Author: dispatchtimes news

A new body of research suggests that liberal voters consistently underestimate the appeal and potential success of dominant leaders, a bias that appears across workplace settings and political arenas. The findings, published across five main studies and four supplements, indicate liberals tend to view forceful, domineering figures as less fair and caring, to like them less, and to assign them lower odds of success than conservatives do. The authors say the pattern could influence turnout and political judgment at the ballot box. The researchers frame leadership in terms of two broad strategies: prestige and dominance. Prestige leaders earn respect through…

Americans who dreamed about the 2024 presidential election on election night woke to stronger negative feelings about the election and the country’s future the following morning, a study published in PLOS One reports. The pattern appeared among Democrats and, to a lesser extent, Independents, but not among Republicans. The research sits within broader observations that large-scale events affecting entire societies can disrupt sleep and influence dreams. After the September 11 attacks and during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans reported dreaming more about these events and experiencing more intense dreams than usual. Scientists have suggested that dreaming may help people process…

A nationwide study of 893,212 U.S. births using Medicaid records has linked prenatal exposure to wildfire smoke during the middle and later stages of pregnancy with a higher risk of autism diagnoses in children, while finding no meaningful association with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research, led by Stefania Papatheodorou of the Rutgers School of Public Health, analysed national health data to explore how smoke from wildfires might influence early brain development. Wildfire smoke is a complex mix of gases and fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, with particles 2.5 micrometres or smaller in diameter. The study examined whether exposure to…

A small, tightly controlled study in healthy women has shown that a brief inflammatory challenge can temporarily blunt the pleasure people derive from activities and reduce the desire to socialise. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, researchers induced acute inflammation with an intravenous endotoxin dose and tracked mood and social motivation over several hours. By two hours after administration, participants given endotoxin reported higher anhedonia and a reduced wish to chat with others, compared with a saline placebo. The trial involved 40 women aged 25 to 44 and was conducted at the Norman Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the University of…

A South Korean study suggests that support for online vigilantism is driven as much by emotional rewards and the wish to signal moral virtue as by a genuine belief in justice. Researchers Dosun Kim and Yeon Soo Kim of Dongguk University in Seoul led the work, which surveyed 1,000 adults to explore why people back digital public shaming and related practices. Online vigilantism encompasses actions taken by internet users to expose, criticise or punish individuals perceived to have breached social norms, often outside formal legal systems. Public shaming, group harassment and doxxing—the publication of private or identifying information without consent—are…

A series of five experiments across the UK, the United States and Canada suggests that when people feel their political group is seen as fully human by opponents, they become more willing to negotiate, compromise and work across party lines. In particular, the research finds this effect operates mainly by lowering disgust toward the opposing party, and is most pronounced when concerns about social cohesion feel moderately threatened. In recent years, political disagreements in Western democracies have increasingly taken on personal and moral overtones. Psychologists describe this as affective polarization—the tendency for partisans to distrust and dislike those on the…

A major analysis drawing on census and tax records concludes that inherited genetic factors account for around a third of the variation in earnings among steadily employed Americans in their late 20s and 30s. The study also suggests that traditional twin studies may overstate the genetic contribution to career success, partly because same-sex twins are more likely to work at the same company. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Heritability is a statistical concept that measures how much of the differences in a trait across a population can be traced to inherited genetic…

A Norwegian longitudinal study finds that adolescent mental health trajectories predict adult political views nearly three decades later. The researchers tracked 2,215 individuals from their mid-teens to their early forties and asked about political attitudes in midlife. The team, led by Sam Fluit of the University of Oslo, explored how persistent psychological challenges in youth relate to later political profiles. They focused on two broad categories of mental health conditions that commonly begin in adolescence. The first category, internalizing problems, refers to inward-facing symptoms such as depression, general anxiety, and a sense of hopelessness about the future. The second category,…

A new editorial synthesis published in Psychological Medicine argues that reading for pleasure is linked to better cognitive performance, differences in brain structure, lower stress and a reduced risk of dementia in later life. The piece brings together findings from literacy charity surveys, long-term cohort studies and brain-imaging research led by Barbara J. Sahakian of the University of Cambridge, with co-authors including Vicki Perrin, chief executive of The Queen’s Reading Room, and Christelle Langley. The authors contend that recreational reading, even when conducted at home or in book groups, could be an accessible, low-cost way to bolster mental well-being and…