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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-neuroscience-study-links-visual-brain-network-hyperactivity-to-social-anxiety/" 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;">New neuroscience study links visual brain network hyperactivity to social anxiety</a>
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<p><p>Young adults experiencing high levels of social anxiety show distinct patterns of heightened activity and altered communication in the visual centers of their brains. Recognizing these early neurological changes could eventually help doctors detect and treat severe social anxiety before it fully develops. These findings were recently published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2026.112140" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging</a>.</em></p>
<p>Social anxiety disorder involves an intense and persistent fear of social situations where a person might be judged by others. This condition often begins in childhood or early adulthood and can severely impact a person’s relationships, education, and quality of life. Many young people experience a similar condition known as subclinical social anxiety.</p>
<p>While many people feel shy in new environments, subclinical social anxiety goes beyond standard nervousness. It involves a deep-seated fear of scrutiny that leads to physical stress responses and an urge to avoid social gatherings entirely. Identifying the physical roots of this condition could provide validation for those struggling with these overwhelming feelings.</p>
<p>People with subclinical social anxiety face severe distress in social settings but do not meet the strict diagnostic criteria for a full mental health disorder. The condition still causes ongoing difficulties in daily life and academic pursuits. Catching the neurological signs of this anxiety early on could prevent the progression into more severe psychological distress.</p>
<p>Fangfang Huang, a researcher at the Henan University of Science and Technology in China, led a team to investigate the physical brain differences associated with this early stage of anxiety. The researchers wanted to understand how the brain’s internal wiring behaves differently in young adults who feel highly anxious in social settings. They hoped to identify physical markers in the brain that correspond with these anxious feelings.</p>
<p>The human brain is made up of gray matter, which contains the main bodies of nerve cells, and white matter, which forms the connections between different brain regions. To understand brain function, researchers look at how different areas of gray matter communicate with one another. This communication can be measured by tracking blood flow in the brain using magnetic resonance imaging.</p>
<p>By observing the brain at rest, scientists can see which areas are naturally communicating and how strongly they are connected. Researchers look at both the overall activity level in specific brain regions and the synchronized activity between different regions. They also try to determine the direction of these signals, mapping out which brain area is sending information and which is receiving it.</p>
<p>Huang and her team recruited 26 young adults with subclinical social anxiety and 26 healthy individuals of the same age and sex. The healthy participants reported no social anxiety or other emotional problems. Two anxious participants were later removed from the analysis because they moved their heads too much during the brain scan.</p>
<p>The participants underwent brain scans while lying completely still and awake in a magnetic resonance imaging machine. The researchers measured the spontaneous, resting activity of their brains over several minutes. They then compared the brain scans of the socially anxious individuals with those of the healthy participants.</p>
<p>The brain scanning technology relies on the magnetic properties of blood to map neural activity. When a specific brain region becomes more active, it requires more oxygen, prompting a rush of blood to that area. By tracking these subtle shifts in blood oxygen levels, the researchers could map out exactly which brain networks were firing at any given moment.</p>
<p>The researchers focused on measuring the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, a metric that indicates the intensity of spontaneous brain activity. They found heightened activity in a specific part of the brain called the left superior occipital gyrus. This region is located near the back of the brain and is primarily responsible for processing visual information.</p>
<p>This increased activity suggests that people with social anxiety might have an overactive visual processing system. The hyperactive visual center could explain why socially anxious individuals are constantly on high alert for social threats. They might be constantly scanning their environment for negative facial expressions or judgmental cues from others.</p>
<p>Next, the researchers examined how this visual area connected with other parts of the brain. They looked at functional connectivity, which measures whether two brain regions are active at the exact same time. The team observed an unusually strong connection between the visual center and the right inferior frontal gyrus.</p>
<p>The inferior frontal gyrus is a region near the front of the brain that helps regulate emotions, make decisions, and monitor social behavior. A stronger link between the visual system and this emotion-regulating center might reflect an excessive focus on potential social threats. Even while lying awake at rest, the socially anxious brain appears to be bracing for negative social interactions.</p>
<p>The researchers then analyzed effective connectivity, which tracks the exact direction of the signals traveling between brain areas. They discovered that the visual center was sending fewer signals to the postcentral gyrus. This area of the brain processes physical sensations and helps connect emotional experiences with physical bodily states.</p>
<p>At the same time, the sensory region was sending an increased number of signals back to the visual center. This uneven exchange of information points to a disruption in how the brain links physical feelings of anxiety with what a person sees in their environment. A similar increase in incoming signals was found coming from the precuneus.</p>
<p>The precuneus is a brain area heavily involved in self-reflection and retrieving personal memories. An overactive signal from the self-reflection center to the visual center might cause socially anxious individuals to focus excessively on themselves. This internal focus is a common symptom of social anxiety, where people become acutely aware of their own perceived flaws.</p>
<p>Finally, the research team looked at the physical volume of gray matter in these brain regions. They wanted to see if structural changes in the brain were responsible for the functional changes they had observed. The researchers built statistical models to test how brain structure, brain activity, and anxiety symptoms influenced one another.</p>
<p>They found that a smaller volume of gray matter in the visual center was directly linked to the heightened brain activity in that same area. This increase in brain activity then predicted higher levels of social anxiety in the participants. The structural change alone did not cause the anxiety, but it triggered a functional hyperactivity that did.</p>
<p>The researchers described this chain reaction as a complete mediating effect. The physical shrinkage of the brain region leads to an overcompensation in its activity level. This hyperactive visual processing then gives rise to the anxious feelings the individuals experience in social situations.</p>
<p>The study provides an early look into the neurology of social anxiety, but it does face some limitations. The number of participants was relatively small, which can make it harder to generalize the results to a broader population. The participants were also very similar in age and education, meaning the results might differ in older or younger groups.</p>
<p>The researchers noted that the findings correlating symptom severity with these brain changes were not statistically significant. The lack of a clear relationship might be due to the fact that all the anxious participants had very similar levels of subclinical anxiety. Expanding the research to include people with a wider range of anxiety levels could clarify this dynamic.</p>
<p>Future studies will need to track participants over a longer period of time. Observing the same individuals for years could reveal whether these brain alterations remain stable or worsen as anxiety progresses. It would also help confirm if these specific neurological markers can truly predict the onset of a full psychiatric disorder.</p>
<p>Advanced imaging techniques could also map the actual physical nerve pathways connecting these brain regions. Understanding the exact physical wires that facilitate these hyperactive signals could open new doors for targeted psychiatric treatment. Doctors might eventually use specific therapies or non-invasive brain stimulation to calm the hyperactive visual center and relieve early symptoms of social anxiety.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2026.112140" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dysfunction of the superior occipital gyrus in individuals with subclinical social anxiety and its mediating effect on gray matter structure</a>,” was authored by Fangfang Huang, Shuai Ren, Yuan Huang, Yuqi Chen, MingZhu Wang, Xiaoyi Chang, Kaile Liu, Siying Guo, and Xingnuo Liu.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/trump-voters-who-believed-conspiracy-theories-were-the-most-likely-to-justify-the-jan-6-riots/" 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;">Trump voters who believed conspiracy theories were the most likely to justify the Jan. 6 riots</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 5th 2026, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506261421177" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social Psychological and Personality Science</a></em> suggests that people who are highly active in politics and also believe in conspiracy theories are the most likely to justify political violence. The findings provide evidence that conspiracy beliefs alone might not lead to violence, but they can become dangerous when combined with active political engagement. This implies that spreading unverified narratives among already mobilized political groups tends to create a volatile environment.</p>
<p>Political participation is generally seen as a healthy part of a democratic society. Standard political engagement, known as normative political action, includes behaviors that follow social rules and the law. Examples include voting in elections, joining a political party, or participating in peaceful protests.</p>
<p>Sometimes peaceful political actions escalate into illegal or violent behavior, which scientists call nonnormative political action. Examples of this include sending death threats, demolishing property, and physically clashing with law enforcement. The January 6 Capitol Hill riots in 2021 provided a real-world context to explore this shift.</p>
<p>During this event, a mob stormed the United States Capitol building to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The scientists wanted to understand the specific factors that might push standard political engagement toward the justification of such violent acts. The researchers noted that many individuals involved in the riot were influenced by conspiracy theories.</p>
<p>“What originally motivated this study was our interest in disentangling the relationship between conspiracy theories and political violence. Although these two phenomena have been linked in specific cases and are often discussed together in media coverage, it remains unclear when conspiracy beliefs actually translate into support for violence. Rather than simply asking whether conspiracy theories are associated with political violence, we wanted to understand under what conditions this link becomes stronger,” said study author Jesse Koster, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.</p>
<p>The researchers conducted two separate studies. In the first study, the scientists surveyed 372 United States citizens who voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election. They specifically chose this group to ensure the participants shared a similar political identity with the individuals involved in the Capitol riots.</p>
<p>The survey measured participants on several specific scales. It assessed their general conspiracy mentality, which is a broad tendency to assume hidden plots are behind major world events. It also measured their specific belief in the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged to favor the Democratic Party.</p>
<p>Additionally, the researchers asked participants about their standard political participation over the past year. This included behaviors such as how often they attended political rallies or contacted politicians. Finally, the researchers measured the extent to which participants justified the violence at the Capitol building, such as agreeing that it was acceptable for rioters to arm themselves.</p>
<p>During their analysis, the scientists controlled for demographic factors like age, gender, education level, and general political orientation. The results of the first study showed that both standard political participation and conspiracy beliefs independently predicted support for the riots.</p>
<p>The interaction between these two factors provided the most detailed insight. An interaction effect occurs when the impact of one variable depends on the level of another variable. In this case, participants who reported high levels of standard political activity and also held strong conspiracy beliefs were the most likely to justify the violence. This pattern was true for both general conspiracy mentalities and specific beliefs about election fraud.</p>
<p>“In Study 1, we included a range of exploratory individual differences and behavioural variables to examine what might shape this relationship,” Koster said. “After finding a significant interaction between political participation and conspiracy beliefs in predicting justification of violence, we set out to test this interaction more directly in Study 2.”</p>
<p>The researchers recruited a new sample of 751 participants who also voted for Trump in the 2020 election. They used an experimental design to see how exposure to different information affected the participants. Experimental designs help scientists look for cause and effect relationships by changing one specific detail while keeping everything else the same.</p>
<p>Participants first answered questions about their baseline political participation. Then, they were randomly assigned to read a short, fabricated blog post about the 2020 election. Half of the group read an article supporting the theory of widespread election fraud, while the other half read an article denying those claims.</p>
<p>After reading the text, participants completed a brief check to ensure they understood the article. They then answered questions measuring their current belief in the election fraud conspiracy and their views on the Capitol riots. The scientists again controlled for basic demographic information during their statistical analysis.</p>
<p>The scientists found that the reading exercise did slightly alter the participants’ belief in the election conspiracy. However, simply reading the conspiracy supporting text did not directly increase overall support for political violence across the whole group. The researchers noted that people generally had stable opinions that were not easily swayed by a single brief article.</p>
<p>Yet, similar to the first study, a specific interaction emerged in the data. The link between active political participation and the justification of violence was much stronger among those who were exposed to the text promoting the election fraud conspiracy theory. This suggests that exposure to unverified plots tends to prime already active individuals to view aggressive actions as acceptable.</p>
<p>“The main takeaway is that conspiracy beliefs alone are not necessarily enough to predict support for political violence,” Koster told PsyPost. “Our findings suggest that people who both strongly endorse conspiracy theories and are highly politically active are most likely to justify political violence.”</p>
<p>“Importantly, this pattern seems especially likely when the conspiracy narrative and the violent event are ideologically aligned. This implies that spreading conspiracy theories within politically mobilized groups could be particularly dangerous, especially when influential figures promote narratives that resonate with their audience’s political identity.”</p>
<p>While these findings offer insight into the mechanics of political unrest, the researchers pointed out a few limitations. First, the study focused exclusively on voters aligned with one specific political candidate. This targeted approach helps explain the Capitol riots, but it means the results might not perfectly translate to other political groups or different countries.</p>
<p>An average reader should not misinterpret the findings to mean that all political activists are prone to violence. The research specifically highlights the combination of high political activity and deep belief in unverified plots as the primary risk factor. The scientists also noted that wanting political change did not predict violence on its own, suggesting that active participation is a key ingredient.</p>
<p>In addition, the studies measured the justification of violence on a survey rather than observing actual violent behavior in the real world. Measuring real-world violence presents significant ethical and practical challenges for scientists.</p>
<p>Future research could explore how these factors interact in different cultural contexts or during protests related to other ideological movements. Scientists might also look into how highly active citizens help spread conspiracy theories on social media platforms. Understanding these dynamics could help society find ways to encourage healthy political engagement while preventing the escalation of aggressive behaviors.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506261421177" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Roles of Conspiracy Theories and Political Participation on Justifying Violence in the Capitol Hill Riots</a>,” was authored by Jesse Koster, Fengyu Dou, Naomi Dol, Yuan Ning, and Jan-Willem van Prooijen.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/simple-blood-tests-can-detect-dementia-in-underrepresented-latin-american-populations/" 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;">Simple blood tests can detect dementia in underrepresented Latin American populations</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 4th 2026, 22:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-01061-3" target="_blank">Nature Aging</a></em> demonstrates that simple blood tests can accurately detect Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia across highly diverse populations in Latin America. By combining these blood markers with standard memory tests and brain scans, clinicians can dramatically improve their ability to diagnose memory-robbing conditions in historically underrepresented regions.</p>
<p>Dementia is an umbrella term for a variety of conditions that cause a progressive loss of thinking and memory skills. Alzheimer’s disease is the most frequent cause of dementia in older adults. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration is another distinct type of dementia that primarily affects the front and sides of the brain, often leading to changes in personality and language.</p>
<p>Diagnosing these conditions traditionally requires expensive brain scans or invasive spinal taps. These traditional methods are often completely unavailable in lower-income regions. Medical professionals in these areas often have to rely solely on observing a patient’s behavior and administering basic memory quizzes.</p>
<p>Recently, researchers developed blood tests that look for specific proteins associated with these brain diseases. These proteins act as biological markers, indicating what is happening deep inside the brain tissue. The primary proteins measured are amyloid and tau, which tend to misfold and clump together in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>In healthy brains, a protein called amyloid beta normally floats around and is cleared away without issue. In Alzheimer’s disease, a specific version of this protein begins to stick together and form hard plaques. Researchers often measure the ratio of two different versions of this protein, as a lower ratio in the blood usually indicates that sticky plaques are accumulating in the brain.</p>
<p>The tau protein also plays a major role in brain health by acting as a structural support system for nerve cells. When the brain is diseased, tau proteins can gain extra chemical tags in a process called phosphorylation. The researchers specifically looked at two tagged versions of this protein to track the progression of the disease.</p>
<p>Another important marker is neurofilament light chain, a structural protein found inside nerve fibers. When nerve cells are damaged or die, this protein leaks out of the brain and into the bloodstream. Doctors can measure the concentration of this protein to gauge the overall level of active brain damage.</p>
<p>Medical professionals are already beginning to use these blood tests in the United States and Europe. Yet their performance in other parts of the world remained largely untested. Latin American populations possess vast genetic, social, and environmental diversity.</p>
<p>This immense variety can easily influence how diseases develop and how they appear in biological tests. A team led by first authors Ariel Caviedes and Felipe Cabral-Miranda wanted to know if these tests worked equally well in these understudied populations. Caviedes is a researcher at the Latin American Brain Health Institute in Chile, while Cabral-Miranda is based at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.</p>
<p>The researchers recruited 605 volunteers from memory clinics across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. This group included individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and healthy older adults. The team collected blood samples from all participants and measured the concentrations of the target brain proteins.</p>
<p>Alongside the blood tests, the researchers administered a battery of standard memory and thinking assessments. A portion of the participants also underwent magnetic resonance imaging. This brain scanning technique allows doctors to see the physical structure of the brain and measure tissue shrinkage in specific areas.</p>
<p>The scientists also conducted genetic testing on a subset of the participants to determine their global ancestry. The vast majority of the participants had predominantly Amerindian genetic backgrounds. The team also looked for a specific variation of the apolipoprotein E gene, which is a known genetic risk factor for memory disorders.</p>
<p>To make sense of the vast amount of data, the research team used a technique called machine learning. Machine learning involves training a computer program to recognize complex patterns in massive datasets. The program learns which combinations of proteins and test scores best predict a specific medical diagnosis.</p>
<p>Using computer algorithms, the team analyzed the data to see if the blood proteins could accurately separate the sick patients from the healthy volunteers. They found that the blood tests alone performed quite well. The protein profiles correctly identified Alzheimer’s disease with 83 percent accuracy and frontotemporal lobar degeneration with 88 percent accuracy.</p>
<p>Specific proteins proved better at identifying certain diseases than others. A modified version of the tau protein was the strongest indicator of Alzheimer’s disease. In contrast, the neurofilament light chain protein was the most accurate marker for frontotemporal lobar degeneration.</p>
<p>The blood tests also aligned with the physical changes seen inside the patients’ heads. High levels of these disease-linked proteins matched up with visible tissue loss on the brain scans. The proteins also corresponded to lower scores on the memory and thinking evaluations.</p>
<p>The brain scans revealed clear anatomical differences between the two main patient groups. In people with Alzheimer’s disease, elevated blood proteins correlated with shrinkage in the back and sides of the brain. These areas are primarily responsible for storing new memories and processing visual information.</p>
<p>For patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration, the protein markers told a different story. Elevated protein levels in these individuals corresponded to tissue loss in the frontal lobes and anterior temporal lobes. These specific brain regions govern executive functions, such as decision-making, social behavior, and language comprehension.</p>
<p>The memory and thinking assessments echoed these physical changes perfectly. In Alzheimer’s patients, higher levels of the modified tau protein were strongly linked to worse scores on memory tests. In contrast, high levels of the neurofilament light chain protein in the other patient group predicted severe declines in behavioral control and daily functioning.</p>
<p>The researchers achieved the highest success rates when they combined the blood tests with the brain scans and cognitive assessments. This combined approach raised the diagnostic accuracy to 90 percent for Alzheimer’s disease and 96 percent for frontotemporal lobar degeneration. The results show that relying entirely on a single blood test could lead to diagnostic errors.</p>
<p>“Combining biomarkers with cognitive and neuroimaging markers in diverse populations is essential to avoid misdiagnosis and to ensure fair access to care,” said Agustin Ibanez, co-senior author of the study. “Otherwise, even the most advanced tools risk reinforcing existing health inequalities.”</p>
<p>“These findings reinforce the enormous potential of blood-based tests to transform dementia diagnosis,” said Claudia Duran-Aniotz, senior author of the study. Integrating biological, cognitive, and physical measurements provides a much clearer picture of a patient’s health. The results suggest that these accessible screening tools can successfully identify neurodegenerative conditions across varied genetic backgrounds.</p>
<p>The study does have some limitations that require further investigation. The research team only evaluated the participants at a single point in time. This cross-sectional design prevents them from seeing how the protein levels might change as the diseases naturally progress over several years.</p>
<p>The researchers also noted that older adults often have multiple co-occurring health conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease. The team recorded the presence or absence of these conditions but did not analyze their individual impacts in deep detail. It remains possible that certain untreated medical issues could slightly alter the concentration of proteins in the blood.</p>
<p>Additionally, the researchers did not compare the blood tests against spinal fluid samples or physical brain tissue examined after death. These are considered the definitive standards for confirming the presence of these brain diseases. The lack of these gold-standard measurements means the researchers cannot completely rule out the presence of other overlapping brain conditions.</p>
<p>Future studies will need to track patients over longer periods and incorporate these stricter verification methods. Medical researchers must also continue to test these diagnostic tools in varied populations globally. Doing so will help ensure that modern medical advancements benefit people in all regions, regardless of their background or geographic location.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-01061-3" target="_blank">Blood-based AT(N) biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration in Latin America</a>,” was authored by Ariel Caviedes, Felipe Cabral-Miranda, Paulina Orellana, Hernán Hernández, Fernando Henríquez, Raul Gonzalez-Gomez, Matias Pizarro, Joaquin Migeot, Carolina Ochoa-Rosales, Carolina Gonzalez-Silva, Nickole Marin-Diaz, Carlos Coronel-Oliveros, Hernando Santamaría-García, Danilo Carmona, Adolfo M. García, Andrea Slachevsky, Andrew Singleton, Andy Yue Qi, Brian Lawlor, Bruce Miller, Catherine Dhooge, Caroline Pantazis, Chinedu T. Udeh-Momoh, David Aguillón, Diana L. Matallana, Eduardo R. Zimmer, Elisa de Paula França Resende, Francesca R. Farina, Francisca Cabello, Francisco Lopera, Henrik Zetterberg, José Alberto Avila-Funes, Juliana Acosta-Uribe, Katherine L. Possin, Kenneth S. Kosik, Kun Hu, Leonel T. Takada, Maira Okada de Oliveira, Marcelo Adrian Maito, Marc Suárez-Calvet, Maria E. Godoy, Maria Isabel Behrens, Mario A. Parra, Marta del Campo, Martin Bruno, Nancy Gelvez, Natalia Pozo-Castro, J. Nicholas Cochran, Nilton Custodio, Rodrigo Ortega, Rodrigo Santibanez, Rolando de la Cruz, Rosa Montesinos, Sarah McDonagh, Sara Bandres-Ciga, Shireen Javandel, Sonia M. D. Brucki, Stefanie D. Pina-Escudero, Victor Valcour, Ziyi Li, Jennifer S. Yokoyama, Agustin Ibañez, and Claudia Duran-Aniotz on behalf of the Multi-Partner Consortium to Expand Dementia Research in Latin America.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/psychologists-clash-over-the-safety-and-effects-of-the-cry-it-out-parenting-strategy/" 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;">Psychologists clash over the safety and effects of the cry it out parenting strategy</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 4th 2026, 20:00</div>
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<p><p>A study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13223" target="_blank">Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</a></em> found that occasionally letting babies cry does not harm their behavioral development or their bond with their mothers. The research suggests that parents who let their infants fuss for a little while are not causing long-term psychological damage. These results offer reassurance to parents navigating the exhausting challenges of infant sleep and crying.</p>
<p>For decades, parents and psychologists have debated how quickly a caregiver should respond to a crying baby. One school of thought, rooted in attachment theory, suggests that parents should soothe a crying baby immediately. Attachment theorists argue that prompt responses help the infant form a secure emotional bond with the caregiver.</p>
<p>A secure bond gives the child the confidence to explore the world, knowing their parent is a safe haven. Another perspective comes from behaviorism, a branch of psychology focused on how learning shapes actions. Behaviorists suggest that immediately comforting a crying baby might accidentally reward the crying, leading to more tears in the future.</p>
<p>They propose that giving babies a chance to cry it out can reduce crying overall. By stepping back, parents might give their children the space to learn how to soothe themselves. Psychologists Ayten Bilgin and Dieter Wolke set out to test these conflicting ideas.</p>
<p>Bilgin is a researcher at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, where Wolke is a professor. They wanted to see how different approaches to crying influence infant development over time in a modern context.</p>
<p>“Only two previous studies nearly 50 or 20 years ago had investigated whether letting babies ‘cry it out’ affects babies’ development. Our study documents contemporary parenting in the UK and the different approaches to crying used,” Bilgin said.</p>
<p>The first of those older studies took place in 1972 and involved just 26 families. That early study suggested that ignoring cries led to more crying and an insecure attachment. Later attempts to replicate those results showed contradictory outcomes, leaving modern parents without clear guidance.</p>
<p>To gather more reliable data, Bilgin and Wolke followed 178 infants and their mothers from birth to 18 months of age. The researchers tracked a mix of full-term babies and those born early or with a low birth weight. Mothers reported how often they let their infants cry it out at birth, three months, six months, and 18 months.</p>
<p>The mothers answered whether they used this approach never, once, a few times, or often. They also recorded how long and how frequently their babies cried during the morning, afternoon, evening, and night. When the babies reached 18 months of age, the researchers assessed their behavioral development using multiple tools.</p>
<p>Independent observers watched the toddlers play to evaluate their attention spans, hyperactivity, and social skills. They rated the infants on their ability to persist at tasks and their general emotional tone. Parents also filled out questionnaires detailing any behavioral issues they noticed at home.</p>
<p>The researchers also measured the emotional bond between mother and child using a well-established psychological test called the strange situation procedure. During this laboratory test, researchers observe how a toddler reacts when a parent leaves a room and then returns. This brief separation reliably triggers the infant’s attachment behaviors.</p>
<p>This test helps classify the child’s attachment style. A secure attachment means the child feels safe exploring and is easily comforted by the parent upon their return. Insecure attachment means the child might avoid the parent or show high levels of anxiety and resistance.</p>
<p>The researchers discovered that leaving a baby to cry was rare right after birth. Most mothers responded to their newborns immediately. As the babies grew older, parents were more likely to let them cry a few times or often.</p>
<p>Letting an infant cry occasionally right after birth was associated with less frequent crying at three months of age. Letting infants cry a few times at birth and often at three months was linked to shorter crying durations when the children reached 18 months. The results regarding negative impacts on infant development were not statistically significant.</p>
<p>In fact, the study revealed no adverse impacts on infant-mother attachment at 18 months. Babies who were left to cry developed the same secure bonds as those who were comforted immediately. The researchers also found no negative effects on the toddlers’ behavioral development, such as increased aggression or hyperactivity.</p>
<p>Professor Wolke noted that parents naturally adjust their parenting as their children grow. “We have to give more credit to parents and babies. Most parents intuitively adapt over time and are attuned to their baby’s needs, wait a bit before intervening when crying and allow their babies the opportunity to learn to self-regulate. Most babies develop well despite their parents intervening immediately or not to crying.”</p>
<p>The study does have a few limitations that readers should keep in mind. The researchers relied on maternal self-reports to measure how often babies cried and how often parents let them cry it out. While maternal reports are generally reliable, independent observations over the entire 18 months would have provided more objective data.</p>
<p>The research was also observational, meaning it could not prove a direct cause and effect between parenting choices and infant behavior. The study did not measure crying frequency at the six-month mark, leaving a slight gap in the timeline. Finally, the questionnaire did not ask parents to distinguish between daytime and nighttime crying.</p>
<p>Following the publication, researchers Abi M. B. Davis and Robin S. S. Kramer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13390" target="_blank">published a commentary</a> questioning the study’s conclusions. They argued that ignoring infant crying goes against human evolutionary drives. Children cannot communicate their pain or hunger with words, so crying is their primary survival tool.</p>
<p>Davis and Kramer suggested that failing to respond might increase an infant’s stress levels. They pointed to previous theories suggesting that elevated stress hormones, like cortisol, can negatively impact brain development. They expressed concern that parents might read the study and begin ignoring their infants’ genuine needs.</p>
<p>The commentary authors also raised concerns about the statistical power of the research. They argued that the sample size of 178 infants was too small to confidently detect minor negative effects on attachment types. They worried that grouping different types of insecure attachment together might hide subtle problems.</p>
<p>Additionally, Davis and Kramer pointed out that the study did not provide parents with a strict definition of what it means to let a baby cry it out. Without a set definition, mothers might have interpreted the question differently. Some might have thought it meant leaving a child alone in a crib, while others might have pictured sitting in the same room while the child fussed.</p>
<p>Bilgin and Wolke later <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13439" target="_blank">published a detailed response</a> to this critique. They clarified that their study did not recommend entirely ignoring a crying baby. Their findings simply showed that modern parents who occasionally delay their responses do not harm their children.</p>
<p>The original authors noted that an experiment randomly assigning parents to ignore their babies would be impossible and unethical. Parents hold strong personal views on raising children and would not agree to be randomly assigned to a parenting style. Because of this, observational studies remain the best available option for understanding these dynamics.</p>
<p>Addressing the statistical concerns, Bilgin and Wolke explained that their sample size was large enough to detect meaningful differences in attachment. They highlighted that three modern studies tracking 365 infants have all found no link between delayed responding and insecure attachment. The only study to find a negative link was the 1972 project involving just 26 families.</p>
<p>Bilgin and Wolke also challenged the idea that crying it out causes dangerous stress. They cited an independent study showing that a sleep training program did not raise infant stress hormone levels. In reality, the maternal stress hormones decreased when mothers stopped rushing to intervene.</p>
<p>The researchers emphasized that maternal sensitivity during play and daily interactions is what truly builds a secure attachment. They found no differences in observed maternal sensitivity between mothers who let their babies cry and those who did not. A delayed response at bedtime does not equate to insensitive parenting.</p>
<p>Moving forward, researchers hope to explore how different types of crying might require different responses. Future studies could separate daytime fussing from nighttime waking to see if the time of day changes the impact of delayed responding. Tracking specific parental actions, such as whether a parent stays in the room while the baby cries, could also provide clearer insights.</p>
<p>Larger sample sizes will help scientists detect even smaller shifts in infant behavioral patterns. By combining data from multiple studies, psychologists can build a more comprehensive picture of how babies learn to manage their emotions. Ultimately, observing how parents naturally adapt to their infants over time will continue to inform our understanding of child development.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13223" target="_blank">Parental use of ‘cry it out’ in infants: no adverse effects on attachment and behavioural development at 18 months</a>,” was authored by Ayten Bilgin and Dieter Wolke.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/exploring-the-motivations-for-cannabis-use-during-sex/" 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;">Exploring the motivations for cannabis use during sex</a>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2025.2604775" target="_blank">The Journal of Sex Research</a></em> provides evidence that young adults often use cannabis during sexual activity to enhance pleasure, reduce anxiety, and navigate societal expectations around gender. The findings suggest that conversations about combining sex and cannabis should move beyond focusing solely on the risks to acknowledge the roles of relaxation and sexual well-being.</p>
<p>“Although cannabis is the second most commonly used substance during sex after alcohol, it has received relatively little attention in research and remains taboo in broader conversations about sexuality. Existing studies on the subject have also tended to focus primarily on risks and negative outcomes, often overlooking the important role that pleasure can play in young adults’ experiences and motivations for sex under the influence of cannabis,” said study author Maëlle Lefebvre, a PhD student at Université de Sherbrooke, who conducted this research at Université du Québec à Montréal.</p>
<p>“In addition, little research has examined how these experiences are shaped by gender norms and expectations, which can influence how people navigate intimacy and substance use. As such, by centering the role of pleasure and gender in shaping motivations for sex under the influence of cannabis, we aimed to better understand the full spectrum of these experiences and, hopefully, better inform sexual health promotion efforts and services.”</p>
<p>To gather detailed perspectives, Lefebvre and her colleagues conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 young adults living in Quebec, Canada. The participants were all between the ages of 18 and 24 and reported using cannabis in a sexual context with a partner at least once in the past year. The sample included a diverse mix of gender identities, featuring cisgender men and women, transgender men, and non-binary, agender, and queer individuals.</p>
<p>At the start of the process, participants completed a demographic questionnaire and a standardized screening test to measure their general level of substance involvement. The scientists then guided the interviews using a flexible set of questions designed to explore concrete sexual experiences and the perceived risks or benefits of cannabis use. Interviews lasted between 60 and 150 minutes, allowing participants to speak freely about their intimate lives in either French or English.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed the interview transcripts to identify recurring themes, relying on a theoretical model that views gender as a social structure. This model assumes that societal expectations about gender affect how people think of themselves, how they interact with partners, and how they behave in intimate settings. The analysis revealed three main categories of motivation for using cannabis during sex.</p>
<p>The first major theme centered on enhancing and transforming the sexual experience itself. Participants frequently reported that cannabis intensified their physical sensations, making ordinary touches feel exceptionally pleasant. Many individuals noted that the substance helped them create a deeper emotional connection with their partner, often describing the experience as a shared bubble of intimacy.</p>
<p>Cannabis also appeared to improve sexual functioning and confidence, though these effects varied by gender. Cisgender men often used the substance to boost their energy, which helped them meet societal expectations of masculine sexual performance and dominance. Meanwhile, transgender men sometimes relied on the drug to stimulate spontaneous sexual desire, helping them feel physically ready for sex without overthinking the process.</p>
<p>The second major theme involved using cannabis to facilitate sex by breaking down mental and emotional barriers. For many participants, cannabis acted as a tool to ease the anxiety and stress that often accompany sexual encounters. Cisgender women, in particular, reported using cannabis to quiet intrusive worries about daily life and to stop overthinking during intimacy.</p>
<p>This calming effect also helped participants manage deep-seated insecurities about their bodies. Women often used cannabis to reduce self-consciousness regarding their physical appearance, allowing them to focus on pleasure rather than worrying about looking attractive for their partner. For transgender individuals, cannabis sometimes provided relief from gender dysphoria, a profound sense of distress that occurs when a person’s physical body does not match their internal gender identity.</p>
<p>In some cases, cannabis helped participants tolerate sexual experiences they were not fully enthusiastic about. Some individuals used the substance to emotionally detach when engaging in sex out of a sense of obligation to please a partner. People with histories of trauma or those involved in sex work also reported using cannabis to mentally distance themselves from the physical act.</p>
<p>The third theme highlighted how contextual and incidental factors drive cannabis use during sex. For regular consumers, combining cannabis and sex was not always a calculated decision aimed at altering the sexual experience. Often, cannabis was simply a regular part of their daily routine or social environment.</p>
<p>Because many participants used the substance every day, they were naturally under the influence when spontaneous sexual encounters occurred. Over time, some individuals developed a conditioned response where the act of consuming cannabis automatically triggered sexual arousal. In these situations, the association between the drug and sex became a habit rather than a specific strategy for the moment.</p>
<p>While these findings shed light on the positive and intentional uses of cannabis, the scientists warn against interpreting the substance as a universal cure for sexual difficulties. Relying heavily on cannabis to mask trauma, manage body image issues, or endure unwanted sex could prevent individuals from seeking healthier, long-term solutions. Professionals in the sexual health field should consider offering therapies that address the root causes of these anxieties without judging the patient for their coping strategies.</p>
<p>The study also presents a few limitations that require consideration. The participants were a convenience sample of individuals who felt comfortable discussing their drug use and sexual habits openly. People who feel shame about their substance use or sexual practices might hold different perspectives that are not reflected in these findings.</p>
<p>“The key takeaway is that using cannabis during sex can often be all about pleasure,” Lefebvre told PsyPost. “It can play a role in making sex more pleasurable in multiple ways, such as enhancing connection, reducing anxiety, helping people feel more present, improving body image, and navigating gender norms.” </p>
<p>“These experiences are also not just about individual choices; they are embedded in social dynamics and gendered expectations. Overall, this suggests that conversations about sex and substance use should move beyond focusing solely on risks and negative experiences (though these are still important to consider!) and take into account pleasure and wellbeing.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2025.2604775" target="_blank">‘It’s a Beautiful Feeling’: Exploring Embodied, Psychological, and Gendered Motivations for Sex Under the Influence of Cannabis Among Young Adults</a>,” was authored by Maëlle Lefebvre, Mathieu Goyette, Adèle Morvannou, Kira London-Nadeau, Marianne Saint-Jacques, and Olivier Ferlatte.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/a-single-dose-of-cocoa-flavanols-improves-cognitive-performance-during-aerobic-exercise/" 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 single dose of cocoa flavanols improves cognitive performance during aerobic exercise</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 4th 2026, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>Consuming a single dose of cocoa rich in specific plant compounds can improve a person’s reaction time and decision-making skills during physically and mentally exhausting exercise. These cognitive benefits occur even though the individual still feels just as mentally drained, suggesting a subconscious boost to brain performance. The findings were published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-025-06826-7" target="_blank">Psychopharmacology</a></em>.</p>
<p>Hayato Tsukamoto, a researcher at the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Waseda University in Japan, led the investigation. His team wanted to understand how mental exhaustion affects physical performance and whether nutritional supplements could offer a protective effect. They focused their attention on a mental process known as executive function.</p>
<p>Executive function is a cognitive system that helps people manage their thoughts, direct their attention, and control their impulses. During sports like soccer or basketball, athletes constantly rely on this system to make rapid choices and block out distractions. Maintaining this mental sharpness is essential for high-level athletic performance.</p>
<p>When people use their executive function for an extended period, they experience a state of cognitive fatigue. This mental drain slows down their reaction speed and makes them more prone to errors. Physical exertion, like running or cycling, can add to this feeling of exhaustion and further degrade decision-making skills.</p>
<p>To combat this decline, the researchers looked to flavanols, which are naturally occurring chemical compounds found in the seeds of the cacao tree. These seeds are the primary ingredient used to make chocolate. Past research has shown that cocoa flavanols act as antioxidants in the human body.</p>
<p>Antioxidants are substances that help protect cells from damage caused by harmful molecules. Previous tests revealed that cocoa flavanols could reduce mental fatigue when people were simply sitting at a desk. Tsukamoto and his colleagues wanted to see if these compounds could also protect decision-making skills when a person is exercising and thinking hard at the same time.</p>
<p>The researchers recruited eighteen healthy young men in their early twenties for the experiment. They utilized a placebo-controlled crossover design for the trial. This design means every participant completed the experiment twice on separate days to compare the true supplement against a dummy pill.</p>
<p>On one day, the men took a capsule containing five hundred milligrams of cocoa flavanols. On another day, they took a capsule with only fifty milligrams of the compounds to act as a placebo. The capsules were completely identical in appearance so the participants would not know which one they swallowed.</p>
<p>After taking the capsule, the men waited one hour for the plant compounds to reach peak levels in their bloodstream. They then completed a short, five-minute mental test to establish their baseline brain performance. This mental assessment is known as a color-word Stroop task.</p>
<p>The color-word task tests a person’s ability to process conflicting information and suppress incorrect impulses. For example, the word “red” might appear on a screen printed in blue ink. The participant must press a button corresponding to the ink color rather than the written word.</p>
<p>Following the baseline test, the men began a grueling fifty-minute exercise session. They rode a stationary bicycle at a moderate pace while simultaneously completing a continuous version of the color-word task. This combined effort was designed to induce a high level of cognitive fatigue.</p>
<p>Throughout the session, the researchers tracked how fast the men reacted and how well they handled the conflicting information. They also monitored heart rates and asked the men to rate their own feelings of mental exhaustion. Finally, the team drew blood to check for biological markers of cellular stress.</p>
<p>One hour after taking the capsules, but before the exercise began, the men showed distinct cognitive improvements. The high-dose cocoa capsule led to faster reaction times on the most confusing parts of the mental test compared to the low-dose capsule. The higher dose also improved their ability to filter out distracting information while resting.</p>
<p>As the fifty-minute cycling session dragged on, the cognitive benefits of the high-dose cocoa persisted. The men reacted more quickly to the conflicting word prompts while pedaling. Their overall ability to maintain focus and suppress incorrect impulses was superior when they had consumed the high-flavanol capsule.</p>
<p>Even a modest improvement in reaction time can be meaningful in competitive sports. The researchers noted that subtle differences in decision-making speed can dictate the outcome of major sporting events. A fraction of a second can determine whether a player successfully intercepts a pass or reacts to a referee’s call.</p>
<p>Despite the better performance, the high-dose cocoa did not change how the men actually felt. They reported the exact same levels of mental exhaustion and physical strain in both trials. The differences in their subjective feelings of fatigue were not statistically significant.</p>
<p>The blood tests also failed to show any changes in oxidative stress markers or a specific protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This protein normally encourages the growth and health of brain cells. Because these blood markers remained unchanged, the exact biological process driving the improved reaction times remains unclear.</p>
<p>The researchers suspect that the flavanols might improve blood flow in the brain. Prior studies suggest that cocoa compounds can enhance the way blood vessels respond to increased demands for oxygen. When a person exercises and thinks hard simultaneously, the brain must divide its resources between the motor cortex and the prefrontal cortex.</p>
<p>The motor cortex controls physical movement, while the prefrontal cortex handles decision-making and focus. Improved blood vessel function from the flavanols might help deliver enough oxygen to both brain regions at once. This enhanced delivery could explain the faster reaction times even when the participants felt entirely exhausted.</p>
<p>The research team acknowledged a few specific limitations to their experiment. The study only included male participants, which limits how broadly the conclusions can be applied. Women experience natural hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle that can influence cognitive function and reaction times.</p>
<p>Future research should examine the effects of cocoa flavanols on decision-making quality in female participants. Scientists need to account for the potential influences of changing estrogen levels. This will help determine if the cognitive benefits of cocoa apply equally to all athletes.</p>
<p>The researchers also noted that their blood tests only looked at a single marker of cellular damage. Measuring other biological markers might reveal exactly how cocoa flavanols protect the brain during physical stress. Assessing brain-specific markers rather than just circulating blood levels could provide more exact answers.</p>
<p>Scientists should also explore different dosages and timing strategies to find the optimal way to use cocoa supplements. The current study showed that a five-hundred-milligram dose is effective. Finding the ideal frequency of intake could offer a practical nutritional strategy for competitive athletes.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-025-06826-7" target="_blank">A single intake of flavanol-rich cocoa improves inhibitory executive process under cognitive fatigue during aerobic exercise in men: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial</a>,” was authored by Hayato Tsukamoto, Sota Yoneya, Takahiro Koyama, Asuka Suzuki, I Wayan Yuuki, Kento Dora, and Takeshi Hashimoto.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/standard-mental-health-therapies-often-fall-short-for-autistic-adults-study-suggests/" 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;">Standard mental health therapies often fall short for autistic adults, study suggests</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 4th 2026, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00567-4" target="_blank">Nature Mental Health</a></em> suggests that autistic adults experience varying results when receiving standard psychological therapy for depression and anxiety. Some individuals showed improvement, while others saw their symptoms remain stable or worsen. The findings indicate that factors like ethnicity and difficulties with daily living tasks play a role in how well these therapies work, highlighting a need for more tailored mental health care.</p>
<p>Autistic individuals are more likely to experience mental health conditions like depression and anxiety compared to non-autistic people. They also tend to report negative experiences when seeking professional support for these issues. Evidence-based psychological therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, are generally recommended as standard treatments.</p>
<p>Standard therapeutic approaches often fail to meet the specific needs of autistic patients. Mental health interventions usually require environmental adjustments, visual communication aids, and a focus on affirming the patient’s neurological differences. Neurodiversity-affirming care means that therapists prioritize the lived experience of autistic people and accept their natural ways of being, rather than treating their autistic traits as symptoms to be fixed.</p>
<p>Previous research provides evidence that autistic people generally have lower rates of recovery during psychological therapy compared to non-autistic individuals. But scientists have lacked a clear understanding of why outcomes vary so widely among autistic patients. </p>
<p>“The study was motivated by a goal to improve mental health care for autistic people. Research shows that autistic people are often less likely than non-autistic people to benefit from standard psychological therapies, and many report negative experiences with services,” said study author Richard Pender, a clinical research fellow at the University College London.</p>
<p>“We used large-scale data from routine mental health services across England to explore how symptoms of depression and anxiety changed for autistic people during therapy. We looked at different patterns of improvement, worsening, or little change, and examined which factors were linked to direction or speed of change. Our aim was to better understand how treatments might be adapted and improved to meet autistic people’s needs more effectively.”</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed data from the MODIFY dataset. They focused on 7,175 autistic adults who accessed routine psychological therapies for anxiety or depression between 2012 and 2019. These patients received at least three treatment sessions through general adult healthcare services.</p>
<p>The scientists tracked symptom changes across the first eight therapy sessions using standard clinical questionnaires. They measured depression using a nine-item questionnaire and measured anxiety with a seven-item questionnaire. These tools ask patients to rate the severity of their symptoms on a numerical scale, which helps clinicians track progress over time.</p>
<p>The researchers also measured difficulties with daily functioning. This concept looks at how much a person’s mental health affects their home life, work, social activities, and relationships. They used advanced statistical models to group patients based on how their symptoms changed over the course of the therapy program.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed five distinct paths for depression symptoms. Most autistic individuals fell into groups where their moderate to severe depression either did not improve or showed only limited improvement. A small group of patients experienced rapid improvement, moving from severe to minimal depression.</p>
<p>Another group showed gradual improvement in their depression scores over the eight sessions. A small fraction of patients saw their moderate depression worsen into moderately severe depression over time. </p>
<p>To ensure these changes were genuine and not just random variations in test scores, the researchers calculated a mathematical check called a reliable change index. This check confirmed that the rapidly improving group experienced a true reduction in symptoms that went beyond the standard margin of error. Most people in this rapidly improving category achieved reliable recovery. This means their scores dropped significantly enough to fall into a non-clinical, healthy range.</p>
<p>For anxiety, the researchers identified seven different patterns of symptom change. Similar to the depression findings, the majority of the sample experienced no improvement or minimal improvement across various levels of anxiety severity. Some groups showed rapid or gradual improvement, while about three percent of the patients started with moderate anxiety that worsened into severe anxiety.</p>
<p>“We found differences in how autistic people experienced change during therapy for anxiety and depression,” Pender told PsyPost. “Most people’s symptoms stayed largely the same, but some showed gradual or rapid improvement, while others experienced worsening symptoms.”</p>
<p>The researchers noted that by the third therapy session, it was often possible to predict a patient’s overall trajectory. “This may be an important point to review progress and consider adapting the approach if needed,” Pender said. “Future research will look more closely at how neurodivergence intersects with race and ethnicity, and how this shapes people’s experiences of services and their mental health outcomes.”</p>
<p>When looking at background factors, the researchers found that higher levels of difficulty with daily functioning before treatment began were linked to worse outcomes. Individuals who struggled heavily with social leisure activities were less likely to experience rapid or gradual improvement in their severe anxiety.</p>
<p>Social leisure activities involve doing things with other people, such as attending parties, dating, or entertaining guests. Autistic people often engage in camouflaging, which means they hide their natural autistic traits to fit into these social situations. Excessive camouflaging requires immense effort and often leads to the deep exhaustion known as autistic burnout.</p>
<p>Patients experiencing this type of burnout might have a harder time benefiting from standard anxiety treatments. Standard therapies often encourage more social interaction, which could inadvertently increase exhaustion for an autistic person. The researchers suggest that therapies might need to address burnout specifically to be effective.</p>
<p>Demographic factors also played a role in treatment success. Identifying as a member of an ethnically minoritized group in England was associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing worsening anxiety symptoms during therapy, compared to white participants. This provides evidence that individuals from minoritized backgrounds face compounded disadvantages that affect their mental health treatment.</p>
<p>While the study relies on a massive dataset, it has some limitations. The questionnaires used to measure anxiety and depression were designed for the general public and might not capture the unique ways autistic people experience distress. Standard tools might confuse signs of autistic burnout with symptoms of regular depression.</p>
<p>The researchers also lacked information on whether the therapies provided in the study were actually adapted to accommodate autistic patients. The data relied on broad categories for race and sex, which prevented a more detailed analysis of how diverse identities impact mental health outcomes. Because the data only included people who attended at least three sessions, the study cannot explain the experiences of those who dropped out immediately.</p>
<p>“This study is part of a wider research programme focused on improving psychological therapies for autistic people,” Pender explained. “MODIFY is a large and detailed dataset, and our team is using it in further studies to better understand what affects outcomes for neurodivergent people using mental health services.” </p>
<p>“However, numbers can only tell us so much. To improve therapy, it is essential to listen to autistic people who have first-hand experience of these services. For this reason, we are also carrying out qualitative research to explore people’s views on why therapy does or does not work for them. This includes intersectional work that looks at the experiences of autistic people from ethnically minoritized backgrounds, with the aim of improving access to services and the support they receive.”</p>
<p>“The findings of this study underline the importance of adapting psychological interventions for autistic people,” Pender added. “This involves improving accessibility, by adjusting communication and sensory environments. We also need to ensure mental health care is culturally responsive and neuroaffirming. This means championing autistic people’s voices, accepting rather than pathologizing autistic ways of being, and appreciating the ways that environmental contexts shape individuals’ difficulties.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00567-4" target="_blank">Symptom change in depression and anxiety during psychological therapy for autistic adults</a>,” was authored by Richard Pender, Céline El Baou, Elizabeth O’Nions, Aimee Spector, Joshua E. J. Buckman, Marcus Richards, Steve Pilling, Amber John, Joshua Stott, Rob Saunders, Laura Crane, and Will Mandy.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/black-employees-struggle-to-thrive-under-managers-perceived-as-trump-supporters/" 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;">Black employees struggle to thrive under managers perceived as Trump supporters</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 4th 2026, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study reveals that Black employees feel less able to excel and succeed in their jobs when they believe their managers support former United States President Donald Trump. This outcome occurs because these employees perceive Trump-supporting managers as less inclusive, which creates a workplace environment that restricts their professional growth. The research was published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12564" target="_blank">Human Resource Management Journal</a></em>.</p>
<p>Workplace dynamics are frequently shaped by broader societal politics and national discourse. In recent years, management scholars have started investigating the specific ways that right-wing political movements impact corporate diversity and inclusion efforts.</p>
<p>A primary focus of this research area is the influence of Donald Trump on everyday workplace interactions. Support for the former president is often associated with opposition to diversity initiatives and a dismissal of racial equity concerns.</p>
<p>Because of these associations, researchers wanted to understand how marginalized groups interpret political signals from their supervisors. Specifically, the research team aimed to explore how a manager’s political leanings might alter a Black employee’s day-to-day experience and overall career trajectory.</p>
<p>The investigation was led by Darryl B. Rice, a researcher at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Rice collaborated with Nicole C. J. Young from Franklin & Marshall College, Regina M. Taylor from Creighton University, and Stephanie R. Leonard from Howard University.</p>
<p>The team based their investigation on a concept called social information processing theory. This theory suggests that people observe the attitudes and behaviors of those around them to figure out how they should act and what they should expect in a given environment.</p>
<p>In a business setting, a manager provides powerful social cues that tell employees whether they are valued and supported. The researchers suspected that a manager’s political affiliation sends a strong signal to Black employees about their supervisor’s leadership style.</p>
<p>For a Black employee, a manager’s support for Donald Trump may be interpreted as a proxy for anti-Black prejudice. This political stance often conveys a message that the employee’s struggle for fair treatment is not understood or acknowledged by the supervisor.</p>
<p>As the workforce becomes more diverse, companies are increasingly trying to understand what factors help different groups of people succeed. Previous research has explored how women and employees with invisible disabilities experience workplace barriers, but fewer quantitative studies have centered entirely on the experiences of Black employees.</p>
<p>The team specifically looked at a leadership trait known as inclusive leadership. An inclusive leader is someone who actively supports diverse staff members, treats people fairly, provides helpful advice, and makes everyone feel like they belong.</p>
<p>Inclusive leadership is often viewed as a form of workplace allyship. When a manager lacks these inclusive traits, it can negatively impact an employee’s ability to thrive at work.</p>
<p>Thriving at work refers to a psychological state where an individual feels energized, engaged, and capable of growing professionally. The researchers wanted to see exactly how these factors link together in real business environments.</p>
<p>To test their ideas, the research team conducted three separate but related investigations. The first investigation was a survey of 351 Black working professionals from a wide variety of industries and educational backgrounds.</p>
<p>The researchers recruited these participants through various Black professional organizations, church groups, and alumni networks. The sample included both full-time and part-time workers.</p>
<p>Participants answered questions about their direct supervisors, including whether they believed their manager supported Donald Trump. The employees also rated their managers on inclusive leadership qualities and reported their own feelings of vitality and learning on the job.</p>
<p>To ensure their results were accurate, the researchers accounted for other factors that might influence workplace happiness. They tracked the employees’ age, gender, total time with the company, and the length of time they had worked under their current supervisor.</p>
<p>The survey results showed a clear pattern among the respondents. Black professionals rated managers who were perceived as Trump supporters much lower on inclusive leadership compared to managers who opposed the former president.</p>
<p>This lack of inclusive leadership had a direct negative effect on the employees. Because they felt excluded and unsupported, these workers reported lower levels of energy and professional growth in their jobs.</p>
<p>Age also played a major role in how employees reacted to these leadership cues. The negative impact on thriving at work was much stronger for younger Black employees than for older ones.</p>
<p>The authors suggest that younger workers often have less experience and rely more heavily on their managers for guidance and support. Older workers usually have established careers and draw on their past experiences, making them slightly less dependent on a specific manager’s leadership style.</p>
<p>While the first survey established a relationship between these factors, the researchers wanted to isolate the specific causes and effects. They designed two experimental scenarios, known as vignettes, to see how people react to controlled descriptions of managers.</p>
<p>In the first experiment, 31 Black participants read a profile of either a Trump-supporting manager or a Trump-opposing manager. The profiles contained identical information about the manager’s basic competence, but differed in their political and social behaviors.</p>
<p>The researchers made sure that these written profiles were as realistic as possible to avoid tipping off the participants about the true purpose of the experiment. This design choice helps prevent participants from simply guessing the right answer and artificially changing their responses.</p>
<p>After reading the profiles, the participants evaluated the manager’s ability to lead inclusively. As expected, the participants rated the hypothetical Trump-supporting manager much lower on inclusive leadership.</p>
<p>The final experiment involved 47 different Black participants who read profiles of managers demonstrating either high or low inclusive leadership. This step was designed to confirm that inclusive leadership directly controls an employee’s ability to thrive.</p>
<p>Participants read the scenarios and then rated how well they thought they would perform under that specific supervisor. The respondents indicated that they would be far less likely to thrive and excel under the manager who lacked inclusive leadership skills.</p>
<p>By connecting these three studies, the researchers demonstrated a clear chain of events. A manager’s perceived political support for Donald Trump signals a lack of inclusivity, which directly restricts a Black employee’s ability to succeed and feel energized at work.</p>
<p>The authors noted that corporate human resources departments should be mindful of these dynamics. As the researchers point out, Black employees “routinely navigate systems that are largely inconsiderate of their unique challenges and contributions.”</p>
<p>The authors acknowledged a few limitations in their study design. The initial survey relied on self-reported data collected at a single point in time.</p>
<p>When participants provide all the information about themselves and their managers at once, it can sometimes introduce bias into the results. However, combining this survey with the controlled experiments helped reduce those concerns.</p>
<p>The use of written scenarios in the subsequent experiments also presents a minor limitation. While written scenarios offer excellent control over variables, they do not perfectly replicate the nuance of real-world human interactions.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the research team recommended that future studies explore how these political dynamics affect other marginalized groups. They suggested investigating whether women, religious minorities, or employees with physical disabilities experience similar barriers to thriving under Trump-supporting managers.</p>
<p>Future research might also examine the actual political views of the managers rather than just the employees’ perceptions. Testing whether the manager’s own race alters the employee’s reaction could provide additional insights into these workplace challenges.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12564" target="_blank">Politics and race in the workplace: Understanding how and when trump‐supporting managers hinder black employees from thriving at work</a>,” was authored by Darryl B. Rice, Nicole C. J. Young, Regina M. Taylor, and Stephanie R. Leonard.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/the-psychological-drive-for-structure-predicts-conspiracy-thinking/" 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;">The psychological drive for structure predicts conspiracy thinking</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 4th 2026, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>People who have a strong psychological need to find patterns and strict rules in their everyday lives are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. A recent study published in the journal <em><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10339-025-01326-0" target="_blank">Cognitive Processing</a></em> revealed that this preference for rigid structure can lead people to accept conspiratorial ideas, even when they possess strong scientific reasoning skills. These results suggest that fact-checking alone might not be enough to change minds, as conspiracy theories offer a comforting sense of order to those who seek it.</p>
<p>Conspiracy theories often present straightforward explanations for chaotic global events. They tend to blame corruption or malicious intent for complex world problems. This offers a single narrative that can make the world feel easier to comprehend.</p>
<p>Past research has usually suggested that people fall for these theories because they lack analytical thinking skills. Psychologists have often assumed that individuals with lower levels of education or poorer critical reasoning abilities simply fail to evaluate the information they read.</p>
<p>But recent investigations revealed a paradox regarding people with elevated autistic traits. These individuals generally prefer analytical and logical thinking, yet previous studies showed they were actually more prone to endorsing conspiracy theories. They also exhibited a strong bias against counterevidence, meaning they struggled to change their minds when presented with facts that debunked their beliefs.</p>
<p>Neophytos Georgiou, a psychology researcher at Flinders University in Australia, wanted to understand this contradiction. Georgiou and his team suspected that a specific cognitive trait, rather than a lack of intelligence, was driving this vulnerability.</p>
<p>They focused on a concept called systemizing. Systemizing is a psychological term for the drive to analyze information, identify patterns, and organize the world into strict, predictable rules. People with high systemizing tendencies find it difficult to accept that events happen randomly, preferring to uncover a logical cause for every occurrence.</p>
<p>Georgiou proposed the hyper-systemizing hypothesis to explain the link between autistic traits and conspiracy beliefs. He theorized that individuals who strongly desire structure might naturally gravitate toward conspiracy theories. These theories offer neat, interconnected explanations that satisfy their need for a predictable world.</p>
<p>“People often assume conspiracy beliefs form because someone isn’t thinking critically,” says Georgiou. “But our findings show that for those who prefer systematic structure, conspiracy theories can feel like a highly organised way to understand confusing or unpredictable events.”</p>
<p>To test this hypothesis, the research team designed two separate studies. The first study involved 412 adults from the general population, mostly residing in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Participants completed a series of online questionnaires and tasks to measure their traits and thinking styles.</p>
<p>The researchers assessed participants for autistic traits and systemizing tendencies using standard psychological surveys. They also measured their scientific reasoning abilities by asking them to evaluate scenarios involving core scientific concepts. This allowed the team to see if a basic misunderstanding of the scientific method was to blame for their beliefs.</p>
<p>For example, one reasoning scenario described an experiment where subjects solved a jigsaw puzzle in a warm room without a radio, while others solved it in a cold room with a loud radio. Participants had to identify the confounding variables and understand why a scientist could not determine if the radio caused a delay.</p>
<p>Finally, participants completed a survey measuring their general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. To measure cognitive flexibility, the team used a specific test called the bias against disconfirmatory evidence task. This test assesses how well people update their beliefs when given new information.</p>
<p>Participants read a short text scenario that initially suggested one highly plausible interpretation. For instance, a sentence stating that a girl named Jenny cannot fall asleep might lead a reader to assume she is nervous about a school exam.</p>
<p>As participants read subsequent sentences, that first conclusion became highly unlikely. A new, initially hidden truth emerged, such as the detail that Jenny cannot wait for Christmas morning.</p>
<p>The researchers wanted to see if participants would adjust their answers based on the new evidence. Failing to update their beliefs indicated a bias against disconfirmatory evidence. This means they stubbornly stuck to their initial assumptions despite facts proving them wrong.</p>
<p>Using a statistical grouping method, the researchers sorted the general population sample into four distinct profiles based on their test scores. The results highlighted a distinct cognitive pathway to conspiratorial thinking.</p>
<p>One specific group of participants showed high systemizing tendencies alongside elevated autistic traits. These individuals endorsed conspiracy beliefs at high rates and performed poorly on the cognitive flexibility task. They proved highly resistant to abandoning their initial, flawed interpretations.</p>
<p>Yet, these same individuals scored quite well on the scientific puzzle test. Their ability to understand scientific concepts did not protect them from believing in conspiracies.</p>
<p>“What stood out is that people who systemise strongly want the world to make sense in a very consistent way,” says Georgiou. “Conspiracy theories often offer that sense of order. They tie loose ends together.”</p>
<p>“Even when someone has strong reasoning ability, their desire for strict explanations can overshadow their ability to question those beliefs,” he adds. The second study focused entirely on a clinical sample to explore this further. The researchers recruited 145 adults who had been formally diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.</p>
<p>These participants completed the exact same set of online questionnaires and cognitive tasks as the first group. The goal was to see if systemizing tendencies influenced the relationship between autistic traits and conspiracy beliefs within an autistic population. The data confirmed the researchers’ suspicions.</p>
<p>Autistic traits alone did not directly cause an increase in conspiracy beliefs. Instead, systemizing tendencies acted as a bridge connecting the two. Participants who scored high in both autistic traits and systemizing tendencies showed the highest levels of conspiracy belief.</p>
<p>For those with low systemizing tendencies, the link between their autistic traits and conspiracy beliefs was not statistically significant. Additionally, cognitive rigidity played a massive role in the clinical sample. Participants who struggled to adjust their views during the reading task were much more likely to endorse conspiracy theories.</p>
<p>“In tasks that required participants to revise their views when presented with new information, those with high systemising tendencies were less likely to shift their perspective,” says Georgiou. “This may help explain why conspiracy beliefs can persist even when contradictory information is available.”</p>
<p>The researchers noted a few caveats regarding their methodology. In the second study, participants self-reported their autism diagnoses through an online research panel. While they scored above standard clinical thresholds on the questionnaires, they did not undergo in-person medical evaluations for the study.</p>
<p>Additionally, users of international online research panels tend to have higher levels of education than the general public. This demographic skew means the results might not perfectly reflect the broader population. The study also relied on individual testing, which ignores how social influence within groups might shape a person’s beliefs over time.</p>
<p>Future research should investigate how people with strong systemizing tendencies interact with conspiracy theories in group settings. Evaluating behavior in simulated chat forums could reveal how social dynamics influence these rigid belief structures.</p>
<p>These findings suggest a need to rethink how society combats misinformation. Currently, most interventions focus on fact-checking and debunking false claims with logical arguments.</p>
<p>If a person embraces a conspiracy theory because it fulfills a psychological need for order, simply presenting them with opposing facts might fail to change their mind. Interventions for people with high systemizing traits might need to address the underlying desire for structure.</p>
<p>“It’s about the cognitive style someone brings to information,” says Georgiou. “For people who naturally seek structure and predictability, conspiracy theories can be appealing because they feel ordered, logical and consistent for events that feel chaotic.”</p>
<p>Public health officials and science communicators may need to develop new strategies that recognize these different cognitive profiles. “Rather than relying only on fact-checking or logic-based interventions, strategies may need to reflect how people prefer to process information,” says Georgiou. “Conspiracy beliefs meet psychological needs, and if we ignore that, we overlook what actually makes these narratives persuasive.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10339-025-01326-0" target="_blank">The hyper-systemizing hypothesis: how the tendency to systemize influences conspiracy beliefs and belief inflexibility in clinical and general populations</a>,” was authored by Neophytos Georgiou, Paul Delfabbro, Ryan P. Balzan, Nathan Caruana & Robyn Young.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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