Christophe Heintz

I am working on the role of adaptive cognition in shaping economic behaviour, cultural evolution and the history of science.

[LCL_CEU @lcl_ceu]

The @ceu Cognitive Science Department is recruiting PhD students for Fall 2026! Come apply by February 4th for four years of fully funded studies: https://t.co/QG3oWLB7lR

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

Impression formation and reputation management take some recursive mind-reading. We easily ascribe reputational motives to others: “they did it to impress me”; and we anticipate that others might interpret our choices as driven by such motives (which takes four recursive steps).

[Mia Karabegović @m_karabeg]

🦉New paper out in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences with @heintz_c, in which we connect the evolution of recursive mind reading with the task of prosocial reputation management in a partner choice ecology. A quick summary: (1/5)

[Mathieu Charbonneau @matcharbonneau1]

I am very excited to share with you the news that our book ‘The Evolution of Techniques: Rigidity and Flexibility in Use, Transmission, and Innovation’ is coming out in exactly 2 months.
https://t.co/iyehWl6bvX

1/5

[Mia Karabegović @m_karabeg]

🦉New paper with Tristin Blatt, @PascalBoyerUSA and @hugoreasoning, in which we show that perceived competence of a discoverer, gratitude towards them, and intuitions about ownership (first contact) affect credit attributions in science. https://t.co/B8oQhUoOG4

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

Sometime, the relevant alternative intention is epistemic. Caring for others sometimes implies paying attention to information with which to make better—more prosocial—choices. (4/4)

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

Are epistemic actions subject to moral evaluation? At first sight, no: their intended consequences are on beliefs, not on the welfare of others. But in fact, yes: People do express moral disapproval by saying things like: “you should have checked!”.🧵

https://t.co/XbcFHu4RXl

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

We argue that ascription of responsibility results from counterfactual thinking that reveals what alternative intentions would have caused a better outcome. (3/4)

[Thom Scott-Phillips @tscottphillips]

New paper w @heintz_c, in PNAS:

"Great ape interaction: Ladyginian but not Gricean"

https://t.co/QxBA9A5GdE

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

@GambiChiara From a manuscript co-authored with Francesca Bonalumi @fra_at

[Nazli Altinok @naz_altinok]

Happy to share our recent publication with my wonderful co-authors and mentors, Harriet Over and Malinda Carpenter in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. Open data, and open access for another 3 weeks! As usual a mini 🧵👇https://t.co/ikAPPEWB7o

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

@moylato @acerbialberto @risj_oxford Yes! Promoting institutions of epistemic vigilance (possibly through state funded, yet independent, news outlet) @ASzegofi

[Thom Scott-Phillips @tscottphillips]

Our review of animal communication is now formally published in Annual Review of Linguistics. Open access :)

We (me & @heintz_c) conclude that evolutionary continuity between humans and great apes lies in social cognition & attention manipulation

https://t.co/FWn19FgfQk

[@jbaptistandre.bsky.social @jbaptistandre]

Come study cognitive science in Paris!

The Master program in Cognitive Science of @ENS_ULM, @univ_paris_cite, & @EHESS_fr (so-called Cogmaster) is currently inviting applications until March 10 2023.

https://t.co/NmvA75xOTT

[Thom Scott-Phillips @tscottphillips]

Publication day!
"Communication & deniability: Moral & epistemic reactions to denials"
With @fra_at, Feride Belma Bumin & @heintzc3

People often say, 'That's not what I meant!'. We investigate experimentally when these complaints are & are not credible

https://t.co/rzk2620Oa3

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

Since a lot of culture involves solving coordination problems and creating conventions, the standardization problem is definitely an important addition. In my view, it should become a key topic for scientists of cultural evolution. (3/3)

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

What does it take for natural languages to evolve?
Morin’s BBS target paper deal with this big old question in extremely original ways, and it pays.
https://t.co/TNugvvOJ6M
🧵

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

With this new paper, Morin reveals a new problem of the same type: “the standardization problem”. (2/3)

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

Bonus tweets (1/2): In “How Traditions live and die” Morin talked about the flop and the wear and tear problems, which can prevent something from achieving cultural success. With this new paper, Morin reveals a new problem of the same type: “the standardization problem”.

[Christophe Heintz @heintz_c]

Capacities for ostensive communication (aka cognitive pragmatics) are well known to make the most of common grounds. This is why interpretation of utterances is so context sensitive (c.f. linguistic pragmatics). (9/10)