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Title Postdoctoral Fellow in Historical Psychology & Cultural Evolution

School Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Department/Area Human Evolutionary Biology

Position Description

The Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow to join the Laboratory for Culture, Cognition, and Coevolution. We seek an outstanding scholar whose work integrates social science, evolutionary theory, and quantitative methods to investigate long-run psychological and cultural change. The successful candidate will contribute to a large, multi-year project on historical psychology and the cultural evolution of epistemological frameworks, including how knowledge systems, reasoning styles, and social institutions transform across time and space.

Responsibilities

The Postdoctoral Fellow will:

+ Collaborate with the PI and interdisciplinary team on conceptual development, data construction, analysis, and writing.

+ Contribute to the design and implementation of quantitative text-analytic workflows and historical datasets.

+ Produce high-quality scholarly articles for publication in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and interdisciplinary science journals.

+ Attend lab meetings, present research, and participate in the intellectual life of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology.

+ Mentor graduate and undergraduate researchers involved in the project.

This is a one-year, full-time position, with the possibility of renewal for a second year based on performance and funding. Salary and benefits are competitive and commensurate with Harvard postdoctoral compensation guidelines.

Basic Qualifications

We welcome candidates with primary training in anthropology, sociology, psychology, or closely related fields. Competitive applicants will have:

+ Demonstrated quantitative sophistication, including strong statistical skills and comfort with large-scale or complex data.

+ Experience with computational text analysis, such as NLP methods, historical text processing, topic modeling, semantic change, or related techniques.

+ Broad interest in cultural evolution, cognitive anthropology, historical social science, and/or long-run behavioral change.

+ A record of independent research and scholarly publications.

Additional Qualifications

Preferred Additional Skills

The project involves archival, textual, and cross-cultural sources across Eurasia. Thus, experience or training in:

+ Latin

+ Classical Chinese

is considered a significant plus, though not required.

Special Instructions

Please upload the following materials:

-Cover Letter

-CV

-Names of three references

Contact Information

Professor Joseph Henrich

Contact Email [email protected]

Salary Range

$67,600-$80,000 per year

Minimum Number of References Required 3

Maximum Number of References Allowed

Keywords

EEO/Non-Discrimination Commitment Statement

Harvard University is committed to equal opportunity and non-discrimination. We seek talent from all parts of society and the world, and we strive to ensure everyone at Harvard thrives. Our differences help our community advance Harvard’s academic purposes.

Harvard has an equal employment opportunity (https://hr.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum6281/files/2025-04/reaffirmation\_statement.pdf) policy that outlines our commitment to prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, religion, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or identified in the university’s non-discrimination policy (https://provost.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum3356/files/2025-07/non-discrimination\_and\_anti-bullying\_policies.pdf) . Harvard’s equal employment opportunity policy and non-discrimination policy help all community members participate fully in work and campus life free from harassment and discrimination.

Supplemental Questions