My academic work combines theoretical integration, experimental methods and formal models. Here is my Google Scholar page.
My most prominent work identifies how and why humans became a ‘language ready’ species (see e.g. this paper in Behavioural & Brain Sciences), and synthesises our understanding of communication with our understanding of grammar (see e.g. this paper in Psychological Review).
Books
Granito, C., & Scott-Phillips, T. (under contract). The Evolution of Symbols. CUP Elements.
Scott-Phillips (2015). Speaking Our Minds: Why Human Communication Is Different & How Language Evolved To Make It Special. Palgrave Macmillan.
Edited collections
Scott-Phillips, T., Tamariz, M., Cartmill, E., & Hurford, J. (Eds.) (2012). The Evolution Of Language: Proceedings of 9th International Conference. World Scientific.
Scott-Phillips, T. (Ed.) (2010). Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 8(4). Special issue on the evolution of language.
Peer reviewed journal articles & book chapters
Scott-Phillips, T. (in press). Language evolution: A view from relevance theory. In: B. Clark, K. Scott, & R. Sasamoto (Eds.), Cambridge Companion to Relevance Theory. CUP.
Baumard, N., André, J.-B., Nettle, N., Fitouchi, L., & Scott-Phillips, T. (in press). The gene's-eye view of culture. In: T. Dickins (Ed.), Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume I: Foundations in Evolutionary Psychology. APA Books.
Scott-Phillips, T. (2025). Communication & grammar: A synthesis. Psychological Review. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2025). Why do humans have linguistic intuition? Cadernos de Linguística, 6(3), e868. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2024). The communicative principle of relevance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33(6), 371-377. PDF
Nichols, R., Charbonneau, M., Chellapoo, A., Davis, T., Haidle, M., Kimbrough, K., Moll, H., Moore, R., Purzycki, B., Scott-Phillips, T., & Segovia Martin, J. (2024). Philosophy of science for cultural evolution: A review of theoretical challenges. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 6, e12. PDF
Bonalumi, F., Bumin, F., Scott-Phillips, T., & Heintz, C. (2023). Communication & deniability: Moral and epistemic reactions to denials. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1073213. PDF
Heintz, C., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2023). Expression unleashed: The evolutionary & cognitive foundations of human communication. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 46, e1. PDF
Heintz, C., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2023). Being ostensive (reply to commentaries on ‘Expression unleashed’). Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 46, e20. (Same PDF as above.)
Nettle, D., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2023). Is a non-evolutionary psychology possible? In: A. du Crest, M. Valkovic, A. Ariew, H. Desmond, P. Huneman, & T. Reydon (Eds.), Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines (pp. 21-42). Springer Nature. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2023). Human nature & the open society. In: C. Royer & L. Matei (Eds.), Open Society Unresolved: The Contemporary Relevance of a Contested Idea (pp. 23-37). CEU Press. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., & Heintz, C. (2023). Animal communication in linguistic & cognitive perspective. Annual Review of Linguistics, 9, 93-111. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., & Heintz, C. (2023). Great ape interaction: Ladyginian but not Gricean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(42), e2300243120. PDF
Granito, C., Tehrani, J., Kendal, J., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2022). Does inter-group contact shape styles of representation? A case study of Australian rock art. Human Nature, 33, 237-260. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2022). Biological adaptations for cultural transmission? Biology Letters, 18, 20220439. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., & Nettle, D. (2022). Cognition and society: Prolegomenon to a dialog. Cognitive Science, 46(6), e13162. PDF
Acerbi, A., Charbonneau, M., Miton, H., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2021). Culture without copying or selection. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 3, e50. PDF
Jacob, P., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2021). Is mindreading a gadget? Synthese, 199, 1-27. PDF
Singh, M., Acerbi, A., Caldwell, C., Danchin, E., Isabel, G., Molleman, L., Scott-Phillips, T., Tamariz, M., van der Berg, P., van Leuwen, E., & Derex, M. (2021). Beyond social learning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 376, 20200050. PDF
O’Grady, C. Scott-Phillips, T., Lavelle, S., & Smith, K. (2020). Perspective taking is spontaneous but not automatic. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73(10), 1605-1628. PDF
Bonalumi, F., Tacha, J., Scott-Phillips, T., & Heintz, C. (2020). Commitment and communication: Are we committed to what we mean or what we say? Language & Cognition, 12(2), 360-384. PDF
Heintz, C., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2020). Gradualism in the evolution of ostensive communication. In: A. Ravignani et al. (Eds.), The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference (pp. 144-154).
McCallum, K., Mitchell, S., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2020). The art experience. Review of Philosophy & Psychology, 11, 21-35. PDF
Granito, C., Tehrani, J., Kendal, J., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2019). Style of pictorial representation is shaped by intergroup contact. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 1, e8. PDF
Heintz, C., Blancke, S., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2019). Methods for studying cultural attraction. Evolutionary Anthropology, 28(1), 18-20.
Scott-Phillips, T. (2018). Cognition and communication. In H. Callan (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., Blancke, S., & Heintz, C. (2018). Four misunderstandings about cultural attraction. Evolutionary Anthropology, 27, 162-173. PDF
Mercier, H., Dezecache, G., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2017). Strategically communicating minds. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(5), 411-416. PDF
O’Grady, C. Scott-Phillips, T., Lavelle, S., & Smith, K. (2017). The dot-perspective task revisited: Evidence for directional effects. In G. Gunzelmann et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2821-2826).
Scott-Phillips, T. (2017). A simple experimental demonstration that cultural evolution is not replicative, but reconstructive – and an explanation of why this difference matters. Journal of Cognition & Culture, 17(1-2), 1-11. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2017). Pragmatics and the aims of language evolution. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(1), 186-189. PDF
Slocombe, K., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2017). Communication and language. In: M. Müller et al. (Eds.), Chimpanzees & Human Evolution (pp. 791-825). Cambridge, MA: HUP.
Vullioud, C., Clément, F., Scott-Phillips, T., & Mercier, H. (2017). Confidence as an expression of commitment: Why misplaced expressions of confidence backfire. Evolution & Human Behavior, 38(1), 9-17. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2016). Meaning in great ape communication: Summarising the debate. Animal Cognition, 19(1), 233-238.
Scott-Phillips, T. (2016). Can cultural evolution bridge scientific continents? Essay review of T. Lewens, ’Cultural Evolution: Conceptual Challenges’. Studies in History & Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 57, 170-173. PDF
O’Grady, C., Kliesch, C., Smith, K., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2015). The ease and extent of recursive mindreading, across implicit and explicit tasks. Evolution & Human Behavior, 36(4), 313-322. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2015). Meaning in animal and human communication. Animal Cognition, 18(3), 801-805. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2015). Non-human primate communication, pragmatics, and the origins of language. Current Anthropology, 56(1), 56-80. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2015). Language and communication. In: V. Zeigler-Hill et al. (Eds.), Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Psychology (pp. 279-290). New York, NY: Springer.
Blythe, R. A., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2014). Simulating the real origins of communication. PLoS One, 9(11), e113636. PDF
Claidière, N., Scott-Phillips, T., & Sperber, D. (2014). How Darwinian is cultural evolution? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 369, 20130368. PDF
Cornforth, D., Popat, R., McNally, L., Gurney, J., Scott-Phillips, T., Ivens, A., Diggle, S., & Brown, S. (2014). Combinatorial quorum-sensing communication allows bacteria to resolve physical and social uncertainty. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(11), 4280-4284. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., Diggle, S., Gurney, J., Ivens, A. & Popat, R. (2014). Combinatorial communication in bacteria: Implications for the origins of linguistic generativity. PLoS One, 9(4), e95929. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., Laland, K., Shuker, D., Dickins, T., & West, S. (2014). The niche construction perspective: A critical appraisal. Evolution, 68(5), 1231-1243. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. & Blythe, R. (2013). Why is combinatorial communication rare in the natural world, and why is language an exception to this trend? Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 10(88). PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. & Kirby, S. (2013). Information, influence and inference in language evolution. In U. Stegmann (Ed.), Animal Communication Theory: Information and Influence (pp. 421-442). CUP. PDF
Dezecache, G., Mercier, H. & Scott-Phillips, T. (2013). An evolutionary approach to emotional communication. Journal of Pragmatics, 59B, 221-233. PDF
Grosse, G., Scott-Phillips, T., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Three-year-olds hide their communicative intentions in appropriate contexts. Developmental Psychology, 49(11), 2095-2101. PDF
Skarabela, B., Allen, S. & Scott-Phillips, T. (2013). Joint attention helps explain why children omit new arguments. Journal of Pragmatics, 56, 5-14. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., Blythe, R., Gardner, A. & West, S. (2012). How do communication systems emerge? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B, 279, 1943-1949. PDF
Abbot, P. & 136 other authors (listed alphabetically), including Scott-Phillips, T. (2011). Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality. Nature, 471, e1-e4. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., Dickins, T. & West, S. (2011). Evolutionary theory and the ultimate/proximate distinction in the human behavioural sciences. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(1), 38-47. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2010). The evolution of relevance. Cognitive Science, 34(4), 583-601. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2010). Animal communication: Insights from linguistic pragmatics. Animal Behaviour, 79(1), e1-e4. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2010). The evolution of communication: Humans may be exceptional. Interaction Studies, 11(1), 78-99. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2010). Evolutionary psychology and the origins of language. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 8(4), 289-307. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2010). Evolutionarily stable communication and pragmatics. In A. Benz, et al. (Eds.), Language, Games, & Evolution (pp. 117-133). AUP. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. & Kirby, S. (2010). Language evolution in the laboratory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(9), 411-417. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., Kirby, S., & Ritchie, G. (2009). Signalling signalhood and the emergence of communication. Cognition, 113(2), 226-233. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2008). Defining biological communication. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 21(2), 387-395. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2008). On the correct application of animal signalling theory to human communication. In: A. Smith et al. (Eds.), The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference (pp. 275-278). World Scientific.
Scott-Phillips, T. (2007). The social evolution of language, and the language of social evolution. Evolutionary Psychology, 5(4), 740-753. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T. (2006). Why talk? Speaking as selfish behaviour. In: A. Cangelosi et al. (Eds.), The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference (pp. 299-306). World Scientific.
Reviews, commentaries & other short contributions
Scott-Phillips, T. (2023). Writing for the reader. (Review of ‘Scientific Papers Made Easy’, by S. West & L. Turnbull). Science, 380(6644), 464. PDF
Scott-Phillips, T., Tominaga, A., & Miton, H. (2021). Ecological and psychological factors in the cultural evolution of music (commentary on Savage et al., ’Music as a coevolved system for social bonding’ and Mehr et al. ‘Origins of music in credible signaling’). Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 44, e110.
Shuker, D. M., Barrett, L., Dickins, T. E., Scott-Phillips, T., & Barton, R. A. (2017). General intelligence does not help us to understand cognitive evolution (commentary on Burkart et al, ‘The evolution of general intelligence’). Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 40, e195.
Scott-Phillips, T., & Sperber, D. (2015). The mutual relevance of teaching and cultural attraction (commentary on Kline, ‘How to learn about teaching: An evolutionary framework for the study of teaching behavior in humans and other animals’). Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 38, e31.
Scott-Phillips, T., & Dickins, T. (2014). Group-level traits can be studied with standard evolutionary theory (commentary on P. Smaldino, ‘The cultural evolution of emergent group-level traits’). Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 37(3), 273-274.
Textbook chapter
Scott-Phillips, T. (forthcoming). Communication & language. In: B. Rawlings, L. Lidborg, L. Boothroyd, S. Lew-Levy, & Y. Birch (Eds.), Understanding Human Behaviour, Evolution & Culture (crowd authored online textbook for advanced high school and undergraduate courses). Open Book Publishers.