Behavioural Sciences
Social context shapes age-crime distributions
Professors Steffensmeier, Lu and Na present evidence from diverse societies with vastly different sociocultural practices and beliefs, which show clear differences in age-crime relationships. These differences are discussed with reference to the social contexts which appear to protect adolescents from becoming involved in crime. These researchers put forward a research agenda for better understanding nations where crime is most heavily […]
Religious recovery from addiction and homelessness
Professor Carolyn Weisz is an educator and researcher at the University of Puget Sound where she studies issues of homelessness, racism, and stigma. Her research explores the connections between social perception and well-being, and provides insights to guide decision-making and policy. Recently, she has worked with Kayla Lovett to explore the role that religion and faith-based residential recovery programmes can […]
Can cognitive impairments caused by methamphetamine use perpetuate the addiction cycle?
The repeated use of methamphetamine, or meth, is known to cause significant changes in the brain and cognitive impairments, which might strengthen or perpetuate a user’s addiction. Dr Carmela Reichel at the Medical University of South Carolina has conducted extensive research investigating the relationship between motivated meth use, meth-induced cognitive dysfunctions, and relapse. Her work has highlighted a number of […]
Mind as Energy
Dr Holly Pollard-Wright, independent researcher and CEO of Wild Ride Wildlife Services, has developed a transdisciplinary theory of mind which draws on principles from classic and quantum physics, ancient philosophies of transforming the mind, and modern principles of behavioural and cognitive science. The mind is viewed as energies of relationships, with no beginning and no end, that give rise to […]
Do we feel free when we make hard decisions? A psychological perspective on feelings of freedom in decision-making
Dr Stephan Lau, a Junior Professor at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences in Berlin, is one of the first researchers to investigate experiences of freedom from a psychological perspective. Over the past decade, Dr Lau and his colleagues have conducted much research using a wide array of novel techniques to explore different factors which influence our experiences of […]
The Wales Adoption Cohort Study: Childhood Risk and Resilience
Professor Katherine Shelton and Dr Amy Paine from the School of Psychology at Cardiff University have been conducting research examining the mental health of adopted children in Wales. This research tracks the children across a four-year period and assesses emotional, behavioural, and cognitive factors at different points in time. It also examines how parenting impacts adopted children’s mental health problems. […]
The periphery: Where radical innovation occurs
Gino Cattani is Professor of Management and Organization at the Stern School of Business, and Simone Ferriani is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Bologna. Both professors have researched creativity and entrepreneurship independently but they’ve come together for a common goal: to solve the Core-Periphery Conundrum. Why is it that resources are concentrated among those who conform, when the […]
Debt narratives to break free
For over-indebted individuals in Sweden, getting out of poverty can be tricky because of the country’s debt-reconstruction rules. A new study by Professors Pernilla Liedgren and Christian Kullberg at Mälardalen University, Sweden, finds how debtors tell their story could have a profound effect on whether their application is successful. Heavily indebted individuals living in Sweden may turn to the country’s […]
The child deficit and the changing value of children in Asia
Since the 1960s, Asia has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility rates. Philip Morrison, Professor Emeritus at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, asks whether this shift has been accompanied by a reduction in the value of children as inferred from the European experience. If so, one might expect a convergence of the ideal and actual family size and a […]
Religiosity, crime and drug use among juvenile offenders
Sung Joon Jang is Research Professor of Criminology and Co-director of the Program on Prosocial Behavior at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. His research focuses on the effects of religion on criminal offending and desistance and the rehabilitative effects of faith-based programmes on prisoners. Here, we take a closer look at Dr Jang’s research, which demonstrates […]