Social Psychology News

March 18, 2025

Top Headlines

Oxytocin System of Breastfeeding Affected in Mothers With Postnatal Depression

Mar. 14, 2025 — The oxytocin system -- which helps release breast milk and strengthens the bond between mother and baby -- may be affected during breastfeeding in mothers experiencing postnatal ...

Why It's Good to Be Nostalgic: Study Suggests You May Have More Close Friends

Mar. 13, 2025 — Do you have lots of close friends -- and work hard to keep it that way? If you've answered 'yes', you are probably ...

How the Brain Uses 'Building Blocks' to Navigate Social Interactions

Mar. 12, 2025 — Our brains use basic 'building blocks' of information to keep track of how people interact, enabling us to navigate complex social interactions, finds a new ...

Retiring Abroad Puts Older Adults at Risk for Loneliness

Mar. 13, 2025 — Many people dream of retiring to a warmer, less expensive country. But retirees who move abroad may be at greater risk of loneliness than those who stay in their home country, according to new ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:31am EDT

Good Parenting Helps, but Has Limits Under Major Deprivation

Mar. 11, 2025 — Parenting skills can make a big difference in fostering a newborn's language acquisition and cognition, but there may be a limit to how far parenting can go to make up the challenges to developing ...

Decoding the Neural Basis of Affective Empathy: How the Brain Feels Others' Pain

Mar. 10, 2025 — A research team has uncovered key insights into how the brain processes others' distress. Using miniature endoscopic calcium imaging, the researchers ...

Prenatal Maternal Stressors Linked to Higher Blood Pressure During First Year After Birth, Study Shows

Mar. 4, 2025 — Psychosocial stress during pregnancy could lead to higher blood pressure during the first year postpartum according to new ...

Teaching Kids How to Become Better Citizens

Mar. 3, 2025 — In our polarized society, a new study offers hope for the future: Even young children can learn to discuss and argue about meaningful problems in a respectful and productive way. Researchers found ...

Research Indicates Effects of PTSD on Body Vary by Culture

Feb. 28, 2025 — Anthropologists, social scientists and veterans are analyze the relationship between the hormones cortisol and testosterone and PTSD in a non-industrialized ...

Improving Relationships Between Dads and Daughters... It's a Walk in the Park

Feb. 27, 2025 — A simple walk in the park could hold the key to unlocking a close and loving relationship between fathers and daughters, a new study has ...

How Many Languages Can You Learn at the Same Time? -- Ghanaian Babies Grow Up Speaking Two to Six Languages

Feb. 28, 2025 — Africa is a multilingual continent and many adults speak several languages fluently. An empirical study by a psycholinguist now shows that the roots ...

Trying to Be Happy Makes Us Unhappier by Zapping Our Self-Control, Study Finds

Feb. 27, 2025 — A new study finds people who habitually try to be happier also tend to have less ...

How Parenthood May Help Keep Your Brain Young

Feb. 26, 2025 — Researchers find that parents show patterns of brain connectivity that oppose age-related ...

Clashing With Classmates: Off-Putting Traits Spark Enemy Relationships

Feb. 25, 2025 — Making enemies isn't random. Traits like emotional instability, aggression, and disruptive behavior early in life can lead to antagonistic relationships. Research on students aged 9-14 found that ...

Urban Highways Cut Opportunities for Social Relationships

Mar. 6, 2025 — Urban highways promise to get people to their destinations faster -- and bring them together. But at the same time, they reduce social connections between people within the city, especially at ...

Gender Plays a Role in Long-Term Unemployed Individuals' Perception of Their Capabilities

Feb. 25, 2025 — A study shows that long-term unemployed individuals perceive their capabilities as weaker than the general Finnish population. Capabilities refer to the opportunities to achieve important things in ...

Framework to Identify Food Selectivity Origins in the Brain

Feb. 20, 2025 — Human evolution has revolved around food, from identifying and foraging for it to growing and preparing it. Researchers have identified a region in the brain's visual cortex that responds to ...

Narcissists More Likely to Feel Ostracized

Feb. 20, 2025 — Narcissists feel ostracized more frequently than their less self-absorbed peers, according to researchers. This may stem not only from being shunned due to their personalities but from a tendency to ...

Socially Dominant Individuals Are More Confident but Not Necessarily More Competent

Feb. 19, 2025 — Research has found that people who strive for dominance, whether in personal or professional life, are more confident in their decision-making but are no more accurate in their choices than those of ...

Dating Is Not Broken, but the Trajectories of Relationships Have Changed

Feb. 12, 2025 — Surveys of college students conducted in 2012 and in 2022 found many similarities in their expectations about romantic relationships; however, they are now taking diverse paths through those ...

For Valentine's Day: Measure Your Relationship With a Scientific Self-Test

Feb. 11, 2025 — Answer seven questions and get an indication of how your relationship is right now. Just in time for Valentine's Day, researchers are publishing a new study that introduces a scientifically ...

Ready (or Not) for Love? Your Friends Likely Agree

Feb. 10, 2025 — A new study found that friends significantly agreed on who was ready for committed relationships -- and who ...

ALS Survival May Be Cut Short by Living in Disadvantaged Communities

Feb. 7, 2025 — Living in a disadvantaged community may decrease the length of time a person can survive with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, by over 30%, a study suggests. Similar studies have shown that ...

Fear of Breast Cancer Recurrence: Impact and Coping With Being in a Dark Place

Feb. 6, 2025 — A new study of breast cancer survivors has found this psychosocial challenge impacts almost every important domain of their lives -- the emotional, behavioral, cognitive, relational and professional. ...

The Truth May Hurt, but for Couples, It's Worth It

Feb. 5, 2025 — I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE: A new study of more than 200 couples finds that being honest when expressing a desire for change leads to greater personal and relationship well-being for ...

School Bans Alone Not Enough to Tackle Negative Impacts of Phone and Social Media Use, Researchers Find

Feb. 5, 2025 — Students attending schools that ban the use of phones throughout the school day aren't necessarily experiencing better mental health and wellbeing, as the first worldwide study of its kind has ...

Wealth Is Strong Predictor of Prosocial Behavior Around the World, Study Suggests

Feb. 5, 2025 — Wealthy people are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior such as donating money or volunteering, according to a new global ...

Gender Equality Is Crucial for a Climate Resilient Future

Feb. 5, 2025 — A new study shows why gender equality trends should be central when planning how societies adapt to and mitigate climate ...

Pickleball Program Boosts Health and Wellness for Cancer Survivors

Feb. 4, 2025 — A new community-based pickleball program called Project Rally is helping cancer survivors improve their physical and social well-being, according to a recent pilot study. The program has shown strong ...

Do Women Talk More Than Men? It Might Depend on Their Age

Feb. 3, 2025 — Researchers found that women between the ages of 25 and 65 -- the life stages of early and middle adulthood -- spoke on average 3,000 more words per day than their male ...

Don't Know Something? Apes Can Tell

Feb. 3, 2025 — To get treats, apes eagerly pointed them out to humans who didn't know where they were, a seemingly simple experiment that demonstrated for the first time that apes will communicate unknown ...

How the Brain Enables Flexible Decisions

Feb. 3, 2025 — Our brain is remarkably flexible in producing different reactions to supposedly comparable situations. The same sensory information can lead to different decisions depending on the behavioral ...

Sound Is a Primary Issue in the Lives of Skateboarders, Study Shows

Jan. 31, 2025 — Sound plays a significant and often poignant part of skateboarders' relationship with their sport, a new study ...

Being Social May Delay Dementia Onset by Five Years

Jan. 30, 2025 — Being more social by visiting friends, attending parties and going to church may help keep your brain healthy, according to new ...