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Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 31-Dec-2025 15:12 ET (31-Dec-2025 20:12 GMT/UTC)

LLM agents build personality and social dynamics from basic needs alone

The University of Electro-Communications
Reports and Proceedings

What kind of personality would an AI develop if we gave it no roles, goals, or instructions—only basic human-like needs? This study explores how language-model agents form unique personalities through everyday interaction, without being programmed to do so. Inspired by human-needs theory, the work hints at ways to build virtual agents that interact more naturally with people.

Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

To craft early tools, ancient human relatives transported stones over long distances 600,000 years earlier than previously thought

Smithsonian
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In southwestern Kenya more than 2.6 million years ago, ancient humans wielded an array of stone tools—known collectively as the Oldowan toolkit—to pound plant material and carve up large prey such as hippopotamuses. These durable and versatile tools were crafted from special stone materials collected up to eight miles away, according to new research led by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Queens College. Their findings, published Aug. 15 in the journal Science Advances, push back the earliest known evidence of ancient humans transporting resources over long distances by some 600,000 years.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: Smithsonian Institution, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, U.S. National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, William H. Donner Foundation, Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz, Peter Buck Fund for Human Origins Research

Sibling and friend game time key to keeping children safe in online video games

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Older siblings and friends may play important, and sometimes overlooked, roles in helping parents keep their children safe on online gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, according to new research led by Penn State.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Caught in a social media echo chamber? AI can help you out, new study shows

Binghamton University
Reports and Proceedings

Thanks to AI technologies, the spread of mass-produced contextually relevant articles and comment-laden social media posts has become so commonplace that it can appear as though it’s coming from different information sources. The resulting “echo chamber” effect could reinforce a person’s existing perspectives, regardless of whether that information is accurate.

A new study involving Binghamton University, State University of New York researchers offers a promising solution: developing an AI system to map out interactions between content and algorithms on digital platforms to reduce the spread of potentially harmful or misleading content.

IJCAI 2025 – Artificial Intelligence for a Better World - Since 1969

International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence
Meeting Announcement

Media Invitation – IJCAI 2025, Montréal, Canada
Artificial Intelligence for a Better World – Since 1969

The 34th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) takes place August 16–22, 2025 in Montréal, Canada, bringing together over 2,000 AI researchers, practitioners, and thought leaders. Guided by the theme “AI at the service of society”, IJCAI 2025 features world-class keynote speakers, award-winning researchers, thematic tracks on AI for Social Good, Human-Centred AI, and AI, Arts & Creativity, as well as admission free public events like the AI Lounge: Between Wonder and Caution.

Highlights include talks by Yoshua Bengio, Heng Ji, Luc De Raedt, Bernhard Schölkopf, and IJCAI 2025 awardees Aditya Grover, Rina Dechter, and Cynthia Rudin. The program also showcases AI-driven competitions, an AI Art Gallery, and discussions on ethics, creativity, and global impact.

Full program & details: https://2025.ijcai.org
Media contact: mrozman@ijcai.org

New guidance puts communities at the heart of research

University of the Witwatersrand
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Much previous work in the social sciences has involved researchers – often but not always from the Global North – collecting data from rural communities in the Global South on a wide range of topics from public health to education, agriculture and climate change. Such ‘helicopter’ research is not good practice as it often involves an asymmetry of power and knowledge that invariably disadvantages local communities. So how can research be made more equitable? This is the topic of an analysis undertaken by Jasper Knight from the Wits School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, who is also chair of the University’s Non-Medical Ethics Committee, in a new research study published in the International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

Journal: International Journal of Qualitative Methods

HKU psychology research reveals how the brain constructs emotional experiences

The University of Hong Kong
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study led by Professor Benjamin Becker from the Department of Psychology at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) uncovers a brain signature that reveals how emotional intensity is consciously experienced – and whether this experience is distinct from automatic bodily reactions.

Journal: Nature Communications