Trump supporters and insecure men more likely to value a large penis, according to new research. 🔬💪👑

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#TrumpSupporters #InsecureMen #Masculinity #SocialScience #ResearchFindings

🦠 New Research Suggests Racism May Lead to Mental Distress: Contrary to popular belief, a study published in Comprehensive Psychiatry found that prejudiced beliefs predict an increase in psychological distress over time, rather than the other way around.

🤝 Social Connection is Key: Lack of social connection was identified as a significant factor that may fuel both prejudice and mental health struggles, acting as a common cause for both.

📈 Longitudinal Studies Reveal Trend: Analysis of three Australian longitudinal studies (2020, 2023) showed that an increase in racist beliefs consistently preceded and predicted worsening anxiety and depression.

🧠 Challenging Existing Narratives: The findings challenge the idea that treating mental illness will automatically reduce racism, suggesting that prejudice itself is a risk factor for mental decline and that fostering social connection could offer dual benefits.

#MentalHealth #Racism #SocialScience

Half of social-science studies fail replication test in years-long project

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#ScienceNews #ReplicationCrisis #SocialScience

• 🤝 A new study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships reveals that young adults with hostile sexist beliefs are more likely to harm their peers' social relationships. The research, conducted with 571 participants aged 17-22 in Quebec, Canada, found a link between holding negative views about gender roles and using tactics like spreading gossip or exclusion.

• ⚖️ The study suggests that challenging traditional gender norms could not only reduce prejudiced attitudes but also foster more positive interactions among young people. Researchers analyzed survey data measuring relational aggression (damaging friendships, reputation, or social inclusion) and ambivalent sexist attitudes.

• 📈 Findings indicate that higher levels of hostile sexism were associated with both planned and spontaneous forms of relational aggression. The connection between hostile sexism and reactive aggression (responding to perceived threats) was particularly strong for men.

• 💡 While the study establishes a statistical link, it cannot prove causation due to data being collected at a single point in time. Future research may involve peer observations to better understand these social behaviors.

#TechNews #SocialScience #GenderStudies

The small talk you try to avoid because you think it will be boring may actually be more enjoyable than you think, in nine experiments involving 1,800 participants, researchers found that people consistently underestimated how interesting and enjoyable conversations about boring topics would be

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#SocialScience #SmallTalk #HumanBehavior

Published research in the social sciences has leaned consistently to the political left for more than six decades. The findings indicate that this leftward tilt has grown stronger over time, particularly regarding social and cultural issues.

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#Politics #SocialScience #Research

📜 A 65-year study of nearly 600,000 social science abstracts from 367 journals reveals a consistent leftward political tilt in published research, strengthening over time, particularly on social and cultural issues.

🤖 Using AI, researchers found that roughly 90% of politically relevant social science articles leaned left, with disciplines focused on identity and culture showing continuous leftward movement, while policy-focused fields moderated slightly in the 70s/80s before shifting left again post-1990.

🧠 The study suggests new contributors entering fields with progressive views are the primary drivers of this ideological drift, rather than older academics changing their minds, with abstracts rated further left on social/cultural topics than economic ones.

🌐 The research, published in Theory and Society by James Manzi, cautions that the findings measure published output and don't prove intentional bias, noting AI limitations, the focus on abstracts, and the application of a US political framework to global research.

#AcademicResearch #SocialScience #AIStudies

🧠 A study in Frontiers in Psychology reveals women's bra decisions involve balancing attractiveness signals with avoiding negative social judgments. While going braless is seen as attractive, it's also perceived as a sign of sexual availability, increasing fear of harassment for women.

🤔 Researchers surveyed 686 heterosexual adults in Slovakia. Findings showed 78.5% of women wear a bra in public, primarily due to fear of sexual harassment, not openness to casual sex.

👀 Both men and women rated braless women as more attractive but less faithful. Men intending to harass were particularly sensitive to bralessness as a cue of infidelity.

#WomensHealth #SocialScience #Psychology

Just 5 posts may be enough to shape what people believe online, new study finds. This challenges a common assumption that people first determine whether information is accurate and only then form opinions about it. The effect persisted even when the underlying information was false.

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#SocialScience #Misinformation #OnlinePersuasion

* 🗣️ A study by Claudia Williamson Kramer found that individuals who prioritize free speech are statistically more likely to exhibit racial and ethnic tolerance.

* 🌍 The research analyzed data from over 609,000 individuals across 115 countries between 1981 and 2022, and a separate Afrobarometer survey of 48,206 individuals in Africa.

* 💡 The findings suggest that a culture valuing open expression may foster greater open-mindedness and acceptance, though the study notes it is correlational and not causal.

#FreeSpeech #Tolerance #SocialScience

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💡 A new study by Claudia Williamson Kramer suggests that valuing free speech is linked to greater racial and ethnic tolerance.

📊 The research analyzed data from over 609,552 individuals across 115 countries, finding that prioritizing free speech makes individuals 2.3 percentage points more likely to accept a neighbor of a different race.

🌍 This pattern was also observed in a separate study using Afrobarometer data from 33 African countries, where support for media freedom was associated with a 0.9 percentage point increase in ethnic tolerance.

🚫 Interestingly, while valuing free speech correlates with tolerance towards most groups, it shows a significant negative association with tolerance toward right-wing political extremists.

#FreeSpeech #Tolerance #SocialScience

* 🇺🇸 A study in the American Behavioral Scientist reveals political identity influences smile interpretation: Republicans are more likely to view smiles as tools for managing social hierarchies, while others may see them as for social bonding.

* 📈 The research, involving 1,385 U.S. adults before the 2024 presidential election, found that Republican Party identification was the strongest predictor of interpreting smiles as hierarchy management.

* 💡 While age and general conservatism showed smaller associations with hierarchy-focused smiles, the study suggests party identification may shape emotional interpretations more strongly than broader political beliefs.

#PoliticalPsychology #NonverbalCommunication #SocialScience

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* 📚 New research published in the American Journal of Political Science reveals that support for authoritarian leaders can spread socially. A study of over 1,300 Norwegian military recruits showed that individuals adjusted their views on strongman rule to match their roommates' attitudes.

* 📈 This "social contagion effect" was also observed in a survey of 1,500 general Norwegian citizens and a large cross-national sample of over 25,000 respondents from 29 countries, suggesting political preferences can be responsive to social cues and peer opinions.

* 💡 The findings suggest that attitudes toward democracy are not fixed but can be influenced by the surrounding social climate, offering potential for both amplification of authoritarian movements and reinforcement of democratic principles by making support for them visible.

#Politics #Democracy #SocialScience

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Parental conservatism does not improve the transmission of religious beliefs, study shows. Young adults are more likely to share their parents’ religious habits when they view their upbringing as warm but structured.

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#ReligiousBeliefs #ParentalInfluence #SocialScience

💡 Young adults are more likely to adopt their parents' religious habits if their upbringing was both warm and structured.

🗺️ Regional culture significantly impacts how different parenting styles influence the passing down of religious beliefs from parents to their emerging adult children (ages 18-25).

👨‍👩‍👧 Authoritative parenting (balancing warmth with clear boundaries) generally boosts religious transmission. However, authoritarian and permissive styles' effects vary greatly by geographic region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West) and the parent (mother/father).

#Religion #Parenting #SocialScience

Unsocial kids may be happier than you think. Some elementary school children who appear unsociable actually just prefer being solo, as long as they know they belong in a broader social setting. It’s important not to force them into social interaction if they don’t feel like it.

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#ChildDevelopment #SocialScience #WellBeing

📊 Gender Gap on Social Issues Stable, Events Drive Shifts: New research published in Social Science Quarterly analyzing 2000-2024 Gallup Poll data indicates that gender differences on social and cultural issues have largely remained stable. Contrary to narratives of a widening political divide, men and women's attitudes shift in parallel in response to major national events.

📈 Period Effects Dominate, Not Generational Change: Researchers found that widespread historical events (period effects) had a much larger impact on public opinion across genders than generational differences (cohort effects). When events like the 2008 recession or the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, both men and women's concerns increased or decreased together, keeping the overall gender gap consistent.

⚖️ Women Consistently More Concerned on Care Issues: Women consistently show higher levels of worry regarding care and social protection issues (e.g., hunger, healthcare). However, these concerns spiked equally for both sexes during major crises and then declined together. Similar parallel movements were observed on issues of crime, race relations, and immigration.

🌐 Morality & Rights Opinions Fluctuate in Tandem: On morality and rights issues like abortion policies, gun laws, and LGBTQ+ acceptance, satisfaction levels and opinions fluctuated in sync for both men and women. This suggests broad societal developments, rather than gender-specific divergences, are the primary drivers of public opinion shifts.

#GenderGap #PublicOpinion #SocialScience

🔍 New research suggests a link between disgust sensitivity and conservative political views is strongest in individuals less aware of their internal bodily signals.

🧠 The study, published in Politics and the Life Sciences, found that when people are less attuned to their physical sensations, they may rely more on social cues to interpret their emotions, impacting their political leanings.

🇺🇸 Specifically, individuals with low bodily awareness and high disgust sensitivity had a 64.1% probability of identifying as Republican, while this link weakened significantly in those highly aware of their bodies.

⚖️ This moderating effect was primarily driven by moral disgust, not pathogen or sexual disgust, highlighting the role of social norms and moral violations.

#PoliticalPsychology #SocialScience #Disgust

🧠 Preference for group inequality may be linked to less gray matter in the anterior insula, a brain region involved in empathy and emotional processing.

⚖️ Individuals with higher social dominance orientation also reported greater sensitivity to rewards, suggesting a drive for status.

🔬 A study of 97 young adults found that higher social dominance scores correlated with less gray matter in the anterior insula (r = -0.30 for left, r = -0.29 for right).

#Neuroscience #Psychology #SocialScience

🌍 Social Ties Boost Birth Rates: Communities with strong social support and frequent interactions report higher birth rates, even if economic status varies. This suggests social networks can help sustain populations.

📉 Finland's Fertility Decline: Despite robust social welfare programs, Finland's birth rate dropped from 1.87 in 2010 to 1.30 in 2025, falling faster than in neighboring countries.

🤝 Key Social Factors Identified: Higher birth rates were linked to perceived social support and frequent social interactions. Support from partners, relatives, and friends all showed positive associations.

🔬 Young Adults Most Influenced: The connection between social support and higher fertility was strongest for individuals aged 20-39, particularly those in their twenties, suggesting supportive environments are crucial for this group's transition to parenthood.

#Demographics #SocialScience #Finland