https://phys.org/science-news/social-sciences en-us Phys.org provides the latest news on social sciences, history, political science, psychology and sociology The strength of connections, be it human connections within cities, or collaborative networks between cities, has been a key factor in determining how effectively the world's biggest cities have been able to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, according to leading experts. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-people-power-key-covid-pandemic.html Social Sciences Political science Fri, 04 Sep 2020 07:46:05 EDT news518424360 Every four years, U.S. presidential campaigns collectively spend billions of dollars flooding TV screens across the country with political ads. But a new study co-authored by Yale political scientist Alexander Coppock shows that, regardless of content, context, or audience, those pricey commercials do little to persuade voters. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-political-ads-persuasive-power.html Social Sciences Political science Wed, 02 Sep 2020 14:00:10 EDT news518248355 Eager to learn the latest in instructional practices that research says will better engage and educate her students, an assistant professor of biochemistry attends a virtual workshop devoted to exactly that. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-choir-forward-thinking-faculty.html Social Sciences Education Mon, 31 Aug 2020 15:00:01 EDT news518086599 Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar, a psychologist at the University of Oxford, has conducted a review of the literature and concluded that the impact of the pandemic on friendships is likely to be fleeting. He has published a paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society A outlining his research and findings, and his theories regarding the impact of the pandemic on social networks. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-psychologist-negative-impact-pandemic-friendships.html Mathematics Social Sciences Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:20:02 EDT news517741927 A new study from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University revealed a unique historical pattern that cities follow in order to become strong and innovative economies. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-cities-unique-historical-pattern.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Mon, 24 Aug 2020 09:50:20 EDT news517481390 A pair of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, has found evidence that suggests some human facial expressions are universal across cultures. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, Alan Cowen and Dacher Keltner describe their online study in which workers labeled faces they were shown with a given emotion. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-ancient-mayan-facial-universal.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2020 08:40:02 EDT news517131150 While many academic institutions are searching for ways to prevent sexual assault and sexual coercion among their faculty members, staff and students, they are failing to address the most common forms of gender-based harassment, say experts who study harassment and discrimination at work and in academic and health care settings. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-quick-wont-sexual-academia-experts.html Social Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2020 04:00:20 EDT news517114816 Newly published research in Science Advances by University of Chicago researcher Luis Bettencourt proposes a new perspective and models on several known paradoxes of cities. Namely, if cities are engines of economic growth, why do poverty and inequality persist? If cities thrive on faster activity and more diversity, why are so many things so hard to change? And if growth and innovation are so important, how can urban planners and economists get away with describing cities with Groundhog Day-style models of equilibrium? https://phys.org/news/2020-08-meaningful-cities-decades-years-bottom.html Social Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2020 14:00:05 EDT news517060436 Research by Kansas State University shows how politicians from both major parties have changed their political speech from previous centuries. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-analysis-political-speeches-simpler-language.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 18 Aug 2020 12:50:01 EDT news516973532 A group of 31 world-renowned chemists have come together to articulate the value of diversity in science, calling for a paradigm shift in the ways that the scientific community nurtures and values its marginalized members. Isaiah Speight, a graduate student in the research lab of Professor of Chemistry Timothy Hanusa and national student representative of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), helped initiate and lead the effort. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-tackling-issues-diversity-inclusion-science.html Social Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2020 09:04:55 EDT news516960291 If you're reluctant to identify as a Democrat or Republican even though you are staunchly liberal or conservative, you're probably also less prone to bias in other ways. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-desire-group-harsher-judgment.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:47:54 EDT news516934046 Negative life events can cause crippling distress, significant hardships, and even lifelong trauma. The poor are perceived to be "hardened" by these events and therefore less harmed by them than those with more means, even when this is patently false, according to a series of studies published by Princeton University. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-society-poor-affected-distress.html Social Sciences Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:18:10 EDT news516899858 What do we mean by the word beautiful? It depends not only on whom you ask, but in what language you ask them. According to a machine learning analysis of dozens of languages conducted at Princeton University, the meaning of words does not necessarily refer to an intrinsic, essential constant. Instead, it is significantly shaped by culture, history and geography. This finding held true even for some concepts that would seem to be universal, such as emotions, landscape features and body parts. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-machine-reveals-role-culture-words.html Social Sciences Mon, 17 Aug 2020 09:25:03 EDT news516875091 A new study, released today in Science, points to a way to repair social ties and promote coexistence after war. The study found that in post-ISIS Iraq, mixing Christians and Muslims on soccer teams made Christian players more tolerant toward Muslims in their league, though the sentiments did not extend to Muslims in the broader community. The findings suggest that meaningful social contact can build community-level social cohesion with peers and acquaintances after war. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-iraq-mixed-religion-soccer-teams-social.html Social Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2020 14:00:07 EDT news516535231 Social inequalities, specifically racism and classism, are impacting the biodiversity, evolutionary shifts and ecological health of plants and animals in our cities. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-racism-consequences-life-cities.html Social Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2020 14:00:04 EDT news516524007 New research from Harvard's Growth Lab finds a direct link between a country's incoming business travel and the growth of new and existing industries. The findings, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, support a Growth Lab hypothesis that moving knowhow, the tacit knowledge accumulated and transferred from brain to brain through a long process of imitation, repetition, and feedback, is critical to economic growth, and business travel plays a key part in that process. The research also raises new concerns about the economic implications of the international travel restrictions imposed to combat COVID-19. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-business-driver-economic-growth.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Wed, 12 Aug 2020 03:35:11 EDT news516422107 It's commonly known that gun sales go up after a mass shooting, but two competing hypotheses have been put forth to explain why that's the case: is it because people fear more violence and want to protect themselves, or is it because mass shootings trigger discussions about tighter gun regulations, which sends people out to stock up? In a new study appearing August 11 in the journal Patterns, investigators used data science to study this phenomenon. By working with spatio-temporal data from all the states in the US, they determined that the increase in firearm purchases after mass shootings is driven by a concern about regulations rather than a perceived need for protection. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-stricter-spurs-gun-sales-mass.html Social Sciences Political science Tue, 11 Aug 2020 11:00:04 EDT news516348979 The "invisible" words that shaped Dickens classics also lead audiences through Spielberg dramas. And according to new research, these small words can be found in a similar pattern across most storylines, no matter the length or format. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-authors-invisible-words-reveal-blueprint.html Social Sciences Fri, 07 Aug 2020 14:00:03 EDT news516006972 What do you think of when you hear the word "refugee"? For many people, what comes to mind is vulnerability—you might imagine the grim conditions of a refugee camp or the dangers of the desperate journey to safety. So perhaps it's unsurprising that refugees are widely perceived to be especially needy or dependent on public assistance. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-refugees-opportunity.html Social Sciences Fri, 07 Aug 2020 14:00:03 EDT news516006828 Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an anti-racist movement in the United States, founded as a reaction to many incidents of racism and brutal police violence against black people. The movement got widespread international support in 2020 after the police murder on the Afro-american George Floyd. The murder set off a chain of demonstrations all over the world. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-racism-genetic-trait.html Social Sciences Tue, 04 Aug 2020 14:02:50 EDT news515768549 In an open marketplace, such as a farmers' market where produce and other goods like candles and flowers are exchanged for money, the ideal prices for both consumers and sellers will quickly emerge. For example, if a seller tries to offer a bag of peaches for $10 but another vendor is willing to sell similar peaches for $5, the lower price will eventually win out and become the norm. This phenomenon, which is related to the law of supply and demand, was demonstrated experimentally starting in the 1960s by Caltech alumnus and Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith (BS '49), now at Chapman University, and later by Caltech's Charlie Plott, the William D. Hacker Professor of Economics and Political Science. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-famous-economics-thousands.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 04 Aug 2020 08:30:53 EDT news515748643 Despite decades of positive messaging to encourage women and girls to pursue education tracks and careers in STEM, women continue to fall far below their male counterparts in these fields. A new study at Carnegie Mellon University examined 25 languages to explore the gender stereotypes in language that undermine efforts to support equality across STEM career paths. The results are available in the August 3rd issue of Nature Human Behavior. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-language-undermine-women-science-tech.html Social Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2020 12:30:06 EDT news515676604 Wealthier communities went from being the most mobile before the COVID-19 pandemic to the least mobile, while poorer areas have gone from the least mobile to the most mobile, according to a study by the University of California, Davis. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-social-distancing-varies-income.html Social Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2020 03:33:04 EDT news515298780 While there is little doubt that COVID-19 will have lasting impacts on health and the economy, a group of researchers is bringing attention to the effects the pandemic could have on the careers of scientific researchers. Carnegie Mellon University and Max Planck Institute physicist Ulrike Endesfelder, University of Stuttgart's Dirk Pflüger and Technische Universität Braunschweig's Timo de Wolff launched a Twitter campaign #StopPandemicBias, which aims to bring broader understanding to how COVID-19 will impact scientists. Using the hashtag, they hope to crowdsource ideas that will mitigate the impact of the pandemic on research careers. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-urge-scientific-stoppandemicbias.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2020 12:06:09 EDT news515156763 A team of researchers from the University of Groningen and the University of Maryland has looked into the question of why people learning of hate crimes react to them differently. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of four hate crimes and how people who heard of the crimes felt about them. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-crime-perceptions-vary-populace.html Social Sciences Tue, 28 Jul 2020 09:30:03 EDT news515147114 Income is inextricably linked to access to education in America and it has been for a century, according to a new study from researchers at Stanford University and Rice University. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-link-income-inequality-century.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 28 Jul 2020 03:40:40 EDT news515126420 When organizations take a stand against actions to combat climate change, they get more news coverage than their pro-climate action peers, according to a new study by a Brown University researcher. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-anti-climate-action-statements-visibility-news.html Social Sciences Political science Mon, 27 Jul 2020 15:00:03 EDT news515046140 When he was asked this week why Black people are "still dying at the hands of law enforcement" in the U.S., President Donald Trump responded by focusing on white people who had been killed by police. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-white-people-black-police.html Social Sciences Fri, 17 Jul 2020 10:19:19 EDT news514199957 The COVID-19 pandemic is having a disproportionate, negative impact on the careers of scientists with young children at home, a new survey finds. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-pandemic-disproportionately-affects-scientists-young.html Social Sciences Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:55:33 EDT news514025726 In a discovery with important implications for criminal justice, a team of scientists from USC and other Southern California research institutions has developed a unique way to measure the reliability of an eyewitness trying to pick a culprit from a police lineup. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-scientists-method-police-lineups.html Social Sciences Tue, 14 Jul 2020 11:49:04 EDT news513946137