Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2025 09:11 ET (26-Oct-2025 13:11 GMT/UTC)

30-Apr-2025

AI as your therapist? not quite yet, says new USC study

University of Southern California
Reports and Proceedings

Chatbots are getting better at holding conversations — but can they offer meaningful support in a therapy setting? A new study by USC researchers suggests that large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT still fall short when it comes to the nuances of human connection

Funder

U.S. National Science Foundation

30-Apr-2025

Conservatives may self-rate as having better “mental health” because of stigma around the term

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Conservatives may rate their mental health more positively than liberals in part because of stigma around the phrase “mental health,” according to a study published April 30, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Brian F. Schaffner from Tufts University, U.S., and colleagues.

Journal

PLOS One

30-Apr-2025

U.K. adults with face blindness reveal the daily challenges of the condition, with a third reporting being unable to reliably recognize immediate family members and 41% unable to recognize closest friends in out-of-context or unexpected encounters

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

U.K. adults with face blindness reveal the daily challenges of the condition, with a third reporting being unable to reliably recognize immediate family members and 41% unable to recognize closest friends in out-of-context or unexpected encounters

Journal

PLOS One

30-Apr-2025

Tunnel vision during planning can lead us to neglect negative consequences, but this cognitive bias can be addressed by simply prompting people to explicitly consider them

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Tunnel vision during planning can lead us to neglect negative consequences, but this cognitive bias can be addressed by simply prompting people to explicitly consider them

Journal

PLOS One

30-Apr-2025

2.1 kids per woman might not be enough for population survival

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Human populations need at least 2.7 children per woman – a much higher fertility rate than previously believed – to reliably avoid long-term extinction, according to a new study published April 30, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Takuya Okabe of Shizuoka University, Japan, and colleagues.

Journal

PLOS One

30-Apr-2025

Mechanism by which the brain weighs positive vs. negative social experience is revealed

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Finding has implications for treating common neuropsychiatric disorders

Journal

Nature

Funder

NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

30-Apr-2025

Study links childhood trauma to increased substance use and unexpected effects on heart rate and blood pressure in adolescents

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Childhood trauma significantly increases the likelihood of engaging in harmful alcohol consumption, smoking and illicit drug use, by the age of 18.

Journal

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry