Publications

Accepted/In Press

Ko, A., Neuberg, S. L., Pick, C. M., Varnum, M. E. W., & Becker, D. V. (in press). Responses to political partisans are calibrated by a COVID-sensitive disease psychology: A longitudinal investigation. American Psychologist.

2024

Grossmann, I., Varnum, M. E. W., Hutcherson, C. A., & Mandel, D. R. (2024). When expert predictions fail. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28, 113-123.

Hohm, I., Wormley, A. S., Schaller, M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2024). Homo temporus: Seasonal cycles as a fundamental source of variation in human psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 19, 151-172.

Kirsch, A. P., Kenrick, D.T., Ko, A., Pick, C. M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2024). Sibling aggression is surprisingly common and sexually egalitarian. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45, 214-227.

2023

Wormley, A. S., Kwon, J. Y., Barlev, M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2023). How much cultural variation around the globe is explained by ecology? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290, 20230485.

Hutcherson, C., Sharpinsky, K., Varnum, M. E. W., Rotella, A., Wormley, A. S., Tay, L., & Grossmann, I. (2023). On the accuracy, media representation, and public perception of psychological scientists’ judgments of societal change. American Psychologist, 78, 968-981.

The Forecasting Collaborative.* (2023). Insights into scientists’ accuracy at forecasting societal change. Nature Human Behaviour, 7, 484-501.    *Co-founder of the Forecasting Collaborative

Schaerer, M, du Plessis, C., van Aert, R. C. M., Tiokhin, L., Lakens, D., Clemente, E. G., Pfeiffer, T., . . .  Gender Audits Forecasting Collaboration,* & Uhlmann, E. L. (2023). On the trajectory of discrimination: A meta-analysis and forecasting survey capturing 44 years of field experiments and gender and hiring decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 179, 104280.   

* Contributing author as part of the Gender Audits Forecasting Collaboration 

Wormley, A. S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2023). How is the behavioral immune system related to hygiene behavior? Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4, 10081.

2022

Wormley, A. S., Kwon, J. Y., Barlev, M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022). The ecology-culture dataset: A new resource for investigating cultural variation. Scientific Data, 9, 615. 

Pick, C., Ko, A., Kenrick, D. T., Wiezel, A., Wormley, A. S., Awad, E., . . . & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022). Fundamental social motives measured across 42 cultures in two waves. Scientific Data, 9, 499.

Pick, C., Ko, A., Wormley, A. S., Wiezel, A., Kenrick, D. T., Al-Shawaf, L., . . . & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022). Family still matters: Human social motivation across 42 countries during a global pandemic. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43, 527-535.

Grossmann, I., Twardus, O., Varnum, M. E. W., Jayawickreme, E., & McLevey, J. (2022). Expert predictions of societal change: Insights from the world after COVID project.  American Psychologist, 77, 276-290.

Wilbanks, D., Moon, J. W., Stewart, B., Gray, K., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2022). Not just a hijack: Imaginary worlds can enhance individual and group level fitness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, E305. 

Herrmann, S. D., Varnum, M. E. W., Straka, B. C., & Gaither, S. E. (2022). Social class identity integration and success for first-generation college students: Antecedents, mechanisms, and generalizability. Self & Identity, 21, 553-587.

2021

Varnum, M. E. W., & Grossmann, I. (2021). The psychology of cultural change: Introduction to the special issue. American Psychologist, 76, 833-837.

Rotella, A., Varnum, M. E. W., Sng, O., & Grossmann, I. (2021). Increasing population densities predict decreasing fertility rates over time: A 174-nation investigation. American Psychologist, 76, 933-946.

Krems, J. A., Ko, A., Moon, J. W., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2021). Lay beliefs about gender and sexual behavior; First evidence for a pervasive, persistent (but unfounded) stereotype. Psychological Science, 32, 871-889.

Hampton, R. S., Kwon, J. Y., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2021). Variations in the regulation of affective neural responses across three cultures. Emotion, 21, 283-296.

Bunker, C. J.,  & Varnum, M. E. W. (2021). The association between social media use and false consensus effects. Computers in Human Behavior, 125, 106947. 

Kwon, J. Y., Wormley, A. S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2021). Changing cultures, changing brains: A framework for integrating cultural neuroscience and cultural change research. Biological Psychology, 162, 108087.

Sevincer, A. T., Kwon, J. Y., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kitayama, S. (2021). Risky business: Cosmopolitan cities and risk-taking. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 52, 295-315.

Varnum, M. E. W., Krems, J. A., Morris, C., Wormley, A. S., & Grossmann, I. (2021). Why are song lyrics becoming simpler? A time series analysis of lyrical complexity in six decades of American popular music. PLOS ONE, 16, e0244576.

Kwon, J. Y., Glenberg, A. M., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2021). Culture, ecology, and grounded procedures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e13.

Varnum, M. E. W., & Hampton, R. S. (in press). Cultural changes in neural structure and function. In J. Y. Chiao,  S.-C. Lee, R. Turner, S. Y. Lee-Tauler, & B. Pringle (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Neuroscience and Global Mental Health (pp. 337-408). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 

2020

Ko, A., Pick, C., Kwon, J. Y., Barlev, M., Krems, J. A., Varnum, M. E. W., . . . & Kenrick, D. T. (2020).  Family matters: Rethinking the psychology of human social motivation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15, 173-201.

Na, J., Grossmann, I., Varnum, M. E. W., Karasawa, S., Cho, Y., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2020). Culture and personality revisited: Behavioral profiles and within-person stability in interdependent/independent social orientation and holistic/analytic cognitive style. Journal of Personality, 5, 908-924.

Fraser, A. M., Hampton, R. S., Spinard, T. L., Varnum, M. E. W., Blais, C., Eisenberg, N., Gal, D., Berger, B. H., Xu, J., & Xiao, X. (2020). Children’s mu-suppression is sensitive to witnessing others’ social victimization. Social Neuroscience, 15, 348-354. 

Hampton, R. S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2020). Individualism-collectivism. In V. Zeigler-Hill & T. Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 

2019

Varnum, M. E. W., & Grossmann, I. (2019). The wealth -> life history -> innovation account of the industrial revolution is largely inconsistent with empirical time series data. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 42, e212.

Varnum, M. E. W. (2019). Social norms are becoming weaker. Nature Human Behaviour, 3, 211.

Santos, H. C., Grossmann, I., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2019). Culture, cognition, and cultural change in social in class. In W. H. Berkhaus, & G. Ignatow (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Sociology (pp 271-284). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 

Sevincer, A. T., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kitayama, S. (2019). The land of opportunity: Cosmopolitan cities attract independent immigrants. In N. Kakabadse & N. Mouraviev (Eds.), Entrepreneurship and Global Cities: Diversity, Opportunity and Cosmopolitanism (pp. 27-47). New York, NY: Routledge. 

Kitayama, S., Varnum, M. E. W., & Salvador, C. (2019). Cultural neuroscience. In D. Cohen & S. Kitayama (Eds.), Handbook of Cultural Psychology, 2nd Edition (pp. 79-118). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. 

2018

Sng, O., Neuberg, S. L., Varnum, M. E. W., Kenrick, D. T. (2018). The behavioral ecology of cultural psychological variation. Psychological Review, 125, 714-745.

Hampton, R. S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2018). Do cultures vary in self-enhancement? ERP, behavioral, and  self-report evidence. Social Neuroscience, 13, 566-578.

Herrmann, S. D., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2018). The consequences of social class biculturalism for well-being, academic performance, and workplace adjustment. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49, 635-663.

Kwon, J. Y., Bercovici, H., Cunningham, K., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2018). How will we react to the discovery of  extraterrestrial life? Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2308. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02308

Hampton, R. S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2018). The cultural neuroscience of emotion regulation. Culture and Brain, 6, 130-150.

Herrmann, S. D., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2018). Utilizing social class bicultural identity integration to improve outcomes for first-generation college students. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 4, 165-175.

2017

Varnum, M. E. W., & Grossmann, I. (2017). Cultural change: The how and the why. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 956-972.

Santos, H. C., Varnum, M. E. W., & Grossmann, I. (2017). Global increases in individualism. Psychological Science 28, 1228-1239.

Sng, O., Neuberg, S. L., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kenrick, D. T. (2017). The crowded life is a slow life: Population density and life history strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 736-754.

Varnum, M. E. W., & Grossmann, I. (2017). Socio-ecological changes are linked to changes in the prevalence of contempt over time. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, e250.

Grossmann, I., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2017). Divergent life histories and other ecological adaptations: Examples of social class differences in attention, cognition, and attunement to others. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, e327.

Krems, J. A., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2017). More than just climate: Income inequality and sex ratio explain unique variance in qualitatively different types of aggression. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, e89.

Varnum, M. E. W., & Kitayama, S. (2017). The neuroscience of social class. Current Opinion in Psychology, 18, 147-151.

Varnum, M. E. W., & Hampton, R. S. (2017). Cultures differ in the ability to enhance affective neural responses. Social Neuroscience, 12, 594-603.

Sevincer, T. A., Varnum, M. E. W., & Kitayama, S. (2017). The culture of cities: Measuring perceived cosmopolitanism. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48, 1052-1072.

Varnum, M. E. W., & Hampton, R. S. (2017). Culture and self-other overlap in neural circuits. In N. Gonzales, E. Tezler, & J. Causadias (Eds.), The Handbook of Culture and Biology pp. 443-464). New York, NY: Wiley.

Kwon, J. Y, Hampton, R. S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2017). The cultural neuroscience of socioeconomic status.  In A. Ibanez, L. Sedeno, & A. Garcia (Eds.), Neuroscience and Social Science: The Missing Link (pp. 383-395). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

2016 

Varnum, M. E. W., & Grossmann, I. (2016). Pathogen prevalence is associated with cultural changes in gender equality. Nature Human Behaviour, 1, 0003. doi: 10.1038/s41562-016-0003

Varnum, M. E. W. (2016). The emerging (social) neuroscience of SES. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10, 428-430. doi: 10.1111/spc3.12258

Varnum, M. E. W., Blais, C., & Brewer, G. A. (2016). Social class affects Mu-suppression during action observation. Social Neuroscience, 11, 449-454.

Cohen, A. B., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2016). Beyond east vs. west: Social class, region, and religion as forms of culture. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8, 5-9.

Varnum, M. E. W., & Kwon, J. Y. (2016). The ecology of withdrawal. Commentary: The NEET and Hikikomori spectrum: Assessing the risks and consequences of becoming culturally marginalized. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 764. doi:10.3389/ fpsyg.2016.00764.

2015

Grossmann, I., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2015). Social structure, infectious diseases, disasters, secularism, and cultural change in America. Psychological Science, 26, 311-324.

Varnum, M. E. W., Blais, C., Hampton, R. S., & Brewer, G. A. (2015). Social class affects neural empathic responses. Culture and Brain, 3, 122-130.

Varnum, M. E. W. (2015). Higher in status, (even) better-than-average. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 496. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00496

Sevincer, A. T., Kitayama, S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2015). Cosmopolitan cities: The frontier in the 21st century. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1459. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01459

2014

Varnum, M. E. W., Shi, Z., Chen, A., Qiu, J., & Han, S. (2014). When "your" reward is the same as "my" reward: Self-construal priming shifts neural responses to own vs. friend's rewards. NeuroImage, 87, 164-169.

Jiang, C., Varnum, M. E. W., Hou, Y., & Han, S. (2014). Distinct effects of self-construal priming on empathic neural responses in Chinese and Westerners. Social Neuroscience, 9, 130-139.

Smith, G. E., James , L. E., Varnum, M. E. W., & Oyserman, D. (2014). Give up or get going? Productive uncertaintyin uncertain times. Self and Identity, 13, 681-700.

Varnum, M. E. W. (2014). Sources of regional variation in social capital in the United States. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 8, 77-85.

Kitayama, S., Varnum, M. E. W.,  & Sevincer, A. T. (2014). The frontier: Voluntary settlement and cultural change.In A. Cohen (Ed.). Culture Reexamined: Broadening our Understanding of Social and Evolutionary Influences (pp 93-127). Washington, DC: APA.

2013    

Han S., Northoff, G., Vogeley, K., Wexler, B. E., Kitayama, S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2013). A cultural neuroscience approach to the biosocial nature of the human brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 335-359.

Grossmann, I., Na, J., Varnum, M. E. W., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2013). A route to well-being: Intelligence vs. wise reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142, 944-953.

Varnum, M. E. W. (2013). Frontiers, germs, and non-conformist voting. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44, 832-837.

Varnum, M. E. W. (2013). What are lay theories of social class? PLOS ONE, 8, e70589. doi: 109371/journal.pone.0070589.

2012

Varnum, M. E. W., Na, J., Murata, A., & Kitayama, S. (2012). Social class differences in N400 indicate differences in spontaneous trait inference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 518-526.

Grossmann, I., Karasawa, M., Izumi, S., Na, J., Varnum, M. E. W., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2012). Aging and wisdom: Culture matters. Psychological Science, 23, 1059-1066.                              

Varnum, M. E. W. (2012). Conformity effect sizes are smaller on the frontier. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 12, 345-350.

2011

Varnum, M. E. W., & Kitayama, S. (2011). What's in a name? Popular names are less common on frontiers. Psychological Science, 22, 176-183.

Grossmann, I., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2011). Social class, culture, and cognition. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 81-89.

2010

Varnum, M. E. W., Grossmann, I., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2010). The origin of cultural differences in cognition: The social orientation hypothesis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 9-13.

Grossmann, I., Na, J., Varnum, M. E. W., Park, D. C., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2010). Reasoning about social conflicts improves into old age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 107, 7246-7250.

Na, J., Grossmann, I., Varnum, M. E. W., Kitayama, S., Gonzalez, R., & Nisbett, R. E. (2010). Cultural differences are not always reducible to individual differences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 107, 6192-6197.

2008

Varnum, M. E. W., Grossmann, I., Katunar, D., Nisbett, R. E., &  Kitayama, S. (2008). Holism in a European cultural context: Differences in cognitive style between Central and East Europeans and Westerners. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 8, 321-333.

Varnum, M. E. W. (2008). Rapid adaptation to social change in Central Europe: Changes in locus of control, attribution, subjective well-being, self-direction, and trust. Slovak Sociological Review, 3, 215-235.

Varnum, M. E. W. (2008). The transition from communism and shifts toward independent values and theory of agency in post-communist Central European societies. In K. A. Fanti (Ed.), Psychological Science: Research, Theory, and Future Directions (pp. 335-347). Athens, Greece: ATINER.

2007

Varnum, M. E. W., & Bushman, B. (2007). Reference group effect. In R.F. Baumeister, & K.D. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.