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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/texas-migrant-buses-boosted-donald-trumps-vote-share-in-targeted-cities/" 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;">Texas migrant buses boosted Donald Trump’s vote share in targeted cities</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 12th 2026, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in <em><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.15195/v13.a11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sociological Science</a></em> reveals that a Texas program transporting migrants to cities led by Democratic mayors boosted presidential support for Donald Trump in those specific destinations during the 2024 election. The research shows that the arrival of migrant buses amplified voters’ fears about crime and immigration, pushing swing voters toward the Republican ticket and driving higher turnout among conservative voters.</p>
<p>Between 2022 and 2024, Texas Governor Greg Abbott initiated a policy to transport more than 100,000 recently arrived immigrants from the southern border to six specific cities. These destination cities included Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Each of these urban centers had previously enacted sanctuary ordinances. Sanctuary policies generally protect undocumented immigrants by limiting how much local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration authorities. By sending buses to these locations, Texas officials created a highly visible migration event far from the actual border.</p>
<p>Sociologists and political researchers have studied how communities respond to sudden changes in their populations for decades. A central idea in this field is the concept of minority threat. This theory suggests that when a majority group perceives a rapid increase in a minority population, the majority group often responds with exclusionary attitudes and voting patterns.</p>
<p>Such reactions do not necessarily require direct personal contact with the new arrivals. Instead, these feelings of threat are often built through political messaging and media narratives that frame the population change as a crisis.</p>
<p>The research team wanted to understand if the intense political spectacle surrounding the Texas busing program actually changed how people voted. William Scarborough, an associate professor at the University of North Texas, led the investigation. He collaborated with Ronald Kwon, also an associate professor at the University of North Texas, and David Brady, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California.</p>
<p>Together, they sought to measure the program’s electoral impact and identify the specific types of voters who changed their behavior. To measure the impact of the busing program, the researchers analyzed county-level voting data from the past three presidential elections. They compared the election results of 2016 and 2020, which took place before the buses began arriving, with the results of the 2024 election.</p>
<p>The team contrasted the voting shifts in counties that received migrant buses against the voting shifts in similar counties that did not receive any buses. This approach allowed the researchers to isolate the specific changes that occurred in destination cities. It effectively removed the influence of broader national trends from their calculations.</p>
<p>The data revealed a clear shift in voter preference within the targeted locations. In counties that received migrant buses, Donald Trump’s share of the vote increased by more than three percentage points compared to his performance in previous elections. This increase held true across multiple statistical tests.</p>
<p>The researchers compared the targeted urban centers to other large cities, and they also compared them to untreated counties within the exact same states. In every scenario, Trump performed better in the areas that received the migrant buses. After establishing this county-level trend, Scarborough and his colleagues looked for the specific mechanisms driving the change.</p>
<p>They turned to individual-level exit poll data from the Associated Press VoteCast survey. This massive data set provided detailed demographic and polling information on thousands of voters. It allowed the researchers to track changes in political preferences and voter turnout while accounting for factors like age, race, and income.</p>
<p>The exit polls showed that swing voters played a major role in the shifting political landscape of the destination cities. People who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 were more likely to switch their support to Trump in 2024 if they lived in a community that received migrant buses. This shift was heavily tied to an increased fear of crime among these voters.</p>
<p>The busing program appeared to amplify crime-related concerns, pushing these previous Biden supporters toward a more restrictive immigration platform. The researchers also found that the busing program energized conservative voters who had previously stayed home. Self-identified Republicans who did not vote in the 2020 election were much more likely to cast a ballot in 2024 if they lived in a targeted city.</p>
<p>For this group, the motivation to vote was strongly linked to heightened concerns about immigration policy. The political messaging surrounding the migrant buses effectively mobilized these individuals to participate in the electoral process. The buses brought a perceived border crisis directly to their local news stations, triggering a partisan response.</p>
<p>At the same time, the research team checked to see if the busing policy discouraged liberal voters from participating. They wondered if Democrats might have withheld their votes in protest of the situation. However, the data showed no evidence of this, and any shifts in liberal voting patterns were not statistically significant.</p>
<p>Democrats who voted in 2020 were just as likely to vote in 2024, regardless of whether their city received migrant buses. The entire shift in the electoral outcome was driven by swing voters changing sides and conservative voters increasing their turnout. This means the overall demographic impact was driven by specific segments of the population reacting to the news.</p>
<p>The actual number of migrants transported by the Texas program was relatively small compared to the total foreign-born populations already living in these large cities. For example, the new arrivals represented a tiny fraction of the existing immigrant communities in places like New York or Los Angeles. Because of this, the researchers concluded that the political shift was likely driven by the media and political construction of an immigration crisis.</p>
<p>Direct, everyday interactions between voters and migrants were likely less impactful than the ongoing news coverage. Public discussions frequently associated the arrival of the buses with rising crime rates in the destination cities. However, independent research consistently shows that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens.</p>
<p>A localized influx of migrants has not been shown to increase local crime rates. Despite these facts, the perception of a link between the buses and criminal activity heavily influenced the electorate, especially among swing voters. David Brady pointed out the disconnect between actual crime data and voter perception in these destination cities.</p>
<p>He noted the power of political messaging in shaping the 2024 election results. “Texas Governor Abbott and President Trump were able to activate and mobilize anti-immigrant sentiments that had a measurable impact on the outcome of the presidential election,” Brady said.</p>
<p>He added a note of caution for the public. “Given the overwhelming evidence that immigration is associated with lower crime, voters should be particularly skeptical when politicians try to falsely link immigration and crime.”</p>
<p>While the study provides a detailed look at voter behavior, the researchers acknowledge a few limitations in their work. For instance, the exit poll data they used did not include survey responses from Washington, D.C. This meant one of the six targeted cities was left out of the individual-level analysis.</p>
<p>The researchers also relied on county-level voting data rather than smaller precinct-level data. Precinct boundaries change frequently, making long-term comparisons difficult over multiple election cycles. However, county-level data can sometimes mask highly localized neighborhood trends that might offer even more detail.</p>
<p>Future research could explore how these media narratives take hold in different types of communities across the country. Investigators might look at whether smaller towns react to sudden demographic changes in the same way as massive metropolitan centers. Additionally, sociologists could study the long-term effects of these busing programs to see if the heightened political fears fade over time.</p>
<p>The results from this study show that as state governments take a more active role in immigration policy, their actions can easily ripple outward. These localized decisions have the power to shape national elections in profound ways. Politicians can effectively manufacture a political crisis that alters voting behavior far beyond their own borders.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.15195/v13.a11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Effect of the Texas Migrant Busing Program on the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election</a>,” was authored by William Scarborough, Ronald Kwon, and David Brady.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/genetic-tendency-for-impulsivity-is-linked-to-lower-education-and-earlier-parenthood/" 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;">Genetic tendency for impulsivity is linked to lower education and earlier parenthood</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 12th 2026, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>The human tendency to prefer immediate rewards over long-term goals is partly rooted in our DNA, according to a recent study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70192" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Journal of Human Biology</a></em>. The findings suggest that these genetic differences are also linked to major life milestones, including how much education a person completes and when they start a family. Ultimately, the research indicates that both biology and environment shape our approaches to planning for the future.</p>
<p>In psychology and evolutionary biology, scientists study how humans allocate their time and energy throughout their lives. This concept is known as life history theory. Evolutionary biologists focus on how humans balance their resources between their own growth and their reproduction.</p>
<p>Within this framework, humans face a biological trade-off between the quantity and quality of their offspring. A person might have many children but invest fewer resources in each one. Alternatively, they might have fewer children but invest heavily in the skills and success of each individual child.</p>
<p>Some people follow a fast life strategy, which tends to involve shorter periods of education, having children at a younger age, and focusing less on long-term planning. Other people follow a slow strategy, which emphasizes future rewards. This slow strategy includes extended education, delayed parenthood, and greater investment in fewer children.</p>
<p>Historically, psychologists have explained these different strategies by pointing to a person’s surroundings. They suggest that early environmental conditions, such as childhood adversity, unpredictability, or a lack of resources, push individuals toward a faster life strategy to ensure survival. In this psychological view, a fast strategy is a practical response to a world where the future is uncertain.</p>
<p>Evolutionary biologists take a slightly different approach. They highlight inherited variations and biological trade-offs that have developed through natural selection over thousands of years. The scientists conducted this new study to bridge these two perspectives.</p>
<p>“In our study, we asked whether genetic differences may also play a role. Using genetic data, we tested whether a genetic predisposition (polygenic score) toward delay discounting (preferring immediate rewards) is linked to life-history traits,” said study author <a href="https://homepage.univie.ac.at/martin.fieder/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martin Fieder</a>, an associate professor at the University of Vienna and co-author of <em><a href="https://amzn.to/4bE8Xde" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Not So Weird After All: The Changing Relationship Between Status and Fertility</a></em>.</p>
<p>Delay discounting refers to the human tendency to devalue a reward if there is a long wait to receive it. People who score high in delay discounting prefer a smaller reward right now over a larger reward in the future. This preference serves as a key measure of human impulsivity and future orientation. By looking at genetic data, the scientists aimed to test whether a natural predisposition toward delay discounting is linked to the genetic foundations of life milestones.</p>
<p>Finding a genetic link would suggest that differences in life strategies arise from inherited tendencies as well as environmental factors. To explore these connections, the scientists analyzed data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. This is a long-term project tracking a random sample of individuals who graduated from high schools in Wisconsin in 1957.</p>
<p>The researchers focused on a specific group of 2,713 men and 2,980 women born between 1937 and 1940. They restricted their analysis to unrelated white individuals of European ancestry. This specific restriction helps prevent statistical errors that can happen when mixing genetically diverse populations in this type of analysis.</p>
<p>The researchers utilized a tool called a polygenic score to measure genetic predispositions. A polygenic score is a number that summarizes how an individual’s specific genetic variants might influence a particular trait or behavior. The scientists obtained polygenic scores for delay discounting, educational attainment, age at first child, and total number of children for each participant.</p>
<p>First, the researchers compared the genetic scores against each other to look for molecular overlaps. They controlled for the participants’ birth years and broad genetic background structures to ensure statistical accuracy. Then, they compared the delay discounting genetic scores against the participants’ actual, real-world life outcomes.</p>
<p>These real-world outcomes included the exact number of years of education completed after high school. They also included the specific age the participants had their first child, and their final number of children. Education is considered a vital part of a slow strategy because it represents a long-term investment in skills that pay off later in life.</p>
<p>The scientists found strong relationships at the genetic level for both men and women. A genetic predisposition for high delay discounting was strongly associated with genetic scores for lower educational attainment. The same impulsivity genetic score was also linked to genetic scores for having a first child at a younger age and having a higher total number of children.</p>
<p>When looking at the real-world life outcomes, the patterns pointed in the exact same direction. Participants with a higher genetic score for delay discounting tended to complete fewer years of education. They also tended to have their first child earlier in life and have a slightly larger number of children overall.</p>
<p>“Our findings suggest that tendencies such as being more focused on immediate rewards (fast life history strategy) versus long-term goals may be linked—at least partly—to genetic differences. These tendencies are also related to important life outcomes like education and when people start families,” Fieder told PsyPost.</p>
<p>While the genetic predispositions clearly matched the real-world behaviors, the actual percentage of the behavior explained by the genes was relatively small. The genetic score for delay discounting accounted for about 4.5 percent of the variation in the participants’ years of education. For reproductive traits like the age at first birth and total number of children, the genetic score explained only 1 to 2 percent of the variation.</p>
<p>“The effects should be interpreted carefully,” Fieder said. “Current polygenic scores capture only part of the underlying genetic influences, so the results mainly show directional associations rather than the full size of genetic effects.”</p>
<p>There are a few limitations to keep in mind regarding this study. The genetic data came exclusively from individuals of European ancestry, which means the findings might not apply to people from other genetic backgrounds. Additionally, the original dataset did not include a direct psychological test of the participants’ actual delay discounting behaviors. This required the researchers to rely purely on their genetic predispositions for that specific trait.</p>
<p>The researchers also could not separate the direct genetic effects from the indirect effects of the parents’ genetics. A parent’s genes shape the environment a child grows up in, which can indirectly influence the child’s life choices.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the researchers aim to expand this work by studying a broader and more diverse group of people. They plan to use genetic scores built from more comprehensive DNA sequencing, which tends to provide a clearer and more detailed picture of human biology. Investigating other biological markers, such as hormone levels or patterns of brain activity, might also help clarify the specific physical processes that connect impulsive tendencies to major life milestones.</p>
<p>“Genetics are important, particularly for human behavior and attitudes, where their role is often underestimated,” Fieder said. “Our tendencies may be less freely chosen than we often assume.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70192" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Genetic and Phenotypic Associations of the Polygenic Score of Delay Discounting and Life History Traits</a>,” was authored by Martin Fieder and Susanne Huber.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/the-bystander-effect-applies-to-virtual-agents-new-psychology-research-shows/" 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 bystander effect applies to virtual agents, new psychology research shows</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 12th 2026, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2025.103962" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Consciousness and Cognition</a></em> has found that interacting with an artificial intelligence partner alters our sense of control in unexpected ways. When people work on a task alongside a virtual agent capable of taking action, they consciously feel less responsible for the outcome, yet their unconscious brain activity shows a heightened tracking of their own actions. This suggests that the human mind adapts to the presence of digital partners much like it does to other people.</p>
<p>The scientific concept of the “sense of agency” refers to the feeling that a person is the direct cause of events happening around them. For example, when you flip a light switch and the room illuminates, you naturally feel a sense of ownership over that action and its result. Past studies have shown that this feeling tends to weaken when other people are present and capable of acting.</p>
<p>This weakening is similar to the bystander effect, where individuals in a crowd feel less responsible for helping in an emergency because they assume someone else will step in. This creates a diffusion of responsibility, meaning the mental burden of taking action is spread out among the group. Researchers at the University of East Anglia wanted to know if this same psychological diffusion happens in online environments when the bystander is a virtual artificial agent.</p>
<p>“The study is based on the ‘Bystander effect’ phenomenon where one is less likely to take action when there are other people around who can also act,” said study author Anh H. Le. “This creates a diffusion of responsibility as one feels less responsible for taking action in such social context.”</p>
<p>In addition to measuring direct feelings of control, the scientists wanted to measure unconscious feelings of control. They did this by looking at the temporal binding effect, a mental illusion where people perceive the time between their voluntary action and its outcome as being much shorter than it actually is. The researchers sought to understand if working with a computer program would change both this hidden timing perception and a person’s direct judgment of their own control.</p>
<p>To test these ideas, the researchers set up two online experiments. In the first experiment, 123 participants engaged in a computer task where a shape on the screen gradually expanded. The participants had to press a key to stop the shape before it turned red, which would result in losing a large number of points.</p>
<p>Participants completed this task under different conditions. In one scenario, they worked entirely alone. In another scenario, they were introduced to a virtual partner named Bobby, represented by a smiling digital face on the computer screen.</p>
<p>The participants were told that Bobby was an artificial partner who could also press a button to stop the shape from expanding. Bobby was programmed to intervene only if the shape grew dangerously large. This mimicked a shared situation where either the human or the machine could take responsibility for finishing the task.</p>
<p>After the shape stopped, the participants heard a tone and saw the shape change color. They were then asked to estimate the exact amount of time that passed between the tone and the color change by holding down the spacebar. Finally, they used a digital slider to rate how much control they explicitly felt over the outcome on a scale from zero to one hundred.</p>
<p>“We adapted a paradigm where participants had to stop the circle from enlarging by pressing a button to prevent losing points. They either worked alone or with Bobby the artificial partner. When they worked with Bobby, Bobby could also act to stop the circle from enlarging and, importantly, if no one acted the participants would lose most points, thus mimicking the diffusion of responsibility scenario.”</p>
<p>The data showed that when working with the virtual partner, participants rated their direct feeling of control lower than when they worked alone. They consciously felt less responsible for the outcome. This suggests that the presence of the artificial agent caused a diffusion of responsibility in their conscious minds.</p>
<p>At the same time, the implicit measure revealed the exact opposite pattern. When Bobby was present, participants perceived the time between their action and the outcome as being noticeably shorter than when they worked alone. This increased temporal binding provides evidence that their unconscious sense of agency actually grew stronger when competing with the artificial partner.</p>
<p>The scientists conducted a second online experiment with 102 new participants to see if the mere visual presence of the digital partner caused these psychological shifts. They used the exact same shape-stopping task but added a new condition called Being Observed. In this new setup, the avatar for Bobby was visible on the screen, but the participants were informed that the artificial agent could only watch and was unable to take any action.</p>
<p>The rest of the procedure remained identical, with participants estimating the time intervals and rating their conscious feelings of control. The findings from the second experiment replicated the first, showing a decrease in conscious control and an increase in unconscious temporal binding when Bobby was allowed to act. However, in the condition where Bobby was merely observing, participants’ feelings of agency perfectly matched the times when they worked completely alone.</p>
<p>This indicates that simply looking at a digital face does not change human psychology. Instead, the artificial agent must have the actual ability to interfere with the task for the human brain to adjust its sense of agency. The researchers propose that the brain subconsciously heightens its tracking of actions to clearly distinguish between what the human did and what the machine might do.</p>
<p>The findings demonstrate that “virtual artificial agents can indeed influence our sense of agency in human-machine interaction in two ways,” Le told PsyPost. “When the artificial agent can also take action, we explicitly feel a reduced sense of agency because we think about the possible actions that such an artificial agent could take, and this interferes with our own decision as to whether or not to also act.</p>
<p>“At the same time, we have an implicit system (temporal binding) that is enhanced to help us distinguish ourselves and our actions from those made by others, in this case, the artificial partner. Because of this, the temporal binding effect, or implicit agency, increases when the artificial partner can also act, signifying a self-other distinction without us being consciously aware of it. As a result, the sense of agency is malleable and adaptive to social contexts, even those that involve an online artificial partner.”</p>
<p>The research counters the assumption that humans view software and robots merely as tools that do not affect our inner psychology. This study provides evidence that people actually process the actions of artificial agents in ways that closely resemble human social interactions. Even when participants knew Bobby was just code, their minds still distributed responsibility to the program.</p>
<p>“In terms of practical significance, this shows that even a ‘made-up’ online partner that was clearly artificial (but who would feel ‘sad’ if the circle enlarged too much and no one stopped it, as if Bobby had ‘feelings’) could interfere with our sense of agency,” the researchers noted. “However, this is conditional on whether the artificial partner could also take independent action.”</p>
<p>“When the artificial partner is merely present and cannot take action, they do not influence the sense of agency,” they explained. “We interact with online artificial systems every day, more so than ever before (Siri, Alexa, etc). This points toward the possibility that during interactions with such systems, our sense of agency could be moderated in similar ways as if we were interacting with other humans (although we did not test working with other human partners in the current study).”</p>
<p>One limitation of the study is that it only tested human interactions with a digital avatar, without a direct comparison group working alongside another real human. The scenarios were also relatively simple and confined to an online environment. It remains unclear exactly how these psychological shifts might play out in physical spaces with advanced robotic partners.</p>
<p>For future research, the scientists plan to explore these dynamics in larger group settings. They hope to investigate what happens to our sense of control when a task involves multiple human participants and several artificial agents all working together. Adding more individuals to the mix tends to complicate how the brain tracks actions and assigns responsibility.</p>
<p>“What happens if there is more than just one artificial partner – or another person, so say a triad (or more) includes the participant and two (or more) other agents, either human, artificial partner or both and anyone could act?” Le said.<br>
It would be interesting to see how such group dynamics influence the sense of agency and perhaps complicate the findings even more!”</p>
<p>“Special thanks to Dr. Tom Burke who is the main driving force of this research and Prof. Andrew Bayliss for his supervision,” she added.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2025.103962" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Working with an Online Artificial Partner Enhances Implicit and Reduces Explicit Sense of Agency</a>,” was authored by Anh H. Le, Thomas Burke, and Andrew P. Bayliss.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/the-orgasm-face-decoded-the-intriguing-science-of-sexual-climax/" 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 orgasm face decoded: The intriguing science of sexual climax</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 11th 2026, 20:00</div>
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<p><p>Human facial expressions are generally considered a universal language. A smile signals happiness, while a furrowed brow signals anger or concern. Yet, when it comes to the extreme positive sensation of sexual climax, this universal language seems to break down.</p>
<p>During moments of intense sexual pleasure, people often produce facial expressions that look remarkably similar to agony. This counterintuitive phenomenon has puzzled scientists for decades. Recently, researchers from various fields of psychology and evolutionary biology have begun to decode what happens to our faces during climax.</p>
<p>By analyzing real world videos, computer generated models, and even the behavior of other primates, scientists are piecing together a comprehensive picture of the orgasm face. This research provides evidence that sexual facial expressions are deeply rooted in our evolutionary history. These expressions also tend to be shaped by cultural expectations and complex psychological mechanisms.</p>
<h2><strong>Decoding the Real Expressions of Climax</strong></h2>
<p>To understand what faces people actually make during climax, researchers must overcome significant privacy and ethical hurdles. A study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-010-0097-7">Journal of Nonverbal Behavior</a> </em>tackled this by analyzing video clips voluntarily uploaded to a public internet site. These videos featured individuals recording their own faces while experiencing sexual excitement and climax.</p>
<p>The scientists utilized an objective coding system to track specific facial muscle movements. This framework maps visible changes on the face, allowing researchers to measure exactly which muscles contract and when. They analyzed the videos across different phases of sexual excitement, from the initial buildup to the final resolution.</p>
<p>The researchers found that during the climax phase, participants frequently displayed closed eyes, lowered brows, and a dropped jaw. These specific muscle combinations are strikingly similar to the universal facial expression of pain. The scientists noted that the core facial movements of pain, such as tightening the muscles around the eyes and raising the upper lip, were highly prevalent during sexual climax.</p>
<h2><strong>The Body Context of Peak Emotion</strong></h2>
<p>If the face of pleasure looks like the face of pain, it is natural to wonder how we tell the difference. A study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1224313">Science</a> </em>suggests that during peak emotional moments, we actually rely on the body to understand what someone is feeling. Researchers call this phenomenon the peak emotion paradox.</p>
<p>The scientists gathered photographs of professional tennis players reacting to winning or losing a high stakes point. They also gathered photos of people undergoing painful body piercings and individuals experiencing sexual climax. They then showed these isolated faces to participants and asked them to rate the underlying emotion.</p>
<p>When viewing the faces without the bodies, the participants were completely unable to distinguish between pain, victory, and orgasm. Isolated faces from positive events were often rated as slightly more negative than faces from truly negative events. The facial signal essentially degrades due to the overwhelming intensity of the physical experience.</p>
<p>To prove the power of body language, the researchers created altered images. They placed a face experiencing sexual pleasure onto a body reacting to a painful piercing. When viewing these altered images, participants entirely shifted their ratings based on the body they saw. The viewers experienced an illusion, firmly believing they were reading the emotion from the face when they were actually reading the body.</p>
<h2><strong>Mental Models and Cultural Accents</strong></h2>
<p>While our actual faces might blur the lines between pain and pleasure, our brains tend to maintain a strict separation between the two. A study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807862115">PNAS</a> </em>explored how people mentally represent these extreme states. The scientists wanted to know what an orgasm face looks like in the mind’s eye.</p>
<p>The researchers used a data driven technique with a computer program that generated random facial animations. Participants from Western and East Asian cultures watched these brief animations and categorized them as pain, orgasm, or neither. By compiling thousands of these individual choices, the scientists built mathematical models of exactly what each culture expects these expressions to look like.</p>
<p>The researchers found that in the minds of the participants, the expressions of pain and sexual pleasure are entirely distinct. The mental model of pain involves inward contracting movements, such as lowering the brows and wrinkling the nose. In contrast, the mental model of orgasm involves outward expanding movements, like raising the eyebrows and opening the mouth.</p>
<p>The researchers also found distinct cultural accents in how sexual pleasure is visualized. Western participants tended to associate climax with wide open eyes and a vertically stretched mouth. East Asian participants associated the experience with a closed mouth smile. This provides evidence that cultural values, such as a preference for high arousal versus low arousal positive states, shape our mental expectations of sexual pleasure.</p>
<h2><strong>Sex Differences in Recognizing Arousal</strong></h2>
<p>Because sexual expressions play a role in human relationships, men and women might perceive them differently. A study published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0099338"><em>Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology</em></a> tested whether sex differences exist in the ability to recognize these intense emotions. The researchers presented participants with photographs of men and women experiencing either extreme agony or heightened sexual pleasure.</p>
<p>Overall, the participants were much better at correctly identifying faces of pain than faces of sexual pleasure. This aligns with the idea that negative emotions capture our attention more efficiently, likely as a survival mechanism to avoid danger. Recognizing pain in others can elicit empathy and prompt helping behaviors.</p>
<p>When breaking down the results by sex, the researchers found unique patterns. Women showed the highest degree of accuracy when identifying other women experiencing pain. Men were significantly better than women at identifying female sexual pleasure. The scientists propose that men might be highly attuned to female sexual enjoyment to ensure reproductive success and secure future sexual encounters.</p>
<h2><strong>Evolutionary Clues from Primate Behavior</strong></h2>
<p>To understand why we make these specific faces, scientists often look to our closest evolutionary relatives. Bonobos are a species of great ape known for using sexual behavior to reduce tension and strengthen social bonds. A study published in <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-75790-3">Scientific Reports</a> </em>examined how bonobos communicate during these physical encounters.</p>
<p>The researchers focused on a specific facial expression called the silent bared teeth display. This expression is frequently seen during bonobo sexual contacts. They observed that when one bonobo makes this face, the partner often unconsciously and rapidly mimics the expression within a single second.</p>
<p>This phenomenon is known as rapid facial mimicry. The researchers found that this mirroring behavior tends to significantly prolong the duration of the sexual contact. By automatically copying the expression, the apes share an emotional state and synchronize their movements. This provides evidence that sexual facial expressions evolved as a communicative tool to maintain engagement and strengthen social bonds.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.psypost.org/why-do-women-orgasm-still-a-mystery-but-the-scientific-evidence-is-evolving/"><strong>The Evolutionary Purpose of the Female Climax</strong></a></h2>
<p>While primates use sex for social cohesion, the underlying climax also serves a fundamental reproductive purpose. A study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9967-x">Archives of Sexual Behavior</a></em> evaluated the evolutionary theories behind the female orgasm. Some early theories suggested the female climax was merely a biological accident, existing only because women share early embryonic development with men.</p>
<p>Current research strongly challenges that notion. Scientists suggest that the female orgasm is a complex evolutionary adaptation designed for mate choice. Evidence shows that women are more likely to reach climax when mating with partners who display signs of high genetic quality. These physical signs include bilateral symmetry, facial attractiveness, and masculine features.</p>
<p>The physiological responses during a climax also support a reproductive function. Muscle contractions in the uterus and the release of certain hormones help transport sperm toward the egg. The female climax tends to happen more frequently during the fertile window of the menstrual cycle. This indicates an evolved mechanism to selectively retain the sperm of high quality mates.</p>
<p>Building on this concept, a 2022 study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049221083536">Evolutionary Psychology</a></em> explored how this mate selection process operates within modern partnerships. The scientists tested whether the female climax serves as a tool for choosing partners in committed relationships. They wanted to understand if the physical experience directly promotes emotional bonding and attachment.</p>
<p>To test this, the researchers asked heterosexual women to read hypothetical scenarios about a relationship. These fictional scenarios varied in length, ranging from one month to one year. The stories also varied in how often the woman experienced a climax with her partner.</p>
<p>The scientists found that a higher climax frequency was associated with greater relationship satisfaction. This held true in both short and long term relationship contexts. Women who climaxed more frequently also expected their relationships to last much longer.</p>
<p>The researchers noted that this association was fully explained by the woman’s feelings of love for her partner. It was not driven by how committed she believed the man to be. This provides evidence that the female climax helps build long term pair bonds by increasing the woman’s own emotional attachment.</p>
<p>Because climax frequency is highly variable, many women experience distress or self blame when they struggle to reach it. The researchers suggest that this variability is likely by evolutionary design rather than a sign of physiological dysfunction. Understanding this biological reality tends to offer comfort to those struggling with sexual satisfaction.</p>
<h2><strong>Sperm Competition and Male Climax Intensity</strong></h2>
<p>The male orgasm has its own evolutionary drivers, which are often related to reproductive threats. A review published in <em><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000104">Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences</a></em> explored how climax intensity varies based on reproductive competition. The scientists suggest that the male climax is heavily influenced by the presence of rival sperm.</p>
<p>Throughout human history, sperm competition occurred when a female mated with multiple males within a short timeframe. To maximize reproductive success, the male body adapts its ejaculate based on environmental cues. Research shows that men produce higher quality ejaculates when viewing novel females, a phenomenon that likely increases the intensity of the climax.</p>
<p>The researchers hypothesize that male orgasm intensity acts as an internal proxy for sperm recruitment. When a man suspects infidelity or views new potential partners, his reproductive system prepares a more competitive ejaculate. The accompanying intense physical and facial responses are a biological reaction to the high stakes of genetic competition.</p>
<h2><strong>Cultural Scripts and Mainstream Media</strong></h2>
<p>While biology and evolution shape our natural sexual expressions, modern media often distorts them. The rise of easily accessible adult entertainment has created new cultural scripts about what sex should look like. A study published in <em><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1332152">The Journal of Sex Research</a></em> analyzed the representations of climax in mainstream pornography.</p>
<p>The researchers watched and coded the fifty most viewed videos on a popular adult website. They documented striking differences in how male and female orgasms are portrayed. Women were shown reaching climax in only a small fraction of the videos, yet their facial contortions and loud moaning were heavily featured.</p>
<p>In stark contrast, men were shown reaching climax in the vast majority of the videos. The men’s faces, however, were almost entirely hidden from the camera. The primary indicator of male climax in these videos was the visual presence of physical fluids. The male face of pleasure is essentially erased from the mainstream pornographic script.</p>
<p>The scientists suggest this dynamic reinforces a specific cultural expectation. In this script, female pleasure must be highly visible and exaggerated to validate the male partner’s performance. The invisibility of the male face allows the viewer to project themselves into the scene. This performative standard tends to create immense pressure on real world couples.</p>
<p>Because the natural female climax lacks an obvious visual marker like male ejaculation, cultural anxiety often surrounds its authenticity. In pornographic videos, women are directed to perform their pleasure through extreme facial expressions and vocalizations. This performance is designed to remove any ambiguity for the viewer.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this exaggerated media portrayal bleeds into everyday life. Many individuals feel pressured to recreate these performative expressions during private encounters. This anxiety over performing the correct orgasm face can lead to the widespread phenomenon of faking a climax. This provides evidence of a massive disconnect between our biological realities and our cultural expectations.</p>
<h2><strong>The Intersection of Biology and Culture</strong></h2>
<p>The face we make during sexual climax is far more than a simple biological reflex. It is a dense intersection of evolution, social communication, and cultural conditioning. Our natural expressions of intense pleasure closely mirror the faces we make during extreme pain. This paradox highlights the overwhelming nature of peak human emotion.</p>
<p>While our bodies react with expressions of agony, our minds expect to see expanding expressions of joy. We rely heavily on the context of the body to understand these intense moments. Deep in our evolutionary past, these expressions evolved to communicate arousal, synchronize actions, and facilitate reproduction with high quality mates.</p>
<p>Today, these natural expressions compete with heavily edited versions presented in mainstream media. By studying the science behind the orgasm face, we gain a clearer understanding of human behavior. It reminds us that our most intimate moments are shaped by millions of years of evolution, even if the faces we make remain beautifully ambiguous.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/undigested-fruit-sugar-is-linked-to-increased-anxiety-and-inflammation/" 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;">Undigested fruit sugar is linked to increased anxiety and inflammation</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 11th 2026, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2025.106221" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brain Behavior and Immunity</a></em> reveals that an inability to properly digest fruit sugar is linked to increased anxiety and body-wide inflammation. The research suggests that unabsorbed fructose alters the community of bacteria in the digestive tract, which then triggers immune responses that can affect the brain. These discoveries offer new insights into how our modern, sugar-heavy diets might be influencing our mental health.</p>
<p>Historically, human beings consumed very small amounts of fructose daily. This sugar was primarily obtained from seasonal fruits and honey. Today, modern food processing has made fructose incredibly abundant, and people now consume large amounts of this sugar through sodas, sweets, and processed foods.</p>
<p>The human digestive system relies on specific transport proteins to absorb fructose into the bloodstream. Think of these transporters as specialized doorways lining the small intestine. These doorways can only let a limited amount of sugar through at one time.</p>
<p>When someone consumes more fructose than their intestinal doorways can handle, the excess sugar continues moving down the digestive tract. It eventually spills into the large intestine. This condition is known as fructose malabsorption.</p>
<p>In the large intestine, the unabsorbed sugar encounters the gut microbiome. The microbiome is the vast collection of bacteria and other microscopic organisms that live in our lower gut. These microbes act as a secondary digestive system.</p>
<p>When the gut bacteria encounter the unabsorbed fructose, they begin to ferment it. This sudden feast of sugar can change the balance of bacterial species in the gut. Some bacteria thrive on the extra fructose, while others die off.</p>
<p>Changes in the gut microbiome can influence the rest of the body. The gut is closely connected to the immune system and the brain. Adeline Coursan, a researcher at the University of Bordeaux, and her colleagues wanted to understand this connection.</p>
<p>The research team suspected that fructose malabsorption might disrupt the gut microbiome and trigger a state of low-grade systemic inflammation. They hypothesized that this inflammation could travel through the bloodstream. Ultimately, they believed this cascade of events could activate immune cells within the brain.</p>
<p>These specialized brain immune cells are called microglia. When microglia become highly active, they cause inflammation in the brain tissue. This type of brain inflammation is known to be related to mood issues like anxiety and depression.</p>
<p>To test their ideas, the researchers designed a comprehensive study with two parts. They first evaluated a group of fifty-five young, healthy male volunteers. They specifically chose men with an average body weight to avoid the metabolic effects of obesity.</p>
<p>The team needed to determine which volunteers had fructose malabsorption. They asked the participants to drink a solution containing a specific amount of fructose. The researchers then analyzed the participants’ breath over several hours.</p>
<p>When gut bacteria ferment unabsorbed fructose, they produce gases like hydrogen and methane. These gases are absorbed into the blood and eventually exhaled through the lungs. By measuring these exhaled gases, the team identified which volunteers were not fully absorbing the sugar.</p>
<p>The participants also tracked their daily food intake for an entire week. They recorded exactly what they ate and drank. This allowed the researchers to calculate their average daily fructose consumption and identify the dietary sources of the sugar.</p>
<p>To gauge mental health, the volunteers filled out standardized questionnaires designed to measure anxiety traits. Finally, the researchers collected blood and stool samples from each person. These samples provided a window into their immune system and gut bacteria.</p>
<p>The results showed that sixty percent of the volunteers had fructose malabsorption. The total daily amount of fructose consumed was roughly the same between those who absorbed the sugar well and those who did not. Both groups ate an average of about thirty grams of fructose per day.</p>
<p>Despite this similar intake, the malabsorbers reported higher levels of anxiety traits on the questionnaires. Blood tests revealed that the malabsorbers had elevated levels of inflammatory proteins. These proteins act as chemical messengers that signal the immune system to react.</p>
<p>The presence of these proteins points to a state of low-grade, body-wide inflammation in the malabsorbers. When the researchers analyzed the stool samples, they found distinct differences in the types of bacteria present. The malabsorbers had higher amounts of certain bacterial groups and lower amounts of others.</p>
<p>For instance, the malabsorbers had higher levels of a bacterial group called Bifidobacterium. Conversely, they had lower levels of a group called Prevotella. These shifts suggest that the unabsorbed sugar was directly reshaping the microscopic ecosystem of the gut.</p>
<p>The abundance of specific bacteria also correlated with where the fructose came from. Bacteria levels changed depending on whether the participants ate fruits, sweet baked goods, or sugary drinks. Some of these bacterial groups were directly associated with the volunteers’ anxiety scores and blood inflammation levels.</p>
<p>To better understand the biological mechanisms behind these observations, the researchers conducted an experiment with mice. They used genetically modified mice that lacked the specific protein doorway needed to absorb fructose. These mice served as a reliable model for complete fructose malabsorption.</p>
<p>The modified mice, along with normal mice, were fed a diet containing five percent fructose for four weeks. After a month on this diet, the mice underwent behavioral testing. The researchers placed the animals in a raised maze in the shape of a plus sign.</p>
<p>This maze has two enclosed arms and two open, exposed arms. Mice naturally prefer dark, enclosed spaces, but they also like to explore. Normal mice will spend a fair amount of time venturing into the open arms.</p>
<p>The researchers also placed the mice in a cylinder of water. They measured how long the mice actively swam trying to escape versus floating passively. These standard tests help researchers evaluate anxiety and depressive behaviors in rodents.</p>
<p>The mice with fructose malabsorption exhibited more anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors than the normal mice. They largely avoided the open areas of the elevated maze. They also spent more time floating motionless in the water cylinder.</p>
<p>The researchers then examined the intestines and brains of the mice. Just like the human volunteers, the malabsorbing mice showed a clear shift in their gut bacteria populations. Certain bacterial families almost entirely disappeared, while others multiplied rapidly.</p>
<p>In the brain, the team looked closely at the microglia. Under normal conditions, microglia act as housekeepers, cleaning up cellular debris. When the brain is under stress, they shift into a defensive, inflammatory mode.</p>
<p>The researchers measured the activity of specific genes associated with this inflammatory state. The microglia in the malabsorbing mice were producing higher levels of inflammatory molecules. They also showed increased activity in genes linked to a distressed, disease-associated state.</p>
<p>This evidence suggests that the unabsorbed sugar in the gut was transmitting distress signals to the brain’s immune system. The resulting brain inflammation likely caused the behavioral changes observed in the mice. The animal model perfectly mirrored the trends seen in the human volunteers.</p>
<p>The researchers noted a few limitations to their work. Both the human and animal portions of the study only included male subjects. Biological sex can heavily influence both metabolic processes and mental health outcomes.</p>
<p>Because of this, future research will need to include female subjects. This step will help determine if the connection between fructose malabsorption and anxiety applies to everyone. Expanding the subject pool is necessary for a complete understanding of the condition.</p>
<p>Additionally, the human study was strictly observational. The researchers could not control the daily diets of the volunteers. They were unable to see what happens to anxiety levels when fructose is completely removed from a person’s diet.</p>
<p>Future clinical trials could test whether low-fructose diets improve anxiety symptoms in people with malabsorption. Exploring this connection could eventually lead to new nutritional therapies. Such discoveries could offer new ways to manage mental health through personalized dietary choices.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2025.106221" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fructose malabsorption induces dysbiosis and increases anxiety in male human and animal models</a>,” was authored by Adeline Coursan, Delphine Polve, Anne-Marie Leroi, Magali Monnoye, Lea Roussin, Clara Benatar, Marie-Pierre Tavolacci, Muriel Quillard Muraine, Mathilde Maccarone, Olivia Guerin, Estelle Houivet, Charlene Guerin, Valery Brunel, Jerome Bellenger, Jean-Paul Pais de Barros, Guillaume Gourcerol, Laurent Naudon, Sophie Laye, Charlotte Madore, Xavier Fioramonti, Chloe Melchior, and Veronique Douard.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/early-puberty-provides-a-biological-link-between-childhood-economic-disadvantage-and-teenage-emotional-struggles-in-girls/" 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;">Early puberty provides a biological link between childhood economic disadvantage and teenage emotional struggles in girls</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 11th 2026, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579426101187" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Development and Psychopathology</a></em> suggests that growing up in financially disadvantaged households or neighborhoods tends to be linked to an earlier onset of puberty in children. This earlier biological development provides evidence for a pathway that connects lower family income to increased mental health challenges and lower school grades, particularly in adolescent girls.</p>
<p>Scientists know that children growing up with fewer financial and community resources often experience worse mental health and lower academic achievement. However, the exact biological and psychological mechanisms that connect a lack of resources to these negative outcomes remain somewhat unclear. Adolescence is a period of massive physical and emotional change, making it a highly relevant window for understanding these patterns.</p>
<p>Some scientific models suggest that early life stress, such as economic hardship, might speed up physical development. In environments where resources are scarce, the human body might adapt by accelerating reproductive readiness as a survival strategy. Chronic stress from financial strain or neighborhood disadvantage can disrupt the body’s stress response system, leading to irregular hormone levels that trigger an earlier start to puberty.</p>
<p>“Life history theory suggests that financial scarcity can accelerate aspects of development, which may increase risk for later mental health problems. We wanted to test whether socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with earlier pubertal onset and a faster pace of brain development, and whether these developmental changes might help explain links between early adversity and mental health risk,” explained study author <a href="https://divyangana.com/lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Divyangana Rakesh</a>, a lecturer in neuroscience and psychology at King’s College London.</p>
<p>To test this idea, scientists needed to track children over several years to see how physical maturation unfolds over time. Previous research often looked at pubertal development at a single moment rather than tracking its pace over years. Past studies also frequently mixed up different types of economic disadvantage, such as household income and neighborhood quality, which can have different effects on a developing child.</p>
<p>The researchers conducted the new study to separate those environmental factors and measure both the starting point and the speed of puberty. By doing so, they hoped to understand if the pace of biological maturation explains the link between economic hardship and later teenage struggles.</p>
<p>To explore these connections, the scientists analyzed information from an ongoing national project called the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. They focused on a sample of 9,959 children who were around nine or ten years old at the start of the research. The group was roughly evenly split by sex, including 5,210 males and 4,749 females.</p>
<p>The researchers tracked these children across four annual time points. They measured household financial stability using a ratio that compares family income to national poverty guidelines. They also assessed neighborhood disadvantage using a specialized index that looks at local employment, education, and housing quality.</p>
<p>To measure pubertal development, the scientists used parent surveys that tracked physical changes like height spurts, body hair growth, and skin changes. They looked at both the children’s developmental stage at age nine and the rate at which they changed over the next three years.</p>
<p>Later in the study, the researchers collected data on the students’ school grades and their mental health. The mental health surveys asked the youths about internalizing issues like anxiety and depression, externalizing issues like aggression and rule-breaking, and attention problems.</p>
<p>To ensure their results were accurate, the team accounted for other factors that might influence puberty and well-being. They adjusted their mathematical models for the children’s body mass index, which is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. They also factored in whether the children had experienced prior traumatic events, since trauma is independently linked to faster physical maturation.</p>
<p>The analysis revealed that children from more disadvantaged households and neighborhoods tended to be further along in their pubertal development at age nine. This pattern appeared in both boys and girls. However, as the children grew older, the researchers noticed that the rate of physical change was actually slower for those from lower-income backgrounds.</p>
<p>For girls, this early start to puberty served as a connecting link between their economic background and their later outcomes. The data suggests that starting puberty earlier at age nine partly explained why girls from disadvantaged neighborhoods and households experienced more anxiety, more behavioral issues, and lower school grades by age twelve.</p>
<p>Slower developmental progress in the following years tended to weaken this connection for girls. However, the researchers suspect this may simply be because girls who developed early had less maturing left to do in the later years of the study.</p>
<p>“Although lower income predicted earlier pubertal onset, we observed a slower pubertal tempo (which refers to the rate of change) over time than expected,” Rakesh told PsyPost. “Essentially, although children from lower-income backgrounds tended to start puberty earlier, the later stages of puberty progressed a bit more slowly than expected. This may be because our study began following children at age 9, meaning we likely missed an earlier period when development was moving more quickly.”</p>
<p>The scientists did not find this same connecting pathway for boys. While boys from less wealthy backgrounds also started puberty earlier, this early maturation did not directly predict their later academic or mental health challenges. The researchers suspect this difference might exist because girls generally face more social pressure and receive less emotional support regarding body changes compared to boys.</p>
<p>“Lower income was associated with earlier onset of puberty, and earlier puberty in turn predicted a faster pace of brain development,” Rakesh explained. “This suggests that socioeconomic conditions can indeed shape the pace of biological development.”</p>
<p>There are biological reasons why early puberty might lead to these struggles. Rapid hormonal changes can cause the emotional centers of the brain to develop much faster than the areas responsible for impulse control and decision making. This mismatch can make early-maturing adolescents more sensitive to social stress and more prone to risky behaviors that distract from schoolwork.</p>
<p>The researchers pointed out a specific misinterpretation that readers should avoid when looking at the slower rate of development over time. A slower progression in later years does not mean these children experienced delayed development overall. Instead, because they started puberty earlier, their peers were simply catching up during the later stages of the study.</p>
<p>The scientists also noted a few limitations to their work. Because the study only began observing the children at age nine, the researchers likely missed the earliest and fastest phases of puberty for some of the participants. Additionally, the observational nature of the research means that the scientists cannot definitively prove that economic hardship causes early puberty, only that the two are linked.</p>
<p>The researchers note that the effect sizes found in the study are relatively small for any individual child. However, they provide evidence that is meaningful at a population level, given how many children grow up in financially disadvantaged environments.</p>
<p>Future research should aim to follow children starting at an even younger age to capture the complete timeline of physical maturation. The scientists also hope to explore the exact biological processes, such as stress hormone changes, that speed up physical development in humans.</p>
<p>“One goal is to better identify children who may be at increased risk for mental health problems by understanding how socioeconomic disadvantage shapes biological development,” Rakesh said. “In the longer term, this could help inform earlier identification and prevention efforts.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579426101187" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Socioeconomic disadvantage, pubertal development, and adolescent mental health and academic achievement: A longitudinal study</a>,” was authored by Kate Fitzsimons, Qingyang Li, Phoebe Thomson, Niamh MacSweeney, and Divyangana Rakesh.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/people-with-dark-personality-traits-see-the-world-as-fundamentally-meaningless/" 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;">People with “dark” personality traits see the world as fundamentally meaningless</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Mar 11th 2026, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A set of four studies of German-speaking adults found that individuals with a more pronounced Dark Core of personality tended to hold more pessimistic worldviews. In other words, these individuals tended to view the world as less pleasurable, less stable, less regenerative, and less meaningful. The paper was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.70051"><em>Journal of Personality</em></a>.</p>
<p>The Dark Core of personality is a general underlying tendency that unites various socially aversive personality traits. It was proposed to explain why traits such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, everyday sadism, and spitefulness tend to correlate with one another. The concept suggests that these traits share a common dispositional core rather than being entirely separate characteristics.</p>
<p>This core has been described as a general tendency to maximize one’s own benefit while disregarding or accepting harm to others. Individuals high on the Dark Core are more likely to justify unethical behavior if it serves their interests. The concept builds on earlier ideas like the “Dark Triad,” which focused on three related traits, by suggesting an even broader common factor. As such, the Dark Core helps explain why different forms of manipulative, exploitative, or callous behavior tend to occur together in the same individual.</p>
<p>Study authors Robin Schrödter and Benjamin E. Hilbig wanted to investigate whether the Dark Core of personality is associated with more negative primal world beliefs. Primal world beliefs are basic, deeply held assumptions people have about the overall nature of the world, such as whether it is safe or dangerous, good or bad, abundant or scarce. The study authors wanted to examine whether the negativity common among individuals high in the Dark Core is limited to beliefs that justify abusive behaviors or reflects a broader view of the world as fundamentally bleak.</p>
<p>They conducted 4 studies involving between 400 and 640 participants per study. Across studies, the average age of participants ranged between 34 and 40 years of age. There were somewhat more men than women in each of the 4 samples. Over 85% of participants in each of the four studies were residents of Germany. The remaining participants came from Namibia, Austria, and Switzerland. There was a small share of participants from other countries as well.</p>
<p>The four studies differed in the assessments they used. Two studies administered a 16-item measure of the Dark Core, while the other two studies administered a 70-item measure (e.g. “I’ll say anything to get what I want.” or “I cannot imagine how being mean to others could ever be exciting”), though the researchers analyzed a consistent 16-item subset across all four studies to maximize consistency. The first study used a short 18-item measure of primal world beliefs (the Primal Inventory, German version), while the remaining three studies used longer forms of primal world belief assessments, each focusing on a different specific primal belief dimension (“Alive,” “Safe,” and “Enticing”).</p>
<p>Results showed that, in general, individuals with a more pronounced Dark Core of personality tended to hold more negative primal world beliefs specifically regarding whether the world is safe and enticing. For example, they tended to see the world as less abundant, beautiful, improvable, interesting, meaningful, or worth exploring. They also tended to see the world as less cooperative, less harmless, less just, less pleasurable, less progressive, less regenerative, and less stable.</p>
<p>However, the researchers found a different pattern regarding the “Alive” dimension—the belief that the universe operates with purpose or intentionality. The Dark Core showed no meaningful association with this dimension overall. Yet, there was a small positive link with the “Interactive” facet, indicating that individuals high in dark traits are slightly more likely to believe that the universe or a higher power is actively involved in their personal lives or communicating with them.</p>
<p>The authors suggest this isolated belief does not necessarily mean they view the world positively, but rather aligns with the grandiose, narcissistic self-views often found in individuals with aversive personalities.</p>
<p>“Specifically, the facet Meaningful emerged as uniquely associated with D [the Dark Core], suggesting that perceiving many aspects of life as meaningless reflects a broader worldview underlying D—one that extends beyond specific beliefs used to justify aversive behavior,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the psychological underpinnings of the Dark Core of personality. However, it should be noted that the cross-sectional, correlational design of these studies does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.70051">Seeing the World Through a Dark Lens: The Dark Core of Personality and Its Relation to Primal World Beliefs,</a>” was authored by Robin Schrödter and Benjamin E. Hilbig.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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