The New York Times: ECONOMIC inequality in the United States is at its highest level since the 1930s, yet most Americans remain relatively unconcerned with the issue. Why? One theory is that Americans accept such inequality because they overestimate the reality of the “American dream” — the idea that any More
The Boston Globe: By all rights, Betty Lewis should be a lonely woman. Now nearly 90, her daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren — whom she’s never met — all live in California. Her friends have died or moved to faraway nursing homes. Health problems mean she can’t get outside without help More
The Washington Post: THE QUESTION Not exercising, being obese, smoking and abusing drugs are among the factors known to shorten people’s life spans. Might being lonely or socially isolated have a similar effect? THIS STUDY analyzed data from 70 studies, involving 3.4 million people who were, on average, 66 years old More
When APS debuted the Registered Replication Report (RRR) initiative in 2013, it marked a milestone in the reproducibility movement that has been building in psychological science and other areas of scientific inquiry in recent years. The goal of the initiative is to publish large-scale, multicenter replications of important findings that More
The New York Times: Do you like being alone? New research from Brigham Young University shows just how bad loneliness and social isolation, even for people who prefer their own company, can be for health. The researchers analyzed data collected from 70 studies and more than 3.4 million people from More
Loneliness may be a fundamental part of the human condition, but scientists have only recently begun exploring its causes, consequences, and potential interventions. A special section in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, aims to bring these strands of inquiry together, presenting a series More
