Our own social status influences the way our brains respond to others of higher or lower rank, according to a new study reported online on April 28 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. People of higher subjective socioeconomic status show greater brain activity in response to other high-ranked individuals, while those with lower status […]
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Family, Friends, And Social Ties Influence Weight Status In Young Adults
Does obesity tend to “cluster” among young adults? And if so, what impact does it have on both their weight and weight-related behaviors? That is what researchers from The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center set out to answer to better understand how social influences affect both weight status and weight loss intentions […]
Secondhand Television Exposure Linked To Eating Disorders
For parents wanting to reduce the negative influence of TV on their children, the first step is normally to switch off the television set. But a new study suggests that might not be enough. It turns out indirect media exposure (i.e., having friends who watch a lot of TV might be even more damaging to […]
Youth Victims Of School Cyber Bullying Are At Greater Risk For Depression
Unlike traditional forms of bullying, youth who are the targets of cyber bullying at school are at greater risk for depression than are the youth who bully them, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Traditional forms of bullying involve physical violence, verbal taunts, or social exclusion. Cyber bullying, […]
MIT Researcher Finds That Social Networks Influence Health Behaviors
Scientists have long thought that social networks, which features many distant connections, or “long ties,” produces large-scale changes most quickly. But in a new study, Damon Centola, an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has reached a different conclusion: Individuals are more likely to acquire new health practices while living in networks […]
How Did Humans Become Empathic?
Empathy is unusual in the animal kingdom. So empathy must have had some major survival benefits for it to have evolved. What might those benefits have been? Empathy seems to have evolved in three major steps. First, among vertebrates, birds and mammals developed ways of rearing their young, plus forms of pair bonding – sometimes […]
Our Best And Worst Moments Occur Within Social Relationships
In the first study of its kind, researchers have found compelling evidence that our best and worst experiences in life are likely to involve not individual accomplishments, but interaction with other people and the fulfillment of an urge for social connection. The study reports on research conducted at the University at Buffalo and will appear […]
Growing Up Without Siblings Does Not Hurt Social Skills
Growing up without siblings does not seem to be a disadvantage for teenagers when it comes to social skills, new research suggests. A study of more than 13,000 middle and high school students across the country found that “only children” were selected as friends by their schoolmates just as often as were peers who grew […]
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