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Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2026 07:16 ET (26-Oct-2026 11:16 GMT/UTC)

Politics plays a role in finding a partner

University of Cologne
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new sociological study shows that party affiliation matters when it comes to dating in the U.S. – but not just for political reasons / publication in the European Sociological Review

Journal: European Sociological Review

Why ‘charming’ matters: Study reveals the power of puffery

University of Missouri-Columbia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the University of Missouri found that “puffery” — subjective marketing language such as “charming” or “cozy” — actually influences consumer decisions more than courts have traditionally assumed.

Using over 219,000 Airbnb listings, the study isolated how wording changes affect bookings. It showed that adding positive, subjective descriptors increased booking rates by about 0.2%, similar to adding factual details. This demonstrates that people do respond to puffery, even when it comes from unknown sellers. Importantly, the study found no evidence that these descriptions lead to buyer regret, based on customer reviews.

By using AI to analyze large amounts of text, the research also highlights how modern tools can better measure the real-world impact of language in marketing. Overall, the study challenges the long-held belief that puffery is meaningless, showing it can subtly but meaningfully boost demand.

Journal: Journal of Marketing Research

Social contact gives young fish larger brains

Stockholm University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Young guppies who were able to see and interact with live fish developed larger brains than guppies who only saw other fish on a screen. This is shown in a new study from Stockholm University, published in Biology Letters. The findings suggest that live social interaction in real time may be important for brain development.

Journal: Biology Letters
Funder: Vetenskapsrådet

Five UJI researchers rank among the 300 most prominent women scientists in Spain

Universitat Jaume I
Grant and Award Announcement

Five researchers from the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló in the fields of psychology and chemistry have ranked among the top 300 Spanish and international women scientists working in Spain, according to a ranking based on public Google Scholar profiles and equivalent OpenAlex indicators.

The ranking, compiled by Isidro F. Aguillo at the Cybermetrics Lab of the Institute of Public Goods and Policies of the Spanish National Research Council (IPP-CSIC), aims to increase the visibility of women researchers through open-access platforms such as Google Scholar, ORCID and OpenAlex, which provide broader coverage than other bibliometric sources, including subscription-based databases. It also seeks to promote open infrastructures through the wider use of personal ORCID identifiers and institutional ROR identifiers.

The 2026 edition of the ranking includes a total of 12,110 researchers ranked according to the global impact of their research, 122 of whom belong to the public university of Castelló. The full ranking can be consulted in the author’s publication.

Funder: Spanish National Research Council

Disgust may contribute to improper waste disposal

University of Gothenburg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A common explanation for why waste management sometimes fails is that carelessness breeds more carelessness. Now, research from the University of Gothenburg shows that dirty waste disposal rooms can evoke feelings of disgust that increase the risk of people disposing of their waste incorrectly.

Journal: Journal of Environmental Psychology

Three Spanish universities promote RESINA, a project to mobilize the innovative potential of rural areas

Universitat Jaume I
Grant and Award Announcement

The interuniversity project Roots of Resilience: Rural Knowledge for a Sustainable Future (RESINA) has been launched with the aim of identifying, validating and transferring sustainable ways of living that emerge from the heart of rural Spain. Researchers from three universities (Universitat Jaume I of Castelló, the Public University of Navarre and the University of Cádiz) are leading an initiative that seeks to transform the prevailing narrative about rural areas, highlighting their value as key spaces for social innovation and collective resilience in the face of the major challenges of the 21st century: the ecological emergency, depopulation and social fragmentation.

Funded by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, the project will focus on documenting practices based on neighbourly cooperation, agroecology, the social economy, mutual care and communal resource management that have enabled rural communities to sustain themselves under adverse conditions.

Funder: Ministerio de Derechos Sociales, Consumo y Agenda 2030

Conditional Medicaid expansion and mental health outcomes in Georgia

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this difference-in-differences analysis of national surveillance data, Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage program was associated with worsening mental health among low-income adults. These findings suggest that conditioning Medicaid eligibility on work or community engagement requirements may create additional barriers to coverage and mental health care access, with potential implications for population health and equity.

Journal: JAMA Network Open