Past Articles by Shankar Vedantam
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Bans Of Same-Sex Marriage Can Take A Psychological Toll When several states passed laws banning same-sex marriages, researchers found that the mental health of gay residents seemed to suffer. Conversely, stress-related disorders dropped after the legalization of gay marriage in one state. Researchers say negative media portrayals and loss of safety were contributing factors. |
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Bans Of Same-Sex Marriage Can Take A Psychological Toll When several states passed laws banning same-sex marriages, researchers found that the mental health of gay residents seemed to suffer. Conversely, stress-related disorders dropped after the legalization of gay marriage in one state. Researchers say negative media portrayals and loss of safety were contributing factors. |
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Bans Of Same-Sex Marriage Can Take A Psychological Toll When several states passed laws banning same-sex marriages, researchers found that the mental health of gay residents seemed to suffer. Conversely, stress-related disorders dropped after the legalization of gay marriage in one state. Researchers say negative media portrayals and loss of safety were contributing factors. |
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What Does 'Sexual Coercion' Say About A Society? Anthropologists have long documented the differences in the extent of sexual coercion — including rape — in different human societies. But is it a vestige of evolutionary history, indicative of cultural activity or governed by power dynamics between females and males? |
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What Does 'Sexual Coercion' Say About A Society? Anthropologists have long documented the differences in the extent of sexual coercion — including rape — in different human societies. But is it a vestige of evolutionary history, indicative of cultural activity or governed by power dynamics between females and males? |
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Girls May Get More 'Teaching Time' From Parents Than Boys Do In elementary school, girls often outperform boys on reading and math tests. Many factors shape academic performance, but two economists say one reason for the disparity might be that parents spend more time reading with girls and teaching them the alphabet and numbers. |
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Young Girls May Get More 'Teaching Time' From Parents Than Boys Do In elementary school, girls often outperform boys on reading and math tests. Many factors shape academic performance, but two economists say one reason for the disparity might be that parents spend more time reading with girls and teaching them the alphabet and numbers. |
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Shhh, The Kids Can Hear You Arguing (Even When They're Asleep) In scans of sleeping infants' brains, certain areas light up when they hear angry voices. But is that heightened activation damaging, or does it mean the children are learning to cope? |
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Shhh, The Kids Can Hear You Arguing (Even When They're Asleep) In scans of sleeping infants' brains, certain areas light up when they hear angry voices. But is that heightened activation damaging, or does it mean the children are learning to cope? |
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What Does Modern Prejudice Look Like? Most Americans think of prejudice as animosity toward people in other groups. But two psychologists argue that unconscious bias — often in the form of giving some people special treatment — is the way prejudice largely works in America today. |
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To Find Insider Trading, Follow The Kids' Money Sociologists tracked stock trades in Finland and found that accounts belonging to chlldren under 10 years old wildly outperformed the accounts of adults. |
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To Find Insider Trading, Follow The Kids' Money Sociologists tracked stock trades in Finland and found that accounts belonging to chlldren under 10 years old wildly outperformed the accounts of adults. |
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To Find Insider Trading, Follow The Kids' Money Sociologists tracked stock trades in Finland and found that accounts belonging to chlldren under 10 years old wildly outperformed the accounts of adults. |
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To Find Insider Trading, Follow The Kids' Money Sociologists tracked stock trades in Finland and found that accounts belonging to chlldren under 10 years old wildly outperformed the accounts of adults. |
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Why Not Apologizing Makes You Feel Better Expressing regret may grease the social wheels, but not doing so boosts your sense of power, control and self-worth. Try explaining that to your boss. |
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Why Not Apologizing Makes You Feel Better Expressing regret may grease the social wheels, but not doing so boosts your sense of power, control and self-worth. Try explaining that to your boss. |
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Shift In Gay Marriage Support Mirrors A Changing America The latest polls indicate 58 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. In 1977, that number was 13 percent. One researcher says that jump in support isn't the result of a generational gap — it's that many who once opposed gay marriage have changed their minds or softened their opposition. |
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Shift In Gay Marriage Support Mirrors A Changing America The latest polls indicate 58 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. In 1977, that number was 13 percent. One researcher says that jump in support isn't the result of a generational gap — it's that many who once opposed gay marriage have changed their minds or softened their opposition. |
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Shift In Gay Marriage Support Mirrors A Changing America The latest polls indicate 58 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. In 1977, that number was 13 percent. One researcher says that jump in support isn't the result of a generational gap — it's that many who once opposed gay marriage have changed their minds or softened their opposition. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Your Child's Fat, Mine's Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses And The Obesity Epidemic Despite current trends, most parents assume their own kids won't grow up to be overweight adults. That 'optimism bias' has neurological roots, brain scientists say. |
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Why You Love That Ikea Table, Even If It's Crooked Building your own stuff boosts your feelings of pride and competence, and also signals to others that you are competent. As a result, most of us believe we labor on things we love. Now, psychologists are asking if it is the other way around — is it labor that leads to love? |
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Pig Out In The Winter Or When Money's Tight? Blame Evolution Why do we reach for that handful of M&Ms and other high-calorie treats under stress? In prehistoric times, such gluttony was probably a useful response to scarcity. That "feast before famine" instinct is less helpful in modern times, when obesity is a bigger health risk than starvation - but evolution hasn't had a chance to catch up. |
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Pig Out In The Winter Or When Money's Tight? Blame Evolution Why do we reach for that handful of M&Ms and other high-calorie treats under stress? In prehistoric times, such gluttony was probably a useful response to scarcity. That "feast before famine" instinct is less helpful in modern times, when obesity is a bigger health risk than starvation - but evolution hasn't had a chance to catch up. |
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When Crime Pays: Prison Can Teach Some To Be Better Criminals Research from an Ohio sociologist has found that inmates "earn" illegal money in greater amounts after they serve time. Prison may serve as a classroom where inexperienced delinquents learn from hardened criminals — and become more dangerous criminals themselves. |
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When Crime Pays: Prison Can Teach Some To Be Better Criminals Research from an Ohio sociologist has found that inmates "earn" illegal money in greater amounts after they serve time. Prison may serve as a classroom where inexperienced delinquents learn from hardened criminals — and become more dangerous criminals themselves. |
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Elite Colleges Struggle To Recruit Smart, Low-Income Kids Top schools often offer scholarships that not only include free tuition, but also free room and board for top students from poor families. Each year, however, colleges are confronted with a paradox: No matter how many incentives they provide, enrollment of highly talented, low-income student barely seems to budge. |
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Elite Colleges Struggle To Recruit Smart, Low-Income Kids Top schools often offer scholarships that not only include free tuition, but also free room and board for top students from poor families. Each year, however, colleges are confronted with a paradox: No matter how many incentives they provide, enrollment of highly talented, low-income student barely seems to budge. |
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Elite Colleges Struggle To Recruit Smart, Low-Income Kids Top schools often offer scholarships that not only include free tuition, but also free room and board for top students from poor families. Each year, however, colleges are confronted with a paradox: No matter how many incentives they provide, enrollment of highly talented, low-income student barely seems to budge. |
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Can Skinny Models Undermine Your Dieting Goals? Many people turn to superfit models for weight-loss inspiration. There's growing evidence that this is a mistake. New research from the Netherlands explores whether repeated exposure to images of skinny models helps or hinders dieters. |
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Can Skinny Models Undermine Your Dieting Goals? Many people turn to superfit models for weight-loss inspiration. There's growing evidence that this is a mistake. New research from the Netherlands explores whether repeated exposure to images of skinny models helps or hinders dieters. |
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Can Skinny Models Undermine Your Dieting Goals? Many people turn to superfit models for weight-loss inspiration. There's growing evidence that this is a mistake. New research from the Netherlands explores whether repeated exposure to images of skinny models helps or hinders dieters. |
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Why Some Kids Have An Inflated Sense Of Their Science Skills A massive analysis of some 350,000 students in 53 countries has uncovered a paradox: Students in many countries that are mediocre at science have an inflated sense of good they are. |
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Why Some Kids Have An Inflated Sense Of Their Science Skills A massive analysis of some 350,000 students in 53 countries has uncovered a paradox: Students in many countries that are mediocre at science have an inflated sense of good they are. |
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Can Murder Be Tracked Like An Infectious Disease? A study in Newark, N.J., found that homicides committed over a quarter century spread out very much like an infectious disease epidemic. Using this information, cities might be able to predict when and where murders will occur. |
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Can Murder Be Tracked Like An Infectious Disease? A study in Newark, N.J., found that homicides committed over a quarter century spread out very much like an infectious disease epidemic. Using this information, cities might be able to predict when and where murders will occur. |
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Do Orchestras Really Need Conductors? A computer science study shows that when an orchestra's musicians closely follow the lead of the conductor, rather than one another, they produce better music. |
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Do Orchestras Really Need Conductors? A computer science study shows that when an orchestra's musicians closely follow the lead of the conductor, rather than one another, they produce better music. |
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Study: Reading 'Maxim' Can Make You A Theft Target Criminologists in Texas find that you are more likely to become a victim of theft if your behavior somehow marks you as being "outside the mainstream." One sign of such behavior: leaving copies of racy magazines and crushed beer cans in your car. |
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Study: Reading 'Maxim' Can Make You A Theft Target Criminologists in Texas find that you are more likely to become a victim of theft if your behavior somehow marks you as being "outside the mainstream." One sign of such behavior: leaving copies of racy magazines and crushed beer cans in your car. |
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What Earthquakes Can Teach Us About Elections Political historian Allan Lichtman says he sees elections the way geophysicists see earthquakes — as events fundamentally driven by structural factors deep beneath the surface, rather than by superficial events at the surface. |
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What Earthquakes Can Teach Us About Elections Political historian Allan Lichtman says he sees elections the way geophysicists see earthquakes — as events fundamentally driven by structural factors deep beneath the surface, rather than by superficial events at the surface. |
