If people do not observe inequality, they are less likely to favor policies that redistribute wealth, such as taxation—but they are also more satisfied with their lot, according to online experiments involving 1,440 US-based participants.

Vanessa Clemens and colleagues invited 6,182 participants from 25 nations to take part in a sharing game. Almost 90% of people shared more with people from their own country rather than with people from other countries. People also shared more with those from culturally similar nations than from less culturally similar nations. Overall, people were most likely to be generous toward people from Ghana and Kenya and least likely to share generously with people from the United Sates or China.

A study by the University of Stuttgart, the California State University at Fullerton, and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems has found that there are benefits to representing one’s real-life disability through an avatar in virtual reality. The Metaverse is not just a technical platform, but also one for social interaction. Therefore, all users should be included in its development, including people with disabilities. The researchers appeal to companies to be more courageous in embracing diversity in virtual spaces as authentic self-representation allows people with disabilities to identify more strongly with their work.

The research group on Comparative Social History at the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló, led by full professor José Antonio Piqueras, is advancing the understanding of the roots of cultural and social segregation in Latin America and the Hispanic Caribbean. The team has analyzed the historical trajectory leading to racial differences in labor conditions and the consolidation of the concept of citizenship.

The research, funded under the 2021 National Research Plan, is coordinated by scholars from the Universitat Jaume I and includes experts from VIU, UNIR, the Brazilian universities Federal Fluminense, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo, as well as from the University of Puerto Rico, the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, and several academic institutions in Cuba.

A new cross-national study reveals that happiness depends not only on perceived societal risk but also on the shape of happiness inequality. Using data from 32 countries in the World Values Survey, researchers show that when societal risk is high, subjective well-being drops more sharply, where many cluster at the lower end of the happiness distribution. The findings offer a fresh political–psychological understanding of why some societies remain resilient while others struggle under uncertainty.

New research reveals that narrating painful or tragic experiences faced by immigrants fosters a stronger sense of connection and reduces feelings of threat. In contrast, nostalgic narratives, those idealizing the past or present, tend to evoke weaker empathy and, in some cases, reinforce subtle forms of social distance. These findings, published in the Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, challenge the prevailing assumptions about the role of nostalgia. While nostalgia, a sentimental longing for “the good old days”, is often employed by the media, politicians, and advertisers to create emotional bonds, the study cautions that its misapplication can perpetuate exclusion and deepen divides between in-groups and out-groups.