EurekAlert! News by Subject: Social & Behavior

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 24-Oct-2026 10:15 ET (24-Oct-2026 14:15 GMT/UTC)

21-Jul-2026

Leveraging social expectation for charitable donations

Avoiding guilt is a powerful motivator for charitable giving, according to a study. Masahiko Haruno and colleagues ran two experiments to determine the most effective psychological framing to encourage donations to WaterAid, an NGO working to provide clean water and sanitation worldwide.

Journal: PNAS Nexus

21-Jul-2026

Nostalgia and family traditions are major barriers to adoption of plant-based diets, Stirling study finds

University of Stirling
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Findings showed that people’s attachment was less often about meat itself – and more about links to personal experiences and cultural traditions.

Journal: Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations

21-Jul-2026

Just and public alternatives exist in the Basque Country for advancing towards energy self-sufficiency

University of the Basque Country
Peer-Reviewed Publication

According to the research published in the journal Utilities Policy, for the Basque Country to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2050, in a just, public and independent manner, it would have to reduce energy consumption by 51% and increase regional generation of renewable energy by 386%. The research, carried out by Ortzi Akizu and Erlantz Lizundia of the LCTG group at the EHU, Martin Lallana at LAB and Unai Pascual at BC3, aims to promote debate on the current energy model.

Journal: Utilities Policy

21-Jul-2026

Digital media may reshape people’s willingness to invest cognitive effort

Estonian Research Council
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Discussions about smartphones and social media often centre on whether digital media are harming our cognitive abilities. A new scientific paper co-authored by University of Tartu Associate Professor Jaan Aru offers a different perspective: digital environments may primarily reshape how valuable we perceive cognitive effort to be.

Journal: Nature Human Behaviour

21-Jul-2026

Indigenous knowledge key to building healthier and more sustainable food systems

University of East Anglia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Traditional and Indigenous knowledge could play a vital role in addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and poor health and nutrition, according to a new review of current research.

Journal: Nature Food

21-Jul-2026

Breastfeeding rather than bottle-feeding is seen as the ideal of a good mother in Instagram comments

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona
Peer-Reviewed Publication

UPF research concludes that publications by so-called instamoms generate threads of debate where being a good mother is often associated with breastfeeding exclusively and where mothers who do not are subject to judgement.

Journal: Media & Jornalismo

21-Jul-2026

Uncovering multidimensional effects of generative ai on learning… "high dependency lowers actual test scores"

Sungkyunkwan University External Affairs Division (PR team)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Confirming a 'paradoxical result' where higher AI dependency increases subjective satisfaction but decreases objective test scores

Journal: Interactive Learning Environments