Feature Channels: Behavioral Science

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Sharing news articles with friends and followers on social media can prompt people to think they know more about the articles’ topics than they actually do, according to a new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

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Pulling from extensive interviews, the latest research and national data, Sociology Professor Susan Stewart says women are drinking more alcohol to cope with stress, move up at work, feel confident and have fun – or be perceived as having fun – in her new book “On the Rocks: Straight talk about women and drinking.”

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The more effective the COVID-19 booster, the more likely people are to get it, according to new Cornell research. And they are more likely to accept the booster shot with cash incentives and if it is made by Moderna or Pfizer.

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Drinkers’ mood shifts and exposure to alcohol-related cues — beer cans, bars, and drinking buddies — contribute to alcohol cravings in opposite ways for men and women, a new study suggests. The findings have implications for how men and women develop dangerous drinking habits and ways that this might be prevented or treated. Various theories link alcohol use to positive and negative emotions: drinking to either enhance good mood or cope with stress, potentially becoming a self-reinforcing cycle. Studies have yielded mixed findings, however, suggesting that mood interacts with subconscious cognitive processes to prompt alcohol-seeking.

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An area of the brain specifically involved in putting in effort to help others out has been pinpointed by scientists at the University of Birmingham and University of Oxford.

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During the pandemic, on days that adults felt particularly lonely or when lockdown restrictions were more limiting, they used more drugs (other than cannabis), a new study suggests.

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A new study shows that horses can be more reluctant in new situations if they have multiple riders, have had several owners or the horse has been with its current owner only for a short period of time.

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Honesty between faculty and students improves student experiences in college. Professors who actively consider student identity and sharing their own can increase student fulfillment. Although daunting, new data indicate that students are ready to embrace a new kind of learning environment.

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Research has consistently shown that positive psychological factors are linked to better physical health, including increased resistance to infectious illnesses such as the flu and the common cold. A new study from the University of California, Irvine, examines the role that race plays in this connection, comparing the results of African American and European American participants in a series of landmark experimental studies from the Common Cold Project, conducted between 1993 and 2011.

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Using our smartphone — but not a borrowed phone — makes us more likely to choose products tailored to our style.

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A new study of eligible voters in the 2020 election highlights how many Americans overlook the influence of external factors like child care constraints and transportation difficulties on voter turnout.

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Do you have a secret stash of chocolates that you keep from your partner, or do you intentionally keep your spouse from knowing about something you bought on Amazon? New research indicates that small but commonly hidden actions such as these may be good for the relationship.

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Oxytocin’s role in group relations may be shared with both of our closest evolutionary relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees. The team tested their hypothesis by using eye tracking technology that compared a subject's attention to side-by-side images of out-group and in-group counterparts. The findings revealed that oxytocin promoted out-group attention across the two species.

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This study compares the different vaping rates among U.S. high school students with different sexual orientation, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, to see how these intersecting identities impact rates of e-cigarette use.

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The latest research and expert commentary on the monkeypox outbreak.

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What someone says out loud about a group of people and how they actually feel about them aren’t always the same thing, but a person’s true sentiments about other groups of people can be revealed by the language patterns they use in describing their feelings. That’s one of the key findings from a new study by David Markowitz, an assistant professor in the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.

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Although most people who commit violence tend to be teens and young adults, a new study found that the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda were mostly middle-aged men.

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The typical rise and fall of alcohol and cannabis consumption from late adolescence into adulthood does not hold for people with certain personality traits, a new study suggests. Among individuals who used both alcohol and cannabis, those with high impulsivity as adolescents showed a different developmental trajectory from their peers, according to a study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research — the first to assess co-use of the two substances well into adulthood. Alcohol and cannabis are the two most frequently used psychotropic drugs in the US. High use is associated with negative health outcomes, particularly when the two substances are used concurrently or simultaneously. Little is known about the developmental course of alcohol and cannabis co-use into adulthood and whether it is influenced by sensation seeking and reduced conscientiousness, markers of disinhibition associated with hazardous substance use. Researchers at Arizona State University explored whether those pe

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People who self-medicate pain with alcohol may be vulnerable to hazardous drinking, with their experience of pain relief a potentially powerful driver of alcohol consumption, a new study suggests. Both pain and dangerous alcohol use are major public health issues. Each affects millions of US adults and costs hundreds of billions of dollars annually in health care and lost productivity. Recent studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between pain and alcohol use; people with chronic pain are more likely than others to report heavy drinking, and those with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are more likely to report chronic pain. Alcohol has known analgesic effects. Evidence of shared neural mechanisms underlying chronic pain and substance misuse suggest alcohol’s pain-relieving capacity might be influenced by individuals’ experience of chronic pain. Better understanding the relationship between chronic pain and alcohol use could inform improved prevention and treatment approaches. For the

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Racially resentful white Americans are less likely to support some gun rights if they believe Black people are exercising those rights more than white people, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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It is common for young animals, in particular mammals, to play. Researchers at Linköping University (LiU), Sweden, have for the first time mapped the development of play in young chickens. The results show that the young chickens spend lots of time playing in different ways – just like puppies and kittens.

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Researchers for the first time have identified the parts of the brain involved in a less-commonly studied trigger of misophonia, a condition associated with an extreme aversion to certain sounds.

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Researchers are calling for urgent changes to the GCSE science curriculum to help equip learners with sufficient scientific literacy to be able to identify reliable sources and inform their future vaccination decision-making process.

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“Dark tourism” experiences – sites and museums associated with violence, tragedy and war – draw millions of travelers each year.

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Findings include a significant decrease in attitudes toward most types of bias in the United States between 2007 and 2020.

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Maryland Smith experts explain the groundwork for professionals to “'think on their feet’ when the next situation arises to negotiate – whether in product pricing, partnership agreements or the next job offer.”

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Students who are non-binary, female or in their second year of college are most affected by academic stress, a Rutgers study finds

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Below are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Food Science channel on Newswise, a free source for journalists.

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A recent study highlights the range of uncomfortable situations people living with blindness or visual impairment encounter due to interpersonal communication challenges, and outlines strategies people with visual impairment use to navigate these situations.