News by Subject Social & Behavior

The result of the 2016 US presidential election was, for many, a surprise lesson in social perception bias -- peoples' tendency to assume that others think as we do, and to underestimate the size and influence of a minority party. Many psychologists attribute the source of these biases to faulty cognitive processes like 'wishful thinking' or 'social projection,' but according to a study published August 12, 2019 in Nature Human Behavior, the structure of our social networks might offer a simpler explanation.

'Freedom songs' were key in giving motivation and comfort to those fighting for equal rights, in addition to helping empower Black women to lead others when formal leadership positions were unavailable.

Do human beings genuinely have free will? Philosophers and theologians have wrestled with this question for centuries and have set out the 'design features' of free will -- but how do our brains actually fulfil them? Thomas Hills, Professor of Psychology at the University of Warwick, has answered this question for the first time in a new paper published today [31] in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

An international team analyzed for the first time, genome-wide data from people who lived during the Bronze and Iron Age in the ancient city of Ashkelon, one of the core Philistine cities. The team found that a European derived ancestry was introduced in Ashkelon around the time of the Philistines' estimated arrival, suggesting that ancestors of the Philistines migrated across the Mediterranean. These results are a critical step toward understanding the origins of the Philistines.

The things we appeal to when making excuses are myriad: tiredness, stress, a looming work deadline, a wailing infant. But what do these various excuses have in common that allows us to recognize them all as plausible? A researcher from Cambridge University has suggested that the answers lie in what they all tell us about our underlying motivation. When excuses are permissible, it's because they show that while we acted wrongly, our underlying moral intentions were adequate.

A study in rats has revealed the presence of naturally occurring DMT, an increasingly popular hallucinogen.

A law allowing parents to withdraw their children from religious education should be overturned, headteachers from across England have argued in a new large study.

Islamic values are just as important as the destination, quality and value for money for Muslims when choosing a holiday destination, according to a new study by the University of Portsmouth.