https://phys.org/science-news/social-sciences/ en-us The latest news on social sciences, history, political science, psychology and sociology A research team led by Jiyoung Lee, a professor in the Department of Media and Communication, has worked with international researchers to uncover how visual contrast across social media feeds influences how quickly users spot visual misinformation. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-eye-social-media-attention-misinformation.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:20:09 EDT news711126327 Rats are on the ballot in Canadian municipal elections this fall, with several political parties promising to tackle city rat problems. While rats may seem like a niche election issue, they can point to broader societal concerns about housing, public services and civic engagement. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-politics-city-rats-urban-rodents.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:00:01 EDT news711123601 The anatomical differences in our vocal tracts could be one of the sources of our Tower of Babel—the vast difference in languages spoken around the world, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Steven Moran and Tiena Danner from the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-variations-human-vocal-tract-language.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:00:22 EDT news711014795 A story that places us inside the mind of a character who is remorseful about causing harm can inspire forgiveness for that fictional bad act, a new study finds. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-literature.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 13:20:15 EDT news711103999 University students who are survivors of sexual violence are forced to perform a constant, exhausting "calculus"—weighing risks, safety, stigma, emotional costs, institutional consequences and likelihood of being believed—when deciding whether and how to seek help. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sexual-violence-survivors.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 13:02:14 EDT news711102132 In a perspective article, Sergio Carbajo and colleagues call for a "Discovery Compact" in the face of the recent destabilization of the postwar compact for science, which reliably supported basic research for decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-discovery-compact-science.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 12:40:01 EDT news711100511 Idealism, it's often thought, runs high at either end of the age spectrum and sags in the middle. The altruistic inclinations of youth are set aside due to the professional and personal demands of midlife but reemerge as one ages into maturity. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gen-entrepreneurs-prior-generations.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:40:08 EDT news711092038 Youth are less likely to seek mental health services if they have a tumultuous relationship with their father, although the exact nature of this link is still unclear. "The more conflict teens experience with their father, the less likely they will later use specialized mental health services," says Mina Moeineslam, a Ph.D. candidate at NTNU's Department of Psychology. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-conflict-father-teens-mental-health.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:20:01 EDT news711091451 In the past 25 years, Switzerland has seen the steepest rise in the share of highly educated women across Europe. Between 1999 and 2024, the share of women aged 30 to 40 who hold a higher education degree increased from below 20% to over 60%. Over the same period, the share of highly educated men increased much more moderately. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-highly-women-partners.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:00:01 EDT news711091393 Employers could unlock a lucrative stream of talent by focusing their attention on "good flexibility," according to a new report. Bankwest Curtin Economics Center's analysis of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's (WGEA) extensive employer dataset shows progress on gender equality has been made in the past decade, but workforce potential and opportunities to improve business performance remain untapped. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-flexible-future-leaders.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 07:40:01 EDT news711088262 Amanda Krause, a senior lecturer in psychology at James Cook University, said musical taste shapes social identity, personal expression and everyday behavior. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-music.html Social Sciences Tue, 13 Oct 2026 07:20:01 EDT news711087662 Ask young adults about love in this day and age, and their diagnosis is bleak: They live in an individualistic society, dating has been reduced to an algorithm, and a generation is afraid to commit. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-paradox-modern-romance.html Social Sciences Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:20:01 EDT news711022895 Identity development is not limited to adolescence, a recent study from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, shows. Researchers found that identity developed positively from age 27 to 61. A more positively developed identity was associated with higher levels of mental well-being. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-identity-adulthood-linked-mental.html Social Sciences Mon, 12 Oct 2026 11:00:28 EDT news711016610 In baseball, a borderline pitch is more likely to be called a strike when the batter has three balls and no strikes than when the count is no balls and two strikes. The official strike zone hasn't changed. The umpire's judgment has. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ball-baseball-umpire.html Other Mon, 12 Oct 2026 09:40:10 EDT news710765903 Two cartoon characters appear on a screen. One belongs to a group of three, and the other to a group of two. Which character would you rather play with? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-preschool-boys-favor-bigger-groups.html Social Sciences Sat, 10 Oct 2026 11:20:01 EDT news710765673 A new study of 4,200 adolescents revealed that cyberbullying rarely occurs in isolation; it almost always functions as an extension of physical and verbal aggression already present in the school environment. The study, conducted at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) in Brazil, mapped students' involvement in bullying and found that the lines between victims and perpetrators often blur in a cycle of violence spanning both the physical and digital worlds. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-cyberbullying-rarely-isolation-functions-extension.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 15:00:08 EDT news710773501 Today, the discussions of sports analytics in the 2011 movie "Moneyball" often seem quaint. The idea of a team using data to find players who may be more valuable than meets the eye (and less expensive) no longer surprises anyone. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-analytics-pro-sports-fun-fans.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:00:01 EDT news710771221 Feeling secure in a relationship is not only about how people connect with their partners today. It may also depend on how confident they are that the relationship will continue into the future. Feelings of closeness, trust and connection, together with a sense that the relationship is stable and has a future, can shape how people experience their romantic relationships. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-confidence-relationship-future-linked-romantic.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 13:20:13 EDT news710770681 When thinking like investors, auditors are significantly more likely to rate corporate leaders' crimes as material concerns for the investing public, according to new Poole research. In their professional capacities, the study finds, auditors tend to rate executive lapses as less material to their firms' financial performance. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-qa-investor-perspective-prompts-auditors.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:00:23 EDT news710759271 A teenage boy goes to the gym several times a week. He takes protein powder and watches what he eats carefully. He talks about being "ripped" or "jacked." https://phys.org/news/2026-10-son-gym-lot-healthy-wrong.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:20:08 EDT news710754241 Simple changes to pub environments can encourage drinkers to choose alcohol-free options without harming profits, according to new research from the University of York. The study, published in Drug and Alcohol Review, evaluated how introducing alcohol-free (AF) beer through three sequential behavioral "nudges" influenced consumer habits and revenues across three distinct U.K. pubs. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-alcohol-free-beer-boosts-pub.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 08:40:02 EDT news710753461 The Center for the Creator Economy at Syracuse University—the nation's first academic center dedicated to the advancement of interdisciplinary academics, independent research, policy engagement and support for creator-based ventures—today released the findings from its inaugural industry Flash Report. Published monthly, these reports examine the issues creators, brands and audiences are talking about right now. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-youtube-tv-source-political-news.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 07:40:05 EDT news710747281 Traffic, trains, nightlife—in cities everywhere, there is a near-constant background hum that most people simply get used to. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-noise-london-copenhagen.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 07:20:10 EDT news710747222 A new study led by Flinders University finds both autistic and nonautistic suspects may be judged more harshly if any idiosyncratic behaviors in interviews stray beyond what observers consider normal. The research also undermines the widely held perspective—referred to as the "double empathy hypothesis"—that autistic people can better "read" differing intentions and motivations in other autistic people than nonautistic people can. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-autistic-disadvantaged-forensic.html Social Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 07:00:01 EDT news710739542 Armed conflict accelerates cropland loss, and the effects can persist for years after conflict begins and vary substantially with conflict severity and social conditions, according to a new study published in Nature Food on Sept. 24. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-global-analysis-reveals-armed-conflict.html Social Sciences Thu, 08 Oct 2026 23:00:01 EDT news710671927 How can AI provide police officers with better support in complex situations? In an interdisciplinary collaboration, researchers in police research and computing science at Umeå University have explored the opportunities and risks associated with using AI-based interactive systems in police work. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ai-reality-police.html Social Sciences Thu, 08 Oct 2026 22:00:01 EDT news710670397 Pokémon, sports and other physical trading and collectible cards have been around for decades but have surged in popularity since COVID. These cards are usually obtained through gambling-like packs containing random cards. Most packs do not offer any highly desirable cards, but a few packs will. Consumers, often including children, therefore buy many packs in the hope of obtaining rare chase cards. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-card-odds-rare-cards.html Social Sciences Thu, 08 Oct 2026 21:40:01 EDT news710677562 Walk through almost any city or town in a low-income or middle-income country and you'll pass them: the woman selling deep-fried fish from a cart, the mobile vendor with a bicycle full of vegetables, the kiosk operator who's the only source of a hot meal within walking distance. Food systems employ an estimated 1.23 billion people globally, and a majority of those jobs are informal—unlicensed, unregistered or otherwise outside the reach of formal regulation. In low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) especially, informal vendors are not a marginal feature of how people eat; they are a linchpin of food security and livelihoods for over a billion people. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-food-vendors-invisible-backbone-world.html Social Sciences Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:40:01 EDT news710696281 My ancestral languages, Boarisch (Bavarian) and Schwäbisch (Swabian), are routinely described as German dialects. That might sound like a technical linguistic distinction. For me, a Boarisch-Schwob scholar and community member, it raises a practical question: What happens to a people when their ancestral language, which carries their identity and "Weltanschauung" (worldview), is excluded from protection under a European language treaty because the modern state and dominant culture reduce it to a dialect? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bavaria-ancestral-languages-resisting-linguistic.html Social Sciences Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:00:01 EDT news710671659 Happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise, fear, contempt and anger. These are the basic emotions traditionally associated with facial expressions described as universal. As important social signals, facial expressions help us rapidly interpret the emotions and intentions of others. Among these emotions, anger holds a particularly relevant role because it often signals interpersonal threat or conflict. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-anger.html Social Sciences Thu, 08 Oct 2026 17:40:02 EDT news710694361