Feature Channels: Behavioral Science

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A new study shows that with support from the supervisor, the employee is more likely to stay at work.

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Are books such as vampire novels, mysteries and fantasy “real” literature? Do they have a place in the education of today’s children? Boise State University English education professor Jeffrey Wilhelm can share insights from a current study about how passionate adolescent readers of non-traditional texts.

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Watch out for that Super Bowl pass—that is the chips, chili or other party food. If you are a people-pleaser who strives to keep your social relationships smooth and comfortable, you might find yourself overeating in certain social situations like Super Bowl watch parties. A new study from Case Western Reserve University found that, hungry or not, some people eat in an attempt to keep others comfortable.

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A woman’s memory of an experience is less likely to be accurate than a man’s if it was unpleasant and emotionally provocative, according to research undertaken by University of Montreal researchers at Louis-H Lafontaine Hospital.

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Attentiveness in kindergarten accurately predicts the development of “work-oriented” skills in school children, according to a new study published by Dr. Linda Pagani, a professor and researcher at the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine.

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When parents of middle school students participate in school-based, family interventions, it can reduce problem behavior, according to new research released online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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A new study of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania suggests social networks sparked the evolution of cooperation.

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Sending a text message leads people to lie more often than in other forms of communication, according to new research by David Xu, assistant professor in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University.

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Every year between 3 and 10 percent of school-age children in this country are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Increasingly, families are using natural or complementary therapies to improve their child’s attention or behavior, and often seek advice from an integrative pediatrician, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

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Research led by scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute found that small-group dynamics -- such as jury deliberations, collective bargaining sessions, and cocktail parties -- can alter the expression of IQ in some susceptible people, especially women.

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Researchers at Albright College in Reading, Pa examined how perceptions of a person’s sexual orientation are influenced by facial symmetry and proportions. Self-identified heterosexuals had facial features that were slightly more symmetrical than homosexuals. And the more likely raters perceived someone as heterosexual, the more symmetrical that person’s features were.

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For students to accept the theory of evolution, an intuitive “gut feeling” may be just as important as understanding the facts, according to a new study.

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Do you imagine your co-workers to be positive, confident and resourceful? If so, chances are that you also display those traits in your own life, a new study finds.

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Napoleon Bonaparte, the notoriously “short” French emperor, may have stood only 5 feet 6, but being a powerful military and political leader probably made him feel much taller, suggests a new study by an organizational behavior expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

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A recent study led by a Cornell University researcher finds that the psychological experience of power makes people feel taller than they are.

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Research shows that English is strongly biased toward being positive. This new study complements another study published Dec. 7 by the same University of Vermont scientists that attracted wide media attention showing that average global happiness, based on Twitter data, has been dropping for the past two years. Combined, the two studies show that short-term average happiness has dropped -- against the backdrop of the long-term fundamental positivity of the English language.

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Two studies by USC Marshall School of Business professor find aligned action does not always lead to the common good Moving in harmony can make people feel more connected to one another and, as a result, lead to positive collective action. Think of those feel-good vibes created in a yoga class as students move in unison through their downward-facing dogs. Yet given that synchronized physical activities are also a cornerstone of military training and are the highlights of military propaganda reels, could the interconnectedness created by coordinated action be mined to make people behave destructively instead? According to two studies conducted by Scott Wiltermuth, assistant professor of management and organization at the USC Marshall School of Business, the cohesiveness synchronized action fosters can, indeed, be manipulated for less than ideal ends.

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Blogging may have psychological benefits for teens suffering from social anxiety, improving their self-esteem and helping them relate better to their friends, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

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A new study from the University of Haifa assessed the tools employees are using to cope with the stress of abusive treatment from a supervisor and how effective those tools are in terms of employee well-being.

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Adolescent children of lesbian mothers report as good quality of life as those with heterosexual parents, reports a study in the January Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.