Topic description and stories

Solidarity drives online virality in a nation under attack, study of Ukrainian social media reveals

01 Oct 2024

While divisive social media posts get more traction in countries such as the US, a new study shows that celebrating national unity is the way to go...

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Father hugging his son

Young children who are close to their parents are more likely to grow up kind, helpful and ‘prosocial’

09 Oct 2023

Study using data from 10,000 people in the UK found that those who had a closer bond with their parents at age 3 tended to display more socially-...

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School children in Great Yarmouth sitting in the cloakroom

Feeling poorer than your friends in early adolescence is associated with worse mental health

15 Nov 2022

How rich or poor young people think they are compared to their friendship group is linked to wellbeing and even bullying during the shift between...

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Screen shot from Logan Paul's controversial YouTube video filmed in Japan

Fervent fans keep faith with heroes even after ‘immoral acts’, study finds

06 Sep 2022

Analysis of posts from thousands of social media users either side of a scandal – the dramatic fall of YouTube celebrity Logan Paul – shows how hard...

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'Threatening' faces and beefy bodies do not bias criminal suspect identification, study finds

20 Apr 2022

Research shows that there is no bias toward selecting people with muscular bodies or facial characteristics perceived as threatening when identifying...

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Mural in the SoHo district of New York, one of the US cities featured in the study.

Gentrification changes the personality make-up of cities in just a few years

16 Dec 2021

Massive study of almost two million US residents reveals rising housing costs may drive increases in “openness” of character among both long-term and...

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A protester holds a sign comparing President Trump to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Rates of infectious disease linked to authoritarian attitudes and governance

21 Sep 2021

Researchers argue that a desire for “conformity and obedience” as a result of COVID-19 could boost authoritarianism in the wake of the pandemic.

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Slamming political rivals may be the most effective way to go viral

22 Jun 2021

Study of almost 3 million Facebook and Twitter posts from US media and politicians shows divisive posts dunking on opponents drive engagement on...

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Screen shots of Go Viral! on the left, and an example of UNESCO's #ThinkBeforeSharing campaign on the right.

‘Pre-bunk’ tactics reduce public susceptibility to COVID-19 conspiracies and falsehoods, study finds

12 May 2021

Latest research on digital interventions deployed by UK government and UNESCO suggests that exposing people to a “microdose” of techniques used by...

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Game combats political misinformation by letting players undermine democracy

06 Nov 2020

A short online game in which players are recruited as a 'Chief Disinformation Officer' and use tactics such as trolling to sabotage elections in a...

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Cambridge game ‘pre-bunks’ coronavirus conspiracies

11 Oct 2020

Go Viral! is a new game developed by Cambridge psychologists in partnership with the UK government to help fight the ‘infodemic’: the deluge of false...

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Man in a cowboy hat atop Humphreys Peak in Arizona, US

‘Wild West’ mentality lingers in US mountain regions

07 Sep 2020

Distinct psychological mix associated with mountain populations is consistent with the theory that harsh frontiers attracted certain personalities...

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