Social and Behavioural
Explore Social and Behavioural
Prof. Grant Farred | When a Question Reveals a World: Race, Memory, and the Work of Thinking
A man is raking leaves outside his own home on a crisp November afternoon in Ithaca, New York. The task is ordinary, even pleasurable: repetitive physical work in an affluent, leafy neighborhood. Then a white couple stop their car. The woman calls the man over and asks whether he would like another job. In a few seconds, an everyday scene becomes something much larger. The man is not a gardener looking for work. He is Grant Farred, a professor at Cornell University, and the garden is his own. Yet the woman’s question carries an assumption about who he is, what kind of work he does, and where a Black man apparently belongs in the social order. Farred’s account of this encounter becomes the starting point for a remarkable exploration of race, memory, language, and thinking.
Dr. Yi Ding | When AI Polishes Our Words, Does It Polish Away Our Feelings?
Every day, millions of people turn to artificial intelligence for help finding the right words. A rough email can become smoother, while a quick product review becomes polished and articulate with a minimum of effort. The changes can seem harmless, and often appear very helpful in clarifying our intended message. But what if polishing our language also quietly changes the emotional signals we had originally intended to convey?
Prof. Dr. Winnie-Karen Giera | Learning to Argue: How Debate, Planning and Strategy Can Build Better Writers
What happens between having an opinion and writing a convincing argument? For many teenagers, the distance is surprisingly large. A student may argue energetically with friends, spot weaknesses in someone else’s reasoning, and explain why a rule seems unfair, yet struggle when asked to turn those abilities into a formal essay. On the page, there is no opponent waiting to respond and no immediate question demanding clarification. The writer has to create that dialogue alone.
Dr. Kendra Pugh | Mapping the Hidden Geography of Gambling Risk
A lottery ticket is small enough to slip into a pocket, but the forces that shape gambling behavior can stretch across families, neighborhoods, shopping districts, and entire communities. A Massachusetts study led by Dr. Kendra Pugh asks an important but deceptively simple question: when gambling becomes risky or problematic, how much depends on the person, and how much depends on the place?
Prof. Yu Du | The Age of Judgment: What Sentencing Reveals About Youth, Maturity, and Mercy
Imagine two people standing before a judge. One is nineteen, old enough to vote and be tried as an adult, but still developing the mental machinery needed for restraint and long-range planning. The other is sixty-eight, with decades of life experience but perhaps declining health, reduced mobility, and little likelihood of committing another crime. The law calls both adults. Yet common sense suggests that age matters, and not always in the same way.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Gredig | Protection Is a Conversation: How Modern HIV Prevention Is Changing Intimacy and Trust
The story of HIV prevention has changed dramatically over the past four decades. What was once dominated by fear and limited options has become a field shaped by scientific breakthroughs, greater understanding, and a growing appreciation of personal choice. Yet while medicine has transformed the ways people can protect themselves, one element remains as important as ever. Prevention depends on communication. Every intimate encounter involves two people, each bringing their own experiences, expectations, and preferences. Reaching a shared understanding is rarely as simple as it appears.
Dr Marie McGregor | Why Gifted Students Need More Than Ability to Thrive in Science
Walk into any classroom, and some students immediately attract attention. They ask thoughtful questions, solve complex problems quickly and display an enthusiasm that inspires those around them. Some may describe these students as gifted. However, others with equally advanced potential may be less visible: they may sit quietly, avoid drawing attention to themselves, rarely volunteer answers or appear disengaged. As a result, their abilities may go unnoticed. While ability and achievement are important, they do not tell the whole story and do not guarantee confidence, resilience, or lasting motivation.
Prof. Vibeke Vågenes – Cecilie Grevstad | When a Monthly Cycle Becomes a Barrier: Why Menstrual Health Matters for Girls’ Education in Tanzania
For millions of girls around the world, education represents hope. It offers the possibility of independence, financial security, improved health, and the chance to shape a different future from previous generations. Yet for many girls, the path to education is filled with obstacles that receive little attention. Some are obvious, such as poverty or long journeys to school. Others are far less visible, hidden behind silence, embarrassment and social expectations. One of the most overlooked is menstruation.
Dr. Gary Blau – Dr. Kyle Stephens | The Hidden Costs of the Digital Workplace: Why Employee Deviant Work Behaviour Needs an Additional Lens
The work of Dr. Gary Blau and Dr. Kyle Stephens of Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA asks an important question that is becoming increasingly relevant around the world. If the workplace has fundamentally changed, shouldn’t the way we measure employee deviant work behaviour change too? Their research argues the answer is yes because the consequences reach far beyond academic debate. Traditional work behaviour deviance examples include: someone deliberately arrives late, spending long coffee breaks chatting with colleagues, or working more slowly than usual. Others are spreading rumours, bullying coworkers, or damaging company property. These are the kinds of in-person, on-site deviant behaviours researchers have investigated, that is, why employees sometimes act against the interests of employing organisations.
Dr. Daniel Kroeger | Sleeping More Than Ever Before: The Surprising Science of Extra Sleep and Anxiety
For centuries, sleep has remained one of humanity’s greatest biological mysteries. We spend roughly a third of our lives doing it, yet scientists are still trying to fully understand why the brain insists upon sleep. It seems clear that sleep restores the body, sharpens memory, regulates emotions, and keeps countless internal systems in balance. But one major problem has always complicated sleep research: most experiments focus on what happens when sleep is taken away. That approach has taught researchers a great deal. Sleep deprivation has been linked to poor concentration, weakened immune function, emotional instability, and a long list of health problems. Yet asking what happens when sleep is removed only tells part of the story. It is a little like studying hunger by starving people without ever exploring what happens when they are exceptionally well fed.
Prof. José Ignacio Nazif-Muñoz | Quand la chaleur rencontre la route: comment la hausse des températures modifie la sécurité routière en milieu urbain
Lors d’une journée d’été étouffante, la plupart d’entre nous remarquent les effets évidents de la chaleur. Nous nous sentons plus lents, plus irritables et impatients d’échapper au soleil. Ce qui est moins visible, c’est la manière dont ces mêmes conditions modifient discrètement notre comportement au volant. Une étude récente dirigée par le professeur José Ignacio Nazif-Muñoz de l’Université de Sherbrooke, en collaboration avec le professeur Jose Guillermo Cedeño Laurent de l’Université Rutgers, explore ce lien caché, révélant comment les vagues de chaleur et les modèles thermiques urbains influencent la sécurité routière dans cinq villes du Québec. Les résultats rappellent opportunément que le changement climatique n’est pas seulement un enjeu environnemental, mais aussi une question de sécurité publique qui touche la vie quotidienne de manière inattendue.
Professor Theodore Allen | From Sanitizers to Social Media: The Hidden Science Behind Everyday Choices
When most people think of scientific research, they may imagine test tubes, lab coats, and microscopes. However, many impactful experiments happen not in laboratories, but in office buildings, student unions, and even on social media. In two fascinating studies co-authored by Professor Theodore Allen of The Ohio State University, researchers show how the same rigorous logic that drives cutting-edge chemistry or physics can be applied to practical, everyday challenges, such as where to place a hand sanitizer dispenser or how to convince someone to get vaccinated. The studies, though different in their subjects, share a common theme that data and careful experimental design can make the world cleaner, healthier, and more humane.
Dr Nina Gmeiner | 21st Century Trends in Property Regimes: Progressive Commons
The ownership of goods, including both material objects and immaterial goods such as intellectual property, is defined by property regimes. Property regimes are sets of rules that define ownership. They determine who can own goods, legitimate ways of acquiring and using them, and duties associated with owning them. Two important categories of property regimes are private property and common property regimes. Private property regimes focus on ownership by a single person or entity, while common property regimes involve ownership by several people or entities. Nina Gmeiner and her colleagues from the research project RightSeeds explored the recent emergence of a class of property regimes known as progressive commons.
Professor Samantha Punch | Benefits of Bridge: The Partnership Mindsport
Bridge is a popular card game played socially and competitively by millions of people throughout the world. Each game consists of four players divided into two pairs, or ‘partnerships’. They compete against each other to win ‘tricks’ through cooperation, strategic thinking and logical deduction. Professor Samantha Punch at the University of Stirling leads ‘Bridge: A MindSport for All’. This research-led project explores the benefits of bridge amongst the circuit of international players.
Dr Robert Walsh | Propaganda and Mass Deception Depend Upon the Tribal Mind
Propaganda is the systemic use of language with the intent to brainwash rather than to persuade. Deceptive communication designed to mislead the masses is commonplace in the Information Age. Dr Robert Walsh of Sisseton Wahpeton College in South Dakota recently examined how propagandists bend language for mass deception. He argued that what makes propaganda insidious is a vestige of our prehistoric past – the Neolithic or Tribal Mind.
Debra Klages | Post-traumatic Growth in Health Professionals Who are Mothers of Adult Children with Schizophrenia
For young people with schizophrenia, their first experience of psychosis is often highly traumatic. Because of the close, nurturing relationships mothers typically have with their children, they too can experience trauma while witnessing their children’s disturbing psychotic episodes. As a result, mothers of adult children with schizophrenia often experience negative impacts on their physical and psychological health. Debra Klages takes a unique perspective by shedding light on how the traumatic experiences of health professionals with dual roles as mothers can lead to personal and professional growth and resilience.
Professor Zygmunt Pizlo | How Fundamentals in Physics Can Explain Perception and Cognition
Psychophysics is the formal study of perception – our sensory experience of the world. Professor Zygmunt Pizlo at the University of California-Irvine explains that while symmetry is fundamental in both physics and mathematics, it is also fundamental to our understanding of vision. He believes there is much to gain in expanding the existing boundaries of psychology, cognitive science and neuroscience by embracing established fundamentals in physics.
The Multi-theory Model of Health Behavior Change: Understanding Meditation, or ‘Dhyana’ | Professor Manoj Sharma
Meditation is the regular, purposeful practice of becoming aware of one’s bodily sensations, thoughts, or other points of focus. Professor Manoj Sharma, a global health promotion leader and Chair of the Social and Behavioral Health department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, wished to test whether a health behavioral model that he developed could explain why adults begin and maintain a meditation practice. While this multi-theory model – or ‘MTM’ – has been applied to many health-related behaviors, two domains are core to the model: initiation of a health behavior and sustenance of this behavior.
Professor Kieran Kilcawley | Using Flavour Chemistry to Identify Biomarkers Behind the Sensory Perception of Irish Grass-fed Beef and Lamb
For many consumers, the origin of the food they buy is of great importance. For instance, Irish beef and lamb is often seen as superior quality meat, as the animals are typically reared outdoors on a diet of predominately fresh grass. However, are Irish beef and lamb actually any different to meats produced elsewhere, from animals reared indoors in less sustainable production systems? Professor Kieran Kilcawley and his team at the Teagasc Agriculture and Food Development Authority in Ireland, in conjunction with University College Dublin, are investigating the ‘flavour chemistry’ of beef and lamb. Their aim is to determine whether there are fundamental differences in the chemical properties of meat due to the animal’s diet and origin.
Dr William Durkan | Exploring How the Geography of Voter Turnout Impacts Election Results
Voter turnout plays a key role in the functioning of democracies. If only a minority of citizens vote, the elected government might not accurately represent the views of the population. In contrast, when voter turnout is high, a country’s government has a strong mandate to make decisions on its citizens’ behalf. The geographical distributions of voters and voter turnout also significantly affect the outcome of elections. Dr William Durkan of Maynooth University in Ireland recently explored the changing geographies of voter turnout in US presidential elections from 2012 to 2020, using the state of Michigan as a case study.
Sarah Leighton | Can Psychiatric Assistance Dogs Help Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?
Psychiatric assistance dogs trained to help with mental health symptoms have become increasingly popular as a complementary intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sarah Leighton and her colleagues from Purdue University and the University of Arizona in the USA are exploring the effectiveness of psychiatric assistance dog partnerships for military veterans with PTSD.
Do European Citizens Accept EU and National Policies Equally?
Following the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, a related economic emergency known as the Euro Crisis spread throughout Europe. To counter this crisis, the EU imposed a series of austerity measures in the worst-hit countries, which fuelled outrage across Europe. However, it is unclear whether citizens were more outraged about these policies because they had been implemented by EU institutions rather than national governments. Professor Sonia Alonso and Professor Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca recently set out to understand whether the willingness of citizens to accept unpopular policies varies depending on whether they were introduced by their national governments or by EU institutions.
Dr Darren Sharpe, University of East London – Cultivating Young People’s Empowerment and Participation in Society
Young people are central to a country’s growth and development, as they bring fresh perspectives and innovation. However, the path towards gaining full inclusion in society can be arduous for many youths, particularly those from marginalised and disadvantaged backgrounds.
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