Post-doc offer in Cultural Evolution and Social Cognition

A two-year post-doctoral position in Cultural Evolution and Social Cognition is currently open at the Département d’Etudes Cognitives (DEC) of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Nicolas Baumard at the Institut Jean Nicod (IJN) and Julie Grèzes at the Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC).

Project summary:

The project aims to document the so-called ‘process of civilization’, the set of long-term psychological changes that occurred in Europe from 1300 to 1900. Using large database and online experiments, the project will study the evolution of emotional displays in European paintings from the late Middle Ages to modern times and will test whether economic development can account for the evolution of social features such as trustworthiness, agreeableness or dominance. More generally, the goal of the project is to test whether life history parameters (mortality, affluence, external threat) can account for psychological changes in history.

Funding and salary:

The position is funded by a LabeX grant from PSL* Research University. The salary will be adjusted to the candidate’s post doctoral experience (start salary for a 1st year post doc: 26,000 euros, excluding social security and unemployment benefits).

Start date:

The start date will be determined with the candidate but will need to fall within the following range: 30/05/2017 to 01/01/2018.

Requirements:

– The candidate should have a PhD (or be in the final stages of obtaining such a degree) in Cognitive Science, Cultural Evolution, Economics or areas related to quantitative analysis of social phenomena.

– Experience with data analysis along with strong programming and statistical skills (matlab, r).

– Strong language and writing skills in English are required (note: speaking French is not required).

Please send a complete CV, a 2-pages cover letter and contact information of two references by March 15th to nicolas.baumard@ens.fr and julie.grezes@ens.fr, and feel free to contact us for more information!

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