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The (Wrong) Reason We Keep Secrets
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The (Wrong) Reason We Keep Secrets

In and out of the workplace, people often keep adverse information about themselves secret because they worry that others will judge them harshly. But those fears are overblown, according to new research from the McCombs School of Business. In fact, when study participants pushed through fear to reveal a secret, those in whom they confided...

Aging Societies More Vulnerable to Collapse
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Aging Societies More Vulnerable to Collapse

Societies and political structures, like the humans they serve, appear to become more fragile as they age, according to an analysis of hundreds of pre-modern societies. A new study, which holds implications for the modern world, provides the first quantitative support for the theory that the resilience of political states decreases over time. Triggers of...

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year – Authentic – Reflects Growing Concerns Over AI’s Ability to Deceive and Dehumanize
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Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year – Authentic – Reflects Growing Concerns Over AI’s Ability to Deceive and Dehumanize

When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year. Even then, the dictionary publisher was late to the game. In a lexicographic form of Christmas creep, Collins English Dictionary announced its 2023 word of the year, “AI,” on...

What a Biannual Gathering of 1967 Impalas Reveals About the Blurry Line Between Fandom and Religion
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What a Biannual Gathering of 1967 Impalas Reveals About the Blurry Line Between Fandom and Religion

Among the many spooky events happening over Halloween weekend was the biannual “Haunting of Impalas” at Family Business Brewing, a 15-acre brewery in Dripping Springs, Texas, owned by actor and musician Jensen Ackles. Along with Jared Padalecki, Ackles is the star of “Supernatural,” a television series that ran from 2005 to 2020. A weekly science-fiction...

Forget ‘Man the Hunter’ – Physiological and Archaeological Evidence Rewrites Assumptions About a Gendered Division of Labor in Prehistoric Times
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Forget ‘Man the Hunter’ – Physiological and Archaeological Evidence Rewrites Assumptions About a Gendered Division of Labor in Prehistoric Times

Prehistoric men hunted; prehistoric women gathered. At least this is the standard narrative written by and about men to the exclusion of women. The idea of “Man the Hunter” runs deep within anthropology, convincing people that hunting made us human, only men did the hunting, and therefore evolutionary forces must only have acted upon men....

Having a Bad Boss Makes You a Worse Employee
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Having a Bad Boss Makes You a Worse Employee

Research underscores the hidden cost of abusive leadership, revealing that employees who prioritize career advancement suffer more than employees who prioritize job security If your boss stomps and yells, criticizes you, and then proceeds to take the credit for your work – even it is an isolated incident – it can take a profound toll...

Want to Prevent Misinformation? Present Data with an Interactive Visual.
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Want to Prevent Misinformation? Present Data with an Interactive Visual.

Getting readers of a news story interested in numbers can be a challenge. But the benefits of engaging readers in data can lead to a better understanding, preventing misinformation and misrepresentation in the news. New research by Haiyan Jia, assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Communication and the Data X Initiative at Lehigh University,...

Don’t Feel Appreciated by Your Partner? Relationship Interventions Can Help
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Don’t Feel Appreciated by Your Partner? Relationship Interventions Can Help

When we’re married or in a long-term romantic relationship, we may eventually come to take each other for granted and forget to show appreciation. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign finds that it doesn’t have to stay this way. The study examined why perceived gratitude from a spouse or romantic partner changes over time,...

Positive Contact with Diverse Groups Can Reduce Belief in Conspiracy Theories About Them
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Positive Contact with Diverse Groups Can Reduce Belief in Conspiracy Theories About Them

New research has shown that having positive contact with people from diverse groups can reduce the development of harmful intergroup conspiracy beliefs. Experts from the University of Nottingham’s School of Psychology, in collaboration with the University of East Anglia, found that among British participants, positive intergroup contact interfered with the development of conspiracy theories about...

In Determining What’s True, Americans Consider the Intentions of the Information Source
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In Determining What’s True, Americans Consider the Intentions of the Information Source

Putting truth to the test in the “post-truth era”, Boston College psychologists conducted experiments that show when Americans decide whether a claim of fact should qualify as true or false, they consider the intentions of the information source, the team reported recently in Nature’s Scientific Reports. That confidence is based on what individuals think the source...