<table style="border:1px solid #adadad; background-color: #F3F1EC; color: #666666; padding:8px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; line-height:16px; margin-bottom:6px;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/cannabis-use-linked-to-short-term-relief-of-ptsd-symptoms-in-veterans/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Cannabis use linked to short-term relief of PTSD symptoms in veterans</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 26th 2025, 10:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>An ecological momentary assessment study of U.S. veterans found that days when participants reported a greater number of PTSD symptoms were followed by days when they experienced higher levels of negative affect, and vice versa. On days when veterans reported being high from cannabis for longer periods, they tended to report fewer PTSD symptoms and lower levels of negative affect. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116626"><em>Psychiatry Research</em></a>.</p>
<p>Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health condition that can develop after a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event such as combat, assault, accident, or disaster. It is characterized by intrusive symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, or distressing memories that make the trauma feel as if it is happening again.</p>
<p>People with PTSD tend to avoid reminders of the event, including places, conversations, or activities linked to the trauma. They also experience negative changes in thoughts and mood, such as guilt, shame, emotional numbness, or feeling detached from others. Another core feature is hyperarousal, which can manifest as irritability, difficulty sleeping, an exaggerated startle response, or being constantly “on guard.”</p>
<p>Study author Jordan P. Davis and his colleagues wanted to explore the associations between daily variations in PTSD symptoms, cannabis use, and negative affect. They aimed to better understand how fluctuations in negative affect influence cannabis use when PTSD symptoms change at the daily level, and vice versa. Negative affect refers to a general experience of distressing emotions, including feelings like fear, shame, irritability, and nervousness. Unlike clinical diagnoses such as depression, negative affect is a broader indicator of unpleasant emotional states.</p>
<p>Study participants were 74 U.S. veterans with elevated PTSD symptoms who had recently been discharged from treatment and who also reported using cannabis in the past month.</p>
<p>Participants completed a screening survey at the beginning of the study and were asked to provide daily data twice per day for three months. The data were collected using a mobile app called MAVERICK, built using IONIC Capacitor and developed by the study team. The app collects both passive data, such as information from wearable devices and health streams, and active data through questionnaires. On average, participants contributed data on 58 days.</p>
<p>Each day, participants completed short questionnaires in the morning and evening that asked about their cannabis use and the number of hours they were high, as well as their PTSD symptoms, using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (4-item short form), and their levels of negative affect, measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule – Short Form.</p>
<p>The results showed that days when participants experienced more PTSD symptoms tended to be followed by days when they experienced higher levels of negative affect. The reverse was also true: when participants experienced higher levels of negative affect on one day, they tended to report about 12 percent more PTSD symptoms on the following day, on average. </p>
<p>On days when participants reported more hours high from cannabis use, they also tended to report lower levels of negative affect and fewer PTSD symptoms, but these effects were limited to the same day. Finally, on days when participants reported more PTSD symptoms, they also tended to report higher levels of negative affect.</p>
<p>“Taken together, these findings underscore the importance of distinguishing acute, within-day co-variation from sustained therapeutic benefit, and highlight the need for further longitudinal and mechanistic studies to clarify whether cannabis use reflects a maladaptive coping strategy or merely coincident symptom alleviation,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of PTSD and its manifestations in everyday life. However, all results came from self-reports, leaving room for reporting bias to have influenced the findings. Additionally, the study was conducted on a relatively small and specific sample of veterans treated for PTSD, so results might not generalize to larger or more demographically diverse populations.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116626">Daily associations between posttraumatic stress disorder, cannabis use, and negative affect among veterans,</a>” was authored by Jordan P. Davis, Shaddy K. Saba, Daniel Leightley, Eric R. Pedersen, John Prindle, Carl A. Castro, Bistra Dilkina, Emily Dworkin, Jonathan Cantor, and Angeles Sedano .</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/living-simply-is-positively-associated-with-psychological-flourishing-and-life-satisfaction/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Living simply is positively associated with psychological flourishing and life satisfaction</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 26th 2025, 09:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A new study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02761467251339399" target="_blank">Journal of Macromarketing</a></em> suggests that choosing to live simply — by consuming less and prioritizing relationships and community — may be linked with greater wellbeing. Drawing on a nationally representative sample from New Zealand, the research finds that people who practice voluntary simplicity report higher levels of both happiness and life purpose. The study indicates that the benefits of this lifestyle are strongest when simplicity fosters a sense of social connection, personal growth, and community engagement.</p>
<p>In the face of rising environmental degradation and unsustainable consumption patterns, there is growing interest in how alternative lifestyles can benefit both people and the planet. The United Nations has warned that current rates of material use are putting ecosystems and societies under serious strain. Voluntary simplicity has been proposed as one potential response. It encourages people to reduce their reliance on material goods and find satisfaction in non-material areas of life such as community, self-reliance, and personal meaning.</p>
<p>Although earlier research has shown a link between voluntary simplicity and increased wellbeing, much of that work has focused on specific groups who already identify with the lifestyle. Less is known about how this relationship plays out in the general population, or which aspects of voluntary simplicity are most connected to wellbeing. The new study sought to fill those gaps by using a comprehensive, recently developed scale to measure voluntary simplicity in a large, diverse sample.</p>
<p>“Growing consumer affluence and higher living standards have resulted in warnings of alarming trends of environmental degradation from human consumption. Between 2000 and 2019, global domestic material consumption increased by 66 per cent, tripling since the 1970s to reach 95.1 billion metric tons,” said Professor <a href="https://www.otago.ac.nz/marketing/staff/professor-robert-aitken" target="_blank">Robert Aitken</a> and Associate Professor <a href="https://www.otago.ac.nz/marketing/staff/associate-professor-leah-watkins" target="_blank">Leah Watkins</a>, both of the University of Otago.</p>
<p>“At the same time, international research suggests that there’s a point where more money and things stops making us happier, that once basic needs are met and financial stress is reduced, extra income and more material consumption bring only marginal gains in life satisfaction, and in some cases, it can actually increase stress. So, we set out to understand more about the relationship between consumption and wellbeing – specifically is living more simply, which is good for the planet, also good for our wellbeing, and how does this relationship work.”</p>
<p>For their study, the researchers analyzed data from 1,643 participants in the New Zealand Consumer Lifestyles Study. The sample was designed to mirror the country’s population in terms of age, gender, income, education, and ethnicity. Participants completed several questionnaires that measured their lifestyle choices and wellbeing.</p>
<p>To assess voluntary simplicity, the researchers used a 21-item scale developed by Rich, Wright, and Bennett (2020), which includes behaviors like reducing resource use, buying locally, growing one’s own food, and contributing to the community. Through statistical analysis, the researchers refined the scale to five key dimensions: resource use, local purchasing, community contribution (referred to as beneficence), material simplicity, and self-sufficiency. A sixth category related to work-life balance was removed, as it did not apply consistently across the sample, especially among retirees and students.</p>
<p>Two separate types of wellbeing were measured. The first, hedonic wellbeing, captures overall life satisfaction and happiness, using the widely accepted Personal Wellbeing Index. The second, eudaimonic wellbeing, refers to a sense of purpose, growth, and self-realization, and was measured using the Flourishing Scale. These two dimensions provide a more complete picture of psychological wellbeing.</p>
<p>The researchers found that voluntary simplicity was positively associated with both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. People who reported higher levels of simplifying behaviors tended to feel more satisfied with their lives and more fulfilled in terms of personal growth and purpose.</p>
<p>The relationship was strongest for the aspect of voluntary simplicity that emphasizes community and sharing — what the researchers call “beneficence.” Those who regularly engaged in community-related activities and shared their time or resources with others reported the highest levels of wellbeing. This suggests that it is not simply the act of consuming less that contributes to happiness, but the social and psychological experiences that accompany a simpler lifestyle.</p>
<p>Other aspects of voluntary simplicity, such as frugality or growing one’s own food, appeared less strongly connected to wellbeing on their own. These behaviors still contributed to overall scores, but they were not as predictive of happiness or purpose when considered individually.</p>
<p>“We expected frugality and reduced material consumption to have a positive effect, but what really stood out was <em>why</em>,” Aitken and Watkins told PsyPost. “It wasn’t the act of spending less itself that drove happiness – it was what people did instead. Sharing resources, joining community gardens, and participating in peer-to-peer lending created a strong sense of belonging, purpose, and autonomy. That social connection is what really makes the difference.”</p>
<p>In addition, the researchers examined how demographic factors influenced the relationship between voluntary simplicity and wellbeing. Gender showed a significant moderating effect. Women who engaged in voluntary simplicity reported stronger links to both types of wellbeing than men did. Age and income did not show strong moderating effects, although there was a small trend suggesting that older individuals and those with lower incomes might benefit slightly more from this lifestyle. These effects, however, were not statistically significant.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the analysis also broke down specific aspects of hedonic wellbeing. Voluntary simplicity was most strongly associated with satisfaction in areas like achievement and community. More modest associations were found with health, living standards, and personal relationships. Satisfaction with safety and future security did not appear to be strongly affected by voluntary simplicity.</p>
<p>“Consumer culture promotes happiness as being typically associated with high levels of income and the capability it affords to acquire and accumulate material possessions,” the researchers explained. “However, our research shows people are happier when they live more simply because it frees up time and resources to connect with others, live in line with their values, and participate in their communities.” </p>
<p>“Voluntary simplicity basically the conscious choice to live with ‘enough’ rather than excess. It’s not about deprivation or giving up everything you own, but about reducing unnecessary consumption to focus on what truly matters, relationships, purpose, and meaningful experiences. These connections and shared experiences – not just the absence of stuff – are what boost wellbeing. We hope showing people evidence of the advantages of a simple way of life can inspire people to limit their own consumption as well as to engage in more sustainable and collaborative forms of consumption.”</p>
<p>But there are some limitations worth noting. As a cross-sectional survey, it cannot determine whether voluntary simplicity causes higher wellbeing, or whether people who feel more fulfilled are simply more likely to adopt a simpler lifestyle. Longitudinal studies would be needed to clarify cause and effect. Social desirability bias may also have influenced some participants’ responses, especially given that voluntary simplicity is often framed as a morally positive lifestyle. </p>
<p>The researchers also point out that more work is needed to understand the psychological processes behind these findings. In particular, the study suggests that satisfaction of psychological needs — such as autonomy, competence, and connection — may be a key reason why simple living feels fulfilling. Exploring how these needs are met through different simplifying behaviors could clarify why some aspects of the lifestyle matter more than others.</p>
<p>“Recent warnings confirm alarming trends of environmental degradation from human consumption ‘that pose existential threats to natural systems, economies and societies’ (Wiedmann et al., 2020), so reductions in per capita consumption are urgent and necessary,” Aitken and Watkins said. “To do that we need to better understand the relationship between consumption and wellbeing, including the values that drive behaviours like voluntary simplicity and the impacts of factors like personality – so these are areas for future research.”</p>
<p>“Marketing has been incredibly successful at linking identity and happiness to material goods. But those same tools – storytelling, imagery, and aspirational branding – could be repurposed to make simple living or ‘enough’ aspirational. Social marketing messages can associate simple living with positive emotions and outcomes rather than messages that focus on the possible negative effects of overconsumption, this would be more likely to motivate behaviour change. So investigating messages and framing around simple living are other areas of ongoing research interest.</p>
<p>“Living simply reduces consumption, which in turn lowers the demand for resource-intensive production,” the researchers added. “That means fewer raw materials extracted, less waste, and a smaller carbon footprint. Voluntary simplicity isn’t just good for personal wellbeing, it directly supports planetary health. Living simply is one of the most powerful ways to care for both people and the planet.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02761467251339399" target="_blank">Consume Less, Live Well: Examining the Dimensions and Moderators of the Relationship Between Voluntary Simplicity and Wellbeing</a>,” was authored by Leah Watkins, Robert Aitken, and Loic Pengtao Li.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/a-womans-political-views-are-linked-to-the-qualities-she-desires-in-a-romantic-partner/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">A woman’s political views are linked to the qualities she desires in a romantic partner</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 26th 2025, 08:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A new study suggests a woman’s political views are linked to the qualities she seeks in a romantic partner. The research found that right-leaning women often prefer partners who fit a more traditional mold, while women at both political extremes place a high value on finding someone who shares their political beliefs. The findings were published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075251359404" target="_blank">Journal of Social and Personal Relationships</a></em>.</p>
<p>Political orientation is known to shape many aspects of our lives, from our personal values to our personalities. Prior psychological research has established that individuals with different political leanings tend to prioritize different values. For example, people on the left often place more emphasis on universalism and benevolence, while those on the right tend to value conformity and tradition. Since people often seek partners with similar personalities and values, it follows that political beliefs might also play a role in shaping our romantic ideals.</p>
<p>Researcher Lena Kuschel, along with her colleagues at the University of Goettingen and University of Jena, wanted to investigate this connection on a large scale. Previous studies on this topic often used relatively small samples and looked at a limited number of partner characteristics. To get a more comprehensive understanding, the research team analyzed a massive dataset to explore how the political orientation of single women from around the world relates to their preferences for a long-term partner.</p>
<p>To conduct their investigation, the scientists used data from the Ideal Partner Survey, a large-scale project conducted in collaboration with the women’s health app Clue. The initial survey gathered responses from over 68,000 individuals across 180 countries. For this specific analysis, the researchers narrowed the sample to focus on 13,257 single, heterosexual women. They excluded participants who were already in relationships to avoid having their preferences biased by their current partner.</p>
<p>Participants in the survey indicated their political orientation on a seven-point scale, from 0 representing the far-left to 6 representing the far-right. They then rated the importance and preferred level of a wide range of characteristics for an ideal long-term partner. These included preferences for similarity in politics, ethnicity, and religion. They also rated attributes like financial security, success, confidence, intelligence, kindness, and physical attractiveness. Finally, women were asked about their preferences for a partner’s age and height relative to their own.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed several distinct patterns linking political views to partner preferences. When it came to shared political beliefs, the relationship was not a simple straight line. Instead, the researchers found that women at both the far-left and far-right ends of the political spectrum placed the highest importance on finding a politically similar partner. Women with more moderate, centrist views considered political alignment to be less important. This suggests that the more strongly a woman holds her political convictions, the more she desires a partner who shares them.</p>
<p>For ethnic and religious background, the connection was more direct. Women who identified as more right-leaning were more likely to state a preference for a partner of the same ethnicity and the same religion as themselves. This aligns with previous findings that connect conservative viewpoints with a higher valuation of in-group similarity and tradition.</p>
<p>The researchers also explored connections between political orientation and preferences for traits often associated with a traditional male provider role. The results showed that women with more right-leaning views tended to place a higher value on a partner being financially secure and successful. These findings are consistent with the idea that a more conservative political stance may be linked to a preference for partners who conform to a masculine, breadwinner stereotype.</p>
<p>A similar pattern appeared regarding a partner’s height. Right-leaning women reported that a man’s height was more important to them in general than it was for left-leaning women. However, when asked what their ideal partner’s height would be relative to their own, there was almost no difference across the political spectrum. Most women, regardless of their politics, preferred a partner who was taller than themselves. This indicates that while right-leaning women may consciously place more importance on the trait, the actual preference for a taller partner is widespread.</p>
<p>One trait that appeared to transcend political divides was kindness and supportiveness. The study found no meaningful link between a woman’s political orientation and her preference for a kind partner. This suggests that kindness is a universally desired quality in a long-term partner, irrespective of one’s political ideology. For other traits, such as a partner’s attractiveness, confidence, intelligence, and age, the results were less clear, and the researchers could not draw firm conclusions based on their strict criteria.</p>
<p>The researchers also noted that these patterns were not identical across the globe. An exploratory analysis suggested significant variation between countries and regions. For example, the tendency for right-leaning women to prefer a confident and assertive partner was present in Europe and the Americas, but the pattern seemed to reverse in South and East Asia, where left-leaning women showed a stronger preference for such traits. This highlights the importance of cultural context in shaping how political views relate to romantic preferences.</p>
<p>The study’s authors pointed out some limitations. While the sample was large and international, it was not globally representative, with most participants coming from Western and relatively wealthy nations. The use of a single question to measure political orientation might also oversimplify complex political identities, which can be interpreted differently across cultures.</p>
<p>Another key point is that the study focused exclusively on the preferences of single, heterosexual women. The findings cannot be generalized to men, to individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, or to people from a wider range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. The research also measured hypothetical preferences for an ideal partner, which may not always align with the choices people make in real-life dating situations.</p>
<p>Future studies could expand on this work by including men and individuals with different sexual orientations to see if similar patterns emerge. Researchers also suggest that future work should investigate whether these stated preferences for an ideal partner translate into actual dating choices. Using more detailed measures of political beliefs beyond a simple left-right scale could provide a more nuanced understanding. Despite its limitations, this study provides a broad and detailed look into how a woman’s place on the political spectrum is connected to the vision she holds for an ideal romantic partner.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02654075251359404" target="_blank">Left or right? The link between political orientation and partner preferences in a multinational sample of single women</a>,” was authored by Lena Kuschel, Laura J. Botzet, and Tanja M. Gerlach.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/antisemitism-but-not-criticism-of-israel-associated-with-support-for-political-violence/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Antisemitism—but not criticism of Israel—associated with support for political violence</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 26th 2025, 06:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2025.2554106" target="_blank">Studies in Conflict & Terrorism</a></em> provides evidence that antisemitic attitudes, rather than anti-Israel sentiment alone, are linked to support for political violence in the United States. The findings suggest that while criticism of Israel can motivate legal activism, it is antisemitic prejudice that tends to predict a willingness to support illegal or violent political actions and general aggression.</p>
<p>The research was led by Sophia Moskalenko of Georgia State University, along with co-authors Tomislav Pavlović and Mia Bloom. The team aimed to address a gap in the literature by empirically distinguishing between attitudes toward Jews and attitudes toward Israel, especially in how they relate to political radicalization and violence.</p>
<p>The study was motivated by a recent surge in global protests and violence following the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli military actions in Gaza. While antisemitic incidents have spiked in this context, public discourse and some research often conflate anti-Israel sentiment with antisemitism. Moskalenko and her colleagues sought to clarify whether these two forms of animosity are behaviorally distinct—particularly in terms of support for activism versus support for violence.</p>
<p>The study used a sample of 542 U.S. adults recruited online through Prolific. Participants were surveyed on their attitudes toward Jews and Israel, as well as their willingness to engage in political activism, violent or illegal political actions, and general aggression.</p>
<p>The authors used an established antisemitism scale that included items assessing both anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment as separate dimensions. For example, one item measured belief that “Jewish people chase money more than others,” while another measured agreement with the statement “Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews.”</p>
<p>Participants also responded to the Activism-Radicalism Intention Scale, which asks about support for legal political activity (such as joining protests) and for more extreme actions (such as using violence or supporting groups that break the law). General aggression was assessed with items like “If somebody hits me, I hit back.” Finally, participants were asked about their support for specific protest tactics related to Israel’s actions in Gaza, including peaceful encampments, disruptive actions like blocking traffic, and violent acts against police or Jewish individuals.</p>
<p>Using a statistical method called latent profile analysis, the researchers identified five distinct profiles based on the participants’ responses:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Pro-Jew and pro-Israel (proJI):</strong> The largest group (40 percent) held positive views of both Jews and Israel.</li>
<li><strong>Pro-Jew but anti-Israel (proJ–antiI):</strong> This group (18 percent) expressed support for Jews but strong criticism of Israel.</li>
<li><strong>Weak anti-Jew and anti-Israel (weak-antiJI):</strong> This segment (15 percent) had moderately negative views of both Jews and Israel.</li>
<li><strong>Moderate or ambivalent (moderateJI):</strong> A quarter of participants showed neither strong support nor strong dislike toward Jews or Israel.</li>
<li><strong>Strong anti-Jew and anti-Israel (strong-antiJI):</strong> The smallest group (2 percent) endorsed strongly negative views of both.</li>
</ol>
<p>These profiles were then compared across measures of activism, radicalism, aggression, and support for protest tactics.</p>
<p>The proJ–antiI group stood out for its high support for legal activism. Members of this group were especially likely to endorse peaceful or disruptive forms of protest, such as encampments and blocking traffic, but they did not show elevated support for violence—especially not violence targeting Jewish individuals. Their general aggression scores were also low.</p>
<p>By contrast, the weak-antiJI and strong-antiJI profiles showed much higher levels of radicalism and aggression. These individuals were more likely to endorse violent actions against both police and Jews in protest scenarios. While they were not the most active in terms of legal political engagement, their support for illegal or violent actions was significantly higher than that of the other groups.</p>
<p>The moderateJI and proJI profiles tended to reject both activism and radicalism. These participants were less politically engaged overall and scored low on aggression.</p>
<p>Statistical comparisons showed that antisemitic attitudes—not just criticism of Israel—were the strongest predictors of support for violence. The weak-antiJI group, despite holding only moderate anti-Jewish views, had the highest scores for general aggression. The proJ–antiI group, by contrast, was high in activism but no more supportive of violence than the tolerant proJI group.</p>
<p>When looking specifically at support for violence against Jewish individuals, the difference was even more striking. Both antisemitic profiles showed elevated support for such violence, while the proJ–antiI group did not. Their average score on this measure was nearly identical to that of the proJI group. In other words, only when antisemitic sentiment was present did participants endorse violent actions against Jewish targets.</p>
<p>The findings support the idea that antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment represent distinct ideological drivers of political behavior. The researchers argue that antisemitism operates through what they call the “hate” mechanism, where outgroup hostility leads directly to support for violence. Anti-Israel sentiment, on the other hand, appears to function more through the “group grievance” mechanism—fueling activism without necessarily dehumanizing the outgroup.</p>
<p>In practical terms, this means that not all political dissent is equal in its psychological underpinnings or behavioral implications. The authors emphasize that many individuals who protest Israeli policies do so out of perceived injustice, not because of hostility toward Jews. Their activism reflects political concern, not racial or religious hatred.</p>
<p>As with all research, there are limitations. The sample, though diverse, may not fully represent the U.S. population. It also relied on self-reported attitudes and hypothetical scenarios, which may not reflect actual behavior in real-world contexts. The researchers also did not collect information about participants’ religious identities, which could be relevant when interpreting attitudes toward Jews or Israel.</p>
<p>Another limitation is that the study was cross-sectional. Future research could use longitudinal methods to explore how individuals shift between attitudinal profiles over time, especially in response to major geopolitical events.</p>
<p>The authors also suggest that further research should include qualitative approaches, such as interviews or focus groups, to better understand the motivations behind these attitudes. They also propose extending the analysis to other countries to examine whether similar attitudinal profiles emerge in different cultural and political contexts.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2025.2554106" target="_blank">Attitudes Toward Jews and Israel: Profiles Linked to Political Violence in the United States</a>,” was authored by Sophia Moskalenko, Tomislav Pavlović, and Mia Bloom.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/hormonal-interactions-shape-fairness-toward-friends-and-strangers-in-adolescents/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Hormonal interactions might shape fairness toward friends and strangers in adolescents</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 25th 2025, 16:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>A study in China found that older adolescents increasingly favor friends over strangers when deciding how to divide game tokens—reflecting shifts in both strategic and pure fairness decision-making. Testosterone levels were linked to differences in strategic fairness, but only when bedtime basal cortisol levels were also high. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107520"><em>Psychoneuroendocrinology</em></a>.</p>
<p>Fairness refers to treating others impartially, without favoritism or bias. Psychologists often distinguish between pure fairness—when individuals act fairly because they believe it is morally right, even at personal cost—and strategic fairness, which is motivated by a desire to secure reciprocity, maintain social reputation, or gain peer approval.</p>
<p>In early childhood, fairness is often egocentric and focused on equal division of resources. But during adolescence, fairness becomes more context-sensitive, shaped by a growing capacity for abstract reasoning and perspective-taking. Adolescents begin to weigh both moral obligation and social strategy when making decisions, particularly in peer interactions where social status and group belonging are highly valued.</p>
<p>Study author Rui Su and her colleagues sought to examine how adolescents’ fairness behaviors evolve with age and differ between sexes. They also investigated how cortisol and testosterone—two hormones linked to stress and social behavior—interact to shape fairness in decisions involving close peers versus strangers.</p>
<p>Cortisol is the primary stress hormone, involved in the body’s metabolic and threat-response systems. Testosterone, a sex hormone, is associated with dominance, competition, and status-seeking. The dual-hormone hypothesis suggests that testosterone’s behavioral effects are strongest when cortisol levels are low, but are diminished—or sometimes reversed—when cortisol is high.</p>
<p>The study included 380 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17 (average age: 14.6 years), all typically developing with no history of neurological or psychiatric illness. Participants were not taking medications during the study period. About 63% were male.</p>
<p>Participants completed two behavioral tasks:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ultimatum Game (UG): Each participant decided how to divide 10 tokens between themselves and a responder, who could accept or reject the offer. If rejected, neither party received any tokens. Each participant played this game twice—once with a friend and once with a stranger. This setup measured strategic fairness, since rejection was a possibility.</li>
<li>Dictator Game (DG): Again, participants divided 10 tokens between themselves and another person, but this time the receiver had no choice but to accept the allocation. This version assessed pure fairness, as it removed any strategic considerations.</li>
</ul>
<p>The researchers considered the difference in token allocation to friends versus strangers as an indicator of the role of social distance in fairness behavior.</p>
<p>To assess hormonal levels, participants collected five saliva samples across a 12-hour period, including one before bedtime and four in the morning after waking. This allowed researchers to measure both bedtime basal cortisol and the cortisol awakening response (CAR)—a sharp increase in cortisol that typically occurs about 30 minutes after waking. Testosterone was also measured from the bedtime sample.</p>
<p>The overall number of tokens allocated to friends or strangers was not significantly associated with age. However, as adolescents matured, they increasingly favored friends over strangers, particularly in the Ultimatum Game, where fairness decisions had strategic implications. This pattern was observed in both boys and girls.</p>
<p>Importantly, hormonal interactions played a role in strategic fairness, but not in pure fairness.</p>
<p>Adolescents with higher testosterone levels showed larger differences in how they treated friends versus strangers—but only if they also had high basal cortisol. Among these individuals, testosterone appeared to enhance parochial fairness in strategic contexts.</p>
<p>A similar interaction emerged with cortisol awakening response. In adolescents with low CAR, higher testosterone was associated with greater differentiation between friends and strangers in token allocation. In contrast, among those with high CAR, higher testosterone was associated with smaller differences, suggesting a broader willingness to treat strangers more fairly. These hormonal patterns were observed only in male adolescents.</p>
<p>“As adolescents mature, they increasingly consider social distance in both strategic and pure fairness decisions, favoring friends over strangers. High testosterone levels are positively associated with allocation differences in strategic fairness at high basal cortisol levels, but not at low levels. Furthermore, in male adolescents only, testosterone levels are positively correlated with allocation differences in strategic fairness at low CAR, but negatively correlated at high CAR,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the effects cortisol and testosterone levels have on fairness decisions. However, it should be noted that the study involved participants dividing game tokens, items of low importance to them. Results might be different in situations where individuals make decisions on of high personal importance.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107520">Cortisol and testosterone jointly affect adolescent fairness,</a>” was authored by Rui Su, Huagen Wang, Xiang Ma, Nan Sun, and Chao Liu.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/exposing-baby-bumps-lowers-perceptions-of-womens-humanness-study-finds/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Exposing baby bumps lowers perceptions of women’s humanness, study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 25th 2025, 14:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>Covering the pregnant belly may protect women from being seen as “less human,” according to new research published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-025-01602-5"><em>Sex Roles</em></a>.</p>
<p>Celebrities and everyday women have embraced displaying their “baby bumps” online and in public, framing it as an act of body positivity. But history tells a different story. Pregnancy was once closely tied to modesty, concealment, and confinement. When Rihanna showcased her pregnant belly at Paris Fashion Week in 2022, it sparked widespread admiration and inspired countless others to do the same.</p>
<p>But do such displays challenge cultural taboos, or do they trigger negative perceptions, similar to breastfeeding in public?</p>
<p>Kaitlyn M. Ligman and colleagues set out to explore this question through the lens of objectification theory. Prior research shows that when women’s sexual or reproductive bodies are highlighted, others often perceive them as less warm, competent, or moral—less human. The team hypothesized that exposing the pregnant body might undermine how women are judged, despite cultural narratives of empowerment surrounding “baby bump” displays.</p>
<p>Ligman and colleagues conducted three studies. In the first study, they recruited 220 young adults from a university setting and asked them to view one of two images of Rihanna during her pregnancy. In one image, she stood on a red carpet in sheer clothing that revealed her belly; in the other, she wore loose clothing that concealed it. After viewing their assigned image for a short time, participants were asked to rate Rihanna on traits linked to warmth, competence, and morality, qualities that together serve as indicators of how fully “human” someone is perceived to be.</p>
<p>The second study expanded beyond celebrity culture to test whether the effect generalized to an everyday woman. Here, 258 participants saw photos of a non-famous White woman at around the same stage of pregnancy. Like in the first study, one image showed her in clothing designed to reveal her belly, while the other showed her with her belly covered. Participants again evaluated her on the same humanness traits.</p>
<p>In the final study, which included a larger sample of 417 participants, the researchers broadened the design by presenting the same non-famous woman in four different conditions. She was either pregnant or not pregnant, and in each case either posed in revealing clothing that displayed her body or wore clothing that covered it.</p>
<p>This created a more comprehensive test of whether exposure mattered differently depending on pregnancy status. In addition to prior ratings, participants were also asked to judge whether the woman would be a good mother and whether she deserved financial assistance to help provide for her child. This last addition allowed the researchers to probe whether perceptions of humanness had practical consequences for judgments about care and support.</p>
<p>Across all three studies, a consistent pattern emerged: women who displayed their bare pregnant bellies were rated as less warm, competent, and moral compared to when their bellies were covered. In other words, exposure reduced perceptions of humanness. This effect was observed regardless of the woman’s fame or race, applying both to Rihanna and to an unknown social media user.</p>
<p>In the third study, when a pregnant woman exposed her belly, participants judged her as less fit to be a mother and less deserving of financial assistance—effects explained by reduced perceptions of her humanness. Interestingly, pregnancy itself was found to be somewhat humanizing when the belly was concealed; participants rated the pregnant woman as more human than her non-pregnant counterpart when both were modestly dressed. However, this benefit disappeared when the pregnant belly was put on display.</p>
<p>The authors note that their measures focused on warmth, competence, and morality, traits linked more to mechanistic than animalistic forms of dehumanization. Results might differ with other measures. They also acknowledge that their samples were primarily young university students, raising questions about whether older or more diverse groups would respond differently.</p>
<p>Overall, this research suggests that while showing the “baby bump” may feel like a statement of empowerment, it can paradoxically reinforce harmful cultural attitudes that dehumanize women and reduce concern for their well-being.</p>
<p>The research “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-025-01602-5">Cover Up That ‘Baby Bump’: Displaying the Pregnant Body Undermines Women’s Perceived Humanness</a>” was authored by Kaitlyn M. Ligman, Emily P. Courtney, Tomi-Ann Roberts, and Jamie L. Goldenberg.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="font:13px Helvetica, sans-serif; border-radius:4px; -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; background-color:#fff; padding:8px; margin-bottom:6px; border:1px solid #adadad;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-develop-brain-reading-implant-that-uses-a-mental-password-for-privacy/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists develop brain reading implant that uses a mental password for privacy</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Sep 25th 2025, 12:00</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#494949;text-align:justify;font-size:13px;">
<p><p>Researchers have successfully identified and translated the brain activity associated with inner speech, the silent conversation people have inside their heads. In a new study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.06.015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cell</a></em>, a team of scientists demonstrated a system that can decode these silent thoughts on command with an accuracy rate as high as 74 percent, a development that could transform communication for individuals unable to speak audibly.</p>
<p>Brain-computer interface technologies have shown increasing promise for assisting people with severe disabilities. These systems work by interpreting brain signals and translating them into actions, such as moving a robotic arm or typing on a screen. Recent advancements have even enabled brain-computer interfaces to decode attempted speech in people with paralysis, where the system interprets brain activity generated when a person physically tries to form words, even if no sound is produced. While faster than older methods like eye-tracking, this process of attempting speech can still be slow and physically exhausting for users with limited muscle control.</p>
<p>Led by Erin Kunz and Benyamin Meschede-Krasa of Stanford University, the research team investigated a potentially less strenuous alternative: decoding inner speech directly. The idea was to explore if a brain-computer interface could interpret the neural signals of words that are only imagined, without any physical effort to speak them. This approach could offer a more comfortable and perhaps faster way for people with severe speech and motor impairments to communicate.</p>
<p>“If you just have to think about speech instead of actually trying to speak, it’s potentially easier and faster for people,” said Meschede-Krasa,</p>
<p>The study involved four participants who had severe paralysis resulting from either amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or a brainstem stroke. Each participant had microelectrode arrays implanted in their motor cortex, a brain region that plays a key role in controlling speech. The researchers recorded the neural activity from these sensors while asking the participants to perform different tasks. These included both physically attempting to say a set of words out loud and simply imagining saying the same words internally.</p>
<p>Upon analyzing the data, the team found that attempted speech and inner speech activated overlapping regions of the brain. The patterns of neural activity were quite similar for both actions. A notable difference was that the brain signals associated with inner speech were generally weaker in magnitude compared to the signals for attempted speech. This suggests that imagining speech engages many of the same neural circuits as preparing to speak aloud, but at a lower intensity.</p>
<p>Using the collected data from inner speech tasks, the researchers then trained artificial intelligence models to recognize and interpret the patterns for specific imagined words. They demonstrated the system’s capability in a proof-of-concept experiment. The brain-computer interface was able to decode entire sentences that participants imagined speaking. When tested with a large vocabulary of 125,000 words, the system achieved an accuracy rate of up to 74 percent.</p>
<p>The system also showed an ability to decode thoughts that were not part of the explicit instructions. For instance, when participants were asked to silently count the number of pink circles on a screen, the brain-computer interface was able to decode a sequence of increasing numbers. This finding suggests the technology could potentially interpret spontaneous, unprompted inner speech that occurs naturally during a cognitive task.</p>
<p>“This is the first time we’ve managed to understand what brain activity looks like when you just think about speaking,” Kunz said. “For people with severe speech and motor impairments, BCIs capable of decoding inner speech could help them communicate much more easily and more naturally.”</p>
<p>While the similarity between attempted and inner speech opens up new possibilities for communication, it also raises questions about mental privacy. To address this, the team examined the distinctions between the two types of neural activity more closely. They discovered that while the patterns were similar, they were different enough for a system to reliably tell them apart.</p>
<p>Senior author Frank Willett of Stanford University noted that this distinction could be used to train brain-computer interfaces to specifically ignore inner speech, preventing the system from accidentally outputting a user’s private thoughts.</p>
<p>Building on this, the researchers demonstrated a practical privacy control for users who might want to use inner speech for communication. They developed a password-controlled mechanism that keeps the brain-computer interface from decoding any inner speech until it is intentionally activated.</p>
<p>In their experiment, a user could think of a specific keyword phrase, “chitty chitty bang bang,” to unlock the system. Once the password was thought, the device would begin translating inner speech into text. The system recognized this silent password with more than 98 percent accuracy, offering a reliable way for a user to control when their thoughts are being translated.</p>
<p>The researchers acknowledge the limitations of their work. The current systems are not yet capable of decoding free-form, unstructured inner speech without making significant errors. The study was also conducted with a small number of participants, and future work will be needed to see how these findings apply to a broader population. The privacy mechanisms demonstrated are initial steps, and further development will be needed as the technology advances.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the team believes that more advanced devices with a greater number of sensors and improved algorithms could one day achieve more fluent decoding of inner thoughts. The findings represent a significant step toward developing communication tools that are not only effective but also comfortable and controllable for the user, giving them the power to choose when to speak and when to think privately.</p>
<p>“The future of BCIs is bright,” Willett said. “This work gives real hope that speech BCIs can one day restore communication that is as fluent, natural, and comfortable as conversational speech.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00681-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inner speech in motor cortex and implications for speech neuroprostheses</a>,” authored by Erin M. Kunz, Benyamin Abramovich Krasa, Foram Kamdar, Donald T. Avansino, Nick Hahn, Seonghyun Yoon, Akansha Singh, Samuel R. Nason-Tomaszewski, Nicholas S. Card, Justin J. Jude, Brandon G. Jacques, Payton H. Bechefsky, Carrina Iacobacci, Leigh R. Hochberg, Daniel B. Rubin, Ziv M. Williams, David M. Brandman, Sergey D. Stavisky, Nicholas AuYong, Chethan Pandarinath, Shaul Druckmann, Jaimie M. Henderson, and Francis R. Willett.</p></p>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:13px; text-align: center; color: #666666; padding:4px; margin-bottom:2px;"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
<p><strong>This information is taken from free public RSS feeds published by each organization for the purpose of public distribution. Readers are linked back to the article content on each organization's website. This email is an unaffiliated unofficial redistribution of this freely provided content from the publishers. </strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><s><small><a href="#" style="color:#ffffff;"><a href='https://blogtrottr.com/unsubscribe/565/DY9DKf'>unsubscribe from this feed</a></a></small></s></p>