#counseling — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #counseling, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: September 8, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The psychological link between making sense of life and avoiding depression
A massive new review of psychological research shows that people who feel their lives have meaning tend to experience lower levels of depression. The findings, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, suggest that having a sense of purpose acts as a psychological buffer against negative emotions. This association changes depending on a person’s cultural background, age, and physical health, revealing a nuanced connection between personal philosophy and mental well-being.
Psychologists define meaning in life as a person’s ability to understand their experiences and recognize their own existence as having worth. Existential theorists propose that a lack of meaning is a root cause of depressive symptoms, suggesting that humans need a guiding philosophy to navigate adversity. Conversely, biomedical models argue that depression is primarily a physiological issue driven by genetics, brain chemistry, or neurodegenerative diseases. From a purely medical perspective, abstract psychological concepts like life purpose are secondary to biological treatments.
To resolve conflicting results in past literature, psychologists Wu-han Ouyang and Xin-qiang Wang at Jiangxi Normal University led a team to investigate exactly how a sense of meaning correlates with depression. They wanted to see if the connection was universal or if external factors altered the strength of the relationship. The researchers gathered data from 278 previously published studies to conduct a meta-analysis. This statistical technique pools results from multiple independent projects to identify broader trends that a single study might miss.
The approach allowed the team to analyze information from more than 250,000 participants worldwide. By using a specialized three-level statistical model, the researchers accounted for sampling variations within individual studies as well as broader differences across the entire body of literature. When looking at the combined data, Ouyang and Wang found a moderate negative correlation between overall meaning in life and depression. As a person’s sense of meaning increased, their reported levels of depression tended to decrease.
To understand this dynamic better, the researchers broke the broad concept of meaning down into several distinct components. They looked at coherence, purpose, and a person’s belief that their existence matters. Coherence, which is the ability to make sense of one’s life and environment, had the strongest negative association with depression. People who felt their lives made logical sense were the least likely to report depressive symptoms.
Believing that one’s life has inherent worth also strongly correlated with lower depression. A sense of purpose, defined as having distinct life goals, showed a similar protective association. The relationship shifted dramatically when the researchers looked at the search for meaning. This concept refers to a person’s active motivation to find purpose, rather than their current possession of it.
Overall, simply searching for meaning did not yield a statistically significant association with depression. However, the researchers discovered that this seemingly flat result actually masked a major cultural divide. In individualistic cultures, such as those in the United States or the United Kingdom, actively searching for meaning was linked to higher levels of depression. In collectivistic cultures, such as those in China or South Korea, searching for meaning was associated with lower levels of depression.
The researchers suspect this divergence happens because individualistic societies expect people to independently construct their own life goals. This solitary pressure can lead to severe frustration and isolation if a person struggles to find answers. Collectivistic societies tend to frame the search for meaning as a shared social endeavor. These cultures often embed personal purpose within family networks and community responsibilities.
This collectivistic framework provides social support that might protect against negative emotions during periods of uncertainty. Sharing the psychological burden of finding purpose appears to keep depression at bay. Physical health also played a major role in how meaning and depression interacted. For individuals diagnosed with medical illnesses, the association between having a purpose in life and experiencing lower depression was much stronger than it was for healthy individuals.
Chronic or severe illness can strip away a person’s daily routines and long-term goals, removing usual sources of happiness. In these high-stress situations, maintaining a core sense of purpose provides a psychological anchor. A strong sense of direction helps patients reframe their adversity and manage emotional distress. The tools used to measure depression also influenced the reported results across the studies.
The researchers found the strongest negative correlation between meaning in life and depression when studies used the Beck Depression Inventory. This specific questionnaire evaluates emotional distress along with physical symptoms of depression, such as fatigue or changes in appetite. Because a lack of meaning often translates into physical lethargy, this tool captured the mind-body connection more effectively than general mental health surveys. Age influenced the results as well, specifically regarding how strongly the presence of meaning linked to lower depression.
This protective association peaked in middle-aged adults and was weakest among adolescents. Middle adulthood often brings long-term stressors related to career and family responsibilities. A stable sense of purpose is highly beneficial for processing these heavy adult burdens. Adolescents, meanwhile, are still developing their emotional regulation skills and core identities.
Because a teenager’s worldview is still forming, their depressive symptoms are often tied more closely to immediate environmental factors like school pressure or peer relationships. Teenagers lack the mature psychological mechanisms needed to buffer negative emotions through a stable philosophy of life. Because the vast majority of the analyzed studies relied on observational data taken at a single point in time, the results cannot prove that a lack of meaning directly causes depression. It is entirely possible that experiencing depression makes it harder for a person to find meaning in their life, creating a feedback loop that is difficult to untangle.
Most of the data also came from self-reported questionnaires. This data collection method can introduce bias if participants answer in ways they perceive as socially desirable. Future research will need to track individuals over long periods to see whether changes in a person’s sense of purpose precede changes in their depressive symptoms. The researchers also noted a lack of data regarding people who have received formal clinical diagnoses of depression.
The current literature also lacks information on participants who take antidepressant medications. Expanding research into these clinical populations could help psychologists design better therapies. These future treatments might incorporate meaning-building exercises alongside traditional medical interventions. Recognizing how factors like age, illness, and culture shape the human experience could ultimately lead to more personalized mental health care.
The study, “A three-level meta-analysis of the relationship between meaning in life and depression,” was authored by Wu-han Ouyang, Xin-qiang Wang, Jia-yi Cai, Shu-ya Pan, and Jing-yi Li.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #meaninginlife #depression研究 #mentalhealth #senseofpurpose #coherence #lifeexistence #collectivisticvsindividualistic #beckdepressioninventory #psychologicalwellbeing #lifepurpose
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DATE: September 8, 2026 at 02:48AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: UK Refuses Slavery Reparations As Jamaica Urges King to Act
Source: Al Jazeera
The United Kingdom's government has reiterated that it rejects reparations for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade as Jamaica has petitioned King Charles III over the issue. Prime Minister Andy Burnham's spokesperson said on Monday that "the UK does not and will not pay reparations." Successive British governments have refused to discuss slavery reparations despite accepting that the country significantly benefitted from the trade.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #UKReparations #SlaveryHistory #TransatlanticSlaveTrade #JamaicaPetition #KingCharlesIII #BritishGovernment #SlaveryAccountability # reparationsdebate #colonialismlegacy #racialjustice Global newsatiiv
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DATE: September 8, 2026 at 02:47AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: Huge Review Confirms Link Between Emotional Intelligence and Flourishing
Source: PsyPost
A review of psychological research indicates that emotional intelligence has a robust and reliable connection to human flourishing, predicting success across school, work, and personal health. The findings suggest that people with higher emotional intelligence tend to experience greater well-being, though the strength of this connection depends on how the traits are measured. The research was recently published in the journal PNAS.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #EmotionalIntelligence #EIandFlourishing #PositivePsychology #Wellbeing #MentalHealth #EducationSuccess #WorkplaceWellness #PersonalHealth #PsyPost #PNAS
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DATE: September 8, 2026 at 02:47AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: Popular Brain Supplement Linked to Shorter Lifespan in Men
Source: Science Daily - Top Health
A study involving more than 270,000 people has linked higher blood levels of the amino acid tyrosine—a popular brain supplement—to a shorter lifespan in men. Using both observational data and genetic analysis, researchers concluded that elevated levels of tyrosine could potentially reduce male life expectancy by nearly a year, though no significant effect appeared in women. Tyrosine is is sold as a supplement for boosting focus and mental...
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #TyrosineSupplements #BrainHealth #LongevityResearch #MenLifeExpectancy #NutritionScience #AminoAcids #HealthyAging #ScienceDaily #MenVsWomen #SupplementRisks
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DATE: September 7, 2026
SOURCE: SOCIALWORKER.COMTITLE: When Professional Boundaries Begin to Blur
Connection sits at the center of social work practice. We build trust with individuals navigating trauma, instability, crisis, and uncertainty. Without structure, that connection can compromise judgment and professional clarity over time.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ProfessionalBoundaries #SocialWork #TherapeuticConnection #TraumaInformedCare #CrisisSupport #EthicalPractice #BoundarySetting #TrustAndCare #MentalHealthSupport #ProfessionalClarity
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Breast size dissatisfaction does not lower a mother’s confidence in breastfeeding
Many women experience dissatisfaction with their breast size, but these aesthetic concerns do not appear to lower their confidence in their ability to breastfeed. A study of pregnant women in Türkiye found no link between breast size dissatisfaction and prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy. The findings were published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
Breasts are heavily scrutinized under cultural and societal beauty standards. Globally, up to 70 percent of women report wanting a different breast size than the one they have. This widespread dissatisfaction often negatively affects self-esteem and mental well-being. The pressure to conform to an idealized body shape can cause localized appearance anxiety.
Researchers wanted to understand if these appearance anxieties spill over into biological and maternal functions, specifically breastfeeding. Past research in various countries has shown that having a generally positive body image is linked to higher confidence in breastfeeding. A positive view of the body often translates to a stronger belief in the body’s physical capabilities.
However, specific anxieties about breast size are less understood. Misconceptions persist worldwide that smaller breasts cannot produce enough milk or that larger breasts are inherently better for feeding infants. These myths can erode a mother’s confidence before the baby is even born.
In psychological terms, this confidence is known as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in their own ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. High prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy is a strong predictor of actual breastfeeding initiation and duration after birth.
To investigate this localized body anxiety, nursing researchers Kıymet Yeşilçiçek Çalık and Ebru Küçük Erdöl at Karadeniz Technical University, along with Hatice İkra Şan at Ankara Etlik City Hospital, evaluated maternal perceptions in Türkiye. In Turkish culture, breastfeeding is highly valued and viewed as a fundamental duty of motherhood. The researchers sought to find out whether a mother’s subjective dissatisfaction with her pre-pregnancy breast size might act as a psychological barrier to her self-efficacy.
The researchers recruited 518 pregnant women from the antenatal clinics of a university hospital. The participants were between 28 and 42 weeks of gestation. The women were experiencing uncomplicated, single-infant pregnancies. The average age of the participants was nearly 31 years old.
During private face-to-face interviews, researchers asked the women to provide demographic information and details about their pregnancy history. Just under half of the participants were experiencing their first pregnancy. The researchers also asked the participants if they believed breast size affects breastfeeding success or milk production.
To measure body dissatisfaction, the researchers used a visual rating tool consisting of 14 computer-generated images of women. These images featured progressively increasing breast sizes but lacked facial features to prevent bias. Participants selected the image that best matched their current size and the image that represented their ideal size. The numerical difference between these two selections represented their level of dissatisfaction.
Next, the researchers measured breastfeeding self-efficacy using a 20-item questionnaire. This tool asked participants to rate how confident they felt about various aspects of breastfeeding on a scale from one to five. A higher total score indicated greater confidence.
The results showed a high level of dissatisfaction among the participants. More than 65 percent of the women were dissatisfied with their breast size. The most common desire was for a smaller size, which accounted for nearly 49 percent of the total group. Only about 17 percent of the women wished for larger breasts.
Despite this widespread dissatisfaction, the women displayed high levels of confidence in their ability to breastfeed. More than 80 percent of the participants stated that they did not believe breast size affects breastfeeding success. Additionally, 86.5 percent did not associate breast size with milk production.
When the researchers analyzed the data, they found that the results were not statistically significant regarding a link between breast size dissatisfaction and breastfeeding self-efficacy. In other words, feeling unhappy with the aesthetic appearance of their breasts did not correspond to lower confidence in their functional ability to nourish a child.
This lack of association remained true even after the researchers adjusted the statistical models to account for women who had previous breastfeeding experience. The data suggest that in certain contexts, women mentally separate their feelings about how their body looks from their belief in what their body can do.
The authors propose that the transition to motherhood might prompt a cognitive shift. In societies where the maternal role is deeply revered, the functional utility of the breast as a feeding organ appears to take priority over its form. Appearance anxieties simply do not translate into a lack of health confidence for these mothers.
The study relied entirely on self-reported questionnaires, which can introduce bias if participants provide answers they feel are socially acceptable. The cross-sectional design of the study also captures only a single moment in time during pregnancy. This prevents researchers from observing how maternal confidence might shift after the baby is born.
The research was conducted at a single hospital in Türkiye, which limits how the findings might apply to other cultural settings. The specific sociocultural environment, where maternal identity is highly salient, likely plays a protective role against aesthetic anxieties.
The participants also reported very high baseline confidence in breastfeeding overall. This high overall self-efficacy might buffer the subtle effects of localized body dissatisfaction. A population with lower baseline confidence might show different results.
Future investigations will need to track women longitudinally from early pregnancy through the postpartum period. Researchers suggest that educational programs focusing on the biological utility of the body, rather than its appearance, could help dismantle lingering myths about breast size and milk production for those who still hold them.
The study, “The Association Between Pre-Pregnancy Breast size dissatisfaction and prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy: A correlational study,” was authored by Kıymet Yeşilçiçek Çalık, Ebru Küçük Erdöl, and Hatice İkra Şan.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BreastSizeDissatisfaction #BreastfeedingConfidence #PrenatalBreastfeeding #SelfEfficacy #BreastSizeMyths #MaternalHealth #BreastfeedingSupport #BodyImage #TurkishStudy #HealthPsychology
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Breast size dissatisfaction does not lower a mother’s confidence in breastfeeding
Many women experience dissatisfaction with their breast size, but these aesthetic concerns do not appear to lower their confidence in their ability to breastfeed. A study of pregnant women in Türkiye found no link between breast size dissatisfaction and prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy. The findings were published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
Breasts are heavily scrutinized under cultural and societal beauty standards. Globally, up to 70 percent of women report wanting a different breast size than the one they have. This widespread dissatisfaction often negatively affects self-esteem and mental well-being. The pressure to conform to an idealized body shape can cause localized appearance anxiety.
Researchers wanted to understand if these appearance anxieties spill over into biological and maternal functions, specifically breastfeeding. Past research in various countries has shown that having a generally positive body image is linked to higher confidence in breastfeeding. A positive view of the body often translates to a stronger belief in the body’s physical capabilities.
However, specific anxieties about breast size are less understood. Misconceptions persist worldwide that smaller breasts cannot produce enough milk or that larger breasts are inherently better for feeding infants. These myths can erode a mother’s confidence before the baby is even born.
In psychological terms, this confidence is known as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in their own ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. High prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy is a strong predictor of actual breastfeeding initiation and duration after birth.
To investigate this localized body anxiety, nursing researchers Kıymet Yeşilçiçek Çalık and Ebru Küçük Erdöl at Karadeniz Technical University, along with Hatice İkra Şan at Ankara Etlik City Hospital, evaluated maternal perceptions in Türkiye. In Turkish culture, breastfeeding is highly valued and viewed as a fundamental duty of motherhood. The researchers sought to find out whether a mother’s subjective dissatisfaction with her pre-pregnancy breast size might act as a psychological barrier to her self-efficacy.
The researchers recruited 518 pregnant women from the antenatal clinics of a university hospital. The participants were between 28 and 42 weeks of gestation. The women were experiencing uncomplicated, single-infant pregnancies. The average age of the participants was nearly 31 years old.
During private face-to-face interviews, researchers asked the women to provide demographic information and details about their pregnancy history. Just under half of the participants were experiencing their first pregnancy. The researchers also asked the participants if they believed breast size affects breastfeeding success or milk production.
To measure body dissatisfaction, the researchers used a visual rating tool consisting of 14 computer-generated images of women. These images featured progressively increasing breast sizes but lacked facial features to prevent bias. Participants selected the image that best matched their current size and the image that represented their ideal size. The numerical difference between these two selections represented their level of dissatisfaction.
Next, the researchers measured breastfeeding self-efficacy using a 20-item questionnaire. This tool asked participants to rate how confident they felt about various aspects of breastfeeding on a scale from one to five. A higher total score indicated greater confidence.
The results showed a high level of dissatisfaction among the participants. More than 65 percent of the women were dissatisfied with their breast size. The most common desire was for a smaller size, which accounted for nearly 49 percent of the total group. Only about 17 percent of the women wished for larger breasts.
Despite this widespread dissatisfaction, the women displayed high levels of confidence in their ability to breastfeed. More than 80 percent of the participants stated that they did not believe breast size affects breastfeeding success. Additionally, 86.5 percent did not associate breast size with milk production.
When the researchers analyzed the data, they found that the results were not statistically significant regarding a link between breast size dissatisfaction and breastfeeding self-efficacy. In other words, feeling unhappy with the aesthetic appearance of their breasts did not correspond to lower confidence in their functional ability to nourish a child.
This lack of association remained true even after the researchers adjusted the statistical models to account for women who had previous breastfeeding experience. The data suggest that in certain contexts, women mentally separate their feelings about how their body looks from their belief in what their body can do.
The authors propose that the transition to motherhood might prompt a cognitive shift. In societies where the maternal role is deeply revered, the functional utility of the breast as a feeding organ appears to take priority over its form. Appearance anxieties simply do not translate into a lack of health confidence for these mothers.
The study relied entirely on self-reported questionnaires, which can introduce bias if participants provide answers they feel are socially acceptable. The cross-sectional design of the study also captures only a single moment in time during pregnancy. This prevents researchers from observing how maternal confidence might shift after the baby is born.
The research was conducted at a single hospital in Türkiye, which limits how the findings might apply to other cultural settings. The specific sociocultural environment, where maternal identity is highly salient, likely plays a protective role against aesthetic anxieties.
The participants also reported very high baseline confidence in breastfeeding overall. This high overall self-efficacy might buffer the subtle effects of localized body dissatisfaction. A population with lower baseline confidence might show different results.
Future investigations will need to track women longitudinally from early pregnancy through the postpartum period. Researchers suggest that educational programs focusing on the biological utility of the body, rather than its appearance, could help dismantle lingering myths about breast size and milk production for those who still hold them.
The study, “The Association Between Pre-Pregnancy Breast size dissatisfaction and prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy: A correlational study,” was authored by Kıymet Yeşilçiçek Çalık, Ebru Küçük Erdöl, and Hatice İkra Şan.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BreastSizeDissatisfaction #BreastfeedingConfidence #PrenatalBreastfeeding #SelfEfficacy #BreastSizeMyths #MaternalHealth #BreastfeedingSupport #BodyImage #TurkishStudy #HealthPsychology
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Breast size dissatisfaction does not lower a mother’s confidence in breastfeeding
Many women experience dissatisfaction with their breast size, but these aesthetic concerns do not appear to lower their confidence in their ability to breastfeed. A study of pregnant women in Türkiye found no link between breast size dissatisfaction and prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy. The findings were published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
Breasts are heavily scrutinized under cultural and societal beauty standards. Globally, up to 70 percent of women report wanting a different breast size than the one they have. This widespread dissatisfaction often negatively affects self-esteem and mental well-being. The pressure to conform to an idealized body shape can cause localized appearance anxiety.
Researchers wanted to understand if these appearance anxieties spill over into biological and maternal functions, specifically breastfeeding. Past research in various countries has shown that having a generally positive body image is linked to higher confidence in breastfeeding. A positive view of the body often translates to a stronger belief in the body’s physical capabilities.
However, specific anxieties about breast size are less understood. Misconceptions persist worldwide that smaller breasts cannot produce enough milk or that larger breasts are inherently better for feeding infants. These myths can erode a mother’s confidence before the baby is even born.
In psychological terms, this confidence is known as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in their own ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. High prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy is a strong predictor of actual breastfeeding initiation and duration after birth.
To investigate this localized body anxiety, nursing researchers Kıymet Yeşilçiçek Çalık and Ebru Küçük Erdöl at Karadeniz Technical University, along with Hatice İkra Şan at Ankara Etlik City Hospital, evaluated maternal perceptions in Türkiye. In Turkish culture, breastfeeding is highly valued and viewed as a fundamental duty of motherhood. The researchers sought to find out whether a mother’s subjective dissatisfaction with her pre-pregnancy breast size might act as a psychological barrier to her self-efficacy.
The researchers recruited 518 pregnant women from the antenatal clinics of a university hospital. The participants were between 28 and 42 weeks of gestation. The women were experiencing uncomplicated, single-infant pregnancies. The average age of the participants was nearly 31 years old.
During private face-to-face interviews, researchers asked the women to provide demographic information and details about their pregnancy history. Just under half of the participants were experiencing their first pregnancy. The researchers also asked the participants if they believed breast size affects breastfeeding success or milk production.
To measure body dissatisfaction, the researchers used a visual rating tool consisting of 14 computer-generated images of women. These images featured progressively increasing breast sizes but lacked facial features to prevent bias. Participants selected the image that best matched their current size and the image that represented their ideal size. The numerical difference between these two selections represented their level of dissatisfaction.
Next, the researchers measured breastfeeding self-efficacy using a 20-item questionnaire. This tool asked participants to rate how confident they felt about various aspects of breastfeeding on a scale from one to five. A higher total score indicated greater confidence.
The results showed a high level of dissatisfaction among the participants. More than 65 percent of the women were dissatisfied with their breast size. The most common desire was for a smaller size, which accounted for nearly 49 percent of the total group. Only about 17 percent of the women wished for larger breasts.
Despite this widespread dissatisfaction, the women displayed high levels of confidence in their ability to breastfeed. More than 80 percent of the participants stated that they did not believe breast size affects breastfeeding success. Additionally, 86.5 percent did not associate breast size with milk production.
When the researchers analyzed the data, they found that the results were not statistically significant regarding a link between breast size dissatisfaction and breastfeeding self-efficacy. In other words, feeling unhappy with the aesthetic appearance of their breasts did not correspond to lower confidence in their functional ability to nourish a child.
This lack of association remained true even after the researchers adjusted the statistical models to account for women who had previous breastfeeding experience. The data suggest that in certain contexts, women mentally separate their feelings about how their body looks from their belief in what their body can do.
The authors propose that the transition to motherhood might prompt a cognitive shift. In societies where the maternal role is deeply revered, the functional utility of the breast as a feeding organ appears to take priority over its form. Appearance anxieties simply do not translate into a lack of health confidence for these mothers.
The study relied entirely on self-reported questionnaires, which can introduce bias if participants provide answers they feel are socially acceptable. The cross-sectional design of the study also captures only a single moment in time during pregnancy. This prevents researchers from observing how maternal confidence might shift after the baby is born.
The research was conducted at a single hospital in Türkiye, which limits how the findings might apply to other cultural settings. The specific sociocultural environment, where maternal identity is highly salient, likely plays a protective role against aesthetic anxieties.
The participants also reported very high baseline confidence in breastfeeding overall. This high overall self-efficacy might buffer the subtle effects of localized body dissatisfaction. A population with lower baseline confidence might show different results.
Future investigations will need to track women longitudinally from early pregnancy through the postpartum period. Researchers suggest that educational programs focusing on the biological utility of the body, rather than its appearance, could help dismantle lingering myths about breast size and milk production for those who still hold them.
The study, “The Association Between Pre-Pregnancy Breast size dissatisfaction and prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy: A correlational study,” was authored by Kıymet Yeşilçiçek Çalık, Ebru Küçük Erdöl, and Hatice İkra Şan.
-------------------------------------------------
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BreastSizeDissatisfaction #BreastfeedingConfidence #PrenatalBreastfeeding #SelfEfficacy #BreastSizeMyths #MaternalHealth #BreastfeedingSupport #BodyImage #TurkishStudy #HealthPsychology
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 05:35AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: White House Scrubs Gender-Based Bullying From Civil Rights Survey
Source: PBS News Hour
The Trump administration this week quietly released an update to a major survey on civil rights in schools that removed all data related to nonbinary students or bullying based on gender identity. The numbers come from the Education Department's Civil Rights Data Collection, a survey of nearly every public school in the nation. The release this week covers the 2023-2024, when the survey included "nonbinary" as a gender category alongside male...
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CivilRightsData #EducationDepartment #Nonbinary #GenderIdentity #BullyingPrevention #CRDC #SchoolSafety #PublicSchools #PolicyUpdate #LGBTQSupport
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 05:35AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: White House Scrubs Gender-Based Bullying From Civil Rights Survey
Source: PBS News Hour
The Trump administration this week quietly released an update to a major survey on civil rights in schools that removed all data related to nonbinary students or bullying based on gender identity. The numbers come from the Education Department's Civil Rights Data Collection, a survey of nearly every public school in the nation. The release this week covers the 2023-2024, when the survey included "nonbinary" as a gender category alongside male...
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CivilRightsData #EducationDepartment #Nonbinary #GenderIdentity #BullyingPrevention #CRDC #SchoolSafety #PublicSchools #PolicyUpdate #LGBTQSupport
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 05:35AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: White House Scrubs Gender-Based Bullying From Civil Rights Survey
Source: PBS News Hour
The Trump administration this week quietly released an update to a major survey on civil rights in schools that removed all data related to nonbinary students or bullying based on gender identity. The numbers come from the Education Department's Civil Rights Data Collection, a survey of nearly every public school in the nation. The release this week covers the 2023-2024, when the survey included "nonbinary" as a gender category alongside male...
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CivilRightsData #EducationDepartment #Nonbinary #GenderIdentity #BullyingPrevention #CRDC #SchoolSafety #PublicSchools #PolicyUpdate #LGBTQSupport
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 03:40AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: Jamaica to File Slavery Reparations Petition During UK Visit
Source: Al Jazeera
A Jamaican delegation to the UK has said it will petition King Charles III to seek legal guidance on the question of slavery reparations. This is the first time a British Commonwealth state will use this legal route "for the cause of reparatory justice," the delegation said, as the visit to London begins Monday. Jamaican officials added that they will also meet with the British Museum to discuss "the repatriation of cultural artifacts taken from...
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 05:30AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: How AI Is Reshaping the U.S. Open for Players and Fans
Source: CBS News - U.S. News
Seeing fans with their phones out during a tennis match would've been a strange sight even a decade ago. But at the U.S. Open this year, the digital world has become intertwined with the game as live AI insights analyze the match. On Tuesday, when Coco Gauff faced off against Zeynep Sönmez of Turkey, AI-generated analyses trickled in through the U.S. Open app, tracking key moments, each player's likelihood to win, and a new metric called "serve...
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 03:40AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: Jamaica to File Slavery Reparations Petition During UK Visit
Source: Al Jazeera
A Jamaican delegation to the UK has said it will petition King Charles III to seek legal guidance on the question of slavery reparations. This is the first time a British Commonwealth state will use this legal route "for the cause of reparatory justice," the delegation said, as the visit to London begins Monday. Jamaican officials added that they will also meet with the British Museum to discuss "the repatriation of cultural artifacts taken from...
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 05:30AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: How AI Is Reshaping the U.S. Open for Players and Fans
Source: CBS News - U.S. News
Seeing fans with their phones out during a tennis match would've been a strange sight even a decade ago. But at the U.S. Open this year, the digital world has become intertwined with the game as live AI insights analyze the match. On Tuesday, when Coco Gauff faced off against Zeynep Sönmez of Turkey, AI-generated analyses trickled in through the U.S. Open app, tracking key moments, each player's likelihood to win, and a new metric called "serve...
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 03:40AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: Jamaica to File Slavery Reparations Petition During UK Visit
Source: Al Jazeera
A Jamaican delegation to the UK has said it will petition King Charles III to seek legal guidance on the question of slavery reparations. This is the first time a British Commonwealth state will use this legal route "for the cause of reparatory justice," the delegation said, as the visit to London begins Monday. Jamaican officials added that they will also meet with the British Museum to discuss "the repatriation of cultural artifacts taken from...
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 05:30AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: How AI Is Reshaping the U.S. Open for Players and Fans
Source: CBS News - U.S. News
Seeing fans with their phones out during a tennis match would've been a strange sight even a decade ago. But at the U.S. Open this year, the digital world has become intertwined with the game as live AI insights analyze the match. On Tuesday, when Coco Gauff faced off against Zeynep Sönmez of Turkey, AI-generated analyses trickled in through the U.S. Open app, tracking key moments, each player's likelihood to win, and a new metric called "serve...
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 03:40AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: War Criminal Ratko Mladic Buried with Military Honors in Serbia
Source: DW- top stories
Several thousand people lined the streets of Belgrade on Monday to follow the funeral service and burial of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic. Earlier in the day, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije personally officiated at the funeral service for the former general, who died while serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes committed during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 03:40AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: War Criminal Ratko Mladic Buried with Military Honors in Serbia
Source: DW- top stories
Several thousand people lined the streets of Belgrade on Monday to follow the funeral service and burial of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic. Earlier in the day, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije personally officiated at the funeral service for the former general, who died while serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes committed during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 03:40AM
SOURCE: SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY.ORGTITLE: War Criminal Ratko Mladic Buried with Military Honors in Serbia
Source: DW- top stories
Several thousand people lined the streets of Belgrade on Monday to follow the funeral service and burial of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic. Earlier in the day, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije personally officiated at the funeral service for the former general, who died while serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes committed during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Researchers find AI spontaneously develops a sense of facial beauty without training
Artificial intelligence models can spontaneously develop an ability to recognize human facial beauty without any prior training or exposure to human preferences. A recent study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts suggests that this aesthetic sense emerges naturally from the way computer networks process basic visual information. The research hints that human aesthetic preferences might also have an innate origin rooted in our basic sensory wiring.
For centuries, philosophers and scientists have debated whether humans are born with an innate sense of beauty or if aesthetic preferences are learned through cultural exposure. In human infants and nonhuman primates, researchers have observed a natural preference for faces that adults deem attractive. It remains difficult to determine whether this preference is hardwired into the brain before birth or acquired rapidly through early visual experiences.
Deep neural networks, a type of artificial intelligence designed to mimic the human brain’s visual processing pathways, offer a way to test this question. In an untrained state, these networks contain randomized connections and have no prior visual experience or knowledge of human preferences. If an untrained network can detect beauty, it suggests the ability is a byproduct of basic structural encoding rather than a learned behavior.
Researchers Tianxin Shu and Delong Zhang from South China Normal University, along with their colleagues, designed an experiment to explore this phenomenon. They aimed to see if artificial neural units would naturally respond to varying degrees of facial beauty. The research team focused on understanding how simple sensory properties might inherently shape aesthetic perception.
The researchers first generated a dataset of human faces using a specialized artificial intelligence program capable of producing highly realistic images. They manipulated the underlying code of these artificial faces to create different levels of beauty. A small group of human volunteers assessed the images to ensure they still looked like natural human faces.
This process yielded more than 10,000 facial images with distinctly graded aesthetic values. The researchers fed these images into an untrained version of a deep neural network called AlexNet. This network consists of multiple layers of artificial neurons that process visual information, starting with simple edges and moving to whole objects.
Because the network was untrained, its internal weights, which are the mathematical rules determining how neurons interact, were completely random. The researchers analyzed the responses of artificial neurons in the network’s final visual processing layer. They discovered that specific neural units spontaneously began responding selectively to different levels of facial beauty.
These “beauty-selective units” appeared consistently, regardless of the face’s orientation or the specific random initialization of the network. To understand how the network processed this information, the researchers altered the facial images. They applied random scrambling, which disrupted the overall shape of the face but kept local details intact.
They also utilized a different type of scrambling that preserved the general spatial arrangement but obscured fine details. Additionally, they tested images reduced entirely to their simple outlines. The team found that both the specific facial features and the spatial arrangement of those features were necessary for the network to evaluate beauty.
In psychological research, this is known as dual-code theory. This theory suggests that humans rely on both the detailed traits of a face and its broader geometric layout to recognize it. The neural network processed this visual information hierarchically, much like the human visual system.
The network’s earlier layers handled simple geometric features and local details. The later layers then integrated this fragmented data into a complete representation of facial beauty. The research team then tested whether these beauty-selective units could actively compare faces.
They trained a simple sorting algorithm to use the responses from these specific units to judge which of two faces was more attractive. The beauty-selective units successfully differentiated between varying levels of beauty. They performed better than units that simply processed raw image pixels.
The accuracy of these units increased as the difference in beauty between the two faces grew larger. Next, the scientists investigated how the final layer of the network arrived at its beauty preferences. They tracked the activity of units in the earlier layers of the network.
They identified specific neurons that responded to beauty on a sliding scale. The activity of these units steadily increased or steadily decreased as the faces became more attractive. The researchers mapped how these earlier units connected to the final beauty-selective units.
They found that the network constructed its sense of beauty by combining the inputs from these earlier, simpler neurons. Units that preferred highly attractive faces received stronger signals from neurons that increased their activity in response to beauty. Finally, to ensure their results were not unique to one specific network or dataset, the researchers repeated their experiments.
They used a different neural network architecture, known as VGG-16, and again found that beauty-selective units emerged spontaneously. They also tested the network using a database of 200 real human faces spanning different racial backgrounds. The beauty-selective units successfully evaluated the attractiveness of these natural faces.
This outcome proved their ability generalized beyond artificial images. While these findings offer an intriguing look at artificial cognition, a network’s sense of beauty is not identical to human aesthetic appreciation. The study focused on a mathematical abstraction of facial structure rather than the subjective emotional experience humans associate with beauty.
A generalized visual preference for symmetrical or average features does not equate to the rich psychological experience of finding someone beautiful. The artificial faces used in the primary experiments were heavily standardized, minimizing variations in lighting, background, and hairstyle. Real-world aesthetic judgments involve highly variable environments and subjective personal preferences that these models cannot capture.
The current algorithm also primarily evaluated a single baseline standard of beauty. Future research could explore how untrained networks respond to other aesthetic categories, such as natural landscapes, architecture, or fine art. Expanding the criteria for beauty could help scientists determine if this inherent perceptual bias applies to all visual structures or just human faces.
The study, “The Spontaneous Emergence of “A Sense of Beauty ” in Untrained Deep Neural Networks,” was authored by Tianxin Shu, Huawei Xu, Xingxing Chen, Yuxuan Cai, Ming Liu, and Delong Zhang.
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Researchers find AI spontaneously develops a sense of facial beauty without training
Artificial intelligence models can spontaneously develop an ability to recognize human facial beauty without any prior training or exposure to human preferences. A recent study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts suggests that this aesthetic sense emerges naturally from the way computer networks process basic visual information. The research hints that human aesthetic preferences might also have an innate origin rooted in our basic sensory wiring.
For centuries, philosophers and scientists have debated whether humans are born with an innate sense of beauty or if aesthetic preferences are learned through cultural exposure. In human infants and nonhuman primates, researchers have observed a natural preference for faces that adults deem attractive. It remains difficult to determine whether this preference is hardwired into the brain before birth or acquired rapidly through early visual experiences.
Deep neural networks, a type of artificial intelligence designed to mimic the human brain’s visual processing pathways, offer a way to test this question. In an untrained state, these networks contain randomized connections and have no prior visual experience or knowledge of human preferences. If an untrained network can detect beauty, it suggests the ability is a byproduct of basic structural encoding rather than a learned behavior.
Researchers Tianxin Shu and Delong Zhang from South China Normal University, along with their colleagues, designed an experiment to explore this phenomenon. They aimed to see if artificial neural units would naturally respond to varying degrees of facial beauty. The research team focused on understanding how simple sensory properties might inherently shape aesthetic perception.
The researchers first generated a dataset of human faces using a specialized artificial intelligence program capable of producing highly realistic images. They manipulated the underlying code of these artificial faces to create different levels of beauty. A small group of human volunteers assessed the images to ensure they still looked like natural human faces.
This process yielded more than 10,000 facial images with distinctly graded aesthetic values. The researchers fed these images into an untrained version of a deep neural network called AlexNet. This network consists of multiple layers of artificial neurons that process visual information, starting with simple edges and moving to whole objects.
Because the network was untrained, its internal weights, which are the mathematical rules determining how neurons interact, were completely random. The researchers analyzed the responses of artificial neurons in the network’s final visual processing layer. They discovered that specific neural units spontaneously began responding selectively to different levels of facial beauty.
These “beauty-selective units” appeared consistently, regardless of the face’s orientation or the specific random initialization of the network. To understand how the network processed this information, the researchers altered the facial images. They applied random scrambling, which disrupted the overall shape of the face but kept local details intact.
They also utilized a different type of scrambling that preserved the general spatial arrangement but obscured fine details. Additionally, they tested images reduced entirely to their simple outlines. The team found that both the specific facial features and the spatial arrangement of those features were necessary for the network to evaluate beauty.
In psychological research, this is known as dual-code theory. This theory suggests that humans rely on both the detailed traits of a face and its broader geometric layout to recognize it. The neural network processed this visual information hierarchically, much like the human visual system.
The network’s earlier layers handled simple geometric features and local details. The later layers then integrated this fragmented data into a complete representation of facial beauty. The research team then tested whether these beauty-selective units could actively compare faces.
They trained a simple sorting algorithm to use the responses from these specific units to judge which of two faces was more attractive. The beauty-selective units successfully differentiated between varying levels of beauty. They performed better than units that simply processed raw image pixels.
The accuracy of these units increased as the difference in beauty between the two faces grew larger. Next, the scientists investigated how the final layer of the network arrived at its beauty preferences. They tracked the activity of units in the earlier layers of the network.
They identified specific neurons that responded to beauty on a sliding scale. The activity of these units steadily increased or steadily decreased as the faces became more attractive. The researchers mapped how these earlier units connected to the final beauty-selective units.
They found that the network constructed its sense of beauty by combining the inputs from these earlier, simpler neurons. Units that preferred highly attractive faces received stronger signals from neurons that increased their activity in response to beauty. Finally, to ensure their results were not unique to one specific network or dataset, the researchers repeated their experiments.
They used a different neural network architecture, known as VGG-16, and again found that beauty-selective units emerged spontaneously. They also tested the network using a database of 200 real human faces spanning different racial backgrounds. The beauty-selective units successfully evaluated the attractiveness of these natural faces.
This outcome proved their ability generalized beyond artificial images. While these findings offer an intriguing look at artificial cognition, a network’s sense of beauty is not identical to human aesthetic appreciation. The study focused on a mathematical abstraction of facial structure rather than the subjective emotional experience humans associate with beauty.
A generalized visual preference for symmetrical or average features does not equate to the rich psychological experience of finding someone beautiful. The artificial faces used in the primary experiments were heavily standardized, minimizing variations in lighting, background, and hairstyle. Real-world aesthetic judgments involve highly variable environments and subjective personal preferences that these models cannot capture.
The current algorithm also primarily evaluated a single baseline standard of beauty. Future research could explore how untrained networks respond to other aesthetic categories, such as natural landscapes, architecture, or fine art. Expanding the criteria for beauty could help scientists determine if this inherent perceptual bias applies to all visual structures or just human faces.
The study, “The Spontaneous Emergence of “A Sense of Beauty ” in Untrained Deep Neural Networks,” was authored by Tianxin Shu, Huawei Xu, Xingxing Chen, Yuxuan Cai, Ming Liu, and Delong Zhang.
-------------------------------------------------
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AIbeauty #facialaesthetics #untrainedneuralnetworks #deeplearning #AlexNet #VGG16 #beautyselection #neuroscienceofaesthetics #dualcodetheory #facerecognition
-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Researchers find AI spontaneously develops a sense of facial beauty without training
Artificial intelligence models can spontaneously develop an ability to recognize human facial beauty without any prior training or exposure to human preferences. A recent study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts suggests that this aesthetic sense emerges naturally from the way computer networks process basic visual information. The research hints that human aesthetic preferences might also have an innate origin rooted in our basic sensory wiring.
For centuries, philosophers and scientists have debated whether humans are born with an innate sense of beauty or if aesthetic preferences are learned through cultural exposure. In human infants and nonhuman primates, researchers have observed a natural preference for faces that adults deem attractive. It remains difficult to determine whether this preference is hardwired into the brain before birth or acquired rapidly through early visual experiences.
Deep neural networks, a type of artificial intelligence designed to mimic the human brain’s visual processing pathways, offer a way to test this question. In an untrained state, these networks contain randomized connections and have no prior visual experience or knowledge of human preferences. If an untrained network can detect beauty, it suggests the ability is a byproduct of basic structural encoding rather than a learned behavior.
Researchers Tianxin Shu and Delong Zhang from South China Normal University, along with their colleagues, designed an experiment to explore this phenomenon. They aimed to see if artificial neural units would naturally respond to varying degrees of facial beauty. The research team focused on understanding how simple sensory properties might inherently shape aesthetic perception.
The researchers first generated a dataset of human faces using a specialized artificial intelligence program capable of producing highly realistic images. They manipulated the underlying code of these artificial faces to create different levels of beauty. A small group of human volunteers assessed the images to ensure they still looked like natural human faces.
This process yielded more than 10,000 facial images with distinctly graded aesthetic values. The researchers fed these images into an untrained version of a deep neural network called AlexNet. This network consists of multiple layers of artificial neurons that process visual information, starting with simple edges and moving to whole objects.
Because the network was untrained, its internal weights, which are the mathematical rules determining how neurons interact, were completely random. The researchers analyzed the responses of artificial neurons in the network’s final visual processing layer. They discovered that specific neural units spontaneously began responding selectively to different levels of facial beauty.
These “beauty-selective units” appeared consistently, regardless of the face’s orientation or the specific random initialization of the network. To understand how the network processed this information, the researchers altered the facial images. They applied random scrambling, which disrupted the overall shape of the face but kept local details intact.
They also utilized a different type of scrambling that preserved the general spatial arrangement but obscured fine details. Additionally, they tested images reduced entirely to their simple outlines. The team found that both the specific facial features and the spatial arrangement of those features were necessary for the network to evaluate beauty.
In psychological research, this is known as dual-code theory. This theory suggests that humans rely on both the detailed traits of a face and its broader geometric layout to recognize it. The neural network processed this visual information hierarchically, much like the human visual system.
The network’s earlier layers handled simple geometric features and local details. The later layers then integrated this fragmented data into a complete representation of facial beauty. The research team then tested whether these beauty-selective units could actively compare faces.
They trained a simple sorting algorithm to use the responses from these specific units to judge which of two faces was more attractive. The beauty-selective units successfully differentiated between varying levels of beauty. They performed better than units that simply processed raw image pixels.
The accuracy of these units increased as the difference in beauty between the two faces grew larger. Next, the scientists investigated how the final layer of the network arrived at its beauty preferences. They tracked the activity of units in the earlier layers of the network.
They identified specific neurons that responded to beauty on a sliding scale. The activity of these units steadily increased or steadily decreased as the faces became more attractive. The researchers mapped how these earlier units connected to the final beauty-selective units.
They found that the network constructed its sense of beauty by combining the inputs from these earlier, simpler neurons. Units that preferred highly attractive faces received stronger signals from neurons that increased their activity in response to beauty. Finally, to ensure their results were not unique to one specific network or dataset, the researchers repeated their experiments.
They used a different neural network architecture, known as VGG-16, and again found that beauty-selective units emerged spontaneously. They also tested the network using a database of 200 real human faces spanning different racial backgrounds. The beauty-selective units successfully evaluated the attractiveness of these natural faces.
This outcome proved their ability generalized beyond artificial images. While these findings offer an intriguing look at artificial cognition, a network’s sense of beauty is not identical to human aesthetic appreciation. The study focused on a mathematical abstraction of facial structure rather than the subjective emotional experience humans associate with beauty.
A generalized visual preference for symmetrical or average features does not equate to the rich psychological experience of finding someone beautiful. The artificial faces used in the primary experiments were heavily standardized, minimizing variations in lighting, background, and hairstyle. Real-world aesthetic judgments involve highly variable environments and subjective personal preferences that these models cannot capture.
The current algorithm also primarily evaluated a single baseline standard of beauty. Future research could explore how untrained networks respond to other aesthetic categories, such as natural landscapes, architecture, or fine art. Expanding the criteria for beauty could help scientists determine if this inherent perceptual bias applies to all visual structures or just human faces.
The study, “The Spontaneous Emergence of “A Sense of Beauty ” in Untrained Deep Neural Networks,” was authored by Tianxin Shu, Huawei Xu, Xingxing Chen, Yuxuan Cai, Ming Liu, and Delong Zhang.
-------------------------------------------------
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AIbeauty #facialaesthetics #untrainedneuralnetworks #deeplearning #AlexNet #VGG16 #beautyselection #neuroscienceofaesthetics #dualcodetheory #facerecognition
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: More time spent playing video games is linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in adolescents
Adolescents who spend more time playing video games tend to show differences in the outer layer of their brains, such as a thinner cortex and smaller surface area. The research, published in NeuroImage, provides a nuanced look at how solo play, social play, and mature content each relate to adolescent brain structure.
The cerebral cortex is the wrinkled outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level processes like thinking, memory, emotion, and language. Researchers often measure its structure in two ways: cortical thickness, which is the depth of this tissue, and surface area, which represents how much space the folds cover. During early adolescence, the brain undergoes a natural remodeling process where the cortex typically thins out as brain circuits become more efficient.
Past research on how video games interact with this brain development has painted an inconsistent picture. For instance, an earlier study of 14-year-olds found that more gaming was linked to thicker frontal brain regions.
As highlighted in a 2019 review, this area of study has been complicated by conflicting findings and small groups of participants. These early studies struggled to determine whether gaming consistently expands or reduces certain brain regions in teenagers. To address these gaps, scientists have begun using massive national datasets to better understand how specific digital habits interact with the developing brain.
The new study was led by Jason M. Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and a principal investigator at the Nagata Lab. The research team aimed to clarify these structural brain links by examining a large, diverse group of young people.
“Video gaming is a major part of adolescents’ daily lives, but we still know relatively little about how it relates to brain development,” Nagata told PsyPost. “We wanted to examine these associations in a large, diverse sample and also look beyond total gaming time to whether adolescents played single-player, multiplayer, or mature-rated games.”
The researchers analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large, ongoing project tracking youth health and brain development in the United States. For this analysis, the team looked at information from 5,686 adolescents who were around 14 years old on average. Participants completed surveys detailing how much time they spent playing single-player and multi-player video games on a typical weekday and weekend.
They also reported how often they played mature-rated games, which often feature violence or strong language. On average, the teens reported playing video games for about 3.1 hours per day, and about 81% reported playing at least some video games. To evaluate brain structure, the adolescents underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans. These scans provided precise measurements of cortical thickness and surface area across various regions of the brain.
The analysis indicated that higher total time spent playing video games was associated with both a thinner cortex and a smaller cortical surface area in several regions of the brain. These differences were spread across the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes. The researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for factors like age, sex, genetic ancestry, household income, body weight, and non-gaming screen time, suggesting the link is specific to gaming behavior.
“Greater time spent gaming was associated with small but widespread differences in brain structure, including lower cortical surface area and thickness across several regions,” Nagata noted.
When breaking down the type of play, the team found that single-player gaming was linked to a lower surface area in regions of the brain involved in language processing, social cognition, and emotional regulation. Multi-player gaming, on the other hand, did not show statistical associations with differences in cortical structure. The content of the games also seemed to matter, as adolescents who more frequently played mature-rated games tended to have a thinner cortex in networks supporting attention and the processing of social and emotional cues.
“It was interesting that single-player and multiplayer gaming showed different patterns,” Nagata said. “Single-player gaming was associated with differences in several regions involved in language processing and social cognition, whereas multiplayer gaming was not significantly associated with cortical morphology after correcting for multiple comparisons.”
“This suggests that how adolescents game may matter in addition to how much they game,” the researcher added.
These findings align with research covered by PsyPost earlier this year, which found that higher average daily social media use was linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in young adolescents. Both studies suggest that high levels of digital media engagement relate to structural brain differences in this age group, though the specific activities differ.
There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these results. The study relies on a single point in time, meaning it is impossible to determine whether video gaming causes these brain differences or if adolescents with certain brain structures are simply more drawn to gaming.
“Because this was a cross-sectional study, we cannot determine whether gaming contributed to differences in brain structure or whether adolescents with pre-existing differences were more likely to engage in particular gaming behaviors,” Nagata explained.
The data on video game habits was based on self-reported estimates, which can sometimes be inaccurate as people tend to misjudge the exact hours they spend on screens. The researchers also did not assess the specific genres of the games being played, such as fast-paced action games versus strategic puzzle games, which might engage the brain in entirely different ways.
The authors note that a thinning cortex is a normal part of adolescent brain development. The observed differences were relatively small in magnitude, and long-term studies will be needed to see if these patterns represent a harmless variation in normal growth or something that affects cognitive health over time.
“These findings do not mean that video games necessarily damage adolescents’ brains,” Nagata said. “Lower cortical thickness or surface area also should not automatically be interpreted as harmful, since these measures can normally decrease during adolescent development.”
To build on these findings, the team plans to track the same participants as they grow older. “We would like to use longitudinal data to better understand the direction of these associations,” Nagata said. “Future studies should also examine more detailed aspects of gaming, including specific genres and content, social versus solitary gaming, and problematic gaming behaviors.”
“One important message is that not all gaming is necessarily the same,” he concluded. “Future research and guidance may need to consider not only how much adolescents game, but also what they play and the social context in which they play.”
The study, “Associations Between Video Gaming Behaviors and Cortical Morphology in Adolescents,” was authored by Jason M. Nagata, Kevin Bao, Kevin Handoko, Stuart B. Murray, Kristen E. Kim, Pierre Nedelec, Eva Muller-Oehring, Aaron Scheffler, Leana E. King, Andreas M. Rauschecker, and Fiona C. Baker.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #VideoGamingAndBrainDevelopment #AdolescentBrains #CorticalMorphology #CerebralCortex #NeuroImageStudy #SinglePlayerVsMultiplayer #MatureRatedGames #BrainStructure #AdolescentNeuroscience #GamingHabits
-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: More time spent playing video games is linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in adolescents
Adolescents who spend more time playing video games tend to show differences in the outer layer of their brains, such as a thinner cortex and smaller surface area. The research, published in NeuroImage, provides a nuanced look at how solo play, social play, and mature content each relate to adolescent brain structure.
The cerebral cortex is the wrinkled outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level processes like thinking, memory, emotion, and language. Researchers often measure its structure in two ways: cortical thickness, which is the depth of this tissue, and surface area, which represents how much space the folds cover. During early adolescence, the brain undergoes a natural remodeling process where the cortex typically thins out as brain circuits become more efficient.
Past research on how video games interact with this brain development has painted an inconsistent picture. For instance, an earlier study of 14-year-olds found that more gaming was linked to thicker frontal brain regions.
As highlighted in a 2019 review, this area of study has been complicated by conflicting findings and small groups of participants. These early studies struggled to determine whether gaming consistently expands or reduces certain brain regions in teenagers. To address these gaps, scientists have begun using massive national datasets to better understand how specific digital habits interact with the developing brain.
The new study was led by Jason M. Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and a principal investigator at the Nagata Lab. The research team aimed to clarify these structural brain links by examining a large, diverse group of young people.
“Video gaming is a major part of adolescents’ daily lives, but we still know relatively little about how it relates to brain development,” Nagata told PsyPost. “We wanted to examine these associations in a large, diverse sample and also look beyond total gaming time to whether adolescents played single-player, multiplayer, or mature-rated games.”
The researchers analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large, ongoing project tracking youth health and brain development in the United States. For this analysis, the team looked at information from 5,686 adolescents who were around 14 years old on average. Participants completed surveys detailing how much time they spent playing single-player and multi-player video games on a typical weekday and weekend.
They also reported how often they played mature-rated games, which often feature violence or strong language. On average, the teens reported playing video games for about 3.1 hours per day, and about 81% reported playing at least some video games. To evaluate brain structure, the adolescents underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans. These scans provided precise measurements of cortical thickness and surface area across various regions of the brain.
The analysis indicated that higher total time spent playing video games was associated with both a thinner cortex and a smaller cortical surface area in several regions of the brain. These differences were spread across the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes. The researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for factors like age, sex, genetic ancestry, household income, body weight, and non-gaming screen time, suggesting the link is specific to gaming behavior.
“Greater time spent gaming was associated with small but widespread differences in brain structure, including lower cortical surface area and thickness across several regions,” Nagata noted.
When breaking down the type of play, the team found that single-player gaming was linked to a lower surface area in regions of the brain involved in language processing, social cognition, and emotional regulation. Multi-player gaming, on the other hand, did not show statistical associations with differences in cortical structure. The content of the games also seemed to matter, as adolescents who more frequently played mature-rated games tended to have a thinner cortex in networks supporting attention and the processing of social and emotional cues.
“It was interesting that single-player and multiplayer gaming showed different patterns,” Nagata said. “Single-player gaming was associated with differences in several regions involved in language processing and social cognition, whereas multiplayer gaming was not significantly associated with cortical morphology after correcting for multiple comparisons.”
“This suggests that how adolescents game may matter in addition to how much they game,” the researcher added.
These findings align with research covered by PsyPost earlier this year, which found that higher average daily social media use was linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in young adolescents. Both studies suggest that high levels of digital media engagement relate to structural brain differences in this age group, though the specific activities differ.
There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these results. The study relies on a single point in time, meaning it is impossible to determine whether video gaming causes these brain differences or if adolescents with certain brain structures are simply more drawn to gaming.
“Because this was a cross-sectional study, we cannot determine whether gaming contributed to differences in brain structure or whether adolescents with pre-existing differences were more likely to engage in particular gaming behaviors,” Nagata explained.
The data on video game habits was based on self-reported estimates, which can sometimes be inaccurate as people tend to misjudge the exact hours they spend on screens. The researchers also did not assess the specific genres of the games being played, such as fast-paced action games versus strategic puzzle games, which might engage the brain in entirely different ways.
The authors note that a thinning cortex is a normal part of adolescent brain development. The observed differences were relatively small in magnitude, and long-term studies will be needed to see if these patterns represent a harmless variation in normal growth or something that affects cognitive health over time.
“These findings do not mean that video games necessarily damage adolescents’ brains,” Nagata said. “Lower cortical thickness or surface area also should not automatically be interpreted as harmful, since these measures can normally decrease during adolescent development.”
To build on these findings, the team plans to track the same participants as they grow older. “We would like to use longitudinal data to better understand the direction of these associations,” Nagata said. “Future studies should also examine more detailed aspects of gaming, including specific genres and content, social versus solitary gaming, and problematic gaming behaviors.”
“One important message is that not all gaming is necessarily the same,” he concluded. “Future research and guidance may need to consider not only how much adolescents game, but also what they play and the social context in which they play.”
The study, “Associations Between Video Gaming Behaviors and Cortical Morphology in Adolescents,” was authored by Jason M. Nagata, Kevin Bao, Kevin Handoko, Stuart B. Murray, Kristen E. Kim, Pierre Nedelec, Eva Muller-Oehring, Aaron Scheffler, Leana E. King, Andreas M. Rauschecker, and Fiona C. Baker.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #VideoGamingAndBrainDevelopment #AdolescentBrains #CorticalMorphology #CerebralCortex #NeuroImageStudy #SinglePlayerVsMultiplayer #MatureRatedGames #BrainStructure #AdolescentNeuroscience #GamingHabits
-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: More time spent playing video games is linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in adolescents
Adolescents who spend more time playing video games tend to show differences in the outer layer of their brains, such as a thinner cortex and smaller surface area. The research, published in NeuroImage, provides a nuanced look at how solo play, social play, and mature content each relate to adolescent brain structure.
The cerebral cortex is the wrinkled outer layer of the brain responsible for higher-level processes like thinking, memory, emotion, and language. Researchers often measure its structure in two ways: cortical thickness, which is the depth of this tissue, and surface area, which represents how much space the folds cover. During early adolescence, the brain undergoes a natural remodeling process where the cortex typically thins out as brain circuits become more efficient.
Past research on how video games interact with this brain development has painted an inconsistent picture. For instance, an earlier study of 14-year-olds found that more gaming was linked to thicker frontal brain regions.
As highlighted in a 2019 review, this area of study has been complicated by conflicting findings and small groups of participants. These early studies struggled to determine whether gaming consistently expands or reduces certain brain regions in teenagers. To address these gaps, scientists have begun using massive national datasets to better understand how specific digital habits interact with the developing brain.
The new study was led by Jason M. Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and a principal investigator at the Nagata Lab. The research team aimed to clarify these structural brain links by examining a large, diverse group of young people.
“Video gaming is a major part of adolescents’ daily lives, but we still know relatively little about how it relates to brain development,” Nagata told PsyPost. “We wanted to examine these associations in a large, diverse sample and also look beyond total gaming time to whether adolescents played single-player, multiplayer, or mature-rated games.”
The researchers analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large, ongoing project tracking youth health and brain development in the United States. For this analysis, the team looked at information from 5,686 adolescents who were around 14 years old on average. Participants completed surveys detailing how much time they spent playing single-player and multi-player video games on a typical weekday and weekend.
They also reported how often they played mature-rated games, which often feature violence or strong language. On average, the teens reported playing video games for about 3.1 hours per day, and about 81% reported playing at least some video games. To evaluate brain structure, the adolescents underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans. These scans provided precise measurements of cortical thickness and surface area across various regions of the brain.
The analysis indicated that higher total time spent playing video games was associated with both a thinner cortex and a smaller cortical surface area in several regions of the brain. These differences were spread across the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes. The researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for factors like age, sex, genetic ancestry, household income, body weight, and non-gaming screen time, suggesting the link is specific to gaming behavior.
“Greater time spent gaming was associated with small but widespread differences in brain structure, including lower cortical surface area and thickness across several regions,” Nagata noted.
When breaking down the type of play, the team found that single-player gaming was linked to a lower surface area in regions of the brain involved in language processing, social cognition, and emotional regulation. Multi-player gaming, on the other hand, did not show statistical associations with differences in cortical structure. The content of the games also seemed to matter, as adolescents who more frequently played mature-rated games tended to have a thinner cortex in networks supporting attention and the processing of social and emotional cues.
“It was interesting that single-player and multiplayer gaming showed different patterns,” Nagata said. “Single-player gaming was associated with differences in several regions involved in language processing and social cognition, whereas multiplayer gaming was not significantly associated with cortical morphology after correcting for multiple comparisons.”
“This suggests that how adolescents game may matter in addition to how much they game,” the researcher added.
These findings align with research covered by PsyPost earlier this year, which found that higher average daily social media use was linked to a thinner cerebral cortex in young adolescents. Both studies suggest that high levels of digital media engagement relate to structural brain differences in this age group, though the specific activities differ.
There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these results. The study relies on a single point in time, meaning it is impossible to determine whether video gaming causes these brain differences or if adolescents with certain brain structures are simply more drawn to gaming.
“Because this was a cross-sectional study, we cannot determine whether gaming contributed to differences in brain structure or whether adolescents with pre-existing differences were more likely to engage in particular gaming behaviors,” Nagata explained.
The data on video game habits was based on self-reported estimates, which can sometimes be inaccurate as people tend to misjudge the exact hours they spend on screens. The researchers also did not assess the specific genres of the games being played, such as fast-paced action games versus strategic puzzle games, which might engage the brain in entirely different ways.
The authors note that a thinning cortex is a normal part of adolescent brain development. The observed differences were relatively small in magnitude, and long-term studies will be needed to see if these patterns represent a harmless variation in normal growth or something that affects cognitive health over time.
“These findings do not mean that video games necessarily damage adolescents’ brains,” Nagata said. “Lower cortical thickness or surface area also should not automatically be interpreted as harmful, since these measures can normally decrease during adolescent development.”
To build on these findings, the team plans to track the same participants as they grow older. “We would like to use longitudinal data to better understand the direction of these associations,” Nagata said. “Future studies should also examine more detailed aspects of gaming, including specific genres and content, social versus solitary gaming, and problematic gaming behaviors.”
“One important message is that not all gaming is necessarily the same,” he concluded. “Future research and guidance may need to consider not only how much adolescents game, but also what they play and the social context in which they play.”
The study, “Associations Between Video Gaming Behaviors and Cortical Morphology in Adolescents,” was authored by Jason M. Nagata, Kevin Bao, Kevin Handoko, Stuart B. Murray, Kristen E. Kim, Pierre Nedelec, Eva Muller-Oehring, Aaron Scheffler, Leana E. King, Andreas M. Rauschecker, and Fiona C. Baker.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #VideoGamingAndBrainDevelopment #AdolescentBrains #CorticalMorphology #CerebralCortex #NeuroImageStudy #SinglePlayerVsMultiplayer #MatureRatedGames #BrainStructure #AdolescentNeuroscience #GamingHabits
-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cannabis use alters how the human brain processes nicotine, new research suggests
Recent non-daily use of cannabis might make the effects of nicotine feel more unpleasant at higher doses, without necessarily changing how often a person chooses to consume it. These findings help unravel the complex biological relationship between two commonly used substances and suggest that cannabis alters how the human body processes nicotine. The research was published in International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Cannabis and tobacco are frequently used together, and co-use is rising as legal cannabis markets expand and product varieties increase. Cannabis is a psychoactive plant containing compounds like delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Nicotine is the highly addictive chemical found in tobacco plants.
Studies show that combining these substances often makes it harder for people to quit. For example, a 2022 survey study found that people who increase their cannabis use have a harder time successfully quitting cigarette smoking. Animal research has hinted at the biology behind this, demonstrating that stimulating the brain’s cannabinoid receptors increases the motivation to seek out nicotine.
“Notably, cannabinoid and nicotinic receptors overlap in the brain circuits involved in reward and aversion, which in animal models helps explain the interaction between the two drugs,” Joao P. De Aquino, an assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Pain and Addiction Interaction Neuroscience (PAIN) Lab at the Yale University School of Medicine, told PsyPost.
In humans, the interaction appears a bit more complicated. A study covered by PsyPost in 2018 showed that a large dose of cannabidiol actually stopped the typical increase in attention to cigarette cues during nicotine withdrawal. Another human laboratory experiment tested how smoking cannabis right before a tobacco cigarette altered immediate sensations, finding it changed subjective feelings but did not alter actual smoking behavior.
Despite this knowledge, it remained unknown how cannabis exposure directly changes a person’s immediate physiological and subjective reactions to pure nicotine. Most studies on human smoking involve tobacco cigarettes, which contain thousands of other chemicals that can cloud the results.
“The human evidence has been limited and sometimes contradictory,” De Aquino explained. “One reason is methodological: cigarette smoke contains thousands of compounds besides nicotine, which makes it difficult to isolate what nicotine itself is doing.”
The research, conducted at the Yale University School of Medicine, aimed to answer this question by isolating nicotine from tobacco smoke entirely. Gabriel P. A. Costa led the analysis under the senior authorship of Mehmet Sofuoglu and De Aquino.
“We analyzed two previously completed randomized, double-blind studies in which nicotine was administered intravenously, which let us isolate nicotine’s effects and directly ask whether recent cannabis use was associated with differences in how people responded to nicotine,” De Aquino said. “That is part of why we think carefully controlled human laboratory datasets remain valuable well beyond the aims of the trials that produced them.”
To examine the pure effects of nicotine, the researchers pooled data from 60 adults who regularly smoke tobacco cigarettes. Half of the participants had recently used cannabis, which was confirmed by a positive urine test. The other half had not used cannabis in the past 30 days and tested negative.
The team used intravenous nicotine administration, delivering the substance directly into the bloodstream through a catheter in the participant’s arm. In separate laboratory sessions, participants received a placebo consisting of saltwater, a low dose of nicotine (0.1 milligrams per 70 kilograms of body weight), and a higher dose (0.2 milligrams). These doses were designed to mimic the amount of nicotine absorbed from one to three puffs of a typical cigarette.
During the sessions, participants rated their subjective experiences on 100-point scales. They assessed stimulatory feelings, pleasurable feelings, and aversive feelings. Aversive effects included feeling anxious, feeling down, or experiencing a bad reaction to the drug. The researchers also tracked the participants’ heart rates and blood pressures.
Later in the sessions, participants completed a choice task. They were given multiple opportunities to choose between receiving the nicotine dose or the placebo again. This allowed the researchers to measure the primary reinforcement, or how much the participants actively wanted the drug. The statistical analysis controlled for factors like the participant’s sex and their baseline level of nicotine dependence.
Nicotine produced expected physiological changes, increasing heart rate and blood pressure across all participants. The drug also caused dose-dependent increases in subjective feelings of stimulation and pleasure. The cannabis-exposed group reported slightly higher pleasurable and stimulatory effects than the unexposed group, but the results were not statistically significant.
The most prominent difference emerged in how the groups experienced the aversive side effects of nicotine. At the higher 0.2 milligram dose, individuals with recent cannabis exposure reported substantially stronger unpleasant feelings compared to those without recent exposure. This amplified aversion was primarily driven by higher ratings of feeling down and experiencing bad drug effects.
“The difference in unpleasant effects at the higher dose was not simply a marginal statistical difference,” De Aquino noted. “It was relatively large by the standards of this type of laboratory study, and it grew with the nicotine dose.”
“Going from the lower to the higher nicotine dose, the differences in pleasure and stimulation stayed roughly flat, while the difference in unpleasant effects grew sharply,” he added. “That was the part we did not anticipate.”
Nicotine’s overall appeal relies on a delicate balance in the brain between reward pathways and aversion pathways. A person’s likelihood to keep smoking depends heavily on this balance. The findings suggest that cannabis might shift this scale, increasing the brain’s sensitivity to the unpleasant side effects of nicotine at higher doses.
“That suggests that recent cannabis use may shift the point at which nicotine’s unpleasant effects begin to build, rather than making people generally more sensitive to nicotine,” De Aquino explained.
Interestingly, the heightened negative feelings did not change the participants’ behavior during the choice task. Neither group showed a preference for the nicotine over the saline placebo in the laboratory setting. The physical cardiovascular reactions to the drug were also nearly identical between the two groups.
“Thus, recent cannabis use was linked to how unpleasant nicotine felt, but not to how often participants chose it in the laboratory,” De Aquino pointed out. “Our choice procedure was also short and ran under controlled conditions, so it may not capture what happens when people choose in ordinary life.”
The cannabis-exposed participants did show a distinct baseline clinical profile outside the laboratory. On average, they smoked about 40 percent fewer tobacco cigarettes per day (8.2 cigarettes compared to 13.4 cigarettes for the unexposed group). They also scored lower on standard tests measuring nicotine dependence.
“Those were pre-existing differences between the groups, not effects our study shows cannabis produced,” De Aquino emphasized.
As with all research, there are some caveats to consider. The study relied on a single urine test and self-reports to confirm cannabis use. This means the researchers did not have detailed information on how often participants used cannabis, what types of products they consumed, or the exact concentrations of compounds they ingested. Different cannabis profiles might interact with nicotine in distinct ways.
“To make more precise inferences we would need more granular data on the composition of the cannabis products themselves, including their potency, the THC-to-CBD ratio, how they were taken, and how often,” De Aquino said. Furthermore, “the trials whose data we leveraged excluded daily cannabis use and cannabis use disorder, so our findings are applicable to recent, non-daily cannabis use rather than heavy cannabis use.”
Because participants were not randomly assigned to use cannabis, the study cannot confirm that cannabis directly caused the heightened aversion to nicotine. It is possible that people who naturally find heavy nicotine doses unpleasant are simply more likely to use cannabis.
“Participants came into the studies with their existing patterns of cannabis and tobacco use, so we cannot tell whether cannabis changed their response to nicotine or whether people who respond differently to nicotine are also more likely to use cannabis,” De Aquino stated. He stressed that “our study does not show that cannabis makes it easier or harder to quit smoking. We did not measure smoking or quitting at all.”
Future studies tracking individuals before and after they begin using cannabis could help clarify whether the drug causes long-term changes in nicotine sensitivity. “One priority is to characterize cannabis exposure more precisely,” De Aquino noted, adding that “following people over time, ideally from before they start using cannabis, would also help establish which comes first.”
To better understand why this interaction happens, more investigation into the brain’s circuitry is needed. “One candidate neural substrate behind this aversive response to nicotine among people with recent cannabis exposure involves the habenula, a small brain region involved in nicotine’s unpleasant effects, along with alpha-5-containing nicotinic receptors,” De Aquino explained. “Imaging the brain during controlled nicotine administration, and studying genetic variation in those receptors, for example, could help test that possibility.”
This line of research ultimately aims to improve cessation strategies, such as the use of varenicline, a prescription medication used to help people quit smoking by reducing nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms. “Underneath all of this lies a clinically consequential question: whether treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy or varenicline may eventually need to be tailored for people who use both cannabis and nicotine,” De Aquino added.
“This is a reason to pursue clinical studies, not a finding that should change treatment today,” De Aquino concluded.
The study, “Recent cannabis exposure and acute nicotine effects: insights from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intravenous nicotine studies,” was authored by Gabriel P. A. Costa, R. Ross MacLean, Mehmet Sofuoglu, and Joao P. De Aquino.
-------------------------------------------------
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CannabisNicotineInteraction #NicotineAversions #CannabisAndTobacco #NicotineResearch #CannabisResearch #Neuropharmacology #AddictionScience #YaleMedicine #Cannabinoids #NicotinePhysiology
-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cannabis use alters how the human brain processes nicotine, new research suggests
Recent non-daily use of cannabis might make the effects of nicotine feel more unpleasant at higher doses, without necessarily changing how often a person chooses to consume it. These findings help unravel the complex biological relationship between two commonly used substances and suggest that cannabis alters how the human body processes nicotine. The research was published in International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Cannabis and tobacco are frequently used together, and co-use is rising as legal cannabis markets expand and product varieties increase. Cannabis is a psychoactive plant containing compounds like delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Nicotine is the highly addictive chemical found in tobacco plants.
Studies show that combining these substances often makes it harder for people to quit. For example, a 2022 survey study found that people who increase their cannabis use have a harder time successfully quitting cigarette smoking. Animal research has hinted at the biology behind this, demonstrating that stimulating the brain’s cannabinoid receptors increases the motivation to seek out nicotine.
“Notably, cannabinoid and nicotinic receptors overlap in the brain circuits involved in reward and aversion, which in animal models helps explain the interaction between the two drugs,” Joao P. De Aquino, an assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Pain and Addiction Interaction Neuroscience (PAIN) Lab at the Yale University School of Medicine, told PsyPost.
In humans, the interaction appears a bit more complicated. A study covered by PsyPost in 2018 showed that a large dose of cannabidiol actually stopped the typical increase in attention to cigarette cues during nicotine withdrawal. Another human laboratory experiment tested how smoking cannabis right before a tobacco cigarette altered immediate sensations, finding it changed subjective feelings but did not alter actual smoking behavior.
Despite this knowledge, it remained unknown how cannabis exposure directly changes a person’s immediate physiological and subjective reactions to pure nicotine. Most studies on human smoking involve tobacco cigarettes, which contain thousands of other chemicals that can cloud the results.
“The human evidence has been limited and sometimes contradictory,” De Aquino explained. “One reason is methodological: cigarette smoke contains thousands of compounds besides nicotine, which makes it difficult to isolate what nicotine itself is doing.”
The research, conducted at the Yale University School of Medicine, aimed to answer this question by isolating nicotine from tobacco smoke entirely. Gabriel P. A. Costa led the analysis under the senior authorship of Mehmet Sofuoglu and De Aquino.
“We analyzed two previously completed randomized, double-blind studies in which nicotine was administered intravenously, which let us isolate nicotine’s effects and directly ask whether recent cannabis use was associated with differences in how people responded to nicotine,” De Aquino said. “That is part of why we think carefully controlled human laboratory datasets remain valuable well beyond the aims of the trials that produced them.”
To examine the pure effects of nicotine, the researchers pooled data from 60 adults who regularly smoke tobacco cigarettes. Half of the participants had recently used cannabis, which was confirmed by a positive urine test. The other half had not used cannabis in the past 30 days and tested negative.
The team used intravenous nicotine administration, delivering the substance directly into the bloodstream through a catheter in the participant’s arm. In separate laboratory sessions, participants received a placebo consisting of saltwater, a low dose of nicotine (0.1 milligrams per 70 kilograms of body weight), and a higher dose (0.2 milligrams). These doses were designed to mimic the amount of nicotine absorbed from one to three puffs of a typical cigarette.
During the sessions, participants rated their subjective experiences on 100-point scales. They assessed stimulatory feelings, pleasurable feelings, and aversive feelings. Aversive effects included feeling anxious, feeling down, or experiencing a bad reaction to the drug. The researchers also tracked the participants’ heart rates and blood pressures.
Later in the sessions, participants completed a choice task. They were given multiple opportunities to choose between receiving the nicotine dose or the placebo again. This allowed the researchers to measure the primary reinforcement, or how much the participants actively wanted the drug. The statistical analysis controlled for factors like the participant’s sex and their baseline level of nicotine dependence.
Nicotine produced expected physiological changes, increasing heart rate and blood pressure across all participants. The drug also caused dose-dependent increases in subjective feelings of stimulation and pleasure. The cannabis-exposed group reported slightly higher pleasurable and stimulatory effects than the unexposed group, but the results were not statistically significant.
The most prominent difference emerged in how the groups experienced the aversive side effects of nicotine. At the higher 0.2 milligram dose, individuals with recent cannabis exposure reported substantially stronger unpleasant feelings compared to those without recent exposure. This amplified aversion was primarily driven by higher ratings of feeling down and experiencing bad drug effects.
“The difference in unpleasant effects at the higher dose was not simply a marginal statistical difference,” De Aquino noted. “It was relatively large by the standards of this type of laboratory study, and it grew with the nicotine dose.”
“Going from the lower to the higher nicotine dose, the differences in pleasure and stimulation stayed roughly flat, while the difference in unpleasant effects grew sharply,” he added. “That was the part we did not anticipate.”
Nicotine’s overall appeal relies on a delicate balance in the brain between reward pathways and aversion pathways. A person’s likelihood to keep smoking depends heavily on this balance. The findings suggest that cannabis might shift this scale, increasing the brain’s sensitivity to the unpleasant side effects of nicotine at higher doses.
“That suggests that recent cannabis use may shift the point at which nicotine’s unpleasant effects begin to build, rather than making people generally more sensitive to nicotine,” De Aquino explained.
Interestingly, the heightened negative feelings did not change the participants’ behavior during the choice task. Neither group showed a preference for the nicotine over the saline placebo in the laboratory setting. The physical cardiovascular reactions to the drug were also nearly identical between the two groups.
“Thus, recent cannabis use was linked to how unpleasant nicotine felt, but not to how often participants chose it in the laboratory,” De Aquino pointed out. “Our choice procedure was also short and ran under controlled conditions, so it may not capture what happens when people choose in ordinary life.”
The cannabis-exposed participants did show a distinct baseline clinical profile outside the laboratory. On average, they smoked about 40 percent fewer tobacco cigarettes per day (8.2 cigarettes compared to 13.4 cigarettes for the unexposed group). They also scored lower on standard tests measuring nicotine dependence.
“Those were pre-existing differences between the groups, not effects our study shows cannabis produced,” De Aquino emphasized.
As with all research, there are some caveats to consider. The study relied on a single urine test and self-reports to confirm cannabis use. This means the researchers did not have detailed information on how often participants used cannabis, what types of products they consumed, or the exact concentrations of compounds they ingested. Different cannabis profiles might interact with nicotine in distinct ways.
“To make more precise inferences we would need more granular data on the composition of the cannabis products themselves, including their potency, the THC-to-CBD ratio, how they were taken, and how often,” De Aquino said. Furthermore, “the trials whose data we leveraged excluded daily cannabis use and cannabis use disorder, so our findings are applicable to recent, non-daily cannabis use rather than heavy cannabis use.”
Because participants were not randomly assigned to use cannabis, the study cannot confirm that cannabis directly caused the heightened aversion to nicotine. It is possible that people who naturally find heavy nicotine doses unpleasant are simply more likely to use cannabis.
“Participants came into the studies with their existing patterns of cannabis and tobacco use, so we cannot tell whether cannabis changed their response to nicotine or whether people who respond differently to nicotine are also more likely to use cannabis,” De Aquino stated. He stressed that “our study does not show that cannabis makes it easier or harder to quit smoking. We did not measure smoking or quitting at all.”
Future studies tracking individuals before and after they begin using cannabis could help clarify whether the drug causes long-term changes in nicotine sensitivity. “One priority is to characterize cannabis exposure more precisely,” De Aquino noted, adding that “following people over time, ideally from before they start using cannabis, would also help establish which comes first.”
To better understand why this interaction happens, more investigation into the brain’s circuitry is needed. “One candidate neural substrate behind this aversive response to nicotine among people with recent cannabis exposure involves the habenula, a small brain region involved in nicotine’s unpleasant effects, along with alpha-5-containing nicotinic receptors,” De Aquino explained. “Imaging the brain during controlled nicotine administration, and studying genetic variation in those receptors, for example, could help test that possibility.”
This line of research ultimately aims to improve cessation strategies, such as the use of varenicline, a prescription medication used to help people quit smoking by reducing nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms. “Underneath all of this lies a clinically consequential question: whether treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy or varenicline may eventually need to be tailored for people who use both cannabis and nicotine,” De Aquino added.
“This is a reason to pursue clinical studies, not a finding that should change treatment today,” De Aquino concluded.
The study, “Recent cannabis exposure and acute nicotine effects: insights from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intravenous nicotine studies,” was authored by Gabriel P. A. Costa, R. Ross MacLean, Mehmet Sofuoglu, and Joao P. De Aquino.
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cannabis use alters how the human brain processes nicotine, new research suggests
Recent non-daily use of cannabis might make the effects of nicotine feel more unpleasant at higher doses, without necessarily changing how often a person chooses to consume it. These findings help unravel the complex biological relationship between two commonly used substances and suggest that cannabis alters how the human body processes nicotine. The research was published in International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Cannabis and tobacco are frequently used together, and co-use is rising as legal cannabis markets expand and product varieties increase. Cannabis is a psychoactive plant containing compounds like delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Nicotine is the highly addictive chemical found in tobacco plants.
Studies show that combining these substances often makes it harder for people to quit. For example, a 2022 survey study found that people who increase their cannabis use have a harder time successfully quitting cigarette smoking. Animal research has hinted at the biology behind this, demonstrating that stimulating the brain’s cannabinoid receptors increases the motivation to seek out nicotine.
“Notably, cannabinoid and nicotinic receptors overlap in the brain circuits involved in reward and aversion, which in animal models helps explain the interaction between the two drugs,” Joao P. De Aquino, an assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Pain and Addiction Interaction Neuroscience (PAIN) Lab at the Yale University School of Medicine, told PsyPost.
In humans, the interaction appears a bit more complicated. A study covered by PsyPost in 2018 showed that a large dose of cannabidiol actually stopped the typical increase in attention to cigarette cues during nicotine withdrawal. Another human laboratory experiment tested how smoking cannabis right before a tobacco cigarette altered immediate sensations, finding it changed subjective feelings but did not alter actual smoking behavior.
Despite this knowledge, it remained unknown how cannabis exposure directly changes a person’s immediate physiological and subjective reactions to pure nicotine. Most studies on human smoking involve tobacco cigarettes, which contain thousands of other chemicals that can cloud the results.
“The human evidence has been limited and sometimes contradictory,” De Aquino explained. “One reason is methodological: cigarette smoke contains thousands of compounds besides nicotine, which makes it difficult to isolate what nicotine itself is doing.”
The research, conducted at the Yale University School of Medicine, aimed to answer this question by isolating nicotine from tobacco smoke entirely. Gabriel P. A. Costa led the analysis under the senior authorship of Mehmet Sofuoglu and De Aquino.
“We analyzed two previously completed randomized, double-blind studies in which nicotine was administered intravenously, which let us isolate nicotine’s effects and directly ask whether recent cannabis use was associated with differences in how people responded to nicotine,” De Aquino said. “That is part of why we think carefully controlled human laboratory datasets remain valuable well beyond the aims of the trials that produced them.”
To examine the pure effects of nicotine, the researchers pooled data from 60 adults who regularly smoke tobacco cigarettes. Half of the participants had recently used cannabis, which was confirmed by a positive urine test. The other half had not used cannabis in the past 30 days and tested negative.
The team used intravenous nicotine administration, delivering the substance directly into the bloodstream through a catheter in the participant’s arm. In separate laboratory sessions, participants received a placebo consisting of saltwater, a low dose of nicotine (0.1 milligrams per 70 kilograms of body weight), and a higher dose (0.2 milligrams). These doses were designed to mimic the amount of nicotine absorbed from one to three puffs of a typical cigarette.
During the sessions, participants rated their subjective experiences on 100-point scales. They assessed stimulatory feelings, pleasurable feelings, and aversive feelings. Aversive effects included feeling anxious, feeling down, or experiencing a bad reaction to the drug. The researchers also tracked the participants’ heart rates and blood pressures.
Later in the sessions, participants completed a choice task. They were given multiple opportunities to choose between receiving the nicotine dose or the placebo again. This allowed the researchers to measure the primary reinforcement, or how much the participants actively wanted the drug. The statistical analysis controlled for factors like the participant’s sex and their baseline level of nicotine dependence.
Nicotine produced expected physiological changes, increasing heart rate and blood pressure across all participants. The drug also caused dose-dependent increases in subjective feelings of stimulation and pleasure. The cannabis-exposed group reported slightly higher pleasurable and stimulatory effects than the unexposed group, but the results were not statistically significant.
The most prominent difference emerged in how the groups experienced the aversive side effects of nicotine. At the higher 0.2 milligram dose, individuals with recent cannabis exposure reported substantially stronger unpleasant feelings compared to those without recent exposure. This amplified aversion was primarily driven by higher ratings of feeling down and experiencing bad drug effects.
“The difference in unpleasant effects at the higher dose was not simply a marginal statistical difference,” De Aquino noted. “It was relatively large by the standards of this type of laboratory study, and it grew with the nicotine dose.”
“Going from the lower to the higher nicotine dose, the differences in pleasure and stimulation stayed roughly flat, while the difference in unpleasant effects grew sharply,” he added. “That was the part we did not anticipate.”
Nicotine’s overall appeal relies on a delicate balance in the brain between reward pathways and aversion pathways. A person’s likelihood to keep smoking depends heavily on this balance. The findings suggest that cannabis might shift this scale, increasing the brain’s sensitivity to the unpleasant side effects of nicotine at higher doses.
“That suggests that recent cannabis use may shift the point at which nicotine’s unpleasant effects begin to build, rather than making people generally more sensitive to nicotine,” De Aquino explained.
Interestingly, the heightened negative feelings did not change the participants’ behavior during the choice task. Neither group showed a preference for the nicotine over the saline placebo in the laboratory setting. The physical cardiovascular reactions to the drug were also nearly identical between the two groups.
“Thus, recent cannabis use was linked to how unpleasant nicotine felt, but not to how often participants chose it in the laboratory,” De Aquino pointed out. “Our choice procedure was also short and ran under controlled conditions, so it may not capture what happens when people choose in ordinary life.”
The cannabis-exposed participants did show a distinct baseline clinical profile outside the laboratory. On average, they smoked about 40 percent fewer tobacco cigarettes per day (8.2 cigarettes compared to 13.4 cigarettes for the unexposed group). They also scored lower on standard tests measuring nicotine dependence.
“Those were pre-existing differences between the groups, not effects our study shows cannabis produced,” De Aquino emphasized.
As with all research, there are some caveats to consider. The study relied on a single urine test and self-reports to confirm cannabis use. This means the researchers did not have detailed information on how often participants used cannabis, what types of products they consumed, or the exact concentrations of compounds they ingested. Different cannabis profiles might interact with nicotine in distinct ways.
“To make more precise inferences we would need more granular data on the composition of the cannabis products themselves, including their potency, the THC-to-CBD ratio, how they were taken, and how often,” De Aquino said. Furthermore, “the trials whose data we leveraged excluded daily cannabis use and cannabis use disorder, so our findings are applicable to recent, non-daily cannabis use rather than heavy cannabis use.”
Because participants were not randomly assigned to use cannabis, the study cannot confirm that cannabis directly caused the heightened aversion to nicotine. It is possible that people who naturally find heavy nicotine doses unpleasant are simply more likely to use cannabis.
“Participants came into the studies with their existing patterns of cannabis and tobacco use, so we cannot tell whether cannabis changed their response to nicotine or whether people who respond differently to nicotine are also more likely to use cannabis,” De Aquino stated. He stressed that “our study does not show that cannabis makes it easier or harder to quit smoking. We did not measure smoking or quitting at all.”
Future studies tracking individuals before and after they begin using cannabis could help clarify whether the drug causes long-term changes in nicotine sensitivity. “One priority is to characterize cannabis exposure more precisely,” De Aquino noted, adding that “following people over time, ideally from before they start using cannabis, would also help establish which comes first.”
To better understand why this interaction happens, more investigation into the brain’s circuitry is needed. “One candidate neural substrate behind this aversive response to nicotine among people with recent cannabis exposure involves the habenula, a small brain region involved in nicotine’s unpleasant effects, along with alpha-5-containing nicotinic receptors,” De Aquino explained. “Imaging the brain during controlled nicotine administration, and studying genetic variation in those receptors, for example, could help test that possibility.”
This line of research ultimately aims to improve cessation strategies, such as the use of varenicline, a prescription medication used to help people quit smoking by reducing nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms. “Underneath all of this lies a clinically consequential question: whether treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy or varenicline may eventually need to be tailored for people who use both cannabis and nicotine,” De Aquino added.
“This is a reason to pursue clinical studies, not a finding that should change treatment today,” De Aquino concluded.
The study, “Recent cannabis exposure and acute nicotine effects: insights from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intravenous nicotine studies,” was authored by Gabriel P. A. Costa, R. Ross MacLean, Mehmet Sofuoglu, and Joao P. De Aquino.
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Higher intelligence might accelerate the development of metacognitive knowledge in mathematics
A study involving 1,050 German early adolescents found that more intelligent students showed greater increases in metacognitive knowledge (in mathematics) over time. This suggests that higher intelligence accelerates metacognitive knowledge development. Interestingly, math knowledge, motivation, and school class type were not associated with the pace of metacognitive knowledge development. The paper was published in Learning and Individual Differences.
Metacognitive knowledge is a person’s knowledge and beliefs about how their own thinking and learning processes work. It includes knowing what one is good or poor at, which tasks are likely to be difficult, and which strategies may help in a particular situation. For example, a student may know that they remember information better when they summarize it in their own words rather than simply rereading it.
Metacognitive knowledge also includes understanding that different tasks may require different approaches, such as memorizing facts versus solving a complex problem. It is commonly divided into declarative knowledge (knowledge about oneself as a learner, knowledge about tasks, and knowledge about strategies), procedural knowledge (how to apply strategies), and conditional knowledge. Conditional knowledge, which is what this study focused on, involves knowing when and why to use particular strategies depending on the specific situation and task at hand.
This type of knowledge helps people plan how to approach learning or problem solving before they begin. It can also guide decisions about when to change strategies if the current approach is not working. Stronger metacognitive knowledge can therefore support more efficient learning, better problem solving, and greater independence in academic work.
Study author Maria Theobald and her colleagues note that metacognitive knowledge is central to learning and academic success, especially in mathematics. However, the trajectory of metacognitive knowledge development and the role of intelligence in this development remain poorly understood. With this in mind, they conducted a study that examined the development of metacognitive knowledge in the domain of mathematics. They chose this aspect of metacognitive knowledge because it strongly predicts mathematical learning and achievement.
Study authors analyzed data from the project PULSS, which examined the development of academic achievement and motivation in the early secondary school years. Participants of this study were 1,050 5th grade students from seven high-track secondary schools (Gymnasium) in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, federal states in southern Germany. On average, participants were 11 years old at the start of the study. 40% of participating students were girls. 89% had German as their primary language. The primary languages of the other students were most often Russian, English, and Turkish.
Students were tested at the beginning (T1) and the end of grade 5 (T2), the end of grade 6 (T3), and the middle of grade 7 (T4). However, this analysis used only the data from the first three data collection waves (T1-T3), because metacognitive knowledge was not assessed in the T4 data collection wave. Participants completed assessments of conditional metacognitive knowledge in the domain of mathematics (the MAESTRA 5-6 test), intelligence (only at T1, using the Cognitive Ability Test for Grades 4-12), math knowledge (the German Mathematics Test for Grade 5), and math-related motivation (goal orientation, mathematics self-concept, and interest, all assessed at T1 only).
Results showed that students’ metacognitive knowledge in mathematics generally increased over time, but this varied greatly between students. Students with higher intelligence tended to show greater increases in mathematics metacognitive knowledge over time. Study authors indicate that this suggests that higher intelligence accelerates metacognitive knowledge development. Girls showed a greater increase in metacognitive knowledge than boys over time. Math knowledge, motivation, and class-type (regular vs. for gifted students) were not associated with metacognitive knowledge development.
“These findings highlight the variability in metacognitive knowledge development and underscore intelligence as an important predictor of this differential development,” study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the factors associated with the development of metacognitive knowledge. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be derived from the results.
The paper, “The role of intelligence in the development of metacognitive knowledge,” was authored by Maria Theobald, Wolfgang Schneider, and Franzis Preckel.
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Higher intelligence might accelerate the development of metacognitive knowledge in mathematics
A study involving 1,050 German early adolescents found that more intelligent students showed greater increases in metacognitive knowledge (in mathematics) over time. This suggests that higher intelligence accelerates metacognitive knowledge development. Interestingly, math knowledge, motivation, and school class type were not associated with the pace of metacognitive knowledge development. The paper was published in Learning and Individual Differences.
Metacognitive knowledge is a person’s knowledge and beliefs about how their own thinking and learning processes work. It includes knowing what one is good or poor at, which tasks are likely to be difficult, and which strategies may help in a particular situation. For example, a student may know that they remember information better when they summarize it in their own words rather than simply rereading it.
Metacognitive knowledge also includes understanding that different tasks may require different approaches, such as memorizing facts versus solving a complex problem. It is commonly divided into declarative knowledge (knowledge about oneself as a learner, knowledge about tasks, and knowledge about strategies), procedural knowledge (how to apply strategies), and conditional knowledge. Conditional knowledge, which is what this study focused on, involves knowing when and why to use particular strategies depending on the specific situation and task at hand.
This type of knowledge helps people plan how to approach learning or problem solving before they begin. It can also guide decisions about when to change strategies if the current approach is not working. Stronger metacognitive knowledge can therefore support more efficient learning, better problem solving, and greater independence in academic work.
Study author Maria Theobald and her colleagues note that metacognitive knowledge is central to learning and academic success, especially in mathematics. However, the trajectory of metacognitive knowledge development and the role of intelligence in this development remain poorly understood. With this in mind, they conducted a study that examined the development of metacognitive knowledge in the domain of mathematics. They chose this aspect of metacognitive knowledge because it strongly predicts mathematical learning and achievement.
Study authors analyzed data from the project PULSS, which examined the development of academic achievement and motivation in the early secondary school years. Participants of this study were 1,050 5th grade students from seven high-track secondary schools (Gymnasium) in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, federal states in southern Germany. On average, participants were 11 years old at the start of the study. 40% of participating students were girls. 89% had German as their primary language. The primary languages of the other students were most often Russian, English, and Turkish.
Students were tested at the beginning (T1) and the end of grade 5 (T2), the end of grade 6 (T3), and the middle of grade 7 (T4). However, this analysis used only the data from the first three data collection waves (T1-T3), because metacognitive knowledge was not assessed in the T4 data collection wave. Participants completed assessments of conditional metacognitive knowledge in the domain of mathematics (the MAESTRA 5-6 test), intelligence (only at T1, using the Cognitive Ability Test for Grades 4-12), math knowledge (the German Mathematics Test for Grade 5), and math-related motivation (goal orientation, mathematics self-concept, and interest, all assessed at T1 only).
Results showed that students’ metacognitive knowledge in mathematics generally increased over time, but this varied greatly between students. Students with higher intelligence tended to show greater increases in mathematics metacognitive knowledge over time. Study authors indicate that this suggests that higher intelligence accelerates metacognitive knowledge development. Girls showed a greater increase in metacognitive knowledge than boys over time. Math knowledge, motivation, and class-type (regular vs. for gifted students) were not associated with metacognitive knowledge development.
“These findings highlight the variability in metacognitive knowledge development and underscore intelligence as an important predictor of this differential development,” study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the factors associated with the development of metacognitive knowledge. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be derived from the results.
The paper, “The role of intelligence in the development of metacognitive knowledge,” was authored by Maria Theobald, Wolfgang Schneider, and Franzis Preckel.
-------------------------------------------------
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-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Higher intelligence might accelerate the development of metacognitive knowledge in mathematics
A study involving 1,050 German early adolescents found that more intelligent students showed greater increases in metacognitive knowledge (in mathematics) over time. This suggests that higher intelligence accelerates metacognitive knowledge development. Interestingly, math knowledge, motivation, and school class type were not associated with the pace of metacognitive knowledge development. The paper was published in Learning and Individual Differences.
Metacognitive knowledge is a person’s knowledge and beliefs about how their own thinking and learning processes work. It includes knowing what one is good or poor at, which tasks are likely to be difficult, and which strategies may help in a particular situation. For example, a student may know that they remember information better when they summarize it in their own words rather than simply rereading it.
Metacognitive knowledge also includes understanding that different tasks may require different approaches, such as memorizing facts versus solving a complex problem. It is commonly divided into declarative knowledge (knowledge about oneself as a learner, knowledge about tasks, and knowledge about strategies), procedural knowledge (how to apply strategies), and conditional knowledge. Conditional knowledge, which is what this study focused on, involves knowing when and why to use particular strategies depending on the specific situation and task at hand.
This type of knowledge helps people plan how to approach learning or problem solving before they begin. It can also guide decisions about when to change strategies if the current approach is not working. Stronger metacognitive knowledge can therefore support more efficient learning, better problem solving, and greater independence in academic work.
Study author Maria Theobald and her colleagues note that metacognitive knowledge is central to learning and academic success, especially in mathematics. However, the trajectory of metacognitive knowledge development and the role of intelligence in this development remain poorly understood. With this in mind, they conducted a study that examined the development of metacognitive knowledge in the domain of mathematics. They chose this aspect of metacognitive knowledge because it strongly predicts mathematical learning and achievement.
Study authors analyzed data from the project PULSS, which examined the development of academic achievement and motivation in the early secondary school years. Participants of this study were 1,050 5th grade students from seven high-track secondary schools (Gymnasium) in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, federal states in southern Germany. On average, participants were 11 years old at the start of the study. 40% of participating students were girls. 89% had German as their primary language. The primary languages of the other students were most often Russian, English, and Turkish.
Students were tested at the beginning (T1) and the end of grade 5 (T2), the end of grade 6 (T3), and the middle of grade 7 (T4). However, this analysis used only the data from the first three data collection waves (T1-T3), because metacognitive knowledge was not assessed in the T4 data collection wave. Participants completed assessments of conditional metacognitive knowledge in the domain of mathematics (the MAESTRA 5-6 test), intelligence (only at T1, using the Cognitive Ability Test for Grades 4-12), math knowledge (the German Mathematics Test for Grade 5), and math-related motivation (goal orientation, mathematics self-concept, and interest, all assessed at T1 only).
Results showed that students’ metacognitive knowledge in mathematics generally increased over time, but this varied greatly between students. Students with higher intelligence tended to show greater increases in mathematics metacognitive knowledge over time. Study authors indicate that this suggests that higher intelligence accelerates metacognitive knowledge development. Girls showed a greater increase in metacognitive knowledge than boys over time. Math knowledge, motivation, and class-type (regular vs. for gifted students) were not associated with metacognitive knowledge development.
“These findings highlight the variability in metacognitive knowledge development and underscore intelligence as an important predictor of this differential development,” study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the factors associated with the development of metacognitive knowledge. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be derived from the results.
The paper, “The role of intelligence in the development of metacognitive knowledge,” was authored by Maria Theobald, Wolfgang Schneider, and Franzis Preckel.
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MetacognitiveKnowledge #MathematicsEducation #IntelligenceDevelopment #LearningAndIndividualDifferences #MAESTRA526 #MathLearningStrategies #EducationalPsychology #AdolescentLearning #CognitiveAbility #MetacognitionResearch
-
DATE: September 7, 2026 at 09:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Struggling to find “the one”? A new psychology study says the problem might be your underlying motivation
A new study finds that the reasons single people want a relationship shape both the type of partnership they seek and whether they achieve their dating goals. Individuals driven by a genuine desire for connection tend to focus on relationship quality, while those driven by social pressure or a need for validation often prioritize simply finding a partner, which can hinder their progress. The research was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Self-determination theory is a psychological framework for understanding human motivation. It suggests that our reasons for doing things exist on a spectrum, ranging from actions we take for pure enjoyment to actions we take because we feel forced or pressured. Historically, psychological research has shown that the internal drive behind our actions matters just as much as the actions themselves. For instance, a 2004 study demonstrated that why someone chases an objective and what that objective actually is are two distinct forces that shape their overall well-being.
Building on this idea, a 2008 study found that people tend to make far more headway on goals they truly care about than on goals driven by guilt or social pressure. Recently, scientists began applying this concept specifically to single people and dating. In fact, a 2025 study introduced a framework to measure internal versus external motivations for dating, noting that a person’s inner drive makes them more likely to find a partner. This framework aligns with a study covered by PsyPost in 2026, which found that emotional fulfillment strongly motivates the pursuit of long-term relationships.
The new study builds on this lineage to see how singles’ core motivations dictate the exact goals they set and whether they achieve them over time. “Previous work suggests that the average single person desires to partner, but it was unclear to us what exactly it is that single people desire from these relationships, if they desire one at all,” said study author Laura Hawkins, a second-year PhD student in psychology at the University of Toronto.
“In other words, what are their goals for romantic partnership?” The research uses this motivational framework to categorize why single people might want a relationship.
These categories include intrinsic motivation, which means enjoying relationships for what they are, and identified motivation, which means personally valuing partnership. They also include introjected motivation, which involves acting to avoid guilt or to boost self-worth, and external motivation, which involves acting due to social pressure. Finally, the researchers measured amotivation, which refers to a complete lack of desire or intention to seek a partner.
To understand how these motivations operate in the real world, the researchers recruited 4,019 single adults between the ages of 18 and 39. Participants completed a baseline survey that measured their motivations for wanting a romantic relationship. They were also asked to write out up to three personal relationship goals for the upcoming six months.
The research team read through the roughly 12,000 written goals and categorized them into 41 distinct themes. These themes included things like going on dates, improving finances, remaining single, or building intimacy. Six months later, 3,176 of the original participants returned for a follow-up survey. They reviewed the goals they had written down previously and rated their progress on a scale from zero to 100 percent. On average, participants reported a 41.7 percent completion rate across their goals.
The results indicate that singles who were intrinsically motivated or had identified motivation set goals focused on high-quality connections. Intrinsically motivated singles had a higher likelihood of setting goals to have fun, build emotional intimacy, and enter a healthy relationship. Identified motivation was linked to seeking committed, long-term partnerships. Both of these groups were far less likely to say their main goal was to remain single.
People driven by a need for self-affirmation or a fear of failure displayed a very different pattern. Singles with this introjected motivation focused more on securing a relationship than on the quality of that connection. They were more likely to set goals to go on dates, have sex, socialize, or improve their physical attractiveness and self-confidence.
At the same time, introjected singles were less likely to prioritize building intimacy, sharing a home, or having a healthy relationship. Interestingly, introjected motivation was also linked to making less progress on relationship goals over the six-month period.
“You would think that entering a relationship is easier than entering a quality relationship,” Hawkins said. “But one finding that surprised me was that singles who simply wanted to enter a relationship (irrespective of quality) actually made less progress on this goal.”
“Although we can’t be sure, we think part of the reason this may be is because these singles are fundamentally pursuing partnership to improve their self-image, which may hinder their ability to build a romantic connection,” she continued. “So, in an ironic twist of fate, the reason they want a relationship may actually be driving potential partners away.”
External motivation, or dating to appease others, was mainly linked to the goal of going on dates. Amotivation was strongly associated with a desire to remain single or setting no relationship goals at all. When evaluating their success six months later, amotivated singles reported the highest amount of progress among all the groups.
“Not every single wants to partner!” Hawkins pointed out. “In fact, our data suggests singles who did not want to partner were not necessarily relationally avoidant, but rather, actively pursuing singlehood.”
These findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost last year. That earlier study, which looked at whether singles actually entered a relationship rather than the specific goals they set, similarly found that autonomous motives support positive romantic outcomes while introjected motives and a lack of motivation do not.
As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The researchers did not test whether these patterns look different depending on a person’s age, gender, sexual orientation, or cultural background, which could change how people approach dating. The measurement of goal progress also relied entirely on self-reports, which might contain subjective biases.
Additionally, the structural nature of the goals varied wildly from person to person. For example, staying single is an objective a person can accomplish all on their own. Finding a healthy, long-term romantic relationship requires the cooperation of another person. Because of this, the high reported success rate of amotivated singles might simply reflect that it is easier to achieve the goal of staying single than the goal of finding a compatible partner.
“As a singlehood researcher I often get asked ‘how do I find “the one”?'” Hawkins noted. “Our data suggests that answer might lie inwards. Simply put, why you want to become partnered shapes the quality (or lack thereof) of the romantic relationship you seek.”
The study, “Does Why You Want Partnership Shape What You Want? A Self-Determination Perspective on Singles’ Relationship Goals,” was authored by Laura Hawkins, Serena Thapar, Will Ryan, and Geoff MacDonald.
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 09:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Struggling to find “the one”? A new psychology study says the problem might be your underlying motivation
A new study finds that the reasons single people want a relationship shape both the type of partnership they seek and whether they achieve their dating goals. Individuals driven by a genuine desire for connection tend to focus on relationship quality, while those driven by social pressure or a need for validation often prioritize simply finding a partner, which can hinder their progress. The research was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Self-determination theory is a psychological framework for understanding human motivation. It suggests that our reasons for doing things exist on a spectrum, ranging from actions we take for pure enjoyment to actions we take because we feel forced or pressured. Historically, psychological research has shown that the internal drive behind our actions matters just as much as the actions themselves. For instance, a 2004 study demonstrated that why someone chases an objective and what that objective actually is are two distinct forces that shape their overall well-being.
Building on this idea, a 2008 study found that people tend to make far more headway on goals they truly care about than on goals driven by guilt or social pressure. Recently, scientists began applying this concept specifically to single people and dating. In fact, a 2025 study introduced a framework to measure internal versus external motivations for dating, noting that a person’s inner drive makes them more likely to find a partner. This framework aligns with a study covered by PsyPost in 2026, which found that emotional fulfillment strongly motivates the pursuit of long-term relationships.
The new study builds on this lineage to see how singles’ core motivations dictate the exact goals they set and whether they achieve them over time. “Previous work suggests that the average single person desires to partner, but it was unclear to us what exactly it is that single people desire from these relationships, if they desire one at all,” said study author Laura Hawkins, a second-year PhD student in psychology at the University of Toronto.
“In other words, what are their goals for romantic partnership?” The research uses this motivational framework to categorize why single people might want a relationship.
These categories include intrinsic motivation, which means enjoying relationships for what they are, and identified motivation, which means personally valuing partnership. They also include introjected motivation, which involves acting to avoid guilt or to boost self-worth, and external motivation, which involves acting due to social pressure. Finally, the researchers measured amotivation, which refers to a complete lack of desire or intention to seek a partner.
To understand how these motivations operate in the real world, the researchers recruited 4,019 single adults between the ages of 18 and 39. Participants completed a baseline survey that measured their motivations for wanting a romantic relationship. They were also asked to write out up to three personal relationship goals for the upcoming six months.
The research team read through the roughly 12,000 written goals and categorized them into 41 distinct themes. These themes included things like going on dates, improving finances, remaining single, or building intimacy. Six months later, 3,176 of the original participants returned for a follow-up survey. They reviewed the goals they had written down previously and rated their progress on a scale from zero to 100 percent. On average, participants reported a 41.7 percent completion rate across their goals.
The results indicate that singles who were intrinsically motivated or had identified motivation set goals focused on high-quality connections. Intrinsically motivated singles had a higher likelihood of setting goals to have fun, build emotional intimacy, and enter a healthy relationship. Identified motivation was linked to seeking committed, long-term partnerships. Both of these groups were far less likely to say their main goal was to remain single.
People driven by a need for self-affirmation or a fear of failure displayed a very different pattern. Singles with this introjected motivation focused more on securing a relationship than on the quality of that connection. They were more likely to set goals to go on dates, have sex, socialize, or improve their physical attractiveness and self-confidence.
At the same time, introjected singles were less likely to prioritize building intimacy, sharing a home, or having a healthy relationship. Interestingly, introjected motivation was also linked to making less progress on relationship goals over the six-month period.
“You would think that entering a relationship is easier than entering a quality relationship,” Hawkins said. “But one finding that surprised me was that singles who simply wanted to enter a relationship (irrespective of quality) actually made less progress on this goal.”
“Although we can’t be sure, we think part of the reason this may be is because these singles are fundamentally pursuing partnership to improve their self-image, which may hinder their ability to build a romantic connection,” she continued. “So, in an ironic twist of fate, the reason they want a relationship may actually be driving potential partners away.”
External motivation, or dating to appease others, was mainly linked to the goal of going on dates. Amotivation was strongly associated with a desire to remain single or setting no relationship goals at all. When evaluating their success six months later, amotivated singles reported the highest amount of progress among all the groups.
“Not every single wants to partner!” Hawkins pointed out. “In fact, our data suggests singles who did not want to partner were not necessarily relationally avoidant, but rather, actively pursuing singlehood.”
These findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost last year. That earlier study, which looked at whether singles actually entered a relationship rather than the specific goals they set, similarly found that autonomous motives support positive romantic outcomes while introjected motives and a lack of motivation do not.
As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The researchers did not test whether these patterns look different depending on a person’s age, gender, sexual orientation, or cultural background, which could change how people approach dating. The measurement of goal progress also relied entirely on self-reports, which might contain subjective biases.
Additionally, the structural nature of the goals varied wildly from person to person. For example, staying single is an objective a person can accomplish all on their own. Finding a healthy, long-term romantic relationship requires the cooperation of another person. Because of this, the high reported success rate of amotivated singles might simply reflect that it is easier to achieve the goal of staying single than the goal of finding a compatible partner.
“As a singlehood researcher I often get asked ‘how do I find “the one”?'” Hawkins noted. “Our data suggests that answer might lie inwards. Simply put, why you want to become partnered shapes the quality (or lack thereof) of the romantic relationship you seek.”
The study, “Does Why You Want Partnership Shape What You Want? A Self-Determination Perspective on Singles’ Relationship Goals,” was authored by Laura Hawkins, Serena Thapar, Will Ryan, and Geoff MacDonald.
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DATE: September 7, 2026 at 09:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Struggling to find “the one”? A new psychology study says the problem might be your underlying motivation
A new study finds that the reasons single people want a relationship shape both the type of partnership they seek and whether they achieve their dating goals. Individuals driven by a genuine desire for connection tend to focus on relationship quality, while those driven by social pressure or a need for validation often prioritize simply finding a partner, which can hinder their progress. The research was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Self-determination theory is a psychological framework for understanding human motivation. It suggests that our reasons for doing things exist on a spectrum, ranging from actions we take for pure enjoyment to actions we take because we feel forced or pressured. Historically, psychological research has shown that the internal drive behind our actions matters just as much as the actions themselves. For instance, a 2004 study demonstrated that why someone chases an objective and what that objective actually is are two distinct forces that shape their overall well-being.
Building on this idea, a 2008 study found that people tend to make far more headway on goals they truly care about than on goals driven by guilt or social pressure. Recently, scientists began applying this concept specifically to single people and dating. In fact, a 2025 study introduced a framework to measure internal versus external motivations for dating, noting that a person’s inner drive makes them more likely to find a partner. This framework aligns with a study covered by PsyPost in 2026, which found that emotional fulfillment strongly motivates the pursuit of long-term relationships.
The new study builds on this lineage to see how singles’ core motivations dictate the exact goals they set and whether they achieve them over time. “Previous work suggests that the average single person desires to partner, but it was unclear to us what exactly it is that single people desire from these relationships, if they desire one at all,” said study author Laura Hawkins, a second-year PhD student in psychology at the University of Toronto.
“In other words, what are their goals for romantic partnership?” The research uses this motivational framework to categorize why single people might want a relationship.
These categories include intrinsic motivation, which means enjoying relationships for what they are, and identified motivation, which means personally valuing partnership. They also include introjected motivation, which involves acting to avoid guilt or to boost self-worth, and external motivation, which involves acting due to social pressure. Finally, the researchers measured amotivation, which refers to a complete lack of desire or intention to seek a partner.
To understand how these motivations operate in the real world, the researchers recruited 4,019 single adults between the ages of 18 and 39. Participants completed a baseline survey that measured their motivations for wanting a romantic relationship. They were also asked to write out up to three personal relationship goals for the upcoming six months.
The research team read through the roughly 12,000 written goals and categorized them into 41 distinct themes. These themes included things like going on dates, improving finances, remaining single, or building intimacy. Six months later, 3,176 of the original participants returned for a follow-up survey. They reviewed the goals they had written down previously and rated their progress on a scale from zero to 100 percent. On average, participants reported a 41.7 percent completion rate across their goals.
The results indicate that singles who were intrinsically motivated or had identified motivation set goals focused on high-quality connections. Intrinsically motivated singles had a higher likelihood of setting goals to have fun, build emotional intimacy, and enter a healthy relationship. Identified motivation was linked to seeking committed, long-term partnerships. Both of these groups were far less likely to say their main goal was to remain single.
People driven by a need for self-affirmation or a fear of failure displayed a very different pattern. Singles with this introjected motivation focused more on securing a relationship than on the quality of that connection. They were more likely to set goals to go on dates, have sex, socialize, or improve their physical attractiveness and self-confidence.
At the same time, introjected singles were less likely to prioritize building intimacy, sharing a home, or having a healthy relationship. Interestingly, introjected motivation was also linked to making less progress on relationship goals over the six-month period.
“You would think that entering a relationship is easier than entering a quality relationship,” Hawkins said. “But one finding that surprised me was that singles who simply wanted to enter a relationship (irrespective of quality) actually made less progress on this goal.”
“Although we can’t be sure, we think part of the reason this may be is because these singles are fundamentally pursuing partnership to improve their self-image, which may hinder their ability to build a romantic connection,” she continued. “So, in an ironic twist of fate, the reason they want a relationship may actually be driving potential partners away.”
External motivation, or dating to appease others, was mainly linked to the goal of going on dates. Amotivation was strongly associated with a desire to remain single or setting no relationship goals at all. When evaluating their success six months later, amotivated singles reported the highest amount of progress among all the groups.
“Not every single wants to partner!” Hawkins pointed out. “In fact, our data suggests singles who did not want to partner were not necessarily relationally avoidant, but rather, actively pursuing singlehood.”
These findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost last year. That earlier study, which looked at whether singles actually entered a relationship rather than the specific goals they set, similarly found that autonomous motives support positive romantic outcomes while introjected motives and a lack of motivation do not.
As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The researchers did not test whether these patterns look different depending on a person’s age, gender, sexual orientation, or cultural background, which could change how people approach dating. The measurement of goal progress also relied entirely on self-reports, which might contain subjective biases.
Additionally, the structural nature of the goals varied wildly from person to person. For example, staying single is an objective a person can accomplish all on their own. Finding a healthy, long-term romantic relationship requires the cooperation of another person. Because of this, the high reported success rate of amotivated singles might simply reflect that it is easier to achieve the goal of staying single than the goal of finding a compatible partner.
“As a singlehood researcher I often get asked ‘how do I find “the one”?'” Hawkins noted. “Our data suggests that answer might lie inwards. Simply put, why you want to become partnered shapes the quality (or lack thereof) of the romantic relationship you seek.”
The study, “Does Why You Want Partnership Shape What You Want? A Self-Determination Perspective on Singles’ Relationship Goals,” was authored by Laura Hawkins, Serena Thapar, Will Ryan, and Geoff MacDonald.
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-
DATE: September 4, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: It shouldn’t feel impossible to finish a book
URL: https://www.vox.com/life/502018/attention-tiktok-reading-books-better-tips
Screens have atrophied our reading muscles. Here’s how to get them back.
URL: https://www.vox.com/life/502018/attention-tiktok-reading-books-better-tips
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-
DATE: September 4, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: The Lindsay Clancy trial brings maternal mental health into the spotlight
URL: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/04/health/postpartum-psychosis-lindsay-clancy
Postpartum psychosis ranks as one of the rarest and most severe mental health disorders associated with childbirth.
URL: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/04/health/postpartum-psychosis-lindsay-clancy
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-
DATE: September 4, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: The Lindsay Clancy trial brings maternal mental health into the spotlight
URL: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/04/health/postpartum-psychosis-lindsay-clancy
Postpartum psychosis ranks as one of the rarest and most severe mental health disorders associated with childbirth.
URL: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/04/health/postpartum-psychosis-lindsay-clancy
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-
DATE: September 4, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: The Lindsay Clancy trial brings maternal mental health into the spotlight
URL: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/04/health/postpartum-psychosis-lindsay-clancy
Postpartum psychosis ranks as one of the rarest and most severe mental health disorders associated with childbirth.
URL: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/04/health/postpartum-psychosis-lindsay-clancy
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-
DATE: September 4, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: It shouldn’t feel impossible to finish a book
URL: https://www.vox.com/life/502018/attention-tiktok-reading-books-better-tips
Screens have atrophied our reading muscles. Here’s how to get them back.
URL: https://www.vox.com/life/502018/attention-tiktok-reading-books-better-tips
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-
DATE: September 4, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: It shouldn’t feel impossible to finish a book
URL: https://www.vox.com/life/502018/attention-tiktok-reading-books-better-tips
Screens have atrophied our reading muscles. Here’s how to get them back.
URL: https://www.vox.com/life/502018/attention-tiktok-reading-books-better-tips
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DATE: September 3, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: The AI backlash uniting a divided America
Polls show a growing share of Americans are skeptical of big‑tech companies and AI products.
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DATE: September 2, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: What shapes your personality?
URL: https://www.popsci.com/science/what-determines-personality/
Genes and environment play a big role, but the ratio of each is up for debate.
URL: https://www.popsci.com/science/what-determines-personality/
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DATE: September 3, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: The AI backlash uniting a divided America
Polls show a growing share of Americans are skeptical of big‑tech companies and AI products.
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DATE: September 2, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: What shapes your personality?
URL: https://www.popsci.com/science/what-determines-personality/
Genes and environment play a big role, but the ratio of each is up for debate.
URL: https://www.popsci.com/science/what-determines-personality/
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DATE: September 3, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: The AI backlash uniting a divided America
Polls show a growing share of Americans are skeptical of big‑tech companies and AI products.
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-
DATE: September 2, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: What shapes your personality?
URL: https://www.popsci.com/science/what-determines-personality/
Genes and environment play a big role, but the ratio of each is up for debate.
URL: https://www.popsci.com/science/what-determines-personality/
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DATE: August 30, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: Why Dolly Parton’s death can feel like losing someone you knew personally
URL: https://www.foxnews.com/health/why-dolly-parton-death-feel-like-losing-someone-knew-personally
Fans across the world mourn the loss of country icon, described as ‘post-Parton depression’.
URL: https://www.foxnews.com/health/why-dolly-parton-death-feel-like-losing-someone-knew-personally
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DATE: September 2, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: 'AI food slop' is making people so uncomfortable and upset
When images look almost real but clearly fake, our brains get stuck trying to make sense of it.
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DATE: August 30, 2026
SOURCE: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONTITLE: Why Dolly Parton’s death can feel like losing someone you knew personally
URL: https://www.foxnews.com/health/why-dolly-parton-death-feel-like-losing-someone-knew-personally
Fans across the world mourn the loss of country icon, described as ‘post-Parton depression’.
URL: https://www.foxnews.com/health/why-dolly-parton-death-feel-like-losing-someone-knew-personally
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