A new study co-authored by Sophie Janicke-Bowles, associate professor in Chapman University’s School of Communication, sheds light on the role that new and traditional media play in promoting and affecting character development, emotions, prosocial behavior and well-being (aka happiness) in youth. 

The famous axiom “the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is part of Austrian psychologist Fritz Heider's social balance theory, introduced in the 1940s. Previous studies have tried to model social networks based in famous theory but results remained controversial. New model takes into account two key pieces simultaneously: Not everyone knows everyone else in a social network, and some people are friendlier than others. With those two constraints, large-scale social networks consistently align with social balance theory. Model has broad applications for exploring political polarization, neural networks, drug interactions and more.

Anthropologists at Rice University suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate change.

Prof. Dolores Albarracín and her team dug through years of research on the science behind behavior change to determine the best ways to promote changes in behavior.