https://phys.org/science-news/social-sciences/ en-us The latest news on social sciences, history, political science, psychology and sociology Recent reports have highlighted AI-generated "doctors" spreading dubious health advice to millions of social media users. Fabricated wellness trends can travel just as quickly. A supposed "pink jelly" weight-loss treatment, for example, reportedly fooled at least one celebrity. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bad-health-convincingand-ways-resist.html Social Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:20:02 EDT news704703542 A James Cook University study is challenging the belief that the greatest cost of going to court is losing a case, arguing the legal process itself can leave lasting psychological scars. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-exposing-hidden-toll-litigation.html Social Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 07:20:05 EDT news704697362 Sexual and reproductive health has largely been shaped by perspectives from wealthier developed nations in the Global North. To correct this imbalance, public health experts call for centering Global South knowledge, lived experience and culturally grounded understandings of sexuality—including sexual pleasure. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-reenvisioning-sexual-health-perspectives-global.html Social Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 07:00:04 EDT news704697302 There are roughly 220 million adults in China age 65 or older, more than twice as many as 20 years ago, with 1 in 5 currently reporting depressive symptoms. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-family-mental-health-older-adults.html Social Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:20:02 EDT news704632742 For years, social media companies have faced pressure from users and government watchdogs to stop misinformation from distorting elections, deepening political divisions and undermining Americans' trust in institutions. But what if dramatically reducing people's exposure to unreliable sources that frequently spread misinformation doesn't actually change what they believe? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-misinformation-facebook-instagram.html Social Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:20:08 EDT news704623622 How much of what you see on social media comes from sources that repeatedly post falsehoods? And if that content quietly vanished from your feed, would you believe anything different months later? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-exposure-untrustworthy-social-media-rare.html Social Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2026 08:40:01 EDT news704611262 Community energy projects, actively governed and managed by community members, play an essential role in advancing just energy transitions, for example, by providing energy in remote areas, facilitating the adoption of renewable technologies and building resilient electricity networks. However, their adoption remains limited. How does community energy work in practice, and how can it become more widespread? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-role-community-energy-sustainable-transition.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 20:00:03 EDT news704556476 You might not often think about the molars of livestock, but everything from the grass they eat to the water they drink can tell a story about how people lived centuries ago. An international collaboration led by University of Michigan researchers examined herd management in medieval Kazakhstan using isotopes embedded in the enamel of sheep's molars. They found that people living in the arid region fine-tuned their animal-management strategies to succeed in a challenging environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-sheep-teeth-life-medieval-kazakhstan.html Archaeology Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:00:03 EDT news704551022 A lack of data on prisoner characteristics is providing an incomplete picture of who dies in prison and why, which may be contributing to preventable deaths in custody, according to a new report. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-prisoner-inequalities-deaths-custody.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:00:04 EDT news704548141 For decades, court-ordered community service has been used as an alternative to incarceration. The intention is to reduce costs, provide restitution to the community and support individual rehabilitation. But does it actually work? A new report from the University of Georgia suggests it doesn't. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-court-community.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:00:04 EDT news704545622 People described as "problematic" internet users report higher stress, worse mood and greater neglect of other activities than those who surf the web sparingly, according to a study published in PLOS One by Silke M. Müller from the University Hospital Essen, Germany, and colleagues. These users also reported a stronger temptation to return to the internet. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-problematic-internet-users-crabbier-stressed.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:00:08 EDT news704446861 Comparing yourself with your partner is more common than you'd think. Psychologists even have a term for it: mate value discrepancy (MVD), which is the gap between how attractive, smart or successful each partner feels compared with the other. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-monogamy-jealousy-desirable-strain-relationships.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:00:06 EDT news704539631 Why do some people who embrace conspiracy theories simply hold those beliefs, while others act on them? A new study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology identifies three characteristics that help determine when conspiracy beliefs are most likely to shape real-world behavior: how certain people are that the belief is true, how personally important they consider it, and whether they see it as "actionable"—useful for deciding what to do. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-conspiracy-beliefs-action.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:20:08 EDT news704538721 Paris Hilton's mother, Kathy Hilton, recently tried the "Jell-O diet" to lose weight. She believed other celebrities—Oprah Winfrey, Doctor Oz, Michelle Obama and Kelly Clarkson—had endorsed it. But the diet was fake, and so were the endorsements. Both had been generated by artificial intelligence (AI). https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fake-jell-diet-celebrity.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 07:40:04 EDT news704524082 More than 4 in 5 physicians and dentists believe applicants who disclose a history of substance use on medical or dental school applications risk hurting their chances of admission, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-disclosing-substance-medical-dental-school.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 07:20:02 EDT news704519042 When Congress passed the Deborah Sampson Act of 2020—named for a woman who served in the Revolutionary War disguised as a man—the goal was to broaden access to government-provided medical care for female military veterans. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-intimate-partner-violence-issued-expert.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 07:00:05 EDT news704518741 When brands spend millions every year to transport Super Bowl audiences back in time during commercials, what happens if they choose the wrong era? Knowing who prefers which part of history is valuable marketing knowledge, and a new tool developed at the University of Arizona offers a way to measure which era evokes the most nostalgia. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-eras-audience-perspective-nostalgia.html Social Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 07:00:01 EDT news704518201 Video gaming is a valued leisure activity in Australia. The latest data show 74% of Australian households own at least two gaming devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-gaming-moms-recover-parenting-stress.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 20:00:01 EDT news704451275 Changing patterns of heat and daylight in urban environments are creating growing inequalities, with climate-related shifts reshaping daily life and disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-inequalities-cities-daylight-patterns-urban.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 19:00:01 EDT news704365960 Currently popular biographies of famous scientists may demotivate—rather than inspire—children's desire to study or pursue careers in science, according to researchers who studied the messages in 422 bestselling children's books. Study leader Jessica Gladstone, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said that while parents and educators often use these books to try to spark children's interest in science through exposure to role models, their narratives tend not to support this goal. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-biographies-demotivate-children-science.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:20:07 EDT news704474581 Prioritizing play offers a variety of benefits for children, from helping them grow their vocabulary to managing their big feelings with fewer behavioral problems. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-play-essential-young-children.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:40:08 EDT news704459101 As another academic year ends, some schools will be closing their doors permanently because of declining numbers of children. In England, declining birth rates over the past decade have led to more than 100 schools, predominantly in urban areas, closing permanently. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-falling-birth-schools-affecting-communities.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:20:07 EDT news704454061 An estimated 370 million people will live in the United States in 2050, with more than 40% living in the South, according to national and 50-state population projections recently released by the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nation-population-growth.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 10:40:08 EDT news704450281 New research from the University of Sussex has revealed the biological limits to human compassion and empathy. The study found a stark contrast between how the brain processes information about risk to human lives and information about financial risk and could help explain why people can struggle to respond emotionally to large-scale humanitarian disasters. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-neuroscientists-reveal-limits-human-compassion.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:54:10 EDT news704451227 A puzzle that can tell players how fast they think on their feet has been developed by a University of Leeds researcher. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-psychologist-puzzle-fast.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 07:40:02 EDT news704442961 Groundbreaking modeling has revealed that as many as 220,000 Indigenous Australians died in a devastating 1789 smallpox outbreak that originated in Sydney, tracing its origins to the First Fleet. Soon after British ships arrived, smallpox swept through First Nations communities in the Sydney area, and many died as a result. The study found that the epidemic had a devastating demographic impact and ramifications for how First Nations people resisted colonization and their capacity to manage the country, with the impact still being felt today. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-reveals-sydney-smallpox-outbreak-indigenous.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2026 02:50:01 EDT news702575846 Interviews with political activists in Southern California showed stark differences in how migrants are viewed: either "like us" and deserving of rights or lawbreakers undeserving of social belonging and benefits. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-qa-lawbreakers-exploring-partisans-immigration.html Social Sciences Mon, 27 Jul 2026 22:40:01 EDT news704390161 School cellphone bans might seem like a good way to improve learning for elementary school children, but new research published in Behavioral Sciences shows that simply owning a cellphone correlates with worse reading comprehension. Whether a child brings the phone to school made no difference in reading comprehension, the team of UCLA psychologists and researchers found. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-kids-cellphones-poorer-comprehension-scores.html Social Sciences Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:50:01 EDT news704390462 Every ancient language that has ever been deciphered needed an anchor. Usually that's a bilingual text, like the Rosetta Stone, or a known relative to compare it to. Linear A, the writing system of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization on the Greek island of Crete, has neither. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-code-ai-decipher-ancient-languages.html Social Sciences Mon, 27 Jul 2026 17:20:05 EDT news704376061 Researchers at the University of Bath and The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) suggest that the celebrated Dunning-Kruger effect, often taken to mean the least competent people are the most overconfident, may actually be the wrong way around. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dunning-kruger-effect-rethinking-confident.html Social Sciences Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:20:06 EDT news704371261