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

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-Jul-2025 17:11 ET (14-Jul-2025 21:11 GMT/UTC)

14-Apr-2025

UC Berkeley analysis finds steep increase of self-harm among California girls, multiracial youth

University of California - Berkeley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Overall self-harm rate among young people in California more than doubled, from 191 to 453 per 100,000 person-years — a public health metric used to track the incidence of disease or other life events. Researchers also found that nearly 73% of adolescents with treated self-harm injuries in California were girls.

White girls between 15 and 19 years old had the highest rate of self-harm in 2005 and have seen rates steadily increase since then. But multiracial adolescents have seen an increase of approximately 75% in self-harm rates since 2016. By 2021, self-harm rates were highest among multiracial teen girls, followed by those who are white.

Journal: JAMA Pediatrics

14-Apr-2025

Nested hierarchies in job skills underscores importance of basic education

Santa Fe Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In many careers, a person must learn foundational skills before advancing deeper into their profession. A recent paper in Nature Human Behavior mapped the dependency relationships between workplace skills, identifying a nested structure in many professions, where advanced skills depend on prior mastery of broader skills. This nestedness, they found, has significant implications for wage inequality and career mobility in increasingly complex labor markets.

Journal: Nature Human Behaviour

14-Apr-2025

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct classroom intelligent analysis of real classrooms

ECNU Review of Education
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A groundbreaking study from East China Normal University has leveraged AI to analyze classroom teaching patterns across China, revealing that teacher-centered instruction still dominates. This research utilizes a sophisticated AI-powered classroom intelligent analysis system to assess 1,008 recorded Chinese language classes spanning nine grade levels. Usage of AI enables effective systematic analysis of large volumes of classroom data, reducing time and human intervention.

Journal: ECNU Review of Education

14-Apr-2025

Conservative Americans consistently distrust science

Universiteit van Amsterdam
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Conservative people in America appear to distrust science more broadly than previously thought. Not only do they distrust science that does not correspond to their worldview. Compared to liberal Americans, their trust is also lower in fields that contribute to economic growth and productivity. Short interventions aimed at strengthening trust have little effect. This is apparent from new research by social psychologists at the University of Amsterdam, which has now been published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Journal: Nature Human Behaviour

14-Apr-2025

Autism: The neural origin of the social bound

Université de Genève
Peer-Reviewed Publication

From birth, human survival depends on the ability to engage with others. This ability, which is essential for development, seems to be impaired very early on in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), who show limited interest in social stimuli from their first year of life. To understand the neurobiological basis of this phenomenon, scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) combined data from clinical and animal research. They identified a defect in a communication pathway between two brain structures that prevents rapid redirection of attention, a key mechanism for decoding social interactions. These results, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, pave the way for better prediction of development and more targeted interventions.

Journal: Molecular Psychiatry

14-Apr-2025

Brain research: Study shows how brain stimulation can influence decisions

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A simple method of brain stimulation has been shown to change how people make decisions. These were the findings of a new study by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), which was published in the "Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience". The investigation used transcranial direct current stimulation, which is an established method in research and therapy.

Journal: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

14-Apr-2025

NTU Singapore receives S$110 million gift from UOB and Wee Foundation which will support new educational initiatives

Nanyang Technological University
Business Announcement

UOB and the Wee Foundation have pledged a combined gift of S$110 million to Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore). With government matching, the gift will create an endowment of up to S$275 million to advance the university’s strategic priorities.