world religions: a life-history approach. In Proc. R. Soc. B (Vol. 282, No. 1818, p. 20151593). The Royal Society.
38. Baumard, N., Hyafil, A. & Boyer, p. (2015) What Changed During the Axial Age: Cognitive Styles or Reward Systems?, Communicative and Integrative Biology. 8(5).
37. Debove, S., André, J.B. & Baumard, N., (2015) Partner choice creates fairness in humans, Proc. R. Soc. B, 282(1808), 20150392.
36. Baumard, N., Hyafil, A. Morris, I., and Boyer, P., (2015) Increased affluence explains the emergence of ascetic wisdoms and moralizing religions. Current Biology, 25(1), 10-15. (See press coverage in Science)
35. Chevallier, C., Xu, J., Adachi, K., van der Henst, J.B. & Baumard, N., (2015) Preschoolers’ understanding of merit in two Asian societies, Plos One. 10(5), e0114717.
34. Debove, S., Baumard, N. & André, J.B., (2015) Evolution of equal division among unequal partners, Evolution, 69: 561–569.
33. Baumard, N., (2015) Evolutionary Psychology and Public Policy, in D. Buss (Ed.) The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, John Wiley & Sons
32. Sheskin, M., Chevallier, C., Lambert, S., and Baumard, N. (2014) Life-history theory explains childhood moral development, Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 18(12), 613-615.
31. Baumard, N. & Sheskin, M. (2014) Partner Choice and the Evolution of a Contractualist Morality, in Decety, J. & Wheatley, T., The Moral Brain, M.I.T. Press.
30. Baumard, N. & Boyer, P. (2014) Empirical problems with the notions of “big gods” and of prosociality in large societies (Commentary on ‘Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict’ by Ara Norenzayan), Religion, Brain and Behavior.
29. Baumard, N. (2014) For public policies, our evolved psychology is the problem AND the solution (Commentary to ‘Evolving the Future: Toward a Science of Intentional Change’ by Wilson, Hayes, Biglan and Embry), Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37 (4) pp. 418-418.
28. Baumard, N. (2014) Morality Is in Our Brain, in Our Genes, and Even in the Structure of the Universe, Center for Humans and Nature
27. Baumard, N. & Boyer, P., (2013) Explaining Moral Religions, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17 (6) pp. 172 – 180.
26. Baumard, N. & Boyer, P., (2013) Religious Beliefs as Reflective Elaborations: A Modified Dual-Process Model, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22.4 (2013): 295-300.
25. Baumard, N., André, J.B. et Sperber, D. (2013) A Mutualistic Theory of Morality: The Evolution of Fairness by Partner Choice, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Target article, 36 (1).
24. Liénard, P., Chevallier, C., Mascaro, O., Kiura, P., and Baumard, N. (2013) Moral development in a pre-state society, Journal of Cognition and Culture, 13 (1).
23. Baumard, N. (2013) Cultural norms: Transmitted behaviors or adapted response? Commentary on Gerkey, Current Anthropology.
22. Baumard, N. & Sperber, D., (2013) Morale et reputation : Une perspective évolutionnaire, Communications, 93.
21. Baumard, N., Mascaro, O. et Chevallier, C. (2012) Preschoolers are able to take merit into account when distributing goods, Developmental Psychology, 48(2), 492-498.
20. Baumard, N. & Chevallier, C. (2012) What goes around comes around: The evolutionary roots of the belief in immanent justice, Journal of Cognition and Culture.
19. Sperber, D. & Baumard, N. (2012) Morality and reputation in an evolutionary perspective, Mind and Language, 27 (5), 495–518.
18. Baumard, N. (2012) The moral problem of group selection, Commentary on Pinker‘s The false allure of group selection, Edge.
17. Baumard, N. (2012) The evolution of cooperation: from networks to institutions, Commentary on Dunbar’s “Networking Past and Present”, Cliodynamics: The Journal of Mathematical and Theoretical History, 3 (2) 8-11.
16. Baumard, N. (2012) The restorative logic of punishment: Another argument in favor of weak selection, Comment on Guala’s “Reciprocity: weak or strong? What punishment experiments do (and do not) demonstrate”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35 (2).
15. Baumard, N. & Sperber, D. (2012) Evolutionary and cognitive anthropology, In Fassin, D. (Ed.), Companion to Moral Anthropology, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 611-627.
14. André, J.B. & Baumard, N. (2011) Social opportunities and the evolution of fairness, Journal of Theoretical Biology. 289:128–135.
13. Bourrat, P., Baumard, N., and McKay, R. (2011) Surveillance Cues Enhance Moral Condemnation, Evolutionary psychology. 9(2).
12. Baumard, N. (2011) Punishment is not a group adaptation, Humans punish to restore fairness rather than to support group cooperation, Mind and Society, 10, 1.
11. André, J.B. & Baumard, N. (2011) The evolution of fairness in a biological market, Evolution, 65, 1.
10. Baumard, N. & Liénard, P. (2011) Second or third party punishment? When self-interest hides behind apparent functional interventions (Letter to Mathew & Boyd’s “Punishment sustains large scale cooperation in prestate warfare”), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108 (39).
9. Baumard, N. (2010) Has punishment played a role in the evolution of cooperation? A critical review, Mind and Society, 171-192, 9, 2.
8. Baumard, N., Boyer, P. and Sperber, D. (2010) Evolution of Fairness: Cultural Variability, (Letter to Henrich et al.’s “Markets, Religion, Community Size, and the Evolution of Fairness and Punishment”) Science 23 July 2010 329: 388-389.
7. Baumard, N. & Sperber, D. (2010) Weird people, yes but also weird experiments? Commentary to Henrich et al.’s « WEIRD people » (2010), Behavioral and Brain Sciences
6. Baumard N., André, J.B. et Morin, O. (2010) Les théories evolutionnaires en sciences humaines. In Biologie évolutive, F. Thomas, T. Lefèvre, et M. Raymond (Eds.), Bruxelles : De Boeck.
5. Chevallier, C., Baumard, N., Grèzes, J., & Pouga L. (2010) Comprendre les actions, émotions et états mentaux d’autrui : psychologie et neurosciences. In A. Berthoz, C. Ossola and B. Stock (Eds.), La pluralite et les fondements cognitifs de la notion de point de vue, Paris: Conférences du Collège de France.
4. Baumard, N. (2009). Psychologie évolutionniste et sciences sociales, In J.-B. Van der Henst & H. Mercier (Eds.), Darwin en tête, Grenoble : PUG.
3. Baumard, N. (2008) Hard-neurosciences: Greg Egan La science-fiction est-elle de bon conseil pour une aproche cognitive de la morale? Cahier Romans de Sciences Cognitives. 3 (2)
2. Baumard, N. (2007). Comment réconcilier évolution, cognition et culture : une approche contractualiste de la morale. In C. Clavien & C. El Bez (Eds.), L’éthique : l’inné et l’acquis, Lausanne : Presses Universitaires de Lausanne.
1. Baumard, N. (2007). La morale n’est pas le social, Terrain, 48, 49-72.
Nicolas Baumard 