News tagged with social scientists

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

Next generation of algorithms inspired by problem-solving ants

(PhysOrg.com) -- An ant colony is the last place you'd expect to find a maths whiz, but University of Sydney researchers have shown that the humble ant is capable of solving difficult mathematical problems.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 10, 2010 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (27) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Left is mean but right is meaner, says new study of political discourse

While the tragic shooting in Arizona has spotlighted the vitriol that seems to pervade political commentary, objective research examining the scope of this disturbing phenomenon has been lacking. In the first published study ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Feb 11, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (25) | comments 100

Experimental philosophy opens new avenues into old questions

Philosophers have argued for centuries, millennia actually, about whether our lives are guided by our own free will or are predetermined as the result of a continuous chain of events over which we have no control.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Mar 17, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (17) | comments 219 | with audio podcast

Study finds small groups demonstrate distinctive 'collective intelligence' when facing difficult tasks

When it comes to intelligence, the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts. A new study co-authored by MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and Union College researchers documents the existence of ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Sep 30, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (13) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Study: Conservatives' trust in science has fallen dramatically since mid-1970s

While trust in science remained stable among people who self-identified as moderates and liberals in the United States between 1974 and 2010, trust in science fell among self-identified conservatives by more than 25 percent ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (12) | comments 77

Large study shows females are equal to males in math skills

(PhysOrg.com) -- The mathematical skills of boys and girls, as well as men and women, are substantially equal, according to a new examination of existing studies in the current online edition of journal Psychological Bulletin.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Oct 11, 2010 | popularity 3.1 / 5 (14) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Study shows disorder may cause an increase stereotyping

(PhysOrg.com) -- A study performed by Dutch social scientists Diederik Stapel and Siegwart Lindenberg, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, suggests that people may resort to stereotyping to cope with ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Apr 08, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (10) | comments 3 | with audio podcast report

Can social media detect the changes in public mood?

New research has analysed the mood of Twitter users in the UK and detected various changes in the mood of the public. In particular, the researchers observed a significant increase in negative mood, anger and fear, coinciding ...

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Do scientists understand the public?

Scientific advances often provoke deep concern on the part of the public, especially when these advances challenge strongly held political or moral perspectives.

Other Sciences / Other

created Jun 29, 2010 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (8) | comments 30

Observations of climate change from indigenous Alaskans

Personal interviews with Alaska Natives in the Yukon River Basin provide unique insights on climate change and its impacts, helping develop adaptation strategies for these local communities.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 4

It's the network: Researchers examine behavior influenced by network structure

A team of computer scientists at the University of Pennsylvania investigating the political, social and economic struggle between individual self-interest and the need to build a consensus have learned that, depending only ...

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Jan 28, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Why do pivotal cultural differences among countries exist?

In today's world, conflicts and misunderstandings frequently arise between those who are from more restrictive cultures and those from less restrictive ones. Now, a new international study led by the University of Maryland ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created May 26, 2011 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists Develop World's Fastest Program to Find Patterns in Social Networks

(PhysOrg.com) -- As social networks like Facebook, Flickr, Youtube and Twitter increasingly make it possible to access appropriate information within their networks, a whole host of new applications become ...

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Jun 29, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Truthy.indiana.edu to search, identify smear tactics, Twitter-bombs through election runup

Astroturfers, Twitter-bombers and smear campaigners need beware this election season as a group of leading Indiana University information and computer scientists today unleashed Truthy.indiana.edu, a sophisticated ...

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Sep 28, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast