https://phys.org/science-news/social-sciences/ en-us The latest news on social sciences, history, political science, psychology and sociology "She's your mom." "They're your family." "Blood is thicker than water." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-theyre-family-isnt-stay.html Social Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:00:09 EDT news706533842 Conversations about the youth justice system typically focus on crime and punishment. In Australia, this has fueled increasingly populist and punitive youth justice policies like Queensland's Adult Crime, Adult Time policy or Victoria's Adult Time for Violent Crime legislation. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-young-people-youth-justice-die.html Social Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:20:04 EDT news706533422 Women are more likely to form close-knit friendship groups at work, a Durham University Business School study suggests. The findings are published in the journal Social Networks. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-women-strong-workplace-friendships-men.html Social Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news706528638 Like many women raised in traditional cultures and religious contexts, I was taught that a "good" woman holds the family together. In my culture, women were often glorified for quietly accepting hardship. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-abusive-relationships-harder-migrant-women.html Social Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:20:03 EDT news706513922 Mental health issues are now the most prevalent cause of sick leave in Finland. It is common for an employee's declining occupational well-being to result in a sick leave referral, while nothing changes at the workplace itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-occupational-health-require-individual-doctoral.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 20:00:01 EDT news706438271 When we read a news story about a new cancer treatment, an Alzheimer's breakthrough or an innovative technology, we rarely think about everything that happens behind the scenes before that information reaches newspapers, radio or television. Scientists publish their findings in specialist journals, and journalists decide which of those papers are worth reporting to the public. This selection shapes the scientific information available to society, influences public opinion on specific topics and creates trends of interest that may even affect which areas of research receive more or less funding in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-lab-headlines-news-dont.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:50:01 EDT news706456741 Do your social media accounts feed you content that reflects your core beliefs and guiding principles? Our new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that the algorithms supplying your feeds may be prioritizing content that clashes with your values. That's because the algorithms heavily weigh online posts that you reply to, and social media users tend to comment more often on content they take issue with than on content they agree with. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-social-media-algorithms-dont.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:40:06 EDT news706447381 Are people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds more willing to help—or do the wealthy give more? For years, research has provided conflicting answers. A new study by Kühne Logistics University (KLU), based on data from approximately 680,000 people, resolves this contradiction: Both statements are true, but only in different situations. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-income-earners-wealthy-situation.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news706450562 Consistent enforcement of rules is more important than the severity of the punishment itself, and children expect adults to treat every member of their group impartially and equally. Moreover, fair punishment brings emotional relief to children, according to research by scientists from SWPS University and the University of Michigan. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-children-fair-unequal-treatment.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:00:09 EDT news706435441 An online survey published in the journal Psychology of Music asked 136 women ages 40 and older about their experiences at electronic dance music (EDM) events. Nine in 10 respondents (91%) said clubbing contributes positively to their well-being, with more than six in 10 agreeing they go clubbing to escape the realities of life. The researchers say club nights should be open and inclusive to all so these benefits can be shared. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-clubbing-boost-women-midlife.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:40:07 EDT news706435266 To make a good impression at work, it might be better to spend less time polishing your resume and more time honing your communication skills. That's according to a large analysis of more than 200 studies showing that the first impressions people make at work are largely based on verbal and nonverbal communication styles, with substantive content—like the experience shown on a resume—accounting for a smaller share of these key impressions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-communication-style-outweighs-resume-content.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 07:00:02 EDT news706420441 Dyadic coping is a potentially modifiable protective factor in the psychological health of middle-aged and older gastrointestinal cancer survivors, according to a study recently published in the European Journal of Cancer. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-couples-coping-skills-depression-gi.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 21:40:01 EDT news706373042 Nature provides resources to society, and the diversity of species (think of pollinators, for example) is expected to underpin human economies. So why are the poorest countries also those richest in wildlife, containing a high number of different species? The reason, according to new research, is that colonial exploitation of that biodiversity by now-rich countries created poverty legacies that persist today. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-legacy-colonial-biodiversity-exploitation-poverty.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:00:04 EDT news706356025 How similar are "joy" and "surprise"? Conversely, how far apart are "joy" and "sadness"? We naturally organize words that express emotions—such as "happy," "afraid," and "angry"—according to similarities and differences in their meanings. However, investigating this entire structure using human participants alone is not easy because the number of comparisons rises rapidly as more emotion terms are included. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-prompts-tool-emotion-concepts.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:20:01 EDT news706365001 As AI continues to develop at a rapid pace, social robots powered by AI are becoming more commonplace in customer service settings such as retail, hospitality, tourism and health care. But as these robots become smarter and appear more human, little attention has been given to how this might affect the consumers interacting with them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-interacting-ai-people-robots.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:40:01 EDT news706357742 Growing up as the oldest sibling of a younger brother and sister shaped the way University of Delaware associate professor Mellissa S. Gordon learned to communicate and cope with challenges. As a single parent, her mother often looked to Gordon to set an example, and over time, she found herself acting as a parental figure. When her siblings struggled to express frustrations or felt overwhelmed by school and friendships, they often came to her for advice, and they talked through problems together. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-siblings-adolescent-coping-strategies-birth.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:20:07 EDT news706357502 Hearing children of deaf adults can experience stigma, discrimination and social exclusion because of their association with their deaf parents, while also demonstrating significant resilience and agency in responding to prejudice, a new study has found. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-children-deaf-adults-stigma-agency.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:00:01 EDT news706345982 With AI use growing across the youth services sector, new research by Swinburne University of Technology and Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) has, for the first time, identified key risks to young people and how to address them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-role-ai-youth-young-people.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:00:15 EDT news706345022 The booming smartphone industry has spawned an enormous market in health-related mobile phone applications, with apps related to dieting making up about 12% of the market. The apps use persuasive systems design, including direct and indirect routes that persuade users to change their behavior. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-behavior-digital-dieting-apps-effects.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 08:40:01 EDT news706334642 New research from the University of Kansas has found that the more media-literate people are, the more they trust institutions such as government and nonprofits. In addition, their social media habits can predict civic engagement. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-media-literacy-social-civic-engagement.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 07:40:05 EDT news706333562 If given the chance to gain thousands of admirers for your work, would you take it? The artists whom my colleagues and I interviewed as part of our research on content creators did—and many went on to question whether it was worth it. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-theyre-content-creators-thousands-adoring.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 22:20:04 EDT news706290362 Social media, music, religion-focused apps and other online spiritual content have become popular ways for adolescents to find comfort and connection—and explore ideas related to faith, religion and spirituality, according to a new report from the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA (CSS). However, they still prioritize in-person spaces such as churches, mosques or synagogues in their faith practice and turn to family and faith leaders for spiritual and religious guidance. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-digital-spirituality-young-people-family.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 21:00:03 EDT news706287841 Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, examined the ideological stance of large language models—artificial intelligence systems trained to understand and generate human language—and discovered that when informed of a user's political views, they tend to mirror those views. According to the researchers, this behavior could exacerbate political polarization in Brazil. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-artificial-intelligence-ideological-chameleon-deepen.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:30:01 EDT news706293961 A new study shows that fewer children had encounters with the U.S. child welfare system in the years before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and that this decline continued over the following years. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-covid-children-likelihood-contact-child.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 18:00:01 EDT news706276201 You've heard of gig workers, freelancers and temporary employees. But do you know about marginal workers? Accounting for about one in six U.S. jobs, it's a huge category of people who are going nowhere fast in the workplace—and don't really have much say about that. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-employees-left-margins.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:50:03 EDT news706292581 A new study found that people's beliefs about the harmfulness of an illegal substance are stronger predictors of support for both punishment and court-mandated treatment than beliefs about who is to blame. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-drug-policies-communicate-safety-user.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news706276142 Workplace conflict has played a foundational role in theories about how people interact on the job. In a recent paper, researchers developed a new measure of how conflict is expressed among workers that highlights how the ways individuals voice their dissent vary in terms of oppositional intensity and directness. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-workplace-conflict-team.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news706276081 Artificial intelligence can develop solutions that humans would be unlikely to discover on their own. But what happens when machines do more than solve individual problems and actually discover entirely new solution strategies? And can such discoveries become part of human knowledge? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-discoveries-human-cultural-evolution.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:30:03 EDT news706283281 Young people who have lived in public housing for at least 10 years are significantly less likely to commit crimes or become victims of crime than their peers in the general population, a study by researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke found. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-young-people-housing-involved-crime.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:10 EDT news706264441 Following another series of alleged killings of women across Australia, the country has once again found itself asking familiar questions: How many more women have to die before we act? What more should governments do? Why does this violence keep happening? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-boys-rarely-taught-domestic-violence.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:20:07 EDT news706263962