Author: dispatchtimes news

Criminogenic risk factors are proving more reliable than psychiatric symptoms at predicting whether individuals with mental illness will encounter the criminal justice system, a new study has found. Researchers compared three groups of justice-involved psychiatric patients in the United States to see what distinguishes those touching the legal system from those who have not. Historically, intervention programmes aimed at reducing reoffending among people with mental illness focused on treating psychiatric symptoms alone. The latest findings underscore that such medical approaches often fell short of preventing jail time, arguing that many offenders with mental illness do not commit crimes because of…

A new study using virtual reality has found that physiological arousal from a non-romantic activity can lift men’s ratings of online dating profiles, while women appear largely unaffected. Researchers at Leuphana University Lüneburg conducted the experiment with 130 participants and used two distinct VR experiences—Beat Saber, a fast-paced rhythm game, and a calm forest scene—to induce high or low arousal before participants evaluated mock dating profiles. At the core of the research is the arousal misattribution hypothesis, the idea that people can confuse bodily signs of excitement with romantic attraction. The team explains that a racing heart or sweaty palms…

Losing deep belly fat, rather than simply shedding overall body weight, is linked to slower brain ageing and better cognitive function years down the line. The research, published in Nature Communications, suggests that targeting this specific type of fat might help protect the brain from age-related decline. Lead authors Dafna Pachter and Hadar Klein, alongside corresponding author Iris Shai and colleagues from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, led the study, which utilised long-running trial data to probe whether sustained reductions in particular fat depots can preserve brain health. Visceral fat sits deep around internal organs, while subcutaneous fat…

A new study suggests that some women report using kindness and generosity strategically to gain an edge over rivals, a tendency linked to manipulative personality traits and lower agreeableness. The findings, published in Frontiers in Psychology, point to a nuanced form of cooperation that can function as a subtle tool in interpersonal competition, rather than purely altruistic behaviour. The research was led by Maryanne Fisher, the Santamarian Research Chair in the Faculty of Science at Saint Mary’s University’s Department of Psychology. It builds on the concept of competitive altruism and grew from a Government of Canada grant that funded a…

A team of researchers from Sun Yat-sen University has found that when a person’s sleep pattern is out of step with daily demands, fatigue can heighten social anxiety and push individuals to seek evaluation from machines rather than humans. In four interconnected experiments, Xiaoyu Zhou, Yuxuan Chu, Liwei Zhang and Jianping Liang reported a clear link between social jetlag and a preference for AI evaluators, especially in dating and recruitment scenarios. The work was published in Computers in Human Behavior. Social jetlag refers to the misalignment between the body’s internal clock and external schedules such as work or study timetables.…

A new study suggests that Americans with weaker vocabulary scores, a common proxy for cognitive ability, are more likely to endorse Christian nationalist beliefs even after accounting for education. The findings, published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, point to cognitive resources as a factor in the appeal of this ideology beyond schooling alone. Christian nationalism is defined in the research as a set of beliefs that the United States has conservative Christian foundations and that the government should institutionalise Christian dominance in society, often tying religious identity to civic belonging. “One of the most consistent predictors…

A single session of mild, rhythm-based brain stimulation modestly reduced immediate anxiety after a stressful task in healthy middle-aged and older adults, according to a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. The researchers describe the effect as a “modest, selective reduction in stress-evoked state anxiety.” Led by Rubén Romero-Marín of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the team tested 42 healthy adults from the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative, with an average age of about 59 and 16 women. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either active stimulation (22 people) or a sham procedure (20 people) that mimicked the procedure…

A new study published in npj Mental Health Research has found that adolescents’ sleep patterns, measured objectively with a wearable device, are linked to how they regulate their emotions. Analysing data from 1,371 teenagers in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, researchers report that highly variable sleep schedules are associated with greater inward‑directed distress such as anxiety and depression, and with a greater reliance on expressive suppression. The association appears strongest among teenage girls, suggesting that stable sleep routines may help safeguard emotional well‑being. Adolescence is a sensitive developmental period marked by the emergence of new emotional challenges and…

A new longitudinal study of attendees at ayahuasca retreats has found that higher levels of resilience at the outset are associated with somewhat more intense challenging experiences during ceremonies, and with a stronger link between these difficult experiences and a subsequent search for meaning in life one month later. The research was conducted at two Soltara Healing Center retreat locations, in Costa Rica and Peru. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew traditionally used by Indigenous communities in the Amazon for religious, spiritual and therapeutic purposes. Its immediate effects can include mystical experiences and psychological insights, but also adverse physical symptoms such…

New research published in the journal Perception shows that the colour of a person’s hair and the background behind them can alter how observers judge their skin, with darker hair and a black backdrop tending to make facial skin appear more even. The study, led by psychologist Carlota Batres of Franklin & Marshall College and co-authored with Richard Russell of Gettysburg College, used two experiments to test whether surrounding visual contrast can shift perceptions of skin evenness, a factor linked to perceptions of health and attractiveness. Perceived skin evenness refers to how uniform a person’s skin colour and surface texture…