Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cultural Narratives, Cooperation, and Decision-Making
University of Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
Can a narrative do what an incentive can’t? We are testing whether culturally resonant narratives foster cooperation more effectively than material rewards, across societies on five continents.
The Wisdom and Culture Lab at the University of Waterloo, directed by Igor Grossmann, is seeking applications for a postdoctoral fellow to join a new international project on cultural narratives and decision-making, starting in Winter/Spring 2027, with some flexibility. The postdoc is structured as a one-year appointment with opportunity for renewal at the one-year mark assuming excellent performance.
POSITION DESCRIPTION: The successful candidate will help lead a multi-society project examining how cultural narratives shape behavior in canonical economic and coordination games. The project pairs harmonized game protocols with structured narrative probes across a global consortium spanning societies across five continents, and culminates in a ManyLabs-style intervention study testing whether locally resonant narrative framings can foster cooperation more effectively than standard material incentives. The work sits at the intersection of decision science, behavioral economics, cultural psychology, and computational sciences, drawing on multilingual LLM-based text analysis, supported by the lab’s research software engineer, combined with cross-cultural human-in-the-loop validation. The fellow will have the opportunity to contribute to ongoing studies, develop new ones, co-author publications, provide scientific leadership within the international consortium (with logistical support from the lab’s research project manager), mentor graduate and undergraduate trainees, and advance their independent program of research.
QUALIFICATIONS. Competitive candidates will have: a PhD in social psychology, cognitive/decision sciences, behavioral economics, or a closely related discipline by the time of appointment; research productivity appropriate to career stage; excellent quantitative and statistical skills; excellent manuscript writing skills; and demonstrated interest in at least two of the following: cross-cultural research, behavioral game theory (e.g., ultimatum, dictator, public goods, trust, or coordination games), judgment and decision-making, moral and social judgment, cultural psychology, or computational social science. Experience with computational text analysis (e.g., topic modelling, embeddings, LLM-based coding, or human-in-the-loop validation) is a strong asset, as is a willingness to learn these methods. The project includes dedicated research-engineering support, and expertise in every area above is not required. We especially encourage applicants with strong behavioral, cross-cultural, or game-theoretic training who are curious about computational methods. Strong programming skills in R and/or Python and experience with reproducible analytic workflows are greatly desired. Familiarity with multilingual data and prior collaboration on large international research consortia are assets.
Salary: CAD $70,000/year, commensurate with experience, plus benefits. Postdoctoral candidates who have their own funding may also apply. Based at the University of Waterloo; hybrid arrangements may be possible.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS. Please submit the following materials to waclab@uwaterloo.ca with the subject line Cultural Narratives Postdoc:
- a cover letter; CV; a 2–3 page research statement describing relevant research experience, research interests, and career goals; up to three sample publications (with at least one demonstrating your quantitative or computational skills); and the contact details of three referees.
- In your cover letter, briefly describe how you would tell whether a narrative framing changed cooperation itself, rather than how participants understood the game.
Review of applications will begin October 15 and continue until the position is filled.
Please direct inquiries to Dr. Grossmann (igrossma@uwaterloo.ca).