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Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-Jan-2026 01:11 ET (14-Jan-2026 06:11 GMT/UTC)

AI innovation missing the mark for local communities

University of Warwick
Reports and Proceedings

A new report from University of Warwick finds communities across the UK feel left out of the benefits of public sector artificial intelligence – calling for more public participation in AI policy.

Funder: Bridging Divides in Responsible AI (BRAID) - AHRC

Why top firms paradoxically fire good workers

University of Rochester
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Why do the world’s most prestigious firms—such as McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and other elite consulting giants, investment banks, and law practices—hire the brightest talents, train them intensively, and then, after a few years, send many of them packing? A recent study in the American Economic Review concludes that so-called adverse selection is not a flaw but rather a sign that the system is working precisely as intended.

Journal: American Economic Review

People in isolated cities in Africa suffer more violence against civilians

Complexity Science Hub
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cities are often seen as hotspots of violence, with the assumption that larger cities are inherently more violent than smaller ones. This “universal law” of urban scaling has long shaped scientific thinking. But new research led by Complexity Science Hub (CSH) researcher Rafael Prieto-Curiel challenges this assumption. Published in Nature Communications, the study shows that it is not simply city size, but a city’s level of isolation, that plays a crucial role in determining violence in Africa.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austrian Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure

Women bear the brunt of electroshock treatment, global study finds

University of East London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An international survey has found that women are twice as likely as men to receive electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and are also more likely to experience long-term memory loss and other adverse effects as a result.

Journal: Health Care For Women International

How does adoption of artificial intelligence affect employees’ job satisfaction?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In research based on 2009–2020 data from 509 publicly listed US firms and published in the Journal of Management Studies, lower and higher levels of adoption of artificial intelligence were associated with reduced job satisfaction, whereas moderate levels were linked to greater job satisfaction.

Journal: Journal of Management Studies

Can social media help clarify the threat domestic cats pose to insect and spider populations?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In research published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, investigators analyzed records from social media to explore which arthropods—including insects and spiders—are most preyed upon by domestic cats in urban environments.

Journal: Insect Conservation and Diversity

People who rate uncertainty positively are less likely to vote for right-wing populists

ETH Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

How people react to uncertainty has far-reaching socio-political consequences. If uncertainty is perceived as a threat, people tend to turn to political extremes.

Psychologists from ETH Zurich have now investigated whether people can also perceive uncertainty as an opportunity. They found that people who do so were more positive about diversity, more supportive of social change and less likely to vote for the right-wing populist party AfD.

Changing the way in which people view uncertainty could strengthen democratic resilience.

Journal: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

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