People show implicit bias against AI-made art, and more scientific findings

People’s distaste for AI use in art may also appear in their unconscious or implicit attitudes, according to research published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. In one computer-based study, 44 participants evaluated the creativity of 110 pairs of digital artworks. One artwork in each pair was labeled “human-made,” while the other was labeled “AI-made”; in reality, both pieces were AI-generated. Participants tended to pick the human-made piece as the more creative one in each pair, and their mouse movements showed a similar pattern: Even when they selected the AI-made piece as the more creative one, they moved the computer mouse more slowly and along a path that curved slightly toward the human-made piece, suggesting an implicit bias that subtly influenced their movements. Notably, this implicit bias was not associated with overall attitudes toward AI or beliefs about creativity. According to the researchers, these negative associations may lead people to resist AI use in the arts and other creative domains. Additional research can clarify how these attitudes may change with increased exposure to, and experience with, AI tools.
DOI: 10.1037/aca0000888

Occasional temper tantrums and other irritable behaviors are considered a typical part of early childhood, but frequent or severe irritability may be a sign of challenges with emotion regulation that predict later mental health concerns. Researchers examined whether certain activities—such as sleep, physical activity, and sedentary activity—were associated with irritable behavior in 1,266 children ages 2 to 4. Parents logged their child’s activities and behavior in 15-minute increments over a 24-hour period. The findings, published in Developmental Psychology, indicated that children showed less irritability on days when they were more physically active than usual. Using statistical modeling, the researchers estimated that replacing 15 minutes of non-screen sedentary time with physical activity was linked with lower irritability, while replacing physical activity with non-screen sedentary time was linked with higher irritability. The researchers suggest that promoting physical activity may help reduce irritability and support mental health in early childhood, although longitudinal studies are needed to determine how these relationships play out over time.
DOI: 10.1037/dev0002249

A series of experiments in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General suggests that people use multiple types of spatial and time-based knowledge at the same time to navigate to specific locations. In each experiment, participants completed a computer-based navigation task with multiple trials. In the learning phase of each trial, participants started in a randomly selected location and navigated through the virtual environment to get to a marked target. In the test phase, they had to remember the location of the target and make their way there from a new starting point. Performance across trials indicated that people relied on both environment-related spatial information (e.g., the tree is to the northwest of the tower) and self-related spatial information (e.g., the tree is to my left), across a global time scale (e.g., all trials) and a local time scale (e.g., the most recent trial), when navigating to the target. The findings build on previous research, providing a more nuanced framework for understanding how different types of knowledge help people remember and reach specific destinations.
DOI: 10.1037/xge0001950

The prosody of speech—including qualities like intonation, stress, and rhythm—helps listeners understand what a speaker is trying to convey, from a simple question to a sarcastic remark. Given that prosody varies from one person to the next, how do listeners adapt to different speakers? Researchers recorded a speaker saying phrases such as “it’s raining” that can be interpreted differently depending on prosody. They used audio processing software to tweak the prosody of each phrase, producing multiple variations along a question-to-statement continuum. In an experimental session, 424 participants listened to some of these recorded phrases and indicated whether the speaker was “asking” or “telling.” They then completed a second round that included feedback about whether their interpretations were correct, followed by a final round with no feedback. The results, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, suggest that participants adapted quickly to feedback, showing improved identification of “asking” or “telling” phrases within a few trials and that this adaptation persisted for up to 7 days.
DOI: 10.1037/xlm0001621

Views about aging can shape health and well-being in later life, but the mechanisms that link these thoughts to actual behavior are not well understood. In three studies published in Psychology and Aging, researchers examined how older adults’ descriptive views (how older adults are) and prescriptive views (how older adults should be) correlated with their health and social behaviors. The studies, which included a total of 1,141 participants aged 60 to 90 in Germany, suggest that prescriptive beliefs may play an especially strong role. Older adults who agreed with prescriptive beliefs (e.g., “Older adults should stay fit and healthy,” “Older adults should do more to help others”) tended to report considerably more behaviors known to support health and social well-being. The findings also indicated a smaller link with positive descriptive beliefs (e.g., “Older adults do a lot for their fitness,” “Older adults contribute substantially to society”). The researchers suggest that focusing on changing older adults’ prescriptive beliefs about active aging may be one way to encourage health-supporting behaviors.
DOI: 10.1037/pag0001005

A study with 194 elementary school students indicates that students learned new information best when it was presented visually, auditorily, and in writing (i.e., with images, text, and narration), regardless of the students’ reported learning style. The findings, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, add to the evidence debunking the common belief that matching instruction to students’ specific learning styles (i.e., preferences) is the best way to support learning. For the study, the 10- to 12-year-old students reported their learning format preference and completed a learning style inventory. They then received age-appropriate presentations on the weather forecast, climate change, and clouds. The researchers varied the presentation formats, including visual (images with text for silent reading), auditory (recorded narration with no visuals), and multimodal (images and text paired with narration) presentations. Learning preference and style did not seem to matter—students tended to perform better with multimodal material than with material matched to their reported learning style. According to the researchers, these findings align with findings from cognitive science research that point to the overall benefits of multimodal instruction.
DOI: 10.1037/edu0001056

People from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may support stricter social norms as a way of protecting themselves from the socioeconomic threats and overall dangers they see around them, according to research in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. A survey of more than 17,000 individuals from 57 countries indicated that individuals from a lower socioeconomic background were less tolerant of norm violations and more inclined to punish them than those from a higher socioeconomic background. Two online studies with U.S. adults, including one in which class belonging was fictionally assigned, showed the same pattern: Participants with lower incomes and levels of education reported worrying more about socioeconomic threats such as workplace accidents and neighborhood violence. They also perceived the world as more dangerous overall. These concerns were, in turn, linked with stronger support for strict social norms. An online experiment yielded similar results: Participants randomly assigned to a lower socioeconomic group in a fictional world were more likely to endorse stricter norms than those assigned to a higher socioeconomic group. Although adherence to stricter norms may help people combat perceived danger, a meta-analysis of global data spanning 52 years indicated that it may also make people less open to new people and ideas. According to the researchers, the findings highlight how socioeconomic status drives cultural differences that may reflect and perpetuate societal inequalities.
DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000524

Variation in personality traits across a population tends to be stable over time, according to a meta-analysis published in Psychological Bulletin. The findings suggest that, overall, people do not become more similar or more different from each other with age. The researchers analyzed data from 362 longitudinal studies with a total of 398,124 participants. Within this sample, the personality trait of neuroticism was the most examined (295 studies), while the trait of openness was the least examined (132 studies). Across studies, variation in personality traits within a population remained relatively consistent as people aged, with two exceptions: Variation in neuroticism increased slightly during late childhood and early adolescence (ages 5 to 14), while variation in extraversion decreased slightly during middle and older adulthood (ages 45 to 80). The researchers note that the studies reported a considerable range of effect sizes, which may be because of different measures and research approaches. They also note that participants were mostly North American and northern European—additional research is needed to understand whether and how patterns in personality development differ across cultures.
DOI: 10.1037/bul0000523

Boredom experienced during a hard test reflects the same emotional state as boredom during an easy test, but its effects differ, according to findings in the Journal of Educational Psychology. In one study, 208 eighth-grade students completed a boredom measurement scale as they took a math test. Analyses indicated the boredom scale captured the same feeling across the easy and hard parts of the test. Building on these findings, the researchers then examined how boredom influenced participants’ performance on easier and harder memory tasks. While boredom was linked with worse memory performance, this was the case only for difficult versions of the task. When the memory task was difficult, participants’ boredom was linked with longer reaction times, a sign of reduced cognitive resources. Together, the findings help distinguish two sources of boredom—being overchallenged and being underchallenged—and their different effects. Although feeling bored may be unpleasant no matter the circumstance, it is most likely to impede learning when tasks are especially challenging.
DOI: 10.1037/edu0001045

Some researchers have suggested that certain animals may be able to estimate and compare probabilities, but analyses in Psychological Review suggest an associative learning model may provide a simpler explanation. The analyses challenge the idea that decision-making about probabilistic outcomes requires sophisticated statistical reasoning skills. Researchers analyzed data from 58 experiments with animals, including capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, long-tailed macaques, pigeons, giraffes, crows, and parrots. In general, the animals in the studies were trained to interact with and choose between various stimuli that produced rewards at different rates. The results indicated that an associative stimulus-response model accounted for qualitative results in 52 of the 58 experiments and about 88% of the statistical variation in 37 experiments. Furthermore, probabilistic reasoning models were often worse at fitting the data than stimulus-response models. The researchers note that these findings do not suggest animals are incapable of sophisticated reasoning; rather, a simple associative mechanism may be sufficient to explain animals’ responses to probabilistic outcomes.
DOI: 10.1037/rev0000626

Considerable research has focused on how adolescents’ use of digital devices affects their well-being, but findings in Frontiers in Psychology suggest that parents’ screen time may also play a role. In an online study, 600 adolescents ages 12 to 17 answered survey questions about their caregiver’s device use and their relationship with that caregiver. The more adolescents saw their caregiver’s device use as an interference, the more likely they were to report greater insecure attachment with their caregiver. The findings suggest that when teens feel device use is sapping their caregiver’s time and attention, it may compromise the teen-caregiver relationship. The researchers note that the findings are correlational, not causal—it is possible, for example, that adolescents with higher levels of attachment insecurity are more likely to perceive their caregiver’s device use as a sign of inattention. Longitudinal research with more nuanced measures can provide a clearer picture of how caregivers’ screen time influences adolescents’ well-being over time.
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1766665opens in new window

For many employees, hearing “thanks for the great work” from a supervisor can go a long way in making them feel valued. Findings in the Journal of Applied Psychology suggest that these expressions of gratitude may also have positive effects that ripple throughout an organization. An online study with 233 supervisor-employee pairs indicated that when supervisors expressed gratitude, employees paid more attention to the things they were grateful for at work, leading them to express more gratitude to their colleagues, which in turn strengthened those relationships. A 3-week longitudinal study with 204 employees produced similar results, even after the researchers accounted for other possible factors such as workplace norms and individuals’ overall inclination toward gratitude. Together with a third experimental study, the findings suggest that gratitude cascades down from the top because it leads people to become attuned to gratitude-worthy events. The researchers acknowledge that this cascade effect may not apply in all situations or for all employees—future studies can clarify when and for whom the gratitude cascade emerges.
DOI: 10.1037/apl0001398

Students’ reading and writing skills are linked with their family’s socioeconomic background and especially with the socioeconomic level of their community, according to a meta-analysis of 194 studies with data from more than 1.8 million participants. The findings, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, also indicate that the association between socioeconomic level and literacy is stronger at higher grade levels. Together, the findings suggest that differences at both the family and community levels may contribute to early literacy disparities that accumulate over time. When the researchers examined specific literacy skills, they found that the socioeconomic level of a student’s community was linked with larger differences for reading comprehension than for word reading. The studies indicated large reading differences and moderate writing differences between students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and students from high socioeconomic backgrounds. Importantly, the findings were consistent across different socioeconomic measures—such as family income, education, and occupation—and different years and countries. The researchers suggest that interventions aimed at closing the literacy gap should begin early, addressing both individual learners’ needs and community-level factors over time.
DOI: 10.1037/edu0001059

Studies exploring how men and women fare in negotiations often focus on economic outcomes and neglect the more subjective, interpersonal outcomes. Five studies with more than 2,000 participants suggest that while women and men achieved similar economic results, they had different interpersonal outcomes: Women tended to engage in negotiation behaviors that led others to like them more, feel more satisfied with the negotiation, and feel more open to future negotiations. This was true even when they were anonymous. In one online study, 846 participants were randomly paired to negotiate over imaginary campfire resources—they learned that they would receive a financial bonus tied to their negotiation performance. Importantly, participants did not know their partner’s gender. Although women and men achieved similar outcomes, participants reported liking negotiation partners who were women more than negotiation partners who were men. Additional analyses suggest this may be due, in part, to the fact that women were more likely to accept deals. Together, the findings, published in PNAS, suggest that relationship-oriented behaviors that build likability and rapport may enhance, rather than compromise, women’s effectiveness as negotiators.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2523202123opens in new window

Across countries, people tend to think about the development of the mind as having distinct phases, marked by an early period of perceptual and affective development and a later period of reflective and evaluative development. The findings, published in Psychological Science, suggest that people around the world share similar intuitions about how the mind develops from infancy through childhood. In one study, 289 participants in Japan saw items representing various affective, cognitive, perceptual, physiological, and social capacities, and they estimated when each capacity first appears: birth to 6 months, 6 months to 1 year, 1 to 2 years, 2 to 4 years, 4 to 7 years, or later. Analyses indicated a clear distinction: Participants saw more automatic, perceptual, and basic affective capacities (e.g., hunger, fear, pain) as emerging considerably earlier than more reflective and self-referential capacities (e.g., reasoning, pride, moral judgment). Additional findings indicated a similar pattern across participants in Australia, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and between parents and nonparents. The researchers note that this robust folk model of mental development indicates that people see mental development as an organized trajectory, reflecting beliefs about innate and learned processes.
DOI: 10.1177/09567976261453926opens in new window

Some therapists seem to have better patient outcomes than others, but the qualities that predict which therapists will be more effective are not well understood. Researchers conducted a preregistered study with 97 therapists treating a total of 6,152 patients. Most therapists were recruited from a mental health agency in Canada, while others were recruited from university counseling centers in the United States and Canada. Drawing from existing research and theory, the researchers assessed 38 therapist qualities, including interpersonal skills and multicultural orientation, measured via recorded responses to hypothetical patient vignettes. The findings, published in Clinical Psychological Science, did not provide robust evidence linking therapist qualities with positive patient outcomes, with one exception: The stronger a therapist’s interpersonal skills were, the more likely their patients were to return for another session. The researchers note that the effect sizes they observed were smaller than those reported in previous studies; larger studies may be able to detect effect sizes that are replicable but smaller.
DOI: 10.1177/21677026261424222opens in new window

People in individualist cultures are more likely to want to make others feel better than are people in collectivist cultures, reflecting cultural differences in how people think about unpleasant emotions within a broader social context. The findings, published in PNAS, suggest that the impulse to soothe others’ distress is not equally important or desirable across cultures. In two studies spanning 13 countries and 17 countries, respectively, people living in individualist cultures were more motivated to make others feel better and more likely to use emotion-soothing strategies, such as expressing care. A daily diary study with participants in Germany (a more individualist culture) and South Korea (a more collectivist culture) yielded similar results. Participants who were more motivated to make their partners feel better also felt closer to their partners, but only in Germany. The researchers note that emotions are valued differently across cultures—in more collectivist cultures, for example, unpleasant emotions may be desirable to the extent that they support self-improvement or social connection. Future studies can directly examine how people in different cultures think about the value of unpleasant emotions and how this thinking shapes their relationships.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2533994123opens in new window