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(https://www.psypost.org/friendships-across-gender-and-race-linked-to-greater-kindness-in-children-study-finds/) Friendships across gender and race linked to greater kindness in children, study finds
Apr 29th 2025, 10:00

A new study published in (https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251321014) Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that elementary school children with friends from different gender or racial backgrounds are more likely to act kindly toward peers who differ from them—sometimes even across group lines. The findings highlight the powerful role that cross-group friendships can play in shaping prosocial behavior during a formative developmental period.
Although previous research has often focused on reducing overt prejudice, less attention has been paid to how children express positive behaviors, like helping, toward outgroup members. The authors of the new study were especially interested in whether having friends from one outgroup (e.g., a different gender) might also encourage helping behavior toward members of another outgroup (e.g., a different racial status)—a phenomenon known as the “secondary transfer effect.”
“I was the ‘new’ kid during elementary school, middle school, and high school, and felt like an outsider in accounting during college. I experienced it again when I became a school teacher, and later when I transitioned to psychology in graduate school in the United States. These experiences drove my interests in kindness and inclusion among various individuals who are similar and different from each other,” said study author (https://sonyaxiao.wixsite.com/ibaylab) Sonya Xinyue Xiao, an assistant professor at Northern Arizona University.
The study involved 603 students from public schools in the southwestern United States. Children ranged in age from 7 to 11 years old, with a nearly even split between girls and boys. Just over half of the sample came from racially minoritized backgrounds. Peer relationships were assessed twice during the school year—once in the fall and again in the spring. Students nominated classmates they considered best friends and those they believed were helpful to them. These nominations were used to create measures of intergroup friendships and prosocial behavior directed toward peers who differed by gender or racial status.
The researchers first examined the “primary effects” of intergroup contact. Children who had more friends of a different gender were more likely to be nominated as helpful by other-gender classmates several months later. This effect remained even after accounting for children’s earlier prosocial behavior and their number of same-gender friends. Similarly, children with more friends of a different racial status were more likely to be viewed as helpful by classmates from different racial backgrounds over time.
These findings provide evidence that friendships across group lines can support more inclusive prosocial behavior. Interestingly, the benefits of having different-gender friends were not limited to gender-based kindness. Children with more other-gender friends were also more likely to be nominated as helpful by peers of a different racial status—suggesting that intergroup friendships in one domain can positively influence behavior in another. This is what the researchers refer to as the “secondary transfer effect.”
“Overall, our findings showed relatively strong support for the benefits of friendships with other-gender peers (i.e., boys with girls; girls with boys) in children’s prosocial behavior toward various peers (i.e., both other-gender peers and peers who differ in racial status) over one semester’s time,” Xiao told PsyPost. “This is likely due to the importance and salience of gender in children’s lives.”
When the researchers flipped the analysis—looking to see if interracial friendships led to greater kindness toward peers of another gender—they found more limited evidence. While children with friends of a different racial status were initially more likely to show prosocial behavior toward other-gender peers, this effect disappeared when accounting for how many other-gender friends the children already had. In other words, the secondary transfer effect was stronger when it originated from gender-based friendships, rather than race-based ones.
The study also explored whether these effects varied by the child’s own gender or racial status. Contrary to some expectations, the benefits of cross-gender and cross-racial friendships for prosocial behavior appeared to apply broadly across groups. One exception was that the transfer effect from interracial friendships to intergender prosocial behavior was more apparent among racially minoritized children than among White children. However, this pattern did not hold when more stringent statistical controls were applied.
“It was surprising that for BIPOC students, but not White students, having more friends who are of different racial status benefited children’s prosocial behavior toward other-gender peers over time,” Xiao explained. “However, this finding was mainly driven by who the friends are—a person who is different in racial status may be similar to the participating child in their gender, for example. This might be why when we also considered children’s other-gender friendships in the analyses, we no longer observed such relations.”
The researchers acknowledged limitations in the study’s sample and design. The children were from a specific region of the United States, and the study grouped together all minoritized racial identities, which may obscure important differences among children from distinct racial and ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, while peer nominations offer a useful snapshot of children’s social dynamics, they cannot always capture the depth or quality of a friendship.
Despite these limitations, the study points to promising directions for future research and intervention. The authors note that middle to late childhood is a period when children’s social attitudes are still forming and may be more open to change.
“I plan to examine the developmental predictors (e.g., parents, friends) of youth’s prosocial behavior toward various individuals around them,” Xiao said. “I am also interested in understanding the benefits of such prosocial behavior—in addition to benefiting others. My long-term goals are to generate applied solutions to promote such kindness and, more broadly, youth’s psychosocial well-being.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672251321014) A Longitudinal Examination of Children’s Friendships Across Racial Status and Gender and Their Intergroup Prosocial Behavior,” was authored by Sonya Xinyue Xiao, Haining Ren, May Ling Halim, Carol Lynn Martin, Dawn DeLay, Richard A. Fabes, Laura D. Hanish, and Krista Oswalt.

(https://www.psypost.org/ai-model-predicts-adult-adhd-using-virtual-reality-and-eye-movement-data/) AI model predicts adult ADHD using virtual reality and eye movement data
Apr 29th 2025, 08:00

A new study published in (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-03217-y) Translational Psychiatry suggests that combining virtual reality, eye tracking, head movement data, and self-reported symptoms may help identify attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults with improved accuracy. In a diagnostic task designed to mimic real-world distractions, researchers found that their machine learning model could distinguish adults with ADHD from those without the condition 81% of the time when tested on an independent sample.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition marked by inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. While it is often diagnosed in childhood, it also affects millions of adults. Diagnosing the disorder in adults can be especially difficult because it typically relies on clinical interviews and retrospective self-reports. These methods are prone to error due to biased memory or intentional misreporting. Unlike some medical conditions, there are no established biomarkers or lab tests that can confirm an ADHD diagnosis. As a result, misdiagnosis remains a serious problem.
To address these challenges, the research team aimed to improve diagnostic accuracy by using a multimodal assessment approach that mirrors the real-world experience of people with ADHD. They combined performance on a sustained attention task with eye tracking, head motion measurements, electroencephalography (EEG), and real-time self-reports. Participants completed the task in a simulated seminar room using virtual reality, where distractions like noise or movement were introduced to mimic everyday interruptions.
“ADHD is a complex and heterogeneous disorder and, to date, no cognitive tests or (bio)markers exist that can accurately and reliably detect it. Nonetheless, such objective measures would significantly facilitate the diagnostic process,” said co-first author Benjamin Selaskowski, who is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital Bonn.
“Preliminary evidence suggests combining multiple assessment modalities may improve diagnostic accuracy. Further, there is evidence that virtual reality (VR) can improve the diagnostic accuracy of cognitive tests in ADHD by providing a realistic, ecologically valid test environment.”
“Therefore, in the present study we aimed to investigate whether integrating a VR-based cognitive test with tracking of head and eye movements, assessment of brain activity (via EEG), and real-time self-assessment of symptoms during the task could yield high accuracy in distinguishing adults with and without ADHD.”
The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the researchers collected training data from 50 adults—25 with ADHD and 25 without. In the second, they tested the predictive accuracy of their model on a separate group of 36 participants—18 with ADHD and 18 without. This step was critical to ensure the model could generalize beyond the group it was trained on. Each participant wore a VR headset and completed a continuous performance task (CPT), which required them to press a button in response to certain letter sequences while ignoring distractors. Their responses, head and eye movements, brain activity, and symptom self-ratings were recorded during the task.
The machine learning model was trained to identify patterns across these different types of data that were most predictive of ADHD. To ensure that the model focused on the most informative features, the researchers used a statistical method known as maximal relevance and minimal redundancy (MRMR), which selects variables that are both strongly related to the diagnosis and relatively uncorrelated with each other. Out of 76 total features, the optimal model used only 11 to achieve the highest performance.
These features came from four of the five data sources: self-reported symptoms, eye tracking, task performance, and head movement. Among the most important predictors were how much a participant’s gaze wandered, how variable their reaction times were, and how much they moved their head during the task. Self-reported ratings of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity also played a key role, although the researchers caution that self-assessments have known limitations in people with ADHD.
When applied to the independent test set, the model achieved an overall accuracy of 81%, with a sensitivity of 78% and specificity of 83%. This means it correctly identified 78% of ADHD cases and 83% of non-ADHD cases. These numbers are similar to those found in earlier machine learning studies of ADHD, but with a key difference: most prior research did not test their models on separate, independent data. This step is essential to avoid overestimating how well a model will perform in real-world settings.
“This study shows that combining multiple types of information can effectively help identify adults with ADHD,” explained co-first author Annika Wiebe. “Based on data from a group of adults with and without ADHD, we identified performance in a virtual attention task, eye movements, head motion, and self-reported symptoms during the VR scenario as most relevant for distinguishing individuals with ADHD. These findings highlight the potential of using a multi-method assessment to improve the accuracy and objectivity of ADHD diagnosis in adults.”
The use of a virtual reality setting was especially important. Traditional attention tests are often done in quiet, sterile lab environments, which do not reflect the noisy, distracting situations in which people with ADHD often struggle. By placing participants in a more realistic environment and introducing distractions, the researchers were able to capture behaviors that may not emerge in standard tests. This approach increases what’s known as ecological validity—the extent to which a test resembles real-life situations.
The study also sheds light on the relative value of different data sources. While EEG is often considered a promising avenue for identifying biomarkers of mental health conditions, it did not improve classification accuracy in this case.
“We found it interesting that our investigated EEG parameters did not contribute to the predictive accuracy of our model,” Selaskowski told PsyPost. “Despite EEG’s common use in ADHD research, our results suggest that other measures – such as eye tracking, head movement, and self-reported symptoms during VR tasks – are more informative for distinguishing ADHD in adults.”
Despite its promising findings, the study does have limitations. The sample size was relatively small, with only 86 participants across both the training and test sets. This limits the generalizability of the results, although the use of a separate validation sample does strengthen the conclusions. “Further research with larger and more diverse populations is necessary to validate and refine this diagnostic approach,” Wiebe said.
“We aim to develop a standardized, efficient, and ecologically valid diagnostic tool for adult ADHD that can be easily implemented in clinical settings,” Selaskowski explained. “By refining our VR-based assessment and validating it across larger and more diverse populations, we hope to enhance the accuracy and reliability of ADHD diagnoses and potentially apply this approach to other neurodevelopmental disorders. With our multi-method approach, we hope to be able to capture a more comprehensive picture of an individual’s cognitive and behavioral functioning, leading to more accurate and personalized diagnoses.”
“Our findings highlight the importance of integrating multiple assessment modalities when diagnosing complex conditions such as ADHD,” Wiebe added. “Importantly, unlike most previous machine learning research in ADHD, our study validated the predictive model on an independent test dataset, which strengthens the reliability and potential clinical relevance of our findings.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-024-03217-y) Virtual reality-assisted prediction of adult ADHD based on eye tracking, EEG, actigraphy and behavioral indices: a machine learning analysis of independent training and test samples,” was authored by Annika Wiebe, Benjamin Selaskowski, Martha Paskin, Laura Asché, Julian Pakos, Behrem Aslan, Silke Lux, Alexandra Philipsen, and Niclas Braun.

(https://www.psypost.org/scientists-uncover-links-between-brain-damage-and-how-intensely-people-engage-in-politics/) Scientists uncover links between brain damage and how intensely people engage in politics
Apr 29th 2025, 06:00

A new study published in (https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf101) Brain suggests that specific brain circuits are linked to how intensely people engage in political behavior, without necessarily influencing their political ideology or party affiliation. Researchers found that damage to areas connected to emotional and cognitive control regions could either heighten or lessen political involvement, with consistent effects seen across both conservative-leaning and liberal-leaning participants.
Political neuroscience research has long indicated that different brain regions are associated with ideological leanings, but it has remained unclear whether brain anatomy plays a role in how actively people participate in politics. Since participation—rather than mere belief—often drives political outcomes, distinguishing the two could help clarify how cognitive and emotional processes shape public life. In addition, investigating the brain networks involved could eventually inform both clinical assessments and broader questions about human social behavior.
“This started out as a collaborative effort focused on learning how to help people better come together and thrive, along with Stephanie Balters at Stanford. We have previously shown that when damaging a brain circuit causes a behavior, therapeutic stimulation to the same circuit may reduce the same behavior,” said study author (https://siddiqi.bwh.harvard.edu/) Shan Siddiqi, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and neuropsychiatrist at the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine.
“Extending that principle, we went searching for circuits involved in behaviors that might bring people together or drive people apart. We worked with Jordan Grafman at Northwestern, who had collected a profound set of behavioral data after focal brain damage, and he suggested looking at political behavior.” 
“As a neuropsychiatrist, I don’t often ask patients about their political behavior, but I realized I didn’t have a good reason for that – as part of our diagnostic assessments, we ask people about all sorts of different personal behaviors. If political behavior can change in neuropsychiatric disorders, then why aren’t we asking about it? In particular, if we can find a brain target that modulates political behavior, we can figure out how to help patients increase or decrease that behavior.”
To explore these questions, the researchers analyzed data from the Vietnam Head Injury Study, focusing on 124 male United States military Veterans who had sustained penetrating head injuries during combat 40 to 45 years earlier. Participants underwent detailed behavioral testing between 2008 and 2012, including surveys that measured how actively they engaged with politics and how they identified ideologically and by party affiliation. A control group of 35 Veterans who had similar combat experiences but no brain injuries was also included for comparison.
Participants answered questions about their political interest, how often they followed political news, and how frequently they discussed political matters. These responses were combined into a single score representing their intensity of political involvement. Separately, participants rated their political ideology on a scale from extremely liberal to extremely conservative, and their party affiliation from strongly Democratic to strongly Republican.
The researchers employed a technique called lesion network mapping, which links damaged brain areas to broader networks of brain connectivity. By analyzing the relationships between each participant’s brain lesion and their political behavior, the team could determine whether certain patterns of brain injury corresponded with changes in political involvement.
The findings revealed that damage to specific brain circuits was associated with political intensity but not with political ideology or party affiliation. Lesions that disrupted connections to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior precuneus were associated with more intense political involvement. In contrast, lesions that disrupted connections to the amygdala and anterior temporal lobe were associated with reduced political involvement. These effects were seen across participants regardless of whether they leaned conservative or liberal.
“While most people have not sustained brain injuries akin to those experienced by the veterans in the study, our findings tell us what neural circuits are at play for the population at large,” said senior author Jordan Grafman, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and director of brain injury research at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
Importantly, political ideology—whether someone leaned left, right, or moderate—did not show a significant link to any specific brain region or network. Neither did party affiliation. This suggests that the brain areas identified are connected to how strongly individuals act on their political beliefs rather than which beliefs they hold.
“We tend to assume that something in your brain affects your political views, but we clearly found no brain circuit that makes you more liberal or more conservative,” Siddiqi told PsyPost. “Political ideology and party affiliation did not change with any identifiable pattern of brain damage. However, regardless of your party affiliation, certain patterns of brain damage might make you more or less likely to express that pre-existing viewpoint. 
“This suggests that your political preferences might be a behavior that you learn from your environment, while the intensity of political involvement might be encoded in specific brain circuits. We hope that this helps us find common ground – even when people have different political beliefs, they might be more similar than they think.”
The study’s results echo (https://www.psypost.org/new-study-links-brain-network-damage-to-increased-religious-fundamentalism/) findings from earlier research on religious fundamentalism. In that work, brain lesions were found to increase rigid, fundamentalist religious beliefs by disrupting a specific brain network, particularly in the right hemisphere. Damage to areas involved in flexible thinking, reasoning, and social judgment appeared to make individuals more prone to absolute and unwavering belief systems. Similarly, in the present study, damage to brain networks involved in cognitive control and emotional regulation was linked to greater or lesser political engagement, depending on the location of the injury.
Both studies suggest that damage to certain networks can influence the style or intensity of belief-related behavior, even if the content of those beliefs—whether religious or political—remains rooted in prior views. Rather than making someone liberal or conservative, brain injuries appear to amplify or suppress how strongly people express and act on their existing opinions.
While the study provides strong evidence linking brain circuitry to political involvement, it has several limitations. All participants were older male veterans, many of whom were more conservative than the general population, which could affect how the findings apply to other groups. The political assessments were also based on participants’ recollections of their beliefs and behaviors before their injuries, which introduces the possibility of memory biases.
“This study was done in military veterans who served in Vietnam,” Siddiqi noted. “In one sense, this was an advantage because it allowed us to control for some variables, ensuring that results weren’t driven by vastly different age groups, professional backgrounds, etc. On the other hand, it means that the results may not fully translate to other populations, so future studies are still needed on this topic.”
Another limitation is that brain lesions, by nature, are not uniformly distributed across participants, and it is impossible to assess behavior before the injuries occurred. While the study controlled for factors like age, education, and cognitive aptitude, unmeasured variables might still have influenced the results.
The researchers also caution that while lesion network mapping helps reveal associations between brain networks and behavior, it does not establish direct causality. Brain stimulation studies targeting these networks would be needed to test whether manipulating activity in these regions can actually change political involvement.
“Current political behavior was compared to a recollection of pre-lesion political behavior,” Siddiqi explained. “That recollection may be inaccurate. We’re now trying to address this by measuring political behavior before and after focal brain stimulation in patients with various psychiatric disorders.”
“Overall, the goal is to identify brain circuits that may be used to help people who seek to modify behaviors that are not classically seen as ‘symptoms’ of a disorder. We are now doing a large-scale study using transcranial magnetic stimulation, a tool that can be used to activate or deactivate specific brain circuits. Participants receive targeted stimulation to different brain circuits to see what kinds of behavioral changes might occur.” 
“We are measuring conventional neuropsychiatric symptoms, but also behaviors like altruism, spirituality, political behavior, and other things that are not conventionally seen as symptoms,” Siddiqi said. “We hope to develop a comprehensive atlas of which brain circuits can be targeted to help patients with different kinds of behavioral concerns.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf101) Effects of focal brain damage on political behaviour across different political ideologies,” was authored by Shan H. Siddiqi, Stephanie Balters, Giovanna Zamboni, Shira Cohen-Zimerman, and Jordan H. Grafman.

(https://www.psypost.org/re-partnering-boosts-single-mothers-life-satisfaction-mainly-through-higher-income/) Re-partnering boosts single mothers’ life satisfaction, mainly through higher income
Apr 28th 2025, 16:00

A study of single mothers in the United Kingdom and Germany found that their life satisfaction tends to improve after finding a new partner, primarily due to income-related factors. Single mothers who did not re-partner tended to have higher incomes compared to those who did. In Germany, but not in the United Kingdom, they also tended to have higher levels of education. The research was published in the(https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.13015)  Journal of Marriage and Family.
Family plays a major role in shaping an individual’s mental health across the lifespan. Supportive family relationships can foster resilience, emotional well-being, and healthy coping strategies. In contrast, family conflict, abuse, neglect, or dysfunction can contribute to the development of mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress. Family members often serve as caregivers, a role that can be both supportive and emotionally demanding.
Among family structures, single mothers are considered a particularly vulnerable group. On average, they report worse mental health and lower life satisfaction compared to partnered mothers. High stress levels related to financial hardship and limited social resources are seen as key contributors to their difficulties. Finding a new partner may help to alleviate these challenges and improve mental health.
Study author Philipp Dierker and his colleagues sought to examine how the mental health and life satisfaction of single mothers in Germany and the United Kingdom change after re-partnering. Both countries have rates of single motherhood above the European Union average (19% in Germany, 15% in the United Kingdom), but differ in their welfare state policies.
“In the 1990s and 2000s, Germany implemented labor market and family policy reforms, transitioning from cash benefits to in-kind benefits and employment incentives, and now has a hybrid welfare state model that combines liberal and social–democratic elements. The UK, which follows a liberal, market-oriented model, provides less state support than Germany, placing responsibility for family support and childcare mainly on private market arrangements,” the researchers explained.
“In 1998, the UK introduced the ‘New Deal for Lone Parents,’ which actively promoted single parents’ labor market participation. Single mothers’ employment rates have been higher in Germany than in the UK since at least 2005.”
The researchers analyzed data from two major longitudinal studies: the German Socio-Economic Panel, a nationally representative survey of private households conducted annually since 1984, and the British Household Panel Study, which began in 1991. For Germany, data from 1984 to 2020 were analyzed, while United Kingdom data covered the period from 1996 to 2020.
The analyses focused on single mothers who re-partnered during the study period. This included 1,101 German and 549 British mothers. On average, researchers had four to five years of data per participant.
Single mothers were defined as women living with their biological children, at least one of whom was underage. They were considered re-partnered in the year a male partner moved into their household.
Life satisfaction was measured by asking participants, “How satisfied are you with your life, all things considered?” Mental health was assessed using the mental health component summary score derived from the SF-12 questionnaire. The researchers also considered a range of factors that could influence mental health and life satisfaction, including household income, time spent on housework, residential moves, social status, and whether children from the new partner also joined the household.
Results showed that single mothers who did not re-partner tended to have higher monthly incomes at the time they became single mothers compared to those who later re-partnered. In Germany, but not in the United Kingdom, non-repartnered mothers also tended to have higher levels of education.
Single mothers who re-partnered generally reported higher life satisfaction and better mental health than those who remained single. Their household income also tended to be higher after re-partnering.
When researchers looked at changes over time, they found that life satisfaction improved after re-partnering among both German and United Kingdom participants, although the effect was smaller in the United Kingdom. In Germany, life satisfaction continued to improve for two years after re-partnering but plateaued in the third year.
Changes in mental health, however, differed between countries. In Germany, mental health remained stable after re-partnering. In the United Kingdom, mental health tended to decline after re-partnering. Further analysis revealed that the overall decline in mental health in the United Kingdom was largely driven by mothers who separated from their new partner within five years of re-partnering. Among those who remained with their new partner, no decline in mental health was observed.
Income-related factors—specifically improvements in household income—appeared to be the strongest drivers of increases in life satisfaction following re-partnering in both countries.
The study sheds light on the psychological effects of re-partnering among single mothers. However, the authors note some limitations. The study did not account for re-partnering arrangements where the partners lived separately while sharing some resources. It also did not distinguish between forming a new partnership and reconciling with a former partner who rejoined the household.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.13015) Re-partnering and single mothers’ mental health and life satisfaction trajectories,” was authored by Philipp Dierker, Mine Kühn, and Mikko Myrskylä.

(https://www.psypost.org/infrared-imaging-uncovers-emotional-sensitivity-in-10-month-old-babies/) Infrared imaging uncovers emotional sensitivity in 10-month-old babies
Apr 28th 2025, 14:00

A new cross-cultural study published in (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.13608) Developmental Science has demonstrated that infants as young as 10 months old display measurable emotional responses to the distress of their peers, offering compelling evidence that the roots of empathy emerge within the first year of life.
Contagious crying — where one infant’s distress triggers distress in another — has long been recognized in developmental psychology. However, previous studies of contagious crying have mostly focused on Western populations and often did not rule out whether babies were simply reacting to loud or jarring sounds.
Led by Zanna Clay from Durham University in the United Kingdom, the researchers in this study were particularly interested in teasing apart whether babies’ reactions were rooted in genuine emotional empathy or were simply startle responses to a harsh noise.
The team also wanted to explore whether cultural differences in upbringing, such as being raised in larger, more communal households versus smaller, nuclear families, influenced infants’ emotional sensitivity.
To do this, Clay and colleagues exposed 313 infants, aged between 10 and 11 months, to four types of noise: babies crying (negative sound), babies laughing (positive sound), babies babbling (neutral sound), and an artificial sound similar in harshness to crying but devoid of emotional meaning.
While the infants listened, researchers used advanced infrared cameras to measure subtle changes in the temperature of the babies’ noses — a marker of emotional arousal. They also recorded the babies’ facial expressions to capture visible signs of emotional reactions.
The researchers discovered that infants demonstrated bigger shifts in nose temperature when listening to crying and laughing than when hearing the artificial noise. Crying also evoked a larger change in nose temperature compared to the neutral sound of babbling. Additionally, infants demonstrated stronger behavioral responses to crying compared to both the artificial sound and laughing.
Overall, crying triggered the strongest responses both emotionally and behaviorally, suggesting that babies aren’t just reacting to loudness — they are feeling something in response to the emotional content.
The study also found some cultural differences. Babies from the United Kingdom showed greater physiological reactivity than those from Uganda, although all groups showed the same basic pattern of emotional contagion. The researchers speculated that “Ugandan infants have more regular exposure to [infant noises], due to differences in household size and composition and more distributed caregiving. In contrast, the United Kingdom infants … were cared for exclusively in the home environment by parents on parental leave and did not attend nurseries. Increased exposure might have thus led to Ugandan infants being more habituated to noise disturbances, including infant signals, and thus correspondingly less physiologically activated.”
However, the researchers acknowledged some limitations. The direction of temperature change (whether it increased or decreased) was not clearly linked to whether an emotion was positive or negative. Also, while great care was taken to select culturally appropriate sounds, the study mainly used audio clips from Western infants.
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13608) Contagious Crying Revisited: A Cross-Cultural Investigation Into Infant Emotion Contagion Using Infrared Thermal Imaging,” was authored by C. Vreden, E. Renner, H. E. Ainamani, R. Crowther, B. Forward, S. Mazari, G. Tuohy, E. Ndyareeba, and Zanna Clay.

(https://www.psypost.org/school-shooters-often-grew-up-with-guns-as-key-symbols-of-bonding-and-belonging/) School shooters often grew up with guns as key symbols of bonding and belonging
Apr 28th 2025, 12:00

A new study published in (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322195) PLOS One suggests that most school shooters in the United States grew up in social environments where guns were more than weapons—they were central to family bonding, leisure activities, and identity. The analysis found that easy access to firearms was common among all school shooters in U.S. history, reflecting a deeply embedded gun culture in their immediate surroundings.
(https://www.uni-erfurt.de/en/staatswissenschaftliche-fakultaet/fachrichtung/sozialwissenschaften/soziologie-insbesondere-politische-soziologie/team/prof-dr-anne-nassauer) Anne Nassauer at the University of Erfurt conducted this study to address an ongoing question in the field of gun violence: if millions of Americans grow up around firearms without becoming violent, why do a small number commit school shootings?
Although previous research established that the United States has a unique relationship with guns compared to other countries, the role of gun culture in the lives of school shooters remained unclear. Nassauer aimed to explore not just whether shooters had access to guns, but whether firearms held particular social and emotional meanings in their lives that shaped behaviors.
“I am interested in school shootings, because they are such a drastic type of human behavior – often school shootings involve children randomly killing other children – and we still have a hard time explaining why these events happen and how we can prevent them,” explained Nassauer, a professor of sociology and author of (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/situational-breakdowns-9780190922061?cc=de&lang=en&) Situational Breakdowns: Understanding Protest Violence and other Surprising Outcomes.
To examine these patterns, Nassauer analyzed a complete sample of 83 rampage school shootings in U.S. history, spanning from 1966 through early 2024. Rampage school shootings were defined as attacks carried out by a current or former student targeting random individuals at a school. Cases of gang violence or shootings targeting specific individuals were excluded.
Drawing on court documents, police reports, media coverage, autopsy records, and shooters’ own writings and videos, Nassauer built detailed profiles for each case. Multiple data sources were triangulated to verify findings, and both qualitative case studies and cross-case statistical analyses were used.
The results showed that in most cases, school shooters came from households or social environments where firearms were normalized as tools for recreation and family bonding. In many families, shooting guns was a hobby passed down through generations, often treated with the same casual affection as any other leisure activity. Firearms were often displayed prominently in homes, and children were taught to use them from a young age. In interviews and interrogations, several shooters and their families described guns as symbols of trust, skill, and belonging.
“Many school shooters came from a gun culture where firearms are symbols of affection, bonding, and identity,” Nassauer told PsyPost.
Across all cases, access to firearms was consistently easy. Nassauer classified access levels using a four-tier scale, and found that 97.6% of school shooters had either “very easy” or “easy” access to the weapons they used. In many cases involving minors, guns were retrieved from parents’ bedrooms, unlocked safes, or even under pillows. Among adult shooters, most obtained firearms through legal purchases, often passing background checks despite prior concerning behavior.
Nassauer was surprised by “the fact that all school shooters in U.S. history had easy access to the firearms they used — even those who were very young or severely mentally ill.”
For younger shooters, typically under the age of 18, guns often symbolized connection to parents or other family members. Shooting outings were described as opportunities to bond, and firearms were frequently stored in places easily accessible to children—sometimes even given to them as gifts. In one case, a mother described buying her teenage son a shotgun to practice with before a father-son hunting trip, seeing it as one of the few ways she could connect with him during a difficult adolescence. In another, a father praised his son’s marksmanship and encouraged frequent shooting as a shared pastime.
Older shooters, who were legally able to purchase firearms, often developed an even deeper attachment to guns as symbols of personal identity and comfort. Many described firearms as their main hobby, their passion, or their only source of pride. In diaries and conversations, older shooters often spoke of guns in affectionate terms, describing them as “friends” or sources of emotional stability. Legal records showed that even those with known mental health issues were able to obtain firearms without major obstacles, often viewing gun ownership as an important part of their independence.
“What also surprised me was how strongly some of the school shooters felt about their firearms, describing them as ‘the love of [their] life,’ or their ‘only friend,'” the researcher said.
Nassauer also examined changes over time. Between the 1960s and early 1990s, shooters more often obtained guns legally. After the introduction of federal restrictions in the mid-1990s, such as the 1994 assault weapons ban, shooters increasingly accessed firearms through family homes instead. Despite changes in legislation, the prevalence of easy access remained constant. Nassauer notes that this suggests the widespread availability of guns in American homes may be a more stable factor than legal regulations alone.
As with any study, there are some caveats to consider. While easy access to guns was universal among school shooters, not all young people raised around firearms commit acts of violence. This suggests that gun culture alone is not sufficient to explain school shootings. Other factors, such as mental health issues, marginalization, bullying, and family trauma, are also likely to play important roles. Future research would benefit from studying young people with similar backgrounds who do not commit shootings, to better understand what distinguishes shooters from others who share the same environment.
“The study shows that not a single school shooter in U.S. history had difficulty obtaining the firearms they used in the shooting,” Nassauer noted. “But it cannot answer if those who do not have easy access are therefore deterred. Future research would need to examine whether those who are contemplating a shooting but do not have easy access to firearms decide against committing a shooting.”
“I am currently writing a book on school shootings. In the book, I study all school shootings that happened in US history. I study a range of possible factors and how they interplay, including gun access and gun culture, but also mental disorders, marginalization, family issues, and situational interactional dynamics. A vital component of my research in this field is to be able to support more effective prevention.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322195) ‘The only friend I had was my gun’: A mixed-methods study of gun culture in school shootings,” was published April 23, 2025.

Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC
Baltimore, MD

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