Harvard Postdoctoral Fellow in Historical Psychology

About Position/Job

Harvard University invites applications for the role of Postdoctoral Fellow in Historical Psychology & Cultural Evolution within the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. This full-time postdoctoral position is based in Cambridge, United States, and is hosted by the Laboratory for Culture, Cognition, and Coevolution, under the supervision of Professor Joseph Henrich. The postdoctoral fellow will contribute to a large, multi-year research project examining long-run psychological and cultural change, with a focus on how knowledge systems, reasoning styles, and social institutions evolve across time and space. The position integrates social science, evolutionary theory, and quantitative methodologies, including computational text analysis and historical datasets. It offers a strong interdisciplinary environment, international scholarly relevance, and excellent opportunities for high-impact research and publication.

Position/Job Details

Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Historical Psychology & Cultural Evolution
Institution: Harvard University
Department: Human Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Research Field: Historical Psychology and Cultural Evolution
Location: Cambridge, United States
Number of Posts: 1
Job Type: Full-time Postdoctoral Position
Start Date (Anticipated): Not specified
Working Hours: Full-time (as per institutional norms)
Salary Range: USD 67,600–80,000 per year
Required Degree/Diploma: PhD

Research Area

Historical psychology
Cultural evolution
Cognitive anthropology
Evolutionary social science
Quantitative and computational text analysis
Long-run cultural and behavioural change

Eligibility & Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

PhD in Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, or a closely related field
Strong quantitative and statistical skills
Experience with computational text analysis, such as NLP, topic modelling, semantic change, or historical text processing
Evidence of independent research and scholarly publications

Preferred Qualifications:

Broad interest in cultural evolution and historical social science
Experience with archival or cross-cultural textual sources
Reading knowledge of Latin and/or Classical Chinese

Key Responsibilities

Collaborate with the Principal Investigator and interdisciplinary research team
Contribute to data construction, quantitative analysis, and scholarly writing
Design and implement computational text-analytic workflows
Publish research in leading anthropology, psychology, sociology, and interdisciplinary journals
Participate in lab meetings and departmental academic life
Mentor graduate and undergraduate researchers