A new study introduces choice engineering—a powerful new way to guide decisions using math instead of guesswork. By applying carefully designed mathematical models, researchers found they could influence people’s choices more effectively than relying on gut instincts or even traditional psychology. This discovery could pave the way for smarter, more ethical tools to improve decision-making in areas like education, health, and everyday life.

Humans no longer have exclusive control over training social robots to interact effectively, thanks to a new study from the University of Surrey and the University of Hamburg.  

 

The study, which will be presented at this year’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), introduces a new simulation method that lets researchers test their social robots without needing human participants, making research faster and scalable.

Propaganda is not simply a tool of manipulation, and in fact a professor of communication suggests it may even be a necessary skill for any citizen to address global challenges.

About The Study: In this cohort study, women primary care physicians in value-based payment models had equal or better quality outcomes and higher value-based earnings compared to men in their practice groups. These results substantiate prior evidence that women physicians perform better on process and outcome measures, yet receive incommensurate patient ratings. The reversal of the gender gap under value-based payment is likely due to fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations among women primary care physicians’ patients and may in turn reflect better alignment of value-based models to practice patterns more common in women (e.g., more face-to-face time per visit).

A new study suggests that it might be possible to personalize care for people with bipolar disorder, using the results of detailed personality tests. It finds that such tests might help identify people who have certain combinations of personality traits that could raise or lower their risk of repeated depressive episodes or poor functioning in everyday life.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis explore potential for mindfulness techniques to calm anxiety.