Frontpage » Other Sciences » Social Sciences » sorted by popularity »

Social Sciences news

Intelligent people have 'unnatural' preferences and values that are novel in human evolution

More intelligent people are significantly more likely to exhibit social values and religious and political preferences that are novel to the human species in evolutionary history. Specifically, liberalism and atheism, and ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Feb 24, 2010 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (168) | comments 682 | with audio podcast

Could Porn Be Good For Society?

(PhysOrg.com) -- The arguments against pornography are many, ranging from insistence that porn degrades women and is morally reprehensible to the assertion that pornography viewing is the cause of sex crimes. ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Mar 10, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (63) | comments 47 | with audio podcast weblog

Upper class people more likely to cheat: study

The upper class has a higher propensity for unethical behavior, being more likely to believe – as did Gordon Gekko in the movie "Wall Street" – that "greed is good," according to a new study from ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Feb 27, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (45) | comments 239 | with audio podcast

People are biased against creative ideas, studies find

The next time your great idea at work elicits silence or eye rolls, you might just pity those co-workers. Fresh research indicates they don't even know what a creative idea looks like and that creativity, hailed as a positive ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Aug 26, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (41) | comments 75 | with audio podcast

Study Demonstrates How We Support Our False Beliefs

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study published in the most recent issue of the journal Sociological Inquiry, sociologists from four major research institutions focus on one of the most curious aspects of the 2004 presidential electi ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Aug 21, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (40) | comments 121

Social scientists build case for 'survival of the kindest'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (40) | comments 61

Why Americans believe Obama is a Muslim

There's something beyond plain old ignorance that motivates Americans to believe President Obama is a Muslim, according to a first-of-its-kind study of smear campaigns led by a Michigan State University psychologist.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Aug 31, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (46) | comments 195 | with audio podcast

Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideas

Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists, ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jul 25, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (35) | comments 49 | with audio podcast

The rich have more money but the poor are rich in heart: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- The world could one day be an economically equal place, if the lower-income population have anything to do with it. In an interesting yet disheartening series of socioeconomic experiments, led by a team of ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Aug 18, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (33) | comments 71 | with audio podcast report

Morality research sheds light on the origins of religion

The details surrounding the emergence and evolution of religion have not been clearly established and remain a source of much debate among scholars. Now, an article published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sc ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Feb 08, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (33) | comments 199 | with audio podcast

'The friend of my enemy is my enemy': Virtual universe study proves 80-year-old theory on how humans interact

A new study analysing interactions between players in a virtual universe game has for the first time provided large-scale evidence to prove an 80 year old psychological theory called Structural Balance Theory. ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jul 19, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (28) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

People behave socially and 'well' even without rules: study

Fundamentally people behave in a social and rather compassionate and "good" way rather than aggressively, even without specified rules. That is the result of a study from the Institute for Science of Complex Systems at the ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jan 16, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (30) | comments 19 | with audio podcast

A rare survey of the one percent

(PhysOrg.com) -- Though little reliable survey research exists about the nation’s wealthiest one percent, public discourse is rife with claims about their opinions and attitudes. Now a Northwestern University pilot study ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 06, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (29) | comments 179 | with audio podcast

Using less effort to think, opinions lean more conservative

(PhysOrg.com) -- When people use low-effort thought, they are more likely to endorse conservative ideology, according to psychologist Scott Eidelman of the University of Arkansas. Results of research by Eidelman and colleagues ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Apr 05, 2012 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (33) | comments 158

Probing Question: Is homework bad for kids?

Ask an 11-year-old whether homework is a bad thing, and you’ll likely be greeted with vigorous nodding and not a hint of ambiguity, but do grown-up experts agree? As with so many things, the answer is mixed.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Sep 04, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (30) | comments 2