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

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 10-Sep-2025 13:11 ET (10-Sep-2025 17:11 GMT/UTC)

Caught in a social media echo chamber? AI can help you out, new study shows

Binghamton University
Reports and Proceedings

Thanks to AI technologies, the spread of mass-produced contextually relevant articles and comment-laden social media posts has become so commonplace that it can appear as though it’s coming from different information sources. The resulting “echo chamber” effect could reinforce a person’s existing perspectives, regardless of whether that information is accurate.

A new study involving Binghamton University, State University of New York researchers offers a promising solution: developing an AI system to map out interactions between content and algorithms on digital platforms to reduce the spread of potentially harmful or misleading content.

IJCAI 2025 – Artificial Intelligence for a Better World - Since 1969

International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence
Meeting Announcement

Media Invitation – IJCAI 2025, Montréal, Canada
Artificial Intelligence for a Better World – Since 1969

The 34th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) takes place August 16–22, 2025 in Montréal, Canada, bringing together over 2,000 AI researchers, practitioners, and thought leaders. Guided by the theme “AI at the service of society”, IJCAI 2025 features world-class keynote speakers, award-winning researchers, thematic tracks on AI for Social Good, Human-Centred AI, and AI, Arts & Creativity, as well as admission free public events like the AI Lounge: Between Wonder and Caution.

Highlights include talks by Yoshua Bengio, Heng Ji, Luc De Raedt, Bernhard Schölkopf, and IJCAI 2025 awardees Aditya Grover, Rina Dechter, and Cynthia Rudin. The program also showcases AI-driven competitions, an AI Art Gallery, and discussions on ethics, creativity, and global impact.

Full program & details: https://2025.ijcai.org
Media contact: mrozman@ijcai.org

New guidance puts communities at the heart of research

University of the Witwatersrand
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Much previous work in the social sciences has involved researchers – often but not always from the Global North – collecting data from rural communities in the Global South on a wide range of topics from public health to education, agriculture and climate change. Such ‘helicopter’ research is not good practice as it often involves an asymmetry of power and knowledge that invariably disadvantages local communities. So how can research be made more equitable? This is the topic of an analysis undertaken by Jasper Knight from the Wits School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, who is also chair of the University’s Non-Medical Ethics Committee, in a new research study published in the International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

Journal: International Journal of Qualitative Methods

HKU psychology research reveals how the brain constructs emotional experiences

The University of Hong Kong
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study led by Professor Benjamin Becker from the Department of Psychology at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) uncovers a brain signature that reveals how emotional intensity is consciously experienced – and whether this experience is distinct from automatic bodily reactions.

Journal: Nature Communications

A Mount Sinai-Led team creates model for understanding how the brain’s decision-making is impacted in psychiatric disorders

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

Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, working in collaboration with a team from the University of Texas at El Paso, have developed a novel computational framework for understanding how a region of the brain known as the striatum is involved in the everyday decisions we make and, importantly, how it might factor into impaired decision-making by individuals with psychiatric disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder.

Journal: Nature Communications

"Every Brilliant Thing”, the interactive one-person play with a suicidality theme now making its West End debut, reduced suicide-associated stigma among university students who attended, even up to 30 days later

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

"Every Brilliant Thing”, the interactive one-person play with a suicidality theme now making its West End debut, reduced suicide-associated stigma among university students who attended, even up to 30 days later.

Journal: PLOS Mental Health

Research alert: Study finds that school-based online surveillance companies monitor students 24/7

University of California - San Diego
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Recent study at UC San Diego is the first detailed assessment of companies offering school-based online surveillance services such as social media monitoring, student communications monitoring and online activity monitoring to middle and high schools.

Journal: Journal of Medical Internet Research

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