Social Sciences news
Political views may skew perception of skin tone, new study finds
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 24, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (6) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Political affinity could influence how some people view the skin tone of biracial political candidates, according to a new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, New York University ...
As robots become more common, Stanford experts consider the legal challenges
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- They already detect and defuse bombs, control traffic patterns and do some basic household chores. And scientists predict that pretty soon, robots will be using artificial intelligence to play a larger role ...
Climate change could boost incidence of civil war in Africa
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
2.4 / 5 (16) |
10
Climate change could increase the likelihood of civil war in sub-Saharan Africa by over 50 percent within the next two decades, according to a new study led by a team of researchers at University of California, Berkeley, ...
Study: Race, class and gender shape religion's effect on American voters
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 25, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- How Americans vote is strongly linked to their religious identities, but it is not an independent influence that transcends race, socio-economic class and gender, reports a new Cornell study.
Three of a kind: Revealing language’s universal essence
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 20, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (15) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- On the surface, English, Japanese, and Kinande, a member of the Bantu family of languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have little in common. It is not just that the vocabularies ...
Do kids benefit from homework?
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Homework is as old as school itself. Yet the practice is controversial as people debate the benefits or consider the shortcomings and hassles. Research into the topic is often contradictory ...
Finding more in 'most': Scientific study of an everyday word
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 19, 2009 |
4 / 5 (4) |
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William Shakespeare, who knew a thing or two about words, advised that "An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told." But the exact meaning of plain language isn't always easy to find. Even simple words like "most" and ...
Shifting blame is socially contagious
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 19, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
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Merely observing someone publicly blame an individual in an organization for a problem - even when the target is innocent - greatly increases the odds that the practice of blaming others will spread with the tenacity of the ...
Consumers choose locally grown and environmentally friendly apples
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
1 / 5 (2) |
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When asked to compare apples to apples, consumers said they would pay more for locally grown apples than genetically modified (GMO) apples. But in a second questionnaire consumers preferred GMO apples - that is, when they ...
People work harder when expecting a future challenging task
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 17, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (4) |
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Consumers will work harder on a task if they're expecting to have to do something difficult at a later time, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Workplace literacy schemes are too short to improve skills
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 25, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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The five billion pound Skills for Life programme is based on the assumption that an improvement in literacy and numeracy will increase people's earning potential, as well as their productivity and employability. However, ...
Inequality, 'silver spoon' effect found in ancient societies
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Oct 29, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (15) |
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The so-called "silver spoon" effect -- in which wealth is passed down from one generation to another -- is well established in some of the world's most ancient economies, according to an international study coordinated by ...
Research shows avatars can negatively affect users
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 10, 2009 |
3.4 / 5 (5) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Although often seen as an inconsequential feature of digital technologies, one's self-representation, or avatar, in a virtual environment can affect the user's thoughts, according to research by a University ...
Rethinking sexism: Study examines how society maintains the status quo
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
3
There is a tendency to think that only men treat women in a sexist way, but a new study by a University of Miami researcher and his daughter shows that both men and women participate in maintaining a gender hierarchy in our ...
Donate your text messages to science: Texto4Science project
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
A Université de Montréal researcher has a special request for Canadian texters: "Everyone young and old, students and workers, artists and business people, no matter who you are, send me your text messages," ...
