Research suggests that most of us are pretty trustworthy.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Social sciences – Analysis and Comment
Climate change is often seen as solely a technical problem. This is a misguided belief. Understanding how to build a better world begins, and ends, with understanding the societies which inhabit it.
Pandemics often have animal origins, so prevention is often dominated by health and veterinary sciences. However, social sciences’ role in understanding human behaviour is also crucial to prevention.
From commerce to public policy, cuts to New Zealand’s university humanities departments will have repercussions well beyond the so-called ‘ivory towers’.
Three Indigenous studies scholars draw from colonial histories and explain why listening for alien life can have ethical ramifications.
Large language models are becoming increasingly capable of imitating human-like responses, creating opportunities to test social science theories on a larger scale and with much greater speed.
Twitter has long allowed anyone to access its data about who tweeted what and when. This has been a boon to research, from public health to criminology. The new fees put that research at risk.
Psychological and social perspectives on economy that were developed by 19th-century philosophers can help us re-imagine economics with a human face.
Internships and work-integrated learning for social sciences and humanities students can be part of how post-secondary institutions increase their capacities to contribute to social innovation.
The Coalition government showed a disdain for the arts, humanities and social sciences. The plight of these disciplines requires action from the incoming Labor government on three fronts.
Social scientists in Nigeria communicate their research results more among themselves than they do to policymakers and the general public.
It is the work of social scientists to understand how societies operate and, based on that knowledge, how populations can apply evidence-based solutions to the challenges of the 21st century.
Researchers found the letters X, Y, and Z make tweets more shareable. The nonsensical result shows how easily statistics can be misused.
Tight funding and COVID-related limits on face-to-face contact have forced academics to find other ways to expose students to the real-life work they are preparing them for.
Experts in the humanities and social sciences add nuance to the debate about how to respond to COVID-19.
The active and uninhibited dissemination of knowledge is vital for the advancement of knowledge.
The reduced rate of funding to universities (of up to 17%), per place, for national priority courses sends perverse messages to universities.
Social psychiatry has fallen from favour. It’s time to revisit it.
Americans recycle only about one-third of the solid waste we generate. A behavioral scientist argues that with the right motivators, we could do more.
Interviews show Brexit divisions can cause tension but that people are thinking carefully about how to avoid breakdown.
According to the General Social Survey, the percentage of men and women who identify as gay or lesbian has held firm. But the share of women who say they’re bisexual has skyrocketed.
Breathless press releases, over-interpreted meta-analyses and other ‘crud factors’ mean that weak research results can get overhyped to the public. It’s time for a cultural change in the social sciences.
In the ‘World Climate’ simulation, people play delegates to UN climate negotiations and work to strike an agreement that meets global climate goals. Playing it has made thousands want to take action.
Academics from different disciplines come Head to Head in this series to tackle topical debates.
In a world of 24-hour news, night tubes and light pollution, does the traditional night time really still exist?