Social Psychology News

May 19, 2024

Top Headlines

Singing Researchers Find Cross-Cultural Patterns in Music and Language

May 15, 2024 — Are acoustic features of music and spoken language shared across cultures? Researchers recorded themselves performing traditional music and speaking in their native language. In all 50+ languages, the rhythms of songs and instrumental melodies were ...

Giving Lessons to Your Teenage-Self Could Boost Your Wellbeing

May 14, 2024 — Asking young adults to advise their younger selves could have a positive impact on their self-esteem, resilience and mental ...

Large Language Models Can't Effectively Recognize Users' Motivation, but Can Support Behavior Change for Those Ready to Act

May 16, 2024 — Large language model-based chatbots can't effectively recognize users' motivation when they are hesitant about making healthy behavior changes, but they can support those who are committed to take ...

When Saying 'Please' Is More Strategic Than Magic

May 15, 2024 — By kindergarten age, most children have been taught that 'please' is a magic word. 'Please' is an expression of politeness that shows courtesy and respect, turning a potential demand into a request that will -- poof! -- magically be granted. But a ...

Latest Headlines

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AI Intervention Mitigates Tension Among Conflicting Ethnic Groups

May 10, 2024 — While intergroup interaction is a prerequisite for initiating peace and stability, there is the risk of further escalation from direct interactions. A shortage of an impartial electronic contact ...

Study Traces an Infectious Language Epidemic

May 13, 2024 — A computer scientist has shown the power of language to predict harm -- this time to the nation's ...

Team Studies Factors Related to a Sense of Economic Insecurity in Older Adults

May 13, 2024 — Researchers undertook a study of older adults to examine the connection between a sense of economic insecurity and a person's participation in social ...

New Study Reveals How Teens Thrive Online: Factors That Shape Digital Success Revealed

May 3, 2024 — A new study sheds light on the role that new and traditional media play in promoting and affecting character development, emotions, prosocial ...

Physics Confirms That the Enemy of Your Enemy Is, Indeed, Your Friend

May 3, 2024 — The famous axiom 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' is part of Austrian psychologist Fritz Heider's social balance theory, introduced in the 1940s. Previous studies have tried to model social ...

Loneliness Grows as We Age

Apr. 30, 2024 — Loneliness in adulthood follows a U-shaped pattern: it's higher in younger and older adulthood, and lowest during middle adulthood, reports a new study that examined nine longitudinal studies from ...

Marginalized Communities Developed 'Disaster Subculture' When Living Through Extreme Climate Events

Apr. 23, 2024 — An assistant professor conducted a study in which he lived among one of the poorest, most marginalized communities in Seoul, South Korea. In the ...

Don't Be a Stranger -- Study Finds Rekindling Old Friendships as Scary as Making New Ones

Apr. 23, 2024 — Psychologists have found that people are as hesitant to reach out to an old friend as they are to strike up a conversation with a stranger, even when ...

Infected: Understanding the Spread of Behavior

Apr. 23, 2024 — A team of researchers found that long-tie connections accelerate the speed of social ...

Exploring Brain Synchronization Patterns During Social Interactions

Apr. 23, 2024 — Social interactions synchronize brain activity within individuals and between individuals. In a new study, researchers compared brain synchronization between pairs of people with relatively strong ...

Social-Media Break Has Huge Impact on Young Women's Body Image, Study Finds

May 1, 2024 — There's a large and growing body of evidence pointing to potentially negative impacts of social media on mental health, from its addictive nature to disruptions in sleep patterns to effects on ...

Social Media Affects People's Views on Mental Illness

Apr. 23, 2024 — Even subtle differences in the wording of social media messages may be enough to sway young people's beliefs about depression and anxiety and their ...

Life Goals and Their Changes Drive Success

Apr. 22, 2024 — Though life goals change over time, a study of teen goals indicates that goals of education and high prestige can drive ...

Study Reveals How Humanity Could Unite to Address Global Challenges

Apr. 16, 2024 — New research has found that perceptions of globally shared life experiences and globally shared biology can strengthen psychological bonding with humanity at large, which can motivate prosocial ...

Economic Wealth May Be Linked With Happiness in China -- If Inequality Is Low

Apr. 10, 2024 — A country's economic prosperity is linked with improved well-being in its residents, according to a new ...

Everyday Social Interactions Predict Language Development in Infants

Apr. 8, 2024 — Researchers found that when the adult talked and played socially with a 5-month-old baby, the baby's brain activity particularly increased in regions responsible for attention -- and the level ...

Prairie Voles Display Signs of Human-Like Depression

Apr. 4, 2024 — Researchers make the case that prairie voles, small rodents that are found throughout the central United States and Canada, can be effectively used as animal models to further the study of clinical ...

Large Language Models Respond Differently Based on User's Motivation

Apr. 3, 2024 — A new study reveals how large language models (LLMs) respond to different motivational states. In their evaluation of three LLM-based generative conversational agents (GAs)--ChatGPT, Google Bard, and ...

Talking Politics With Strangers Isn't as Awful as You'd Expect, Research Suggests

Apr. 3, 2024 — Individuals underestimate the social connection they can make with a stranger who disagrees with them on contentious issues, a new research paper ...

Exploring the Effect of the Presence of Familiar People in Interpersonal Space

Apr. 3, 2024 — Researchers investigate the influence of social relationships on our bodily responses to the presence of other persons in the interpersonal ...

Social, Environmental Factors May Raise Risk of Developing Heart Disease and Stroke

Mar. 27, 2024 — Neighborhoods with more adversity have up to twice the increased risk of heart disease and stroke, according to a new ...

Developmental Psychology: Concern for Others Emerges During Second Year of Life

Mar. 27, 2024 — An empirical longitudinal study tracked the emergence of empathic concern in ...

Mar. 27, 2024 — The couple that drinks together might live longer together, too, says a University of Michigan ...

2 in 3 Parents Say Their Adolescent or Teen Worries About How Sick Days May Impact Grades

Mar. 25, 2024 — Many parents recognize increasing mental health concerns among children, reflected by the 1 in 5 who say they're open to allowing a child to take a mental health ...

While Social Media Changes Over Decades, Conversation Dynamics Stay the Same, New Study Suggests

Mar. 20, 2024 — A new study has identified recurring, 'toxic' human conversation patterns on social media, which are common to users irrespective of the platform used, the topic of discussion, and the ...

Social Bonding Gets People on the Same Wavelength

Mar. 20, 2024 — When small hierarchical groups bond, neural activity between leaders and followers aligns, promoting quicker and more frequent communication, according to a new ...

Less Social With Age

Mar. 15, 2024 — Scientists tested several hypotheses on the drivers of social aging in free-living Assamese macaques in Thailand. The researchers collected data on the social behavior of females for eight years and ...

Lonely 12 Year-Olds Less Likely to Gain Employment in Adulthood

Mar. 14, 2024 — New research has found that there is a direct socioeconomic impact of loneliness in early adolescence. The research found that lonely young adults are more likely to be out of education, employment, ...

Study Tracks Shifts in Student Mental Health During College

Mar. 14, 2024 — Dartmouth researchers tracked more than 200 undergraduates for all four years of college to capture the most in-depth data yet on how students' self-esteem and mental health fluctuates during ...

Researchers Identify Distinct Sleep Types and Their Impact on Long-Term Health

Mar. 12, 2024 — Poor sleep habits are strongly associated with long-term chronic health conditions, according to decades of research. To better understand this relationship, a team identified four distinct patterns ...