Preconception Maternal Trauma Doubles Schizophrenia Risk

Summary: A new study demonstrated that women who endured Nazi persecution as young girls passed a significantly elevated risk of psychiatric illness to their children born decades after World War…

Comforting Others Is a Cultural Trait, Not a Universal Instinct

Summary: When a loved one is visually distressed or upset, modern psychological paradigms assume that the universal human instinct is to comfort them, to actively step in and alleviate their…

People Prefer Human Empathy, Even When AI Says the Same Thing

Summary: A new study shows that people rate empathic responses as more supportive and emotionally satisfying when they believe they come from a human—even if the same response is AI-generated.…

Negative Surroundings Skew Emotions in People with Depression

Summary: People with depressive symptoms are more likely to interpret neutral images as negative when those images are surrounded by unrelated negative visuals. This emotional “spillover” effect shows how peripheral…

Listening Builds Trust, But Stories Change Minds

Summary: A new study challenges the widely held belief that high-quality, nonjudgmental listening is essential for persuasion. While good listening improves how people feel about a conversation and reduces defensiveness,…

Twin Dynamics: How Developmental Differences Shape Dominance Roles

Summary: A new study reveals that developmental differences strongly influence dominance roles in twin relationships, with typically developing twins perceived as dominant over their nontypically developing siblings. This dominance imbalance…