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Articles on Social psychology

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We can be unduly hard on ourselves as we grapple with the implications of declining an invitation. Yifei Fang/Moment via Getty Images

Are our fears of saying ‘no’ overblown?

Nearly 80% of people have accepted invitations to events they didn’t want to attend.
Thinking about issues’ impact on their own lives can help people envision more common ground. wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Making it personal: Considering an issue’s relevance to your own life could help reduce political polarization

Changing the ‘psychological distance’ someone feels toward an issue can shift their attitudes in ways that might help people on opposite sides of an issue see more eye to eye.
How much of a culture could be due to things like the grain it traditionally grew? Visoot Uthairam/Moment via Getty Images

Nearly 20% of the cultural differences between societies boil down to ecological factors – new research

A number of theories try to explain how cultural differences come to be. A new study quantifies how such factors as resource abundance, population density and infectious disease risk can contribute.
There’s an interesting evolutionary benefit for some women if the consequences of casual sex are high. Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

What really drives anti-abortion beliefs? Research suggests it’s a matter of sexual strategies

Some reasons people oppose abortion seem to be at odds with other positions they hold. Evolutionary social science points to a surprising motivation for anti-abortion attitudes.
Evolutionary psychology may explain why magical thinking is so central to love. Viva Luna Studios via Unsplash

Why does love feel magical? It’s an evolutionary advantage

It’s not logical to believe your relationship is “meant to be.” But believing in destined love may have evolved as a way to keep couples together long enough to reproduce and raise children.
You might make a quick and exaggerated judgment about what kind of neighborhood you’re in based on the people or flags you see. David Levingstone/DigitalVision via Getty Images

People overestimate groups they find threatening – when ‘sizing up’ others, bias sneaks in

Social psychology researchers found that people commonly exaggerate the presence of certain groups – including ethnic and sexual minorities – because they perceive them as ideologically threatening.
A culture of honor is more likely to develop in areas where law enforcement is inconsistent or nonexistent. 20th Century Fox/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Will Smith’s slap shows ‘honor culture’ is alive and well

While you’ll often hear people say that violence is never the answer, in some communities violence is viewed as a perfectly reasonable response to personal slights.

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