Summary: A new study analyzing over a million posts linked to online petitions found that while moral outrage boosts a post’s virality, it doesn’t significantly increase petition signatures. Emotional and…
Tag: social behavior
How the Brain Judges Social Encounters
Summary: Scientists have identified the neural circuitry responsible for assigning emotional value, positive or negative, to social encounters. Two key neuromodulators, serotonin and neurotensin, were found to control opposing emotional responses…
Practicing Gratitude Builds Resilience and Hope
Summary: While gratitude has been praised for its mental health and relationship benefits, cultivating it during stressful times can be especially challenging. Negative information naturally grabs our attention more than…
How Oxytocin Tames “Mean Girl” Behavior
Summary: A new study finds that in some lemur species, evolving gender equality is linked to changes in the brain’s oxytocin system. Researchers compared seven closely related species, finding that…
Gratitude comes with benefits − a social psychologist explains how to practice it when times are stressful
A lot has been written about gratitude over the past two decades and how we ought to be feeling it. There is advice for journaling and a plethora of purchasing…
Early Life Stress Rewires Brain Circuits Linked to Social Motivation
Summary: New research shows that early life stress disrupts dopamine signaling, altering social motivation and behavior. Scientists found that mice raised in stressful conditions were less likely to engage in…
Neural Mechanisms Behind Stress-Driven Social Changes Found
Summary: Male and female mice usually prefer female companions but switch to preferring males under survival stress, a new study reveals. This behavioral shift is driven by distinct brain circuits…
Oxytocin Influences Social Behavior and Emotional Response
Summary: New research reveals how oxytocin profoundly influences social behavior and emotional responses in the brain. Animal models have shown how this hormone impacts social fear and how chronic stress…
Why Human Culture Never Stops Evolving
Summary: A new study proposes that human culture’s unique power lies not in its ability to accumulate knowledge, as once thought, but in its “open-endedness.” Unlike animal cultures that reach…
Cooperative Care Influences Brain Development in Humans and Marmosets
Summary: Cooperative breeding influences brain development in common marmosets and humans, allowing longer periods for social learning. Marmoset brains, like human brains, develop socio-cognitive regions slowly, maturing in early adulthood.…
