Many commercial films worldwide continue to express womanhood in a stereotypical manner, a recent study using image analysis showed. A Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) research team developed a novel image analysis method for automatically quantifying the degree of gender bias in in films. The ‘Bechdel Test’ has been the most representative...
Culture
An Evolution in the Understanding of Evolution
Remember domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species and Darwin’s tree of life metaphor we learned about in high school biology? That way of describing living-things lineages is just science’s best guess about how genes have mutated and split over time to change things into what they are today. It’s not uncommon for living...
New Ideal Housewife Image Being Created by Social Media Influencers and Bloggers
The new generation of successful female bloggers and influencers on social media are changing the identity of the stereotypical “ideal” housewife. This is according to a new study by Magdalena Petersson McIntyre, a researcher at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. Published in the Journal of Cultural Economy, the study...
Do Unmarried Women Face Shortages of Partners in the U.S. Marriage Market?
One explanation for declines in marriage is a shortage of economically-attractive men for unmarried women to marry. Indeed, a new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family reveals a significant scarcity of such potential male spouses. The study’s authors developed estimates of the sociodemographic characteristics of unmarried women’s potential spouses who resemble the husbands of...
Scotland’s Genetic Landscape Echoes Dark Age Populations
The DNA of Scottish people still contains signs of the country’s ancient kingdoms, with many apparently living in the same areas as their ancestors did more than a millennium ago, a study shows. Experts have constructed Scotland’s first comprehensive genetic map, which reveals that the country is divided into six main clusters of genetically similar...
50 Years Ago, Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock Anthem Expressed the Hopes and Fears of a Nation
One of the most powerful, searing renditions of the national anthem ever recorded, Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Woodstock anthem, almost never happened. In his memoir, Hendrix’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell, admitted that the band “hadn’t rehearsed … or planned to do ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock.” The festival was supposed to wrap up on Sunday night, but...
Is Instagram Behavior Motivated by a Desire to Belong?
Does a desire to belong and perceived social support drive a person’s frequency of Instagram use? The relationship between these motivating factors as predictors of Instagram use are published in a new study in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Click here to read the full-text article free on...
Facebook Can Help College Students with Lower Confidence Build Relationships
Facebook can help first-semester college students maintain relationships with high school friends and assist them in creating new friendships, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York. When it comes to making new friends, those with higher confidence in their social skills have less to gain from relying on Facebook, while...
Researcher Studies How Individuals Use Technology to Engage with Their Cultures
As the nation continues to get more diverse, it’s common for immigrant populations in the United States to identify with two or more cultures at the same time. In a new article published in Lingua, M. Sidury Christiansen argues for a redefinition of how we see transnationalism or the movement of people, ideas and capital across...
Problematic Smartphone Use Linked to Poorer Grades, Alcohol Misuse, More Sexual Partners
A survey of more than 3,400 university students in the USA has found that one in five respondents reported problematic smartphone use. Female students were more likely be affected and problematic smartphone use was associated with lower grade averages, mental health problems and higher numbers of sexual partners. Smartphones offer the potential of instant, round-the-clock...