EurekAlert! News by Subject: Social & Behavior - News by Subject: Social & Behavior

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 15-Nov-2025 18:11 ET (15-Nov-2025 23:11 GMT/UTC)

Study exposes how video game studios are violating children’s privacy rights

University of Ottawa
Reports and Proceedings

Researchers from uOttawa, the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and McGill University found the highly opaque system of data collection in the highly lucrative video game market used by developers and third-party companies demonstrated malicious intent, as the major players override children's rights to collect personal data through game applications.

Funder: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Leading the way in targeted cancer treatment

University of Missouri-Columbia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the quest for more targeted lung cancer treatments, a researcher at the University of Missouri thinks the solution may lie in tiny bubble-shaped packages that cells use to talk to each other.

Journal: Molecular Therapy Oncology

Algorithm-based strategy shows promise in reducing urban poverty

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, aid organizations worldwide struggled to identify vulnerable households quickly and fairly. Many people who needed help were left behind.

Woojin Jung, an assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work, said she has found a better strategy. Her team has developed a method that blends sociodemographic data and household surveys with community perceptions and satellite imagery to predict urban poverty – and to put people at the center of aid targeting.

Journal: Sustainable Cities and Society

Climate deniers' online strategy: Using scientific aesthetics to appear credible

University of Gothenburg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Climate deniers use scientific aesthetics to reinforce and legitimise their message. At the same time their main opponents, the climate activists, are portrayed as emotional and irrational. This has been demonstrated by researchers from the Universities of Gothenburg and Amsterdam, who have studied how climate deniers communicate online.

Journal: Environmental Politics

Systematic review reveals psilocybin reduces obsessive-compulsive behaviors across clinical and preclinical evidence

Genomic Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A comprehensive systematic review published today in Psychedelics examines psilocybin's therapeutic potential for obsessive-compulsive disorder and related conditions, synthesizing evidence from four clinical trials and nine preclinical investigations. The analysis, led by James J. Gattuso from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, reveals that psilocybin produces rapid reductions in obsessive-compulsive symptoms in clinical populations and sustained anti-compulsive effects in validated animal models. The review identifies consistent therapeutic patterns across species while highlighting critical knowledge gaps, including the need for larger placebo-controlled trials and mechanistic neuroimaging studies. The synthesis demonstrates that psilocybin's anti-compulsive effects may occur independently of its hallucinogenic properties, suggesting potential for non-psychedelic therapeutic approaches. This systematic analysis provides researchers, clinicians, and policymakers with the first comprehensive framework for understanding psilocybin's role in treating the full spectrum of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.

Journal: Psychedelics
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council, University of Melbourne, Victorian Government, University of Melbourne

Emerging roles of neuromodulation in the management of treatment-resistant OCD

Genomic Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A detailed new review published in Brain Medicine outlines how electrical and magnetic stimulation of the brain is changing treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), especially for patients who do not respond to traditional therapy or medication. The article, “Neuromodulation techniques in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Current state of the art” by Dr. Kevin Swierkosz-Lenart, Dr. Carolina together with their colleagues at Lausanne University Hospital, in collaboration with Prof. Luc Mallet from Paris-Est Créteil University and University of Geneva brings together the latest evidence on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and deep brain stimulation (DBS). The authors describe how each approach interacts with dysfunctional brain networks and how personalization, imaging, and biomarker discovery could shape the next generation of psychiatric treatments.

Journal: Brain Medicine
Funder: Swiss National Science Foundation, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital, Fondation Anna & André Livio Glauser, Université de Lausanne

Nearly half of US workers don’t know work experience could count toward a degree, according to University of Phoenix survey

University of Phoenix
Reports and Proceedings

A new University of Phoenix survey conducted by The Harris Poll finds that while 90% of U.S. workers are actively learning or developing new skills on the job, many don’t realize those experiences may translate into college credit. While 45% of employed Americans do not believe work experience can count towards a degree, among workers without a college degree, nearly 3 in 5 (57%) don’t know that work experience could count toward a degree. Evaluating prior learning — sometimes called credit for prior learning (CPL) or prior learning assessment (PLA) — allows eligible, college-level knowledge gained through work, training, military service and other avenues to be assessed for potential credit toward a degree or certificate.

26
27
28
29
30