Casual Sex Is Linked to Lower Self-Esteem and Weaker Moral Orientations in Women but Not Men
A new study in *Personality and Individual Differences* examined how willingness to engage in casual sex—sociosexuality—relates to self‑esteem and moral orientation differently for men and women. Surveying 295 U.S. adults (average age 37), researchers found that higher sociosexuality in women is linked to lower self‑esteem, reduced authenticity, weaker personal integrity, and greater tendencies toward lying and moral disengagement. In contrast, men’s sociosexuality showed little connection to self‑judgment and only a modest association with some dishonest behaviors. The authors caution that the data are correlational and call for longitudinal, cross‑cultural work to untangle causality.
Teenage Brains Process Mechanical and Academic Skills Differently Across the Sexes
A new study of nearly 7,000 U.S. adolescents shows boys increasingly develop a mechanical tilt while girls lean toward academic strengths in math and reading. The mechanical advantage widens from age 13 to 17, whereas spatial tilt remains statistically similar...
New Study Reveals Six Stages of Spiritual Growth Experienced During a Pilgrimage
A new grounded‑theory study of 15 pilgrims who walked the Mazu route in Taiwan, the Shikoku circuit in Japan, and the Camino de Santiago in Spain uncovered six interrelated factors that shape spiritual growth. The researchers interviewed participants who had...
High Sugar Intake Is Linked to Increased Odds of Depression and Anxiety in New Study
A cross‑sectional study of 377 mostly female university students found that higher consumption of added sugars and sugar‑sweetened beverages is associated with increased odds of both depression and anxiety. The relationship held after adjusting for age, sex, income and BMI,...
An Unpredictable Childhood Predicts Greater Psychological Distress During the Israel-Hamas War
Researchers at the University of Haifa found that Israeli adults who reported higher early‑life unpredictability experienced a sharper rise in psychological distress during the 2023 Israel‑Hamas war. The longitudinal study of 720 participants, spanning 2018‑2024, also showed that such individuals...
Toddlers Are Happier Giving Treats to Others than Receiving Them, Study Finds
A new study in Developmental Science observed 134 toddlers aged 16‑24 months and found they displayed higher happiness scores when giving treats to a puppet than when receiving treats themselves. The boost in mood occurred in both costly (giving away...
Your Brain Might Understand Music Theory Better than You Think, Regardless of Formal Training
A University of Rochester study published in Psychological Science shows that listeners—whether formally trained or not—automatically extract harmonic rules from music. By scrambling Tchaikovsky piano pieces at varying time scales, researchers measured memory, prediction, event segmentation, and explicit awareness across...
Can Psychopaths Change? New Research Suggests Tailored Treatments Might Work
Recent research suggests that psychopathic traits, long considered immutable, can be mitigated through tailored interventions. Studies show that while traditional prison‑based programs often yielded modest or no impact, newer approaches like the UK’s Building Choices curriculum and strength‑based parenting strategies...
Maternal Exposure to Short-Chain PFAS Causes Persistent Memory Problems in Adult Rats
Researchers at the University of Bologna found that prenatal and lactational exposure to short‑chain PFAS chemicals—specifically GenX and PFBA—produces lasting memory and learning deficits in adult rats. The study administered low‑dose contaminated diets to pregnant females, then evaluated offspring behavior,...
Early Life Stress Fundamentally Alters Alcohol Processing in the Brain
A study by Binghamton University and Brigham Young University found that rats raised in social isolation during adolescence develop a heightened preference for alcohol. The isolation altered dopamine signaling in the ventral pallidum, making alcohol less effective at suppressing dopamine...
Autism Associated with Age of Maternal Grandparents in New Study
A large California birth‑record study links the age of maternal grandparents to autism risk in their grandchildren, revealing a U‑shaped association for white families and distinct patterns for Hispanic, Asian‑Pacific Islander, and Black families. Researchers analyzed over 1.7 million mother‑child pairs,...
A Common Antidepressant Shows Promise in Treating Methamphetamine Dependence
A new JAMA Psychiatry study shows the antidepressant mirtazapine can modestly reduce methamphetamine use. In the double‑blind Tina Trial, 339 Australian participants received either 30 mg daily mirtazapine or placebo for 12 weeks. Those on mirtazapine cut meth use by an...
A Smaller Social Network Increases Loneliness More Drastically for Those with Depression
A cross‑sectional study of 4,042 German adults found that fewer daily social contacts are linked to higher loneliness, a relationship that holds for both healthy and depressed participants. The association is markedly stronger among the 1,221 respondents with a lifetime...
Genetic Study Unravels the Link Between Caffeine Intake and Sleep Timing
Researchers at the University of Bristol applied Mendelian randomisation to UK Biobank data to test whether caffeine consumption directly influences sleep. Genetic variants linked to higher coffee and tea intake were associated with reduced daytime napping and less morning grogginess,...
Hikikomori: Can Psychological Resilience Prevent Extreme Social Withdrawal?
A new study published in BMC Psychology examined 776 Turkish young adults aged 18‑34 to assess how psychological resilience influences extreme social withdrawal, known as hikikomori. The researchers found that higher depressive symptoms were associated with lower social participation, but...
Can a Sweet Potato Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night?
A New Zealand randomized trial examined how sweet potato (kūmara) affects infant sleep during the first year of complementary feeding. Infants given standard freeze‑dried kūmara powder experienced significantly less nocturnal wakefulness, settling back to sleep faster after awakenings. By contrast,...
Psilocybin Slows Down Human Reaction Times and Impairs Executive Function During the Acute Phase of Use
Researchers conducted a systematic review and multilevel meta‑analysis of 13 studies, finding that psilocybin dose‑dependently slows reaction times during its acute phase. While low to medium doses cause mild delays, high doses produce moderate to severe slowing, especially in basic...
Psychological Traits of Scientists Predict Their Theories and Research Methods
A large‑scale survey of nearly 8,000 psychologists shows that personal cognitive traits—such as tolerance for ambiguity and need for cognitive structure—predict which theoretical camps researchers join and which methods they favor. Scientists comfortable with uncertainty tend to endorse contextual, socially...
“Falling Back” Makes Us More Miserable than “Springing Forward,” New Study Finds
A new PLOS One study examined U.S. social‑media posts around the biannual clock changes and found that mood declines after both the spring “forward” and fall “back” transitions, with the fall shift producing a deeper, longer‑lasting dip. Researchers leveraged the...
The Psychology of Schadenfreude: An Opponent’s Suffering Triggers a Spontaneous Smile
A recent study in Cognition and Emotion used facial electromyography to show that people literally smile when they observe a hostile rival in pain. The genuine Duchenne smile appeared only when an aggressive opponent displayed clear suffering, not when the...
The Four Types of Dementia Most People Don’t Know Exist
The Conversation article highlights four lesser‑known dementia subtypes—posterior cortical atrophy, Creutzfeldt‑Jakob disease, FTD‑MND, and progressive supranuclear palsy—explaining how each diverges from the classic memory‑loss profile of Alzheimer’s. Together, these rare forms account for roughly 40% of all dementia cases, yet...
Higher Testosterone Linked to Increased Suicide Risk in Depressed Teenage Boys
Researchers examined 1,227 hospitalized teenage boys with major depressive disorder in Beijing and found that higher serum testosterone levels were significantly associated with suicidal thoughts or behaviors. A validation cohort of 579 similar patients confirmed the same pattern, while no...
Brain Scans Reveal How a Woman Voluntarily Enters a Psychedelic-Like Trance without Drugs
A neuroimaging case study documented a 37‑year‑old woman who can voluntarily enter a transcendental visionary state without drugs. Functional MRI across 20 sessions showed a marked reduction in visual and somatosensory network coupling, while frontoparietal control and salience networks became...
Different Types of Childhood Maltreatment Appear to Uniquely Shape Human Brain Development
A multinational ENIGMA mega‑analysis of 3,711 participants shows that childhood maltreatment produces distinct brain‑structure deviations that vary by sex and developmental stage. The most pronounced alterations appear in young adult women, whose abuse histories are linked to smaller hippocampal and...
Large-Scale Study Links Autoimmune Diseases to Higher Rates of Depression and Anxiety
Researchers analyzing data from 1.5 million UK adults found that individuals with autoimmune diseases are almost twice as likely to have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder compared with the general population. After adjusting for pain, social isolation and...
Smoked Cannabis Reduces Immediate Alcohol Consumption in Controlled Laboratory Trial
A double‑blind crossover trial with 157 heavy drinkers found that smoking cannabis before alcohol reduced immediate consumption. A moderate THC dose (3.1%) cut intake by 19%, while a higher dose (7.2%) lowered it by 27% compared with placebo. The high‑THC...
Brain Scans Reveal the Neural Fingerprints of Dark Personality Traits
Researchers led by Richard Bakiaj used resting‑state fMRI and unsupervised machine learning on 200 German adults to identify neural signatures of dark‑triad traits. Elevated baseline activity in the central executive network and reduced activity in a posterior default mode network...
The Neuroscience of Hypocrisy Points to a Communication Breakdown in the Brain
A new Cell Reports study reveals that moral hypocrisy stems from reduced activity and connectivity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Researchers used fMRI while participants chose to lie for profit or judged others' honesty, finding inconsistent individuals showed mismatched...
Scientists Use Brain Measurements to Identify a Video that Significantly Lowers Racial Bias
Researchers Yilong Wang and Paul J. Zak identified a short, highly immersive video about Black astronaut Dr. Ronald McNair that measurably reduces racial bias. In a lab test of 62 participants, the video generated the strongest neurologic "Immersion" response, prompting...
Belief in the Harmfulness of Speech Is Linked to Both Progressive Ideology and Symptoms of Depression
A new study in Personality and Individual Differences introduces the Words Can Harm Scale (WCHS), a 10‑item measure assessing belief that language can cause lasting psychological damage. Surveying 956 U.S. adults, the researchers found higher WCHS scores among younger, female,...
Better Parent-Child Communication Is Linked to Stronger Soft Skills and Emotional Stability in Teens
A new analysis of the China Education Panel Survey, covering 5,055 eighth‑graders in 2014‑15, finds that frequent parent‑child communication is linked to stronger non‑cognitive abilities such as self‑control, emotional regulation, and social skills. The relationship operates both directly and indirectly:...
Psychologists Identify Nine Core Habits Associated with Healthy Non-Monogamous Partnerships
Psychologists have identified nine core habits that boost relationship quality in both consensual non‑monogamous (CNM) and monogamous couples. The habits—ranging from open disclosure of attractions to active jealousy regulation and shared sexual health practices—were distilled from a 4,290‑person international survey...
Childhood Trauma Linked to Elevated Risk of Simultaneous Physical and Mental Illness in Old Age
A new longitudinal study of 4,015 Chinese adults aged 45 and older shows that adverse childhood experiences dramatically increase the likelihood of developing both clinical depression and a chronic physical disease later in life. Participants with four or more childhood...
Short-Acting Psychedelic DMT Shows Promise as a Rapid Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder
A phase IIa trial published in Nature Medicine found that a single intravenous dose of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), paired with structured psychotherapy, produced a rapid and sustained reduction in major depressive disorder symptoms. Participants receiving 21.5 mg of DMT showed an average...
Lifting Weights Can Slow Down Biological Brain Aging in Older Adults
A randomized trial of 309 adults aged 62‑70 showed that one year of resistance training reduced biological brain age by 1.4‑2.3 years, as measured by advanced brain‑clock imaging. Both heavy (three weekly sessions) and moderate (one supervised, two home workouts)...
Women Use a Higher-Pitched Voice when Speaking to Unfamiliar Dogs
Researchers observed that women raise their vocal pitch when addressing unfamiliar dogs, while their facial expressions remain consistent regardless of familiarity. The study, involving 42 female dog owners, also found that smaller dogs elicit a broader pitch range and more...
Researchers Break Down the Digital Habits of Science Influencers
A recent study published in Computers in Human Behavior examined 1,200 videos from 60 science influencers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to identify the communication styles that drive engagement. The analysis found that TikTok rewards short, highly objective clips with...
Depressed Elderly Adults Are Almost 5 Times More Likely to Develop Alzheimer’s
A longitudinal study of over 4,300 depressed Chinese seniors compared with 43,000 non‑depressed peers found depression dramatically increases dementia risk. Depressed participants were almost five times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and 1.9 times more likely to develop vascular...
Relying on AI Chatbots for Historical Facts Can Influence Your Political Beliefs, New Study Shows
A PNAS Nexus study of 1,912 U.S.-representative participants found that AI‑generated historical summaries subtly shift political attitudes. Neutral GPT‑4o summaries produced a modest liberal tilt compared with standard Wikipedia entries, while prompting the model for a liberal or conservative slant...
Glyphosate: A Common Weedkiller May Induce Anxiety by Disrupting Gut Bacteria
Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico exposed male rats to glyphosate at the EPA’s accepted daily limit of 2 mg per kilogram for 16 weeks. The rats developed heightened anxiety, avoiding open spaces, novel objects, and neutral sounds, while responding...
Psychopathic Traits Are Linked to a Lack of Physical and Emotional Connection During Face-to-Face Interactions
A new study in Cognition and Emotion examined empathy during real‑time conversations among 82 New Zealand participants. While individuals with psychopathic traits could accurately identify partners' emotions, they showed reduced affective sharing and lower physiological synchrony, especially those high in self‑centered...
ChatGPT Acts as a “Cognitive Crutch” That Weakens Memory, New Research Suggests
A randomized trial at Brazil's Federal University of Rio de Janeiro found that undergraduate business students who used ChatGPT to study AI concepts retained significantly less information after 45 days than peers who relied on traditional resources. The AI‑assisted group...
Electronic Dance Music Events Appear to Provide a Mental Health Boost for Women over 40
A study published in Psychology of Music finds that women over 40 who attend electronic dance music (EDM) events experience significant mental‑health benefits, citing stress relief, emotional recharge, and even spiritual fulfillment. Survey data from 136 participants show that music...
The Psychological Difference Between Playing Video Games to Relax and Playing to Win
A network‑analysis of 13,464 adult gamers, primarily League of Legends players, shows that motivation to win creates a distinct anxiety profile compared with playing for fun, relaxation, or skill improvement. Competitive players exhibit higher generalized anxiety and tend to play...
Severe Emotional Outbursts in ADHD Are Linked to Distinct Brain Differences, Study Finds
A new study of 123 children aged 5‑10 found that those with ADHD who experience frequent, severe emotional outbursts have a thicker left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and reduced connectivity between the DLPFC and visual, dorsal‑attention and salience networks. The...
Limiting Social Media to One Hour a Day Reduces Loneliness in Distressed Individuals
A randomized trial involving 219 Canadian undergraduates with anxiety or depression found that limiting social‑media use to one hour per day reduced loneliness significantly compared with a control group. Participants cut their daily usage by an average of 78 minutes,...
Does Crying Actually Make You Feel Better? New Psychology Research Shows It Depends on a Key Factor
A field study of 106 Austrian and German adults used a smartphone app to log crying episodes in real time, revealing that the emotional impact of tears depends on the trigger. Overall, crying does not automatically improve mood; personal‑distress tears...
Pink Noise Worsens Sleep Quality when Used to Block Out Traffic and City Noise
New research published in Sleep shows that pink noise, often marketed as a sleep aid, actually reduces REM sleep by about 19 minutes, worsening overall sleep quality. In a controlled seven‑night lab study with 25 healthy adults, intermittent traffic noise...
Co-Occurring Depression and Cannabis Use Linked to Less Efficient Brain Networks
A new study published in *Drug and Alcohol Dependence* examined 395 adults and found that regular cannabis use boosts global brain efficiency, but co‑occurring depression symptoms blunt this effect, leading to less integrated neural networks. Using resting‑state fMRI and graph‑theory...
Knowing an AI Is Involved Ruins Human Trust in Social Games
A University of Konstanz study published in PNAS Nexus examined how people behave in classic economic games when a large‑language model like ChatGPT makes decisions for them. Over 3,000 online participants played Ultimatum, Trust, Prisoner’s Dilemma, Stag Hunt and Coordination...