Featured research by academic experts & collaborating researchers JOURNAL & RESEARCH Loneliness In The Era Of COVID 19 COVID-19 is proving to be a particularly cruel disease not just because of its pathophysiology but also due to its potentially devastating consequences for engendering loneliness. From the outset of the pandemic, we have learned of countless individuals having to die alone or loved ones not being able to grieve by providing burial services (Miller, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid: The Gulf Between The Rich And Poor Inequality between the rich and poor worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty increased, for the first time in decades. In part two of our series on how the virus has changed the world, we look at the ways the pandemic has pushed back efforts to create more equitable societies. Inequalities exposed © UNICEF/NahomTesfaye / Street […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY Sad Music Makes Us Happy? In general, sad music is thought to cause us to experience sadness, which is considered an unpleasant emotion. As a result, the question arises as to why we listen to sad music if it evokes sadness. One possible answer to this question is that we may actually feel positive emotions when we listen to sad […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Understanding Otakus & Sex Robots Social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga characters, we examine individual differences behind sex robot appeal (anime […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY The Influence Of Culture On Success Urban economists have put forward the idea that cities that are culturally interesting tend to attract “the creative class” and, as a result, end up being economically successful. Yet it is still unclear how economic and cultural dynamics mutually influence each other. By contrast, that has been extensively studied in the case of individuals. Over […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Chinese Society From Confucius To Communist Revolution To figure out the effects of national events on a society and to understand how a society’s behaviour patterns are shaped throughout the history, one should understand that society’s or nation’s psychology. In order to understand a nation’s psychology, one should look at the social psychology discipline. Barons, Byrne & Suls (1989) characterize social psychology […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY Does Meditation Affects Decision Making? Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the use of meditation to improve cognitive performance, emotional balance, and well-being. As a consequence, research into the psychological effects and neural mechanisms of meditation has been accumulating. Whether and how meditation affects decision making is not yet clear. Here, we review evidence […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY Blockchain Technology And Waste Management The global waste and resource crises necessitate and give great impetus for better and more sustainable management of waste. Increasingly, resource and waste streams that once were sent to landfill or incinerated are now reused, recycled, or recovered. Yet, while many laws and policies have been adopted for this very purpose, a number of recurrent […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY The Psychology Of Magic Conjurors are masters of illusion and deception, and they have developed astonishing methods for manipulating our experience. Intuitively, the link between magic and psychology seems obvious: magicians use techniques such as misdirection to manipulate our attention, illusions to distort our perception, and forcing to influence our decisions. Some of the early pioneers in Psychology (e.g., Binet, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY Life After Esports? Esports has experienced unprecedented growth recently and with it, the proposition for aspiring gamers to pursue a professional esport career has become increasingly attractive. “Esports” are video-games played competitively (and often professionally) through the means of cyberspace (Campbell et al., 2018) and are an important fixture in the overall gaming industry, which is estimated to […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY SOCIOLOGY Why Meaning Of Life Matters For Society Meaning in life reflects the feeling that one’s existence has significance, purpose, and coherence (see Heintzelman and King, 2014). A growing body of research identifies meaning in life as a fundamental human need that strongly influences both psychological and physical well-being (see Vail and Routledge, 2020). Individuals who perceive their lives as full of meaning live longer, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY Who Am I? What Is The Self? Who am I? What is the self and where does it come from? This may be one of the oldest problems in philosophy. Beyond traditional philosophy, only very recently approaches from neuroscience (in particular imaging studies) have tried to address these questions, too. So what are neural substrates of our self? An increasing body of […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked More Research
JOURNAL & RESEARCH Loneliness In The Era Of COVID 19 COVID-19 is proving to be a particularly cruel disease not just because of its pathophysiology but also due to its potentially devastating consequences for engendering loneliness. From the outset of the pandemic, we have learned of countless individuals having to die alone or loved ones not being able to grieve by providing burial services (Miller, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid: The Gulf Between The Rich And Poor Inequality between the rich and poor worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty increased, for the first time in decades. In part two of our series on how the virus has changed the world, we look at the ways the pandemic has pushed back efforts to create more equitable societies. Inequalities exposed © UNICEF/NahomTesfaye / Street […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY Sad Music Makes Us Happy? In general, sad music is thought to cause us to experience sadness, which is considered an unpleasant emotion. As a result, the question arises as to why we listen to sad music if it evokes sadness. One possible answer to this question is that we may actually feel positive emotions when we listen to sad […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Understanding Otakus & Sex Robots Social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga characters, we examine individual differences behind sex robot appeal (anime […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY The Influence Of Culture On Success Urban economists have put forward the idea that cities that are culturally interesting tend to attract “the creative class” and, as a result, end up being economically successful. Yet it is still unclear how economic and cultural dynamics mutually influence each other. By contrast, that has been extensively studied in the case of individuals. Over […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CULTURE EDITOR'S PICK JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Chinese Society From Confucius To Communist Revolution To figure out the effects of national events on a society and to understand how a society’s behaviour patterns are shaped throughout the history, one should understand that society’s or nation’s psychology. In order to understand a nation’s psychology, one should look at the social psychology discipline. Barons, Byrne & Suls (1989) characterize social psychology […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY Does Meditation Affects Decision Making? Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the use of meditation to improve cognitive performance, emotional balance, and well-being. As a consequence, research into the psychological effects and neural mechanisms of meditation has been accumulating. Whether and how meditation affects decision making is not yet clear. Here, we review evidence […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY Blockchain Technology And Waste Management The global waste and resource crises necessitate and give great impetus for better and more sustainable management of waste. Increasingly, resource and waste streams that once were sent to landfill or incinerated are now reused, recycled, or recovered. Yet, while many laws and policies have been adopted for this very purpose, a number of recurrent […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY The Psychology Of Magic Conjurors are masters of illusion and deception, and they have developed astonishing methods for manipulating our experience. Intuitively, the link between magic and psychology seems obvious: magicians use techniques such as misdirection to manipulate our attention, illusions to distort our perception, and forcing to influence our decisions. Some of the early pioneers in Psychology (e.g., Binet, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY Life After Esports? Esports has experienced unprecedented growth recently and with it, the proposition for aspiring gamers to pursue a professional esport career has become increasingly attractive. “Esports” are video-games played competitively (and often professionally) through the means of cyberspace (Campbell et al., 2018) and are an important fixture in the overall gaming industry, which is estimated to […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY SOCIOLOGY Why Meaning Of Life Matters For Society Meaning in life reflects the feeling that one’s existence has significance, purpose, and coherence (see Heintzelman and King, 2014). A growing body of research identifies meaning in life as a fundamental human need that strongly influences both psychological and physical well-being (see Vail and Routledge, 2020). Individuals who perceive their lives as full of meaning live longer, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY Who Am I? What Is The Self? Who am I? What is the self and where does it come from? This may be one of the oldest problems in philosophy. Beyond traditional philosophy, only very recently approaches from neuroscience (in particular imaging studies) have tried to address these questions, too. So what are neural substrates of our self? An increasing body of […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked