#psychiatry — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: September 30, 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: The surprising link between resilience and challenging ayahuasca experiences

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

A longitudinal study of people attending ayahuasca retreats found that those with higher levels of resilience before the retreat tended to report somewhat more intense challenging experiences during their ayahuasca ceremonies. More resilient participants also showed a stronger link between these difficult experiences and searching for meaning in life a month later. The paper was published in Psychedelic Medicine.

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew traditionally used by Indigenous communities in the Amazon for religious, spiritual, and therapeutic purposes. Its acute effects can include mystical experiences and psychological insights, but also difficult physical symptoms such as nausea and vomiting and emotional reactions such as fear, paranoia, or distressing hallucinations. These adverse experiences are referred to as challenges or challenging experiences.

People vary considerably in how they interpret these challenging experiences. Some describe them as harmful “bad trips,” while others view them as meaningful parts of healing or spiritual transformation. Individual characteristics such as age, previous psychedelic experience, motivation, mindset, and psychological state can influence both the immediate experience and its longer-term effects. The social and environmental settings in which ayahuasca is consumed can also shape its psychological impact.

In this context, resilience, a person’s capacity to adapt positively and recover when confronted with stressful or difficult experiences, might be particularly important. People with greater resilience might be better able to engage constructively with difficult emotions and experiences during ayahuasca use, potentially influencing whether challenging psychedelic effects ultimately contribute to positive psychospiritual outcomes.

Study author Yitong Xin and colleagues explored whether the acute effects of ayahuasca, and particularly its challenging effects, depend on a person’s resilience. More specifically, they examined the associations between resilience measured at the start of an ayahuasca retreat and acute challenging experiences reported at the end of the retreat, as well as whether resilience moderates the relationship between these experiences and psychospiritual outcomes reported 1 month after the retreat.

Data were collected between August 2022 and August 2023 at two Soltara Healing Center retreat locations, in Costa Rica and Peru. A representative of the Soltara Healing Center helped the researchers recruit participants. Of the 291 retreat guests who met the study criteria, 267 enrolled and completed a survey at the start of the retreat. Of these, 247 also completed the survey at the end of the retreat, and 233 completed it 1 month after the retreat. Participants’ average age was 41 years, and 56% were women. Most were White (83%), lived in North America (87%), and had a college education (95%).

In the surveys, study participants reported their demographic data and completed assessments of resilience (the Resilience Scale for Adults), challenging ayahuasca experiences (the Challenging Experience Questionnaire, the Ayahuasca Experience Inventory-Discomfort Subscale, and the Ayahuasca Purging Experience), meaning in life (the Meaning in Life Questionnaire), and personality (the Big Five Inventory-10). Study participants also reported on their previous use of psychedelic compounds and completed a questionnaire assessing the effects of the setting on them during the ayahuasca experience.

Results showed that 79% of participants had past experience with psychedelics, while 22% had used ayahuasca before. More than half of the participants reported at least moderately intense challenging experiences such as feelings that led to crying, body shaking or trembling, emotional or physical suffering, feelings of grief, and heart palpitations. In contrast, fewer than 5% of participants reported feeling that people were plotting against them. Nearly three-quarters of participants reported at least moderate exhaustion after taking ayahuasca.

Individuals with higher neuroticism (i.e., lower emotional stability) tended to report somewhat stronger acute challenging experiences. More resilient individuals also tended to report somewhat more intense acute challenging experiences.

Additionally, resilience measured at the start of the retreat moderated the link between challenging ayahuasca experiences and searching for meaning in life. More specifically, the more resilient a person was, the stronger the association between having an intense challenging experience and searching for meaning 1 month after the retreat. The same was true for uncomfortable ayahuasca-related experiences: their association with searching for meaning in life was stronger in more resilient participants. However, resilience did not moderate the links between these experiences and the presence of meaning in life, that is, the sense that one’s life already feels meaningful.

“Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of ayahuasca effects and resilience, highlighting ayahuasca’s therapeutic potential from a resilience standpoint. Evidence from this study could be used by mental health providers in support of preparation or integration therapy practices for individuals who seek out help following their ayahuasca retreat experience or those who are interested in attending retreats,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of ayahuasca experiences. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be drawn from the results. In addition, participants were predominantly White, college-educated, North American, and relatively affluent, and all attended retreats run by a single provider, so the findings may not generalize to other populations or settings.

The paper, “Baseline Resilience as a Predictor of Ayahuasca Acute Effects and Moderator of the Relationship between Acute Effects and Psychospiritual Outcomes,” was authored by Yitong Xin, Alan K. Davis, Susan Yoon, and Mo Yee Lee.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AyahuascaResilience #ChallengingExperiences #PsychedelicMedicine #MeaningInLife #MentalHealthSupport #ResilienceResearch #AyahuascaTherapy #IntegrationTherapy #SpiritualTransformation #PsychedelicStudy

DATE: September 30, 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: The surprising link between resilience and challenging ayahuasca experiences

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

A longitudinal study of people attending ayahuasca retreats found that those with higher levels of resilience before the retreat tended to report somewhat more intense challenging experiences during their ayahuasca ceremonies. More resilient participants also showed a stronger link between these difficult experiences and searching for meaning in life a month later. The paper was published in Psychedelic Medicine.

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew traditionally used by Indigenous communities in the Amazon for religious, spiritual, and therapeutic purposes. Its acute effects can include mystical experiences and psychological insights, but also difficult physical symptoms such as nausea and vomiting and emotional reactions such as fear, paranoia, or distressing hallucinations. These adverse experiences are referred to as challenges or challenging experiences.

People vary considerably in how they interpret these challenging experiences. Some describe them as harmful “bad trips,” while others view them as meaningful parts of healing or spiritual transformation. Individual characteristics such as age, previous psychedelic experience, motivation, mindset, and psychological state can influence both the immediate experience and its longer-term effects. The social and environmental settings in which ayahuasca is consumed can also shape its psychological impact.

In this context, resilience, a person’s capacity to adapt positively and recover when confronted with stressful or difficult experiences, might be particularly important. People with greater resilience might be better able to engage constructively with difficult emotions and experiences during ayahuasca use, potentially influencing whether challenging psychedelic effects ultimately contribute to positive psychospiritual outcomes.

Study author Yitong Xin and colleagues explored whether the acute effects of ayahuasca, and particularly its challenging effects, depend on a person’s resilience. More specifically, they examined the associations between resilience measured at the start of an ayahuasca retreat and acute challenging experiences reported at the end of the retreat, as well as whether resilience moderates the relationship between these experiences and psychospiritual outcomes reported 1 month after the retreat.

Data were collected between August 2022 and August 2023 at two Soltara Healing Center retreat locations, in Costa Rica and Peru. A representative of the Soltara Healing Center helped the researchers recruit participants. Of the 291 retreat guests who met the study criteria, 267 enrolled and completed a survey at the start of the retreat. Of these, 247 also completed the survey at the end of the retreat, and 233 completed it 1 month after the retreat. Participants’ average age was 41 years, and 56% were women. Most were White (83%), lived in North America (87%), and had a college education (95%).

In the surveys, study participants reported their demographic data and completed assessments of resilience (the Resilience Scale for Adults), challenging ayahuasca experiences (the Challenging Experience Questionnaire, the Ayahuasca Experience Inventory-Discomfort Subscale, and the Ayahuasca Purging Experience), meaning in life (the Meaning in Life Questionnaire), and personality (the Big Five Inventory-10). Study participants also reported on their previous use of psychedelic compounds and completed a questionnaire assessing the effects of the setting on them during the ayahuasca experience.

Results showed that 79% of participants had past experience with psychedelics, while 22% had used ayahuasca before. More than half of the participants reported at least moderately intense challenging experiences such as feelings that led to crying, body shaking or trembling, emotional or physical suffering, feelings of grief, and heart palpitations. In contrast, fewer than 5% of participants reported feeling that people were plotting against them. Nearly three-quarters of participants reported at least moderate exhaustion after taking ayahuasca.

Individuals with higher neuroticism (i.e., lower emotional stability) tended to report somewhat stronger acute challenging experiences. More resilient individuals also tended to report somewhat more intense acute challenging experiences.

Additionally, resilience measured at the start of the retreat moderated the link between challenging ayahuasca experiences and searching for meaning in life. More specifically, the more resilient a person was, the stronger the association between having an intense challenging experience and searching for meaning 1 month after the retreat. The same was true for uncomfortable ayahuasca-related experiences: their association with searching for meaning in life was stronger in more resilient participants. However, resilience did not moderate the links between these experiences and the presence of meaning in life, that is, the sense that one’s life already feels meaningful.

“Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of ayahuasca effects and resilience, highlighting ayahuasca’s therapeutic potential from a resilience standpoint. Evidence from this study could be used by mental health providers in support of preparation or integration therapy practices for individuals who seek out help following their ayahuasca retreat experience or those who are interested in attending retreats,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of ayahuasca experiences. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be drawn from the results. In addition, participants were predominantly White, college-educated, North American, and relatively affluent, and all attended retreats run by a single provider, so the findings may not generalize to other populations or settings.

The paper, “Baseline Resilience as a Predictor of Ayahuasca Acute Effects and Moderator of the Relationship between Acute Effects and Psychospiritual Outcomes,” was authored by Yitong Xin, Alan K. Davis, Susan Yoon, and Mo Yee Lee.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AyahuascaResilience #ChallengingExperiences #PsychedelicMedicine #MeaningInLife #MentalHealthSupport #ResilienceResearch #AyahuascaTherapy #IntegrationTherapy #SpiritualTransformation #PsychedelicStudy

DATE: September 30, 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: The surprising link between resilience and challenging ayahuasca experiences

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

A longitudinal study of people attending ayahuasca retreats found that those with higher levels of resilience before the retreat tended to report somewhat more intense challenging experiences during their ayahuasca ceremonies. More resilient participants also showed a stronger link between these difficult experiences and searching for meaning in life a month later. The paper was published in Psychedelic Medicine.

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew traditionally used by Indigenous communities in the Amazon for religious, spiritual, and therapeutic purposes. Its acute effects can include mystical experiences and psychological insights, but also difficult physical symptoms such as nausea and vomiting and emotional reactions such as fear, paranoia, or distressing hallucinations. These adverse experiences are referred to as challenges or challenging experiences.

People vary considerably in how they interpret these challenging experiences. Some describe them as harmful “bad trips,” while others view them as meaningful parts of healing or spiritual transformation. Individual characteristics such as age, previous psychedelic experience, motivation, mindset, and psychological state can influence both the immediate experience and its longer-term effects. The social and environmental settings in which ayahuasca is consumed can also shape its psychological impact.

In this context, resilience, a person’s capacity to adapt positively and recover when confronted with stressful or difficult experiences, might be particularly important. People with greater resilience might be better able to engage constructively with difficult emotions and experiences during ayahuasca use, potentially influencing whether challenging psychedelic effects ultimately contribute to positive psychospiritual outcomes.

Study author Yitong Xin and colleagues explored whether the acute effects of ayahuasca, and particularly its challenging effects, depend on a person’s resilience. More specifically, they examined the associations between resilience measured at the start of an ayahuasca retreat and acute challenging experiences reported at the end of the retreat, as well as whether resilience moderates the relationship between these experiences and psychospiritual outcomes reported 1 month after the retreat.

Data were collected between August 2022 and August 2023 at two Soltara Healing Center retreat locations, in Costa Rica and Peru. A representative of the Soltara Healing Center helped the researchers recruit participants. Of the 291 retreat guests who met the study criteria, 267 enrolled and completed a survey at the start of the retreat. Of these, 247 also completed the survey at the end of the retreat, and 233 completed it 1 month after the retreat. Participants’ average age was 41 years, and 56% were women. Most were White (83%), lived in North America (87%), and had a college education (95%).

In the surveys, study participants reported their demographic data and completed assessments of resilience (the Resilience Scale for Adults), challenging ayahuasca experiences (the Challenging Experience Questionnaire, the Ayahuasca Experience Inventory-Discomfort Subscale, and the Ayahuasca Purging Experience), meaning in life (the Meaning in Life Questionnaire), and personality (the Big Five Inventory-10). Study participants also reported on their previous use of psychedelic compounds and completed a questionnaire assessing the effects of the setting on them during the ayahuasca experience.

Results showed that 79% of participants had past experience with psychedelics, while 22% had used ayahuasca before. More than half of the participants reported at least moderately intense challenging experiences such as feelings that led to crying, body shaking or trembling, emotional or physical suffering, feelings of grief, and heart palpitations. In contrast, fewer than 5% of participants reported feeling that people were plotting against them. Nearly three-quarters of participants reported at least moderate exhaustion after taking ayahuasca.

Individuals with higher neuroticism (i.e., lower emotional stability) tended to report somewhat stronger acute challenging experiences. More resilient individuals also tended to report somewhat more intense acute challenging experiences.

Additionally, resilience measured at the start of the retreat moderated the link between challenging ayahuasca experiences and searching for meaning in life. More specifically, the more resilient a person was, the stronger the association between having an intense challenging experience and searching for meaning 1 month after the retreat. The same was true for uncomfortable ayahuasca-related experiences: their association with searching for meaning in life was stronger in more resilient participants. However, resilience did not moderate the links between these experiences and the presence of meaning in life, that is, the sense that one’s life already feels meaningful.

“Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of ayahuasca effects and resilience, highlighting ayahuasca’s therapeutic potential from a resilience standpoint. Evidence from this study could be used by mental health providers in support of preparation or integration therapy practices for individuals who seek out help following their ayahuasca retreat experience or those who are interested in attending retreats,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of ayahuasca experiences. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be drawn from the results. In addition, participants were predominantly White, college-educated, North American, and relatively affluent, and all attended retreats run by a single provider, so the findings may not generalize to other populations or settings.

The paper, “Baseline Resilience as a Predictor of Ayahuasca Acute Effects and Moderator of the Relationship between Acute Effects and Psychospiritual Outcomes,” was authored by Yitong Xin, Alan K. Davis, Susan Yoon, and Mo Yee Lee.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-link-between-resilience-and-challenging-ayahuasca-experiences/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AyahuascaResilience #ChallengingExperiences #PsychedelicMedicine #MeaningInLife #MentalHealthSupport #ResilienceResearch #AyahuascaTherapy #IntegrationTherapy #SpiritualTransformation #PsychedelicStudy

DATE: September 30, 2026 at 05:01AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEED

TITLE: Book Review: ‘Artificial Intimacy,’ by Sherry Turkle

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/books/review/artificial-intimacy-sherry-turkle.html

In “Artificial Intimacy,” Sherry Turkle warns that we seek comfort from A.I. devices at the peril of our well-being and even our democracy.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/books/review/artificial-intimacy-sherry-turkle.html

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ArtificialIntimacy #SherryTurkle #AIethics #TechnologyAndSociety #AIandWellbeing #DemocracyAndTech #DigitalRelationships #TechCritique #AIInfluence #BookReview

DATE: September 30, 2026 at 05:01AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEED

TITLE: Book Review: ‘Artificial Intimacy,’ by Sherry Turkle

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/books/review/artificial-intimacy-sherry-turkle.html

In “Artificial Intimacy,” Sherry Turkle warns that we seek comfort from A.I. devices at the peril of our well-being and even our democracy.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/books/review/artificial-intimacy-sherry-turkle.html

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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 #ArtificialIntimacy #SherryTurkle #AIethics #TechnologyAndSociety #AIandWellbeing #DemocracyAndTech #DigitalRelationships #TechCritique #AIInfluence #BookReview

DATE: September 30, 2026 at 05:01AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEED

TITLE: Book Review: ‘Artificial Intimacy,’ by Sherry Turkle

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/books/review/artificial-intimacy-sherry-turkle.html

In “Artificial Intimacy,” Sherry Turkle warns that we seek comfort from A.I. devices at the peril of our well-being and even our democracy.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/books/review/artificial-intimacy-sherry-turkle.html

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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 #ArtificialIntimacy #SherryTurkle #AIethics #TechnologyAndSociety #AIandWellbeing #DemocracyAndTech #DigitalRelationships #TechCritique #AIInfluence #BookReview

DATE: September 30, 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: The color of your hair may change how even your skin looks to others

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-color-of-your-hair-may-change-how-even-your-skin-looks-to-others/

New research published in Perception indicates that the color of a person’s hair and the background behind them can change how other people perceive their skin. By altering the visual contrast around a face, scientists found that darker hair and black backgrounds tend to make facial skin appear more even. The findings suggest that everyday styling choices have visual effects that may influence how healthy and attractive a person appears to others.

The central focus of this research is perceived skin evenness, which refers to how uniform a person’s skin color and surface texture appear to an observer. When skin has a steady distribution of color and lacks bumps, spots, or wrinkles, observers tend to judge the face as younger, healthier, and more attractive. Beyond physical attractiveness, observers often link smooth skin to abstract social traits like trustworthiness and competence. Because these social judgments carry heavy weight in daily life, understanding exactly what makes skin look even is an active area of study.

Researchers already know that the biological condition of the skin plays a primary role in how it looks. But human visual perception is complex, and the appearance of skin is also swayed by the features directly next to it. Past work demonstrates that increasing the visual contrast between the skin and facial features like the eyes, lips, and eyebrows actually makes the skin itself look more even. This visual illusion happens even when dark makeup is applied only to the eyes and lips, leaving the skin entirely untouched.

“Previous research has found that increased contrast between skin and adjacent surfaces increases perceived skin evenness,” lead researcher Carlota Batres, an associate professor of psychology at Franklin & Marshall College and the director of the Preferences Lab, told PsyPost. “Our study aimed to examine whether this effect can be extended to situations where the entire face is left untouched and contrast is modified by increasing or decreasing the luminance of surfaces surrounding the face.”

This visual effect is thought to stem from a basic processing mechanism in the brain known as contrast gain control. In simple terms, this means the human visual system evaluates the brightness and texture of a specific region relative to its immediate surroundings. The research team, which also included Richard Russell at Gettysburg College, wanted to know if this visual mechanism operates over larger spatial distances. They set out to test whether modifying the contrast entirely outside the face, by changing hair lightness or background color, would still trick the eye into seeing more even skin.

The neurological reach of this mechanism was previously unclear. “The effects of contrast gain control are believed to operate within but not across cortical hypercolumns, meaning I was not sure this effect would be present across greater spatial expanses such as the contrast surrounding the face,” Batres explained. “In other words, previous studies have addressed contrast within the face, and here we aimed to address contrast outside the face.”

To explore this, the researchers set up two separate experiments. In the first experiment, they gathered photographs of 45 white women ranging in age from 19 to 79. All the women were photographed facing forward with neutral expressions. The scientists selected images where the hair could be entirely masked by an oval border, leaving only the facial skin and features visible.

For each face, the researchers created two versions. One version placed the face against a high-contrast black oval background. The other version placed the face against a low-contrast, skin-colored background, which was created by averaging the actual skin colors from the cheeks of the photographed faces. A group of 61 participants recruited online viewed these 90 images one by one in a random order.

For each image, participants rated the evenness of the person’s skin on a scale from one to seven, where one meant very uneven and seven meant very even. The participants were instructed to look for similar coloration throughout the face and a lack of blemishes, spots, and blotchiness.

The results of the first experiment showed that the background color shifted how observers rated the skin. When faces were presented against the high-contrast black background, their skin was rated as more even, scoring an average of 4.18 out of 7. In comparison, the exact same faces received an average evenness score of 3.95 when presented against the low-contrast skin-colored background. This effect appeared whether the face being judged belonged to a younger woman under 30 or an older woman over 30.

The second experiment aimed to test this visual effect using a more natural, everyday adjustment. The researchers selected a new set of photographs featuring 41 white women, again spanning ages 19 to 79. This time, they specifically chose images with a sharp visual boundary between the person’s hair and their skin.

Using photo editing software, the scientists slightly altered the lightness of each woman’s hair. They created two versions of each face: one where the hair was lightened by a small set amount, and one where the hair was darkened by the same amount. A new group of 80 online participants rated the skin evenness of these 82 images using the same one to seven scale from the first experiment.

Just like the background colors, the hair lightness shifted the participants’ perception of the skin. Faces with artificially darkened hair were rated as having more even skin, with an average score of 4.06. When the exact same faces were shown with lightened hair, the average skin evenness score dropped slightly to 4.01, representing a small difference of just 0.05 points on the seven-point scale.

When the researchers separated the faces by age, they noticed a difference in how hair lightness affected perception. The visual trick was not statistically significant for the younger faces, whose skin was generally already quite uniform. However, for the older faces, the darkened hair made the skin appear more even. The researchers suspect this is because the hair manipulation was a very mild adjustment compared to the stark black background used in the first study, making its subtle effect only detectable on faces that started with more uneven skin.

“Many practices of grooming and personal decoration involve surfaces adjacent to the skin, such as hair, clothing, or other backgrounds, and the results of this study show that these social practices have perceptual consequences related to skin appearance,” Batres noted. The results confirm “that the contrast between the facial skin and the surfaces surrounding the face, whether background color or hair color, influence perceived skin evenness.”

These modest visual effects offer a potential scientific explanation for certain fashion and grooming preferences. Past research shows that women are often rated as more attractive when wearing black clothing. The new findings suggest this boost in attractiveness might happen partly because dark clothing provides high contrast against the skin, making the face look more even and healthier. Similarly, women are often rated as more attractive when wearing their hair down rather than pulled back. Hair framing the face increases the visual contrast directly next to the skin, which might naturally boost perceived skin evenness.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied exclusively on photographs of lightly pigmented white women, meaning the results might not automatically apply to faces of other races or genders. It remains unknown if this contrast trick works in the exact same way for people with darker skin tones, or if different hair and background combinations might be needed to achieve the highest contrast.

Another point to consider is the subtle nature of the hair edits in the second experiment. The researchers only adjusted how light or dark the hair was, keeping the original color family intact. “Our hair manipulation was slight, and it would be interesting for future studies to further examine this effect,” Batres said.

Future studies could test more dramatic hair changes, such as shifting entirely from blonde to black, to see if more extreme contrast creates a stronger illusion of even skin. This could be done “by changing the hair color altogether to one that is high contrast relative to each face’s skin tone versus one that is low contrast relative to each face’s skin tone,” Batres added. The researchers also hope to test other common facial accessories, like glasses, hijabs, or jewelry, to see how they interact with skin perception.

The study, “Perceived skin evenness is influenced by background color and hair color,” was authored by Carlota Batres and Richard Russell.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-color-of-your-hair-may-change-how-even-your-skin-looks-to-others/

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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 #PerceivedSkinEvenness #HairColorInfluence #VisualContrast #SkinAppearance #FacePerception #ContrastGainControl #GroomingInfluences #HairBackgroundContrast #FashionAndPerception #HealthyLookingSkin

DATE: September 30, 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: The color of your hair may change how even your skin looks to others

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-color-of-your-hair-may-change-how-even-your-skin-looks-to-others/

New research published in Perception indicates that the color of a person’s hair and the background behind them can change how other people perceive their skin. By altering the visual contrast around a face, scientists found that darker hair and black backgrounds tend to make facial skin appear more even. The findings suggest that everyday styling choices have visual effects that may influence how healthy and attractive a person appears to others.

The central focus of this research is perceived skin evenness, which refers to how uniform a person’s skin color and surface texture appear to an observer. When skin has a steady distribution of color and lacks bumps, spots, or wrinkles, observers tend to judge the face as younger, healthier, and more attractive. Beyond physical attractiveness, observers often link smooth skin to abstract social traits like trustworthiness and competence. Because these social judgments carry heavy weight in daily life, understanding exactly what makes skin look even is an active area of study.

Researchers already know that the biological condition of the skin plays a primary role in how it looks. But human visual perception is complex, and the appearance of skin is also swayed by the features directly next to it. Past work demonstrates that increasing the visual contrast between the skin and facial features like the eyes, lips, and eyebrows actually makes the skin itself look more even. This visual illusion happens even when dark makeup is applied only to the eyes and lips, leaving the skin entirely untouched.

“Previous research has found that increased contrast between skin and adjacent surfaces increases perceived skin evenness,” lead researcher Carlota Batres, an associate professor of psychology at Franklin & Marshall College and the director of the Preferences Lab, told PsyPost. “Our study aimed to examine whether this effect can be extended to situations where the entire face is left untouched and contrast is modified by increasing or decreasing the luminance of surfaces surrounding the face.”

This visual effect is thought to stem from a basic processing mechanism in the brain known as contrast gain control. In simple terms, this means the human visual system evaluates the brightness and texture of a specific region relative to its immediate surroundings. The research team, which also included Richard Russell at Gettysburg College, wanted to know if this visual mechanism operates over larger spatial distances. They set out to test whether modifying the contrast entirely outside the face, by changing hair lightness or background color, would still trick the eye into seeing more even skin.

The neurological reach of this mechanism was previously unclear. “The effects of contrast gain control are believed to operate within but not across cortical hypercolumns, meaning I was not sure this effect would be present across greater spatial expanses such as the contrast surrounding the face,” Batres explained. “In other words, previous studies have addressed contrast within the face, and here we aimed to address contrast outside the face.”

To explore this, the researchers set up two separate experiments. In the first experiment, they gathered photographs of 45 white women ranging in age from 19 to 79. All the women were photographed facing forward with neutral expressions. The scientists selected images where the hair could be entirely masked by an oval border, leaving only the facial skin and features visible.

For each face, the researchers created two versions. One version placed the face against a high-contrast black oval background. The other version placed the face against a low-contrast, skin-colored background, which was created by averaging the actual skin colors from the cheeks of the photographed faces. A group of 61 participants recruited online viewed these 90 images one by one in a random order.

For each image, participants rated the evenness of the person’s skin on a scale from one to seven, where one meant very uneven and seven meant very even. The participants were instructed to look for similar coloration throughout the face and a lack of blemishes, spots, and blotchiness.

The results of the first experiment showed that the background color shifted how observers rated the skin. When faces were presented against the high-contrast black background, their skin was rated as more even, scoring an average of 4.18 out of 7. In comparison, the exact same faces received an average evenness score of 3.95 when presented against the low-contrast skin-colored background. This effect appeared whether the face being judged belonged to a younger woman under 30 or an older woman over 30.

The second experiment aimed to test this visual effect using a more natural, everyday adjustment. The researchers selected a new set of photographs featuring 41 white women, again spanning ages 19 to 79. This time, they specifically chose images with a sharp visual boundary between the person’s hair and their skin.

Using photo editing software, the scientists slightly altered the lightness of each woman’s hair. They created two versions of each face: one where the hair was lightened by a small set amount, and one where the hair was darkened by the same amount. A new group of 80 online participants rated the skin evenness of these 82 images using the same one to seven scale from the first experiment.

Just like the background colors, the hair lightness shifted the participants’ perception of the skin. Faces with artificially darkened hair were rated as having more even skin, with an average score of 4.06. When the exact same faces were shown with lightened hair, the average skin evenness score dropped slightly to 4.01, representing a small difference of just 0.05 points on the seven-point scale.

When the researchers separated the faces by age, they noticed a difference in how hair lightness affected perception. The visual trick was not statistically significant for the younger faces, whose skin was generally already quite uniform. However, for the older faces, the darkened hair made the skin appear more even. The researchers suspect this is because the hair manipulation was a very mild adjustment compared to the stark black background used in the first study, making its subtle effect only detectable on faces that started with more uneven skin.

“Many practices of grooming and personal decoration involve surfaces adjacent to the skin, such as hair, clothing, or other backgrounds, and the results of this study show that these social practices have perceptual consequences related to skin appearance,” Batres noted. The results confirm “that the contrast between the facial skin and the surfaces surrounding the face, whether background color or hair color, influence perceived skin evenness.”

These modest visual effects offer a potential scientific explanation for certain fashion and grooming preferences. Past research shows that women are often rated as more attractive when wearing black clothing. The new findings suggest this boost in attractiveness might happen partly because dark clothing provides high contrast against the skin, making the face look more even and healthier. Similarly, women are often rated as more attractive when wearing their hair down rather than pulled back. Hair framing the face increases the visual contrast directly next to the skin, which might naturally boost perceived skin evenness.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied exclusively on photographs of lightly pigmented white women, meaning the results might not automatically apply to faces of other races or genders. It remains unknown if this contrast trick works in the exact same way for people with darker skin tones, or if different hair and background combinations might be needed to achieve the highest contrast.

Another point to consider is the subtle nature of the hair edits in the second experiment. The researchers only adjusted how light or dark the hair was, keeping the original color family intact. “Our hair manipulation was slight, and it would be interesting for future studies to further examine this effect,” Batres said.

Future studies could test more dramatic hair changes, such as shifting entirely from blonde to black, to see if more extreme contrast creates a stronger illusion of even skin. This could be done “by changing the hair color altogether to one that is high contrast relative to each face’s skin tone versus one that is low contrast relative to each face’s skin tone,” Batres added. The researchers also hope to test other common facial accessories, like glasses, hijabs, or jewelry, to see how they interact with skin perception.

The study, “Perceived skin evenness is influenced by background color and hair color,” was authored by Carlota Batres and Richard Russell.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-color-of-your-hair-may-change-how-even-your-skin-looks-to-others/

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DATE: September 30, 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: The color of your hair may change how even your skin looks to others

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-color-of-your-hair-may-change-how-even-your-skin-looks-to-others/

New research published in Perception indicates that the color of a person’s hair and the background behind them can change how other people perceive their skin. By altering the visual contrast around a face, scientists found that darker hair and black backgrounds tend to make facial skin appear more even. The findings suggest that everyday styling choices have visual effects that may influence how healthy and attractive a person appears to others.

The central focus of this research is perceived skin evenness, which refers to how uniform a person’s skin color and surface texture appear to an observer. When skin has a steady distribution of color and lacks bumps, spots, or wrinkles, observers tend to judge the face as younger, healthier, and more attractive. Beyond physical attractiveness, observers often link smooth skin to abstract social traits like trustworthiness and competence. Because these social judgments carry heavy weight in daily life, understanding exactly what makes skin look even is an active area of study.

Researchers already know that the biological condition of the skin plays a primary role in how it looks. But human visual perception is complex, and the appearance of skin is also swayed by the features directly next to it. Past work demonstrates that increasing the visual contrast between the skin and facial features like the eyes, lips, and eyebrows actually makes the skin itself look more even. This visual illusion happens even when dark makeup is applied only to the eyes and lips, leaving the skin entirely untouched.

“Previous research has found that increased contrast between skin and adjacent surfaces increases perceived skin evenness,” lead researcher Carlota Batres, an associate professor of psychology at Franklin & Marshall College and the director of the Preferences Lab, told PsyPost. “Our study aimed to examine whether this effect can be extended to situations where the entire face is left untouched and contrast is modified by increasing or decreasing the luminance of surfaces surrounding the face.”

This visual effect is thought to stem from a basic processing mechanism in the brain known as contrast gain control. In simple terms, this means the human visual system evaluates the brightness and texture of a specific region relative to its immediate surroundings. The research team, which also included Richard Russell at Gettysburg College, wanted to know if this visual mechanism operates over larger spatial distances. They set out to test whether modifying the contrast entirely outside the face, by changing hair lightness or background color, would still trick the eye into seeing more even skin.

The neurological reach of this mechanism was previously unclear. “The effects of contrast gain control are believed to operate within but not across cortical hypercolumns, meaning I was not sure this effect would be present across greater spatial expanses such as the contrast surrounding the face,” Batres explained. “In other words, previous studies have addressed contrast within the face, and here we aimed to address contrast outside the face.”

To explore this, the researchers set up two separate experiments. In the first experiment, they gathered photographs of 45 white women ranging in age from 19 to 79. All the women were photographed facing forward with neutral expressions. The scientists selected images where the hair could be entirely masked by an oval border, leaving only the facial skin and features visible.

For each face, the researchers created two versions. One version placed the face against a high-contrast black oval background. The other version placed the face against a low-contrast, skin-colored background, which was created by averaging the actual skin colors from the cheeks of the photographed faces. A group of 61 participants recruited online viewed these 90 images one by one in a random order.

For each image, participants rated the evenness of the person’s skin on a scale from one to seven, where one meant very uneven and seven meant very even. The participants were instructed to look for similar coloration throughout the face and a lack of blemishes, spots, and blotchiness.

The results of the first experiment showed that the background color shifted how observers rated the skin. When faces were presented against the high-contrast black background, their skin was rated as more even, scoring an average of 4.18 out of 7. In comparison, the exact same faces received an average evenness score of 3.95 when presented against the low-contrast skin-colored background. This effect appeared whether the face being judged belonged to a younger woman under 30 or an older woman over 30.

The second experiment aimed to test this visual effect using a more natural, everyday adjustment. The researchers selected a new set of photographs featuring 41 white women, again spanning ages 19 to 79. This time, they specifically chose images with a sharp visual boundary between the person’s hair and their skin.

Using photo editing software, the scientists slightly altered the lightness of each woman’s hair. They created two versions of each face: one where the hair was lightened by a small set amount, and one where the hair was darkened by the same amount. A new group of 80 online participants rated the skin evenness of these 82 images using the same one to seven scale from the first experiment.

Just like the background colors, the hair lightness shifted the participants’ perception of the skin. Faces with artificially darkened hair were rated as having more even skin, with an average score of 4.06. When the exact same faces were shown with lightened hair, the average skin evenness score dropped slightly to 4.01, representing a small difference of just 0.05 points on the seven-point scale.

When the researchers separated the faces by age, they noticed a difference in how hair lightness affected perception. The visual trick was not statistically significant for the younger faces, whose skin was generally already quite uniform. However, for the older faces, the darkened hair made the skin appear more even. The researchers suspect this is because the hair manipulation was a very mild adjustment compared to the stark black background used in the first study, making its subtle effect only detectable on faces that started with more uneven skin.

“Many practices of grooming and personal decoration involve surfaces adjacent to the skin, such as hair, clothing, or other backgrounds, and the results of this study show that these social practices have perceptual consequences related to skin appearance,” Batres noted. The results confirm “that the contrast between the facial skin and the surfaces surrounding the face, whether background color or hair color, influence perceived skin evenness.”

These modest visual effects offer a potential scientific explanation for certain fashion and grooming preferences. Past research shows that women are often rated as more attractive when wearing black clothing. The new findings suggest this boost in attractiveness might happen partly because dark clothing provides high contrast against the skin, making the face look more even and healthier. Similarly, women are often rated as more attractive when wearing their hair down rather than pulled back. Hair framing the face increases the visual contrast directly next to the skin, which might naturally boost perceived skin evenness.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied exclusively on photographs of lightly pigmented white women, meaning the results might not automatically apply to faces of other races or genders. It remains unknown if this contrast trick works in the exact same way for people with darker skin tones, or if different hair and background combinations might be needed to achieve the highest contrast.

Another point to consider is the subtle nature of the hair edits in the second experiment. The researchers only adjusted how light or dark the hair was, keeping the original color family intact. “Our hair manipulation was slight, and it would be interesting for future studies to further examine this effect,” Batres said.

Future studies could test more dramatic hair changes, such as shifting entirely from blonde to black, to see if more extreme contrast creates a stronger illusion of even skin. This could be done “by changing the hair color altogether to one that is high contrast relative to each face’s skin tone versus one that is low contrast relative to each face’s skin tone,” Batres added. The researchers also hope to test other common facial accessories, like glasses, hijabs, or jewelry, to see how they interact with skin perception.

The study, “Perceived skin evenness is influenced by background color and hair color,” was authored by Carlota Batres and Richard Russell.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-color-of-your-hair-may-change-how-even-your-skin-looks-to-others/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PerceivedSkinEvenness #HairColorInfluence #VisualContrast #SkinAppearance #FacePerception #ContrastGainControl #GroomingInfluences #HairBackgroundContrast #FashionAndPerception #HealthyLookingSkin

DATE: September 30, 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: A father’s scent helps babies synchronize their brains with new adults

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-father-s-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults/

The scent of a father can help babies synchronize their brain activity with unfamiliar adults and encourage more energetic social play. By simply smelling their father’s body odor, infants essentially invoke his presence, allowing them to form stronger neural connections with strangers. These findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

When two people interact socially, their brain waves often align or pulse in harmony. This mechanism, known as interbrain synchrony, helps infants tune their developing brains to their social environment. It allows caregivers to provide sensory inputs that guide the maturation of the child’s social brain.

Past research has shown that maternal body odors can calm infants and increase their neural synchrony with unfamiliar adults. Maternal scents act as an evolutionary signal of safety, helping infants orient toward faces and reducing their neural responses to fearful faces.

However, the impact of a father’s scent on infant brain development has remained largely unexplored. Paternal interactions typically involve different behavioral rhythms than maternal care. Fathers often engage in more high-energy play, which stimulates positive arousal and encourages infants to explore their surroundings. These interactions help children acquire attentive and cognitive skills, opening them up to the broader social world.

Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, a researcher at Reichman University in Israel and the University of Washington, along with Linoy Schwartz and Ruth Feldman, wanted to investigate how infants respond to their father’s smell. They aimed to determine if paternal body odors act as a sensory signal that helps infants build neural connections with people outside their immediate family.

The researchers conducted a small study involving 40 infants, aged five to twelve months, and their biological fathers. To collect the scent, fathers wore a 100 percent cotton t-shirt for two consecutive nights. They were instructed to avoid scented soaps, shampoos, and deodorants, and to refrain from eating foods that heavily alter body odor.

During the laboratory experiment, the researchers used dual-electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the brain waves of both the infants and the adults simultaneously. EEG is a non-invasive method that uses small sensors placed on the scalp to detect electrical activity in the brain. Connecting both participants to the same amplifier guaranteed that the neural recordings were synchronized down to the millisecond.

First, the researchers compared the infants interacting with their own fathers against interactions with an unfamiliar male experimenter. No toys or physical contact were allowed during these three-minute sessions.

The infants displayed higher interbrain synchrony with their own fathers than with the stranger. This synchronization occurred specifically in the alpha frequency band, a type of brain wave that develops during the second half of the first year of life. In infants, alpha oscillations are associated with attention regulation, working memory, and visual processing.

The neural connection linked the father’s left central brain region, which handles sensorimotor processing and skill execution, with the infant’s right temporal region. The right temporal cortex is a core area for processing social information, including biological motion detection and attention.

Next, the researchers tested how the father’s scent altered the infant’s interaction with the unfamiliar male. The infants engaged in two sequential interactions with the stranger. In one session, the t-shirt carrying the father’s body odor was placed near the infant. In the other session, a blank, unworn t-shirt was used as a control.

When the father’s scent was present, the neural synchrony between the infant and the stranger increased. The alignment in the alpha frequency band matched the pattern observed when the infants interacted with their actual fathers. When comparing the neural coupling during the odor condition to the synchrony shared between the infant and their real father, the differences were not statistically significant.

The researchers also analyzed video recordings of the interactions to look for behavioral changes. During the sessions with the stranger, the presence of the father’s scent elevated the infant’s positive arousal. This was measured by instances of smiling, laughing, cooing, and changes in posture such as leaning forward or backward.

While overall visual attention and feelings of safety did not increase universally among the infants, the researchers noticed a correlational trend. Infants who looked more at the stranger’s face and displayed more engagement behaviors experienced a larger boost in neural synchrony.

The researchers also surveyed the fathers about their routine involvement in childcare at home. Infants of fathers who reported higher levels of daily involvement showed a more pronounced increase in neural synchrony when exposed to the paternal odor.

Caregiving behaviors are highly variable and do not strictly align with biological sex. Differences observed between this study on fathers and previous research on mothers might reflect individual parenting styles, parental mental states, or varying levels of childcare involvement.

The infants’ ages spanned a period when alpha brain waves are still maturing. This age-related developmental variation could influence the observed neural patterns. Future studies focusing on a narrower age range could clarify how this specific brain rhythm matures over the first year of life.

The experimental design compared the father’s scent to a blank shirt. This leaves open the possibility that infants were reacting to a general human scent rather than their specific father’s odor, though the stranger’s own scent was present during both conditions.

Additionally, the continuous presence of the scent could lead to olfactory habituation, where the infant stops noticing the smell over time. While the researchers found no neural or behavioral differences between the first and second minutes of the interaction, they acknowledge that capturing dynamic changes in brain activity might require more precise odor delivery methods in the future.

Future research could measure the emotional state of the fathers during the odor collection period, as stress or mood might alter the chemical composition of the scent. Investigating populations with developmental differences, such as infants with a higher likelihood of autism, could reveal whether socially relevant scents might assist in building interpersonal neural connections.

The study, “Scent of a father: Paternal body odors boost interbrain synchrony,” was authored by Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, Linoy Schwartz, and Ruth Feldman.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-father-s-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PaternalScent #InfantBrainSynchrony #InterbrainSynchrony #FatherChildBonding #OlfactoryCues #NeuroscienceOfParenting #SocialDevelopment #AlphaWaves #InfantAttention #MaternalVsPaternalCues

DATE: September 30, 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: A father’s scent helps babies synchronize their brains with new adults

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-father-s-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults/

The scent of a father can help babies synchronize their brain activity with unfamiliar adults and encourage more energetic social play. By simply smelling their father’s body odor, infants essentially invoke his presence, allowing them to form stronger neural connections with strangers. These findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

When two people interact socially, their brain waves often align or pulse in harmony. This mechanism, known as interbrain synchrony, helps infants tune their developing brains to their social environment. It allows caregivers to provide sensory inputs that guide the maturation of the child’s social brain.

Past research has shown that maternal body odors can calm infants and increase their neural synchrony with unfamiliar adults. Maternal scents act as an evolutionary signal of safety, helping infants orient toward faces and reducing their neural responses to fearful faces.

However, the impact of a father’s scent on infant brain development has remained largely unexplored. Paternal interactions typically involve different behavioral rhythms than maternal care. Fathers often engage in more high-energy play, which stimulates positive arousal and encourages infants to explore their surroundings. These interactions help children acquire attentive and cognitive skills, opening them up to the broader social world.

Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, a researcher at Reichman University in Israel and the University of Washington, along with Linoy Schwartz and Ruth Feldman, wanted to investigate how infants respond to their father’s smell. They aimed to determine if paternal body odors act as a sensory signal that helps infants build neural connections with people outside their immediate family.

The researchers conducted a small study involving 40 infants, aged five to twelve months, and their biological fathers. To collect the scent, fathers wore a 100 percent cotton t-shirt for two consecutive nights. They were instructed to avoid scented soaps, shampoos, and deodorants, and to refrain from eating foods that heavily alter body odor.

During the laboratory experiment, the researchers used dual-electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the brain waves of both the infants and the adults simultaneously. EEG is a non-invasive method that uses small sensors placed on the scalp to detect electrical activity in the brain. Connecting both participants to the same amplifier guaranteed that the neural recordings were synchronized down to the millisecond.

First, the researchers compared the infants interacting with their own fathers against interactions with an unfamiliar male experimenter. No toys or physical contact were allowed during these three-minute sessions.

The infants displayed higher interbrain synchrony with their own fathers than with the stranger. This synchronization occurred specifically in the alpha frequency band, a type of brain wave that develops during the second half of the first year of life. In infants, alpha oscillations are associated with attention regulation, working memory, and visual processing.

The neural connection linked the father’s left central brain region, which handles sensorimotor processing and skill execution, with the infant’s right temporal region. The right temporal cortex is a core area for processing social information, including biological motion detection and attention.

Next, the researchers tested how the father’s scent altered the infant’s interaction with the unfamiliar male. The infants engaged in two sequential interactions with the stranger. In one session, the t-shirt carrying the father’s body odor was placed near the infant. In the other session, a blank, unworn t-shirt was used as a control.

When the father’s scent was present, the neural synchrony between the infant and the stranger increased. The alignment in the alpha frequency band matched the pattern observed when the infants interacted with their actual fathers. When comparing the neural coupling during the odor condition to the synchrony shared between the infant and their real father, the differences were not statistically significant.

The researchers also analyzed video recordings of the interactions to look for behavioral changes. During the sessions with the stranger, the presence of the father’s scent elevated the infant’s positive arousal. This was measured by instances of smiling, laughing, cooing, and changes in posture such as leaning forward or backward.

While overall visual attention and feelings of safety did not increase universally among the infants, the researchers noticed a correlational trend. Infants who looked more at the stranger’s face and displayed more engagement behaviors experienced a larger boost in neural synchrony.

The researchers also surveyed the fathers about their routine involvement in childcare at home. Infants of fathers who reported higher levels of daily involvement showed a more pronounced increase in neural synchrony when exposed to the paternal odor.

Caregiving behaviors are highly variable and do not strictly align with biological sex. Differences observed between this study on fathers and previous research on mothers might reflect individual parenting styles, parental mental states, or varying levels of childcare involvement.

The infants’ ages spanned a period when alpha brain waves are still maturing. This age-related developmental variation could influence the observed neural patterns. Future studies focusing on a narrower age range could clarify how this specific brain rhythm matures over the first year of life.

The experimental design compared the father’s scent to a blank shirt. This leaves open the possibility that infants were reacting to a general human scent rather than their specific father’s odor, though the stranger’s own scent was present during both conditions.

Additionally, the continuous presence of the scent could lead to olfactory habituation, where the infant stops noticing the smell over time. While the researchers found no neural or behavioral differences between the first and second minutes of the interaction, they acknowledge that capturing dynamic changes in brain activity might require more precise odor delivery methods in the future.

Future research could measure the emotional state of the fathers during the odor collection period, as stress or mood might alter the chemical composition of the scent. Investigating populations with developmental differences, such as infants with a higher likelihood of autism, could reveal whether socially relevant scents might assist in building interpersonal neural connections.

The study, “Scent of a father: Paternal body odors boost interbrain synchrony,” was authored by Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, Linoy Schwartz, and Ruth Feldman.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-father-s-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults/

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PaternalScent #InfantBrainSynchrony #InterbrainSynchrony #FatherChildBonding #OlfactoryCues #NeuroscienceOfParenting #SocialDevelopment #AlphaWaves #InfantAttention #MaternalVsPaternalCues

DATE: September 30, 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: A father’s scent helps babies synchronize their brains with new adults

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-father-s-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults/

The scent of a father can help babies synchronize their brain activity with unfamiliar adults and encourage more energetic social play. By simply smelling their father’s body odor, infants essentially invoke his presence, allowing them to form stronger neural connections with strangers. These findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

When two people interact socially, their brain waves often align or pulse in harmony. This mechanism, known as interbrain synchrony, helps infants tune their developing brains to their social environment. It allows caregivers to provide sensory inputs that guide the maturation of the child’s social brain.

Past research has shown that maternal body odors can calm infants and increase their neural synchrony with unfamiliar adults. Maternal scents act as an evolutionary signal of safety, helping infants orient toward faces and reducing their neural responses to fearful faces.

However, the impact of a father’s scent on infant brain development has remained largely unexplored. Paternal interactions typically involve different behavioral rhythms than maternal care. Fathers often engage in more high-energy play, which stimulates positive arousal and encourages infants to explore their surroundings. These interactions help children acquire attentive and cognitive skills, opening them up to the broader social world.

Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, a researcher at Reichman University in Israel and the University of Washington, along with Linoy Schwartz and Ruth Feldman, wanted to investigate how infants respond to their father’s smell. They aimed to determine if paternal body odors act as a sensory signal that helps infants build neural connections with people outside their immediate family.

The researchers conducted a small study involving 40 infants, aged five to twelve months, and their biological fathers. To collect the scent, fathers wore a 100 percent cotton t-shirt for two consecutive nights. They were instructed to avoid scented soaps, shampoos, and deodorants, and to refrain from eating foods that heavily alter body odor.

During the laboratory experiment, the researchers used dual-electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the brain waves of both the infants and the adults simultaneously. EEG is a non-invasive method that uses small sensors placed on the scalp to detect electrical activity in the brain. Connecting both participants to the same amplifier guaranteed that the neural recordings were synchronized down to the millisecond.

First, the researchers compared the infants interacting with their own fathers against interactions with an unfamiliar male experimenter. No toys or physical contact were allowed during these three-minute sessions.

The infants displayed higher interbrain synchrony with their own fathers than with the stranger. This synchronization occurred specifically in the alpha frequency band, a type of brain wave that develops during the second half of the first year of life. In infants, alpha oscillations are associated with attention regulation, working memory, and visual processing.

The neural connection linked the father’s left central brain region, which handles sensorimotor processing and skill execution, with the infant’s right temporal region. The right temporal cortex is a core area for processing social information, including biological motion detection and attention.

Next, the researchers tested how the father’s scent altered the infant’s interaction with the unfamiliar male. The infants engaged in two sequential interactions with the stranger. In one session, the t-shirt carrying the father’s body odor was placed near the infant. In the other session, a blank, unworn t-shirt was used as a control.

When the father’s scent was present, the neural synchrony between the infant and the stranger increased. The alignment in the alpha frequency band matched the pattern observed when the infants interacted with their actual fathers. When comparing the neural coupling during the odor condition to the synchrony shared between the infant and their real father, the differences were not statistically significant.

The researchers also analyzed video recordings of the interactions to look for behavioral changes. During the sessions with the stranger, the presence of the father’s scent elevated the infant’s positive arousal. This was measured by instances of smiling, laughing, cooing, and changes in posture such as leaning forward or backward.

While overall visual attention and feelings of safety did not increase universally among the infants, the researchers noticed a correlational trend. Infants who looked more at the stranger’s face and displayed more engagement behaviors experienced a larger boost in neural synchrony.

The researchers also surveyed the fathers about their routine involvement in childcare at home. Infants of fathers who reported higher levels of daily involvement showed a more pronounced increase in neural synchrony when exposed to the paternal odor.

Caregiving behaviors are highly variable and do not strictly align with biological sex. Differences observed between this study on fathers and previous research on mothers might reflect individual parenting styles, parental mental states, or varying levels of childcare involvement.

The infants’ ages spanned a period when alpha brain waves are still maturing. This age-related developmental variation could influence the observed neural patterns. Future studies focusing on a narrower age range could clarify how this specific brain rhythm matures over the first year of life.

The experimental design compared the father’s scent to a blank shirt. This leaves open the possibility that infants were reacting to a general human scent rather than their specific father’s odor, though the stranger’s own scent was present during both conditions.

Additionally, the continuous presence of the scent could lead to olfactory habituation, where the infant stops noticing the smell over time. While the researchers found no neural or behavioral differences between the first and second minutes of the interaction, they acknowledge that capturing dynamic changes in brain activity might require more precise odor delivery methods in the future.

Future research could measure the emotional state of the fathers during the odor collection period, as stress or mood might alter the chemical composition of the scent. Investigating populations with developmental differences, such as infants with a higher likelihood of autism, could reveal whether socially relevant scents might assist in building interpersonal neural connections.

The study, “Scent of a father: Paternal body odors boost interbrain synchrony,” was authored by Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, Linoy Schwartz, and Ruth Feldman.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-father-s-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults/

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 11:04AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEED

TITLE: The Scientific Case for Being Less in Touch With Your Friends

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/opinion/friendship-frequency-interaction.html

Prioritize the contact that really makes a difference.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/opinion/friendship-frequency-interaction.html

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 11:04AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEED

TITLE: The Scientific Case for Being Less in Touch With Your Friends

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/opinion/friendship-frequency-interaction.html

Prioritize the contact that really makes a difference.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/opinion/friendship-frequency-interaction.html

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 11:04AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEED

TITLE: The Scientific Case for Being Less in Touch With Your Friends

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/opinion/friendship-frequency-interaction.html

Prioritize the contact that really makes a difference.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/opinion/friendship-frequency-interaction.html

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DATE: September 30, 2026
SOURCE: SOCIALWORKER.COM

TITLE: The Missing Piece in Treating First Responders

URL: https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/missing-piece-treating-first-responders/

Understanding realities of emergency service professions does not replace trauma-informed care; it strengthens it. It helps clinicians see not only what happened to the client, but also how the profession influenced the meaning of the experiences.

URL: https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/missing-piece-treating-first-responders/

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DATE: September 30, 2026
SOURCE: SOCIALWORKER.COM

TITLE: The Missing Piece in Treating First Responders

URL: https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/missing-piece-treating-first-responders/

Understanding realities of emergency service professions does not replace trauma-informed care; it strengthens it. It helps clinicians see not only what happened to the client, but also how the profession influenced the meaning of the experiences.

URL: https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/missing-piece-treating-first-responders/

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DATE: September 30, 2026
SOURCE: SOCIALWORKER.COM

TITLE: The Missing Piece in Treating First Responders

URL: https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/missing-piece-treating-first-responders/

Understanding realities of emergency service professions does not replace trauma-informed care; it strengthens it. It helps clinicians see not only what happened to the client, but also how the profession influenced the meaning of the experiences.

URL: https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/missing-piece-treating-first-responders/

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 10:10AM
SOURCE: PSYCHIATRIC TIMES

Direct article link at end of text block below.

🍂💊 Check out all the psychopharmacology pipeline & FDA updates from September: https://t.co/RE5BP35yYu

Here are any URLs found in the article text:

https://t.co/RE5BP35yYu

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 10:10AM
SOURCE: PSYCHIATRIC TIMES

Direct article link at end of text block below.

🍂💊 Check out all the psychopharmacology pipeline & FDA updates from September: https://t.co/RE5BP35yYu

Here are any URLs found in the article text:

https://t.co/RE5BP35yYu

Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at Articles can be found at https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/news".

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 10:10AM
SOURCE: PSYCHIATRIC TIMES

Direct article link at end of text block below.

🍂💊 Check out all the psychopharmacology pipeline & FDA updates from September: https://t.co/RE5BP35yYu

Here are any URLs found in the article text:

https://t.co/RE5BP35yYu

Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at Articles can be found at https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/news".

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DATE: September 30, 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: Removing Confederate monuments did not measurably change racial bias, study finds

URL: https://www.psypost.org/removing-confederate-monuments-did-not-measurably-change-racial-bias-study-finds/

A recent investigation into whether the presence or removal of Confederate monuments affects racial prejudice found no evidence that these statues cause changes in people’s biases. The findings suggest that while these monuments are deeply tied to historical inequalities, simply being exposed to them does not directly alter subconscious or conscious racial attitudes, and there is no evidence that removing them from public squares does either. The research was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Confederate monuments are statues and memorials erected to honor the pro-slavery Southern states that seceded during the American Civil War. In recent years, many communities have debated whether to remove these statues, viewing them as symbols of white supremacy that continue to harm marginalized groups. Psychologists often distinguish between two types of prejudice that such environments might influence. Explicit bias involves conscious beliefs and feelings about a racial group, while implicit bias involves subconscious, automatic associations that people might not even realize they hold.

Previous research suggested that implicit bias is driven by local environments and historical oppression. For instance, a 2019 study found that white residents in Southern counties with historically higher rates of slavery still display stronger implicit racial bias today. The idea that changes in community environments can shift people’s biases is supported by other research. For example, a separate 2019 study found that antigay bias declined roughly twice as fast after states legalized same-sex marriage, suggesting that changes in public institutions can shift community attitudes.

The new research, led by Maximilian A. Primbs of Radboud University, was designed to test whether this idea applies to Confederate symbols to see if their physical presence or removal actually changes residents’ racial biases. Primbs told PsyPost that his motivation stemmed from the cultural climate a few years ago. “I had previously done research on the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement and discussions about Confederate monuments and what to do with them were widespread in 2020/2021,” he explained.

“These discussions eventually reached Europe, which had its own subsequent reckoning with colonial monuments,” Primbs continued. “Monuments were being graffitied, removed, or in one case even thrown in a river. I want to contribute to these debates by investigating some of the effects of these monuments.”

His 2024 study, covered by PsyPost, indicated that the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests led to a rapid, immediate decrease in implicit racial bias among white Americans, though this reduction was temporary. These patterns are consistent with the Bias of Crowds model, proposed in 2017, which holds that physical and social cues in an area constantly activate stereotypes, shaping the prejudices of the people living there.

To investigate the impact of Confederate monuments, the researchers conducted four distinct studies. The first study analyzed a massive dataset from the Project Implicit database, comparing it with records of Confederate monuments from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The sample included up to 1.75 million white participants across the United States. The scientists looked at geographic areas such as counties and commuting zones, tracking whether areas with monuments had higher aggregate levels of bias, adjusting for variables like population density and the proportion of Black residents.

The authors tracked changes in bias around the time specific monuments were taken down, looking for immediate or delayed drops in prejudice. The results did not show any reliable shifts in implicit or explicit racial bias following a monument’s removal. While there were some minor correlations between the number of monuments and bias levels, the results were inconsistent and sometimes even pointed in the opposite direction of what the theory predicted. The data provided no evidence that taking a statue down caused a change in the local community’s racial attitudes.

Notably, these results conflict with a 2019 study by two of the current paper’s co-authors, Heidi A. Vuletich and B. Keith Payne, which found that college campuses displaying Confederate monuments had higher average implicit bias among students. The researchers suggest three possible explanations for the discrepancy: the earlier result might have been a false positive, the correlation might have reflected an unmeasured third factor, or college campuses might simply operate differently than wider communities.

“We very strongly expected to find effects of Confederate monuments,” Primbs noted. “Many prior studies have found that historical inequalities like slavery, sundown towns, or the Ku Klux Klan shaped social and cultural norms and structures within geographical regions in ways that caused biased attitudes to persist over generations.”

“Confederate monuments are a physical manifestation of these White Supremacist beliefs, and therefore should have shown a similar link,” he added. “To me, this suggests that perhaps social and cultural environments are more important in determining racial biases than physical environments.”

Because observational data can be influenced by many outside factors, the scientists designed a second study to test the effect in a controlled laboratory setting. They recruited 1,161 white participants and 416 Black participants for an online experiment. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to read an educational text explaining the racist history and symbolism of the Confederacy.

After reading the text, this group took an Implicit Association Test with images of Confederate monuments displayed in the background. This test measures the speed at which a person associates positive or negative words with Black or White faces, serving as a standard metric for subconscious prejudice. The control group simply took a standard version of the test.

The researchers found no statistically significant differences in implicit or explicit bias between the group exposed to the monuments and the control group, for both white and Black participants. Further statistical analyses, known as equivalence tests, confirmed that any potential effect of the monuments was smaller than a conventionally small effect size, indicating that exposure does not meaningfully alter bias.

A third study utilized a different measure of subconscious prejudice called the Affect Misattribution Procedure. In this task, participants briefly see a photo of a Black or White face, followed immediately by an abstract painting that they must rate as pleasant or unpleasant. The idea is that feelings about the face subtly influence judgments about the painting. In a sample of 537 participants, those who viewed a slideshow of Confederate monuments and described their associations with them showed no statistically significant differences in bias compared to a control group.

To see if these laboratory findings held up in the real world, the researchers conducted a final field experiment in Tilburg, a city in the Netherlands. Instead of Confederate monuments, they used a local colonial monument, a 1926 statue showing the Catholic missionary Peerke Donders standing over a kneeling Black man from colonial Suriname, which critics say reflects colonial racial hierarchies. The scientists approached 174 white Dutch pedestrians passing by either the colonial monument or a visually similar control monument and asked them to fill out a survey measuring their conscious racial biases and policy preferences.

Half of the participants were given an informational text explaining the colonial monument’s historical meaning before answering the questions. Similar to the previous experiments, neither the physical presence of the monument nor the provided historical context altered the participants’ explicit racial attitudes. Whether people were standing in front of the colonial statue or a statue of the Virgin Mary, their self-reported feelings about minority groups remained similar.

There are a few things to keep in mind regarding these findings. The lack of an effect on psychological bias does not mean that monuments are harmless or lack historical importance. “I’d like to make clear that Confederate monuments not affecting racial bias does not mean that Confederate monuments do not have negative effects,” Primbs said, noting that prior research indicates these statues are often perceived as markers of inequality by Black Americans and have been linked to anti-Black hate crimes.

The authors suggest that the transmission of bias might rely more on interpersonal interactions, community norms, and social behaviors than on isolated physical structures. People might absorb prejudice by observing how others act and speak rather than by walking past a monument.

“Confederate monuments are a physical reminder of historical inequality, a built structure commemorating past evil committed,” Primbs said. “Yet, simply removing the monuments had no effects on racial bias. The key takeaway for a lay person might be that undoing past wrongs is not as simple as removing a monument.”

“Discrimination has become deeply entrenched in societal systems, and to tackle it successfully we need to make changes to the system,” he continued.

Future research might explore other environmental cues that are more socially active or frequently discussed to see what actually sustains regional biases. “This research is part of a research line that highlights the historical origins of present-day racial attitudes,” Primbs noted.

“We’re currently pursuing further research that examines how these historical inequalities shape present-day behaviors, for example by affecting how Black and White people interact and share space,” he concluded.

The study, “On Confederate Monuments, Their Removal and Racial Bias,” was authored by Maximilian A. Primbs, Nicolas Sommet, Gijsbert Bijlstra, B. Keith Payne, Ruddy Faure, Tessa A. M. Lansu, Rob W. Holland, Amanda B. Diekman, and Heidi A. Vuletich.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/removing-confederate-monuments-did-not-measurably-change-racial-bias-study-finds/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ConfederateMonuments #RacialBias #ImplicitBias #ExplicitBias #MonumentRemoval #SocialPsychology #BiasResearch #PublicSquares #HistoricInequality #CulturalEnvironment

DATE: September 30, 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: Removing Confederate monuments did not measurably change racial bias, study finds

URL: https://www.psypost.org/removing-confederate-monuments-did-not-measurably-change-racial-bias-study-finds/

A recent investigation into whether the presence or removal of Confederate monuments affects racial prejudice found no evidence that these statues cause changes in people’s biases. The findings suggest that while these monuments are deeply tied to historical inequalities, simply being exposed to them does not directly alter subconscious or conscious racial attitudes, and there is no evidence that removing them from public squares does either. The research was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Confederate monuments are statues and memorials erected to honor the pro-slavery Southern states that seceded during the American Civil War. In recent years, many communities have debated whether to remove these statues, viewing them as symbols of white supremacy that continue to harm marginalized groups. Psychologists often distinguish between two types of prejudice that such environments might influence. Explicit bias involves conscious beliefs and feelings about a racial group, while implicit bias involves subconscious, automatic associations that people might not even realize they hold.

Previous research suggested that implicit bias is driven by local environments and historical oppression. For instance, a 2019 study found that white residents in Southern counties with historically higher rates of slavery still display stronger implicit racial bias today. The idea that changes in community environments can shift people’s biases is supported by other research. For example, a separate 2019 study found that antigay bias declined roughly twice as fast after states legalized same-sex marriage, suggesting that changes in public institutions can shift community attitudes.

The new research, led by Maximilian A. Primbs of Radboud University, was designed to test whether this idea applies to Confederate symbols to see if their physical presence or removal actually changes residents’ racial biases. Primbs told PsyPost that his motivation stemmed from the cultural climate a few years ago. “I had previously done research on the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement and discussions about Confederate monuments and what to do with them were widespread in 2020/2021,” he explained.

“These discussions eventually reached Europe, which had its own subsequent reckoning with colonial monuments,” Primbs continued. “Monuments were being graffitied, removed, or in one case even thrown in a river. I want to contribute to these debates by investigating some of the effects of these monuments.”

His 2024 study, covered by PsyPost, indicated that the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests led to a rapid, immediate decrease in implicit racial bias among white Americans, though this reduction was temporary. These patterns are consistent with the Bias of Crowds model, proposed in 2017, which holds that physical and social cues in an area constantly activate stereotypes, shaping the prejudices of the people living there.

To investigate the impact of Confederate monuments, the researchers conducted four distinct studies. The first study analyzed a massive dataset from the Project Implicit database, comparing it with records of Confederate monuments from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The sample included up to 1.75 million white participants across the United States. The scientists looked at geographic areas such as counties and commuting zones, tracking whether areas with monuments had higher aggregate levels of bias, adjusting for variables like population density and the proportion of Black residents.

The authors tracked changes in bias around the time specific monuments were taken down, looking for immediate or delayed drops in prejudice. The results did not show any reliable shifts in implicit or explicit racial bias following a monument’s removal. While there were some minor correlations between the number of monuments and bias levels, the results were inconsistent and sometimes even pointed in the opposite direction of what the theory predicted. The data provided no evidence that taking a statue down caused a change in the local community’s racial attitudes.

Notably, these results conflict with a 2019 study by two of the current paper’s co-authors, Heidi A. Vuletich and B. Keith Payne, which found that college campuses displaying Confederate monuments had higher average implicit bias among students. The researchers suggest three possible explanations for the discrepancy: the earlier result might have been a false positive, the correlation might have reflected an unmeasured third factor, or college campuses might simply operate differently than wider communities.

“We very strongly expected to find effects of Confederate monuments,” Primbs noted. “Many prior studies have found that historical inequalities like slavery, sundown towns, or the Ku Klux Klan shaped social and cultural norms and structures within geographical regions in ways that caused biased attitudes to persist over generations.”

“Confederate monuments are a physical manifestation of these White Supremacist beliefs, and therefore should have shown a similar link,” he added. “To me, this suggests that perhaps social and cultural environments are more important in determining racial biases than physical environments.”

Because observational data can be influenced by many outside factors, the scientists designed a second study to test the effect in a controlled laboratory setting. They recruited 1,161 white participants and 416 Black participants for an online experiment. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to read an educational text explaining the racist history and symbolism of the Confederacy.

After reading the text, this group took an Implicit Association Test with images of Confederate monuments displayed in the background. This test measures the speed at which a person associates positive or negative words with Black or White faces, serving as a standard metric for subconscious prejudice. The control group simply took a standard version of the test.

The researchers found no statistically significant differences in implicit or explicit bias between the group exposed to the monuments and the control group, for both white and Black participants. Further statistical analyses, known as equivalence tests, confirmed that any potential effect of the monuments was smaller than a conventionally small effect size, indicating that exposure does not meaningfully alter bias.

A third study utilized a different measure of subconscious prejudice called the Affect Misattribution Procedure. In this task, participants briefly see a photo of a Black or White face, followed immediately by an abstract painting that they must rate as pleasant or unpleasant. The idea is that feelings about the face subtly influence judgments about the painting. In a sample of 537 participants, those who viewed a slideshow of Confederate monuments and described their associations with them showed no statistically significant differences in bias compared to a control group.

To see if these laboratory findings held up in the real world, the researchers conducted a final field experiment in Tilburg, a city in the Netherlands. Instead of Confederate monuments, they used a local colonial monument, a 1926 statue showing the Catholic missionary Peerke Donders standing over a kneeling Black man from colonial Suriname, which critics say reflects colonial racial hierarchies. The scientists approached 174 white Dutch pedestrians passing by either the colonial monument or a visually similar control monument and asked them to fill out a survey measuring their conscious racial biases and policy preferences.

Half of the participants were given an informational text explaining the colonial monument’s historical meaning before answering the questions. Similar to the previous experiments, neither the physical presence of the monument nor the provided historical context altered the participants’ explicit racial attitudes. Whether people were standing in front of the colonial statue or a statue of the Virgin Mary, their self-reported feelings about minority groups remained similar.

There are a few things to keep in mind regarding these findings. The lack of an effect on psychological bias does not mean that monuments are harmless or lack historical importance. “I’d like to make clear that Confederate monuments not affecting racial bias does not mean that Confederate monuments do not have negative effects,” Primbs said, noting that prior research indicates these statues are often perceived as markers of inequality by Black Americans and have been linked to anti-Black hate crimes.

The authors suggest that the transmission of bias might rely more on interpersonal interactions, community norms, and social behaviors than on isolated physical structures. People might absorb prejudice by observing how others act and speak rather than by walking past a monument.

“Confederate monuments are a physical reminder of historical inequality, a built structure commemorating past evil committed,” Primbs said. “Yet, simply removing the monuments had no effects on racial bias. The key takeaway for a lay person might be that undoing past wrongs is not as simple as removing a monument.”

“Discrimination has become deeply entrenched in societal systems, and to tackle it successfully we need to make changes to the system,” he continued.

Future research might explore other environmental cues that are more socially active or frequently discussed to see what actually sustains regional biases. “This research is part of a research line that highlights the historical origins of present-day racial attitudes,” Primbs noted.

“We’re currently pursuing further research that examines how these historical inequalities shape present-day behaviors, for example by affecting how Black and White people interact and share space,” he concluded.

The study, “On Confederate Monuments, Their Removal and Racial Bias,” was authored by Maximilian A. Primbs, Nicolas Sommet, Gijsbert Bijlstra, B. Keith Payne, Ruddy Faure, Tessa A. M. Lansu, Rob W. Holland, Amanda B. Diekman, and Heidi A. Vuletich.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/removing-confederate-monuments-did-not-measurably-change-racial-bias-study-finds/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ConfederateMonuments #RacialBias #ImplicitBias #ExplicitBias #MonumentRemoval #SocialPsychology #BiasResearch #PublicSquares #HistoricInequality #CulturalEnvironment

DATE: September 30, 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: Removing Confederate monuments did not measurably change racial bias, study finds

URL: https://www.psypost.org/removing-confederate-monuments-did-not-measurably-change-racial-bias-study-finds/

A recent investigation into whether the presence or removal of Confederate monuments affects racial prejudice found no evidence that these statues cause changes in people’s biases. The findings suggest that while these monuments are deeply tied to historical inequalities, simply being exposed to them does not directly alter subconscious or conscious racial attitudes, and there is no evidence that removing them from public squares does either. The research was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Confederate monuments are statues and memorials erected to honor the pro-slavery Southern states that seceded during the American Civil War. In recent years, many communities have debated whether to remove these statues, viewing them as symbols of white supremacy that continue to harm marginalized groups. Psychologists often distinguish between two types of prejudice that such environments might influence. Explicit bias involves conscious beliefs and feelings about a racial group, while implicit bias involves subconscious, automatic associations that people might not even realize they hold.

Previous research suggested that implicit bias is driven by local environments and historical oppression. For instance, a 2019 study found that white residents in Southern counties with historically higher rates of slavery still display stronger implicit racial bias today. The idea that changes in community environments can shift people’s biases is supported by other research. For example, a separate 2019 study found that antigay bias declined roughly twice as fast after states legalized same-sex marriage, suggesting that changes in public institutions can shift community attitudes.

The new research, led by Maximilian A. Primbs of Radboud University, was designed to test whether this idea applies to Confederate symbols to see if their physical presence or removal actually changes residents’ racial biases. Primbs told PsyPost that his motivation stemmed from the cultural climate a few years ago. “I had previously done research on the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement and discussions about Confederate monuments and what to do with them were widespread in 2020/2021,” he explained.

“These discussions eventually reached Europe, which had its own subsequent reckoning with colonial monuments,” Primbs continued. “Monuments were being graffitied, removed, or in one case even thrown in a river. I want to contribute to these debates by investigating some of the effects of these monuments.”

His 2024 study, covered by PsyPost, indicated that the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests led to a rapid, immediate decrease in implicit racial bias among white Americans, though this reduction was temporary. These patterns are consistent with the Bias of Crowds model, proposed in 2017, which holds that physical and social cues in an area constantly activate stereotypes, shaping the prejudices of the people living there.

To investigate the impact of Confederate monuments, the researchers conducted four distinct studies. The first study analyzed a massive dataset from the Project Implicit database, comparing it with records of Confederate monuments from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The sample included up to 1.75 million white participants across the United States. The scientists looked at geographic areas such as counties and commuting zones, tracking whether areas with monuments had higher aggregate levels of bias, adjusting for variables like population density and the proportion of Black residents.

The authors tracked changes in bias around the time specific monuments were taken down, looking for immediate or delayed drops in prejudice. The results did not show any reliable shifts in implicit or explicit racial bias following a monument’s removal. While there were some minor correlations between the number of monuments and bias levels, the results were inconsistent and sometimes even pointed in the opposite direction of what the theory predicted. The data provided no evidence that taking a statue down caused a change in the local community’s racial attitudes.

Notably, these results conflict with a 2019 study by two of the current paper’s co-authors, Heidi A. Vuletich and B. Keith Payne, which found that college campuses displaying Confederate monuments had higher average implicit bias among students. The researchers suggest three possible explanations for the discrepancy: the earlier result might have been a false positive, the correlation might have reflected an unmeasured third factor, or college campuses might simply operate differently than wider communities.

“We very strongly expected to find effects of Confederate monuments,” Primbs noted. “Many prior studies have found that historical inequalities like slavery, sundown towns, or the Ku Klux Klan shaped social and cultural norms and structures within geographical regions in ways that caused biased attitudes to persist over generations.”

“Confederate monuments are a physical manifestation of these White Supremacist beliefs, and therefore should have shown a similar link,” he added. “To me, this suggests that perhaps social and cultural environments are more important in determining racial biases than physical environments.”

Because observational data can be influenced by many outside factors, the scientists designed a second study to test the effect in a controlled laboratory setting. They recruited 1,161 white participants and 416 Black participants for an online experiment. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to read an educational text explaining the racist history and symbolism of the Confederacy.

After reading the text, this group took an Implicit Association Test with images of Confederate monuments displayed in the background. This test measures the speed at which a person associates positive or negative words with Black or White faces, serving as a standard metric for subconscious prejudice. The control group simply took a standard version of the test.

The researchers found no statistically significant differences in implicit or explicit bias between the group exposed to the monuments and the control group, for both white and Black participants. Further statistical analyses, known as equivalence tests, confirmed that any potential effect of the monuments was smaller than a conventionally small effect size, indicating that exposure does not meaningfully alter bias.

A third study utilized a different measure of subconscious prejudice called the Affect Misattribution Procedure. In this task, participants briefly see a photo of a Black or White face, followed immediately by an abstract painting that they must rate as pleasant or unpleasant. The idea is that feelings about the face subtly influence judgments about the painting. In a sample of 537 participants, those who viewed a slideshow of Confederate monuments and described their associations with them showed no statistically significant differences in bias compared to a control group.

To see if these laboratory findings held up in the real world, the researchers conducted a final field experiment in Tilburg, a city in the Netherlands. Instead of Confederate monuments, they used a local colonial monument, a 1926 statue showing the Catholic missionary Peerke Donders standing over a kneeling Black man from colonial Suriname, which critics say reflects colonial racial hierarchies. The scientists approached 174 white Dutch pedestrians passing by either the colonial monument or a visually similar control monument and asked them to fill out a survey measuring their conscious racial biases and policy preferences.

Half of the participants were given an informational text explaining the colonial monument’s historical meaning before answering the questions. Similar to the previous experiments, neither the physical presence of the monument nor the provided historical context altered the participants’ explicit racial attitudes. Whether people were standing in front of the colonial statue or a statue of the Virgin Mary, their self-reported feelings about minority groups remained similar.

There are a few things to keep in mind regarding these findings. The lack of an effect on psychological bias does not mean that monuments are harmless or lack historical importance. “I’d like to make clear that Confederate monuments not affecting racial bias does not mean that Confederate monuments do not have negative effects,” Primbs said, noting that prior research indicates these statues are often perceived as markers of inequality by Black Americans and have been linked to anti-Black hate crimes.

The authors suggest that the transmission of bias might rely more on interpersonal interactions, community norms, and social behaviors than on isolated physical structures. People might absorb prejudice by observing how others act and speak rather than by walking past a monument.

“Confederate monuments are a physical reminder of historical inequality, a built structure commemorating past evil committed,” Primbs said. “Yet, simply removing the monuments had no effects on racial bias. The key takeaway for a lay person might be that undoing past wrongs is not as simple as removing a monument.”

“Discrimination has become deeply entrenched in societal systems, and to tackle it successfully we need to make changes to the system,” he continued.

Future research might explore other environmental cues that are more socially active or frequently discussed to see what actually sustains regional biases. “This research is part of a research line that highlights the historical origins of present-day racial attitudes,” Primbs noted.

“We’re currently pursuing further research that examines how these historical inequalities shape present-day behaviors, for example by affecting how Black and White people interact and share space,” he concluded.

The study, “On Confederate Monuments, Their Removal and Racial Bias,” was authored by Maximilian A. Primbs, Nicolas Sommet, Gijsbert Bijlstra, B. Keith Payne, Ruddy Faure, Tessa A. M. Lansu, Rob W. Holland, Amanda B. Diekman, and Heidi A. Vuletich.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/removing-confederate-monuments-did-not-measurably-change-racial-bias-study-finds/

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 08:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Cannabis users were twice as likely to commit violence, review finds

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 08:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Cannabis users were twice as likely to commit violence, review finds

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 08:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Cannabis users were twice as likely to commit violence, review finds

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 11:12PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Creatine may help build muscle even without exercise, researchers find

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100547.htm

Creatine helped middle-aged adults gain muscle and strength even without a structured workout program in a new 12-week study. When combined with exercise and a calorie-reduced diet, it produced even greater strength gains while helping participants add lean tissue and lose fat. Researchers say the results strengthen the case for creatine as a potentially useful tool for maintaining muscle with age.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100547.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 11:12PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Creatine may help build muscle even without exercise, researchers find

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100547.htm

Creatine helped middle-aged adults gain muscle and strength even without a structured workout program in a new 12-week study. When combined with exercise and a calorie-reduced diet, it produced even greater strength gains while helping participants add lean tissue and lose fat. Researchers say the results strengthen the case for creatine as a potentially useful tool for maintaining muscle with age.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100547.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 07:01AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Brain scans reveal which disorders are linked to faster brain aging

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225038.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 11:12PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Creatine may help build muscle even without exercise, researchers find

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100547.htm

Creatine helped middle-aged adults gain muscle and strength even without a structured workout program in a new 12-week study. When combined with exercise and a calorie-reduced diet, it produced even greater strength gains while helping participants add lean tissue and lose fat. Researchers say the results strengthen the case for creatine as a potentially useful tool for maintaining muscle with age.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260928100547.htm

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 08:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Cannabis users were twice as likely to commit violence, review finds

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 08:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Cannabis users were twice as likely to commit violence, review finds

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

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DATE: September 30, 2026 at 08:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Cannabis users were twice as likely to commit violence, review finds

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260930020255.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CannabisViolence #CannabisResearch #PublicHealth #SubstanceUse #ViolenceRisk #CannabisAndViolence #HealthStudies #DrugPolicy #MentalHealth #SafetyNews

DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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DATE: September 29, 2026 at 08:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Children at risk for depression get “stuck” on sad faces

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927225022.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ChildrenAndDepression #MentalHealthAwareness #DepressionInKids #FamilyHistory #SadFaceAttention #EmotionalDevelopment #PediatricMentalHealth #EarlyWarningSigns #YouthWellbeing #SchoolSupport