Persuasion

Reading social media posts in a more emotional state of mind can make people more likely to believe untrue news posts.

People can often tell if a speaker is smiling from their tone of voice alone. This knowledge can be used to improve communication over the phone and radio and make synthetic speech sound more human.

In an online survey, Americans were more hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when they were told that it was rapidly developed, but less hesitant when told that the vaccines had gone through standard rigorous testing.

Frontiers in Public Health

In the two month period around the US' withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, Twitter bots were responsible for about 25% of tweets about climate change, and were more likely than human users to tweet about climate denial research.

Having a competent supervisor was more predictive of job satisfaction among workers than worker education, tenure, industry, or earnings.

People who received more Instagram “likes” than expected reported less loneliness but more negative feelings such as being upset, hostile, ashamed, nervous, and afraid. These feelings may trigger more like-seeking to reduce dissatisfaction.

Personality and Individual Differences

Fifth graders and high school students who read the Harry Potter books and identified with Harry Potter held more accepting views towards marginalized groups.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Many White medical students and residents hold false beliefs about biological differences between Black and White people. These biases are linked to underestimating and under-treating pain felt by Black patients, likely contributing to racial disparities in healthcare.

Psychological and Cognitive Sciences

In a series of mock court trials involving a Black defendant, racially diverse juries made fewer inaccurate statements and deliberated more than all-White juries.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Persuasion

Engaging people in a community-based setting and in empathetic conversation focused on safety improved safe firearms storage and the understanding that most firearm fatalities are suicides.

BMJ Injury Prevention