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

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Apr-2025 09:08 ET (30-Apr-2025 13:08 GMT/UTC)

AI fact checks can increase belief in false headlines

Indiana University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study led by Indiana University has found that AI fact checking can inadvertently increase belief in false headlines.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Volkswagen Foundation

Protecting the health of wildlife ecosystems

University of Missouri-Columbia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The plague is one of the deadliest bacterial infections in human history. An estimated 50 million Europeans died from it in the mid-1300s when it was known as the “Black Death.”

Thanks to improved sanitation, public health measures and antibiotics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now reports an average of only seven human cases of plague in the U.S. each year. While humans are largely safe from it, particularly in the eastern half of the U.S., the disease continues to wipe out prairie dog colonies and infect other rodents in the western half of the U.S.

Journal: Nature
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

Study uses game theory to rethink our pandemic responses

Dartmouth College
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Dartmouth researchers use game theory to propose a new way of thinking about masking and social distancing rules that is more responsive to public sentiment and may help increase cooperation. The study is the first to consider mask wearing and social distancing as competing actions that people respond to differently, which would give public health officials more flexibility to adapt to epidemics.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health

With a quarter-century of data on gun usage, new study examines when and why people start carrying guns and if they persist in doing so

Harvard University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new long-term study that has documented the lives of a diverse sample of children over the past three decades shows that the majority of gun carriers began to carry in adulthood, not adolescence. These two groups—which the authors call “adult-onset carriers” if they began carrying after 21 years of age and “adolescent-onset carriers” if their carrying started prior to 21 years of age—have very different patterns in exposure to violence prior to carrying, persistence in carrying, and in actual gun usage.

Journal: Science Advances

Why some individuals believe fake news and conspiracies

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

People who are credulous are less capable of recognizing fake news, and along with mistrustful adults, are more susceptible to conspiracy thinking and vaccine hesitancy, according to a study published December 4, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Michal Tanzer and colleagues from University College London, U.K.

Journal: PLOS Global Public Health

Misokinesia, intolerance of others' fidgeting and repetitive body movements, can cause people to experience intense reactions, negative emotions and relationship strain, per qualitative study

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Misokinesia, intolerance of others' fidgeting and repetitive body movements, can cause people to experience intense reactions, negative emotions and relationship strain, per qualitative study

Journal: PLOS One

Emoji use may depend on emotional intelligence and attachment style

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Higher emotional intelligence is linked to more emoji use with friends, while avoidant attachment is associated with less emoji use with friends and dating or romantic partners, according to a study published December 4, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Dr. Simon Dubé, Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, and colleagues. This pattern of results varies across genders and relationship types, with women using emojis with friends and family more frequently than men.

Journal: PLOS One