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

Social & Behavior

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 15-Aug-2025 01:11 ET (15-Aug-2025 05:11 GMT/UTC)

Aston University study reveals the illusion of ‘dazzle’ paint on World War I battleships

Aston University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new analysis of 105-year-old data on the effectiveness of ‘dazzle’ camouflage on battleships in World War I by Aston University researchers Professor Tim Meese and Dr Samantha Strong has found that while dazzle had some effect, the ‘horizon effect’ had far more influence when it came to confusing the enemy.

Journal: i-Perception

Spanish politicians respond less to women's demands than to those of men according to a UC3M and CSIC study

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC in the Spanish acronym), has carried out research to evaluate whether political representatives in Spain respond equally to the demands of women and men. The results of the study, which show a gender inequality in the political response to citizens' demands, could have implications both for the design of future public policies and for the debate on gender equality.

The "frontiers" of Southeast Iberian Bronze Age communities identified

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology have identified the economic and political borders separating El Argar, considered to be the first state-society in the Iberian Peninsula, from its La Mancha and Valencia Bronze Age neighbours some 4,000 years ago. These communities, with less centralised social structures, maintained complex relations with the Argaric culture. The study, based on an innovative analysis of pottery production and circulation, opens the door to identifying similar border dynamics in other European societies contemporary to El Argar, and understand how the first states were formed in prehistory.

Journal: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Attention can be used to drive cooperation – new study

University of Birmingham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Our ability to cooperate with others may be influenced by how our attention is captured and directed, as much as by how altruistic we are feeling, according to a new study published in Communications Psychology.

Journal: Communications Psychology

Who does Darth Vader vote for? Not the same party as Harry Potter

University of Southampton
Peer-Reviewed Publication

People think that Harry Potter, Spiderman and Gandalf would vote the same way they do, whereas Darth Vader, Cruella de Vill and Joffrey Baratheon would vote for the rival party.

New research from the University of Southampton, published today [17 March] in the journal Political Science Research & Method, shows how people in the UK and USA believe that fictional characters they admire would share their voting preferences, while those they dislike would vote the other way.

Journal: Political Science Research and Methods

Push to return to "traditional" masculinity imposes costs on men, BGU social psychologist maintains

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In this age of resurgent masculinity, toxic masculinity and a seeming return to more traditional gender roles, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's social psychologist Dr. Orly Bareket maintains that such a retreat actually harms the men who are at the forefront of the charge.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Cambridge research uncovers powerful virtual reality treatment for speech anxiety

Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge
Peer-Reviewed Publication

On a pioneering open access VR platform users transform into confident public speakers with the help of a new approach to exposure therapy.

Journal: Frontiers