Social sciences

Featured articles

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  Food demand displaced by global refugee migration influences water use in already water stressed countries

  While minimal in most host countries, the water needed to produce the food consumed by refugees can have a large effect on water stress in vulnerable countries. Small changes to food trade and refugee resettlement policies can alleviate this unequal burden.

  • Leonardo Bertassello
  • Marc F. Müller
  • Michèle C. Müller-Itten

  ArticleOpen Access23 May 2023 Nature Communications
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  Value chain carbon footprints of Chinese listed companies

  A paper led by Prof. Zhang evaluates the value chain carbon footprints of Chinese listed companies. The results could encourage collaborative climate actions along value chains and help investors understand the environmental impacts of their investment.

  • Zengkai Zhang
  • Jiaoyan Li
  • Dabo Guan

  ArticleOpen Access16 May 2023 Nature Communications
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  Unselfish traits and social decision-making patterns characterize six populations of real-world extraordinary altruists

  Here, the authors show that real-world extraordinary altruists, including heroic rescuers and altruistic kidney donors, are distinguished by unusually unselfish traits and decision-making patterns. This pattern was not predicted by a general sample of adults who were asked what traits would characterize altruists.

  • Shawn A. Rhoads
  • Kruti M. Vekaria
  • Abigail A. Marsh

  ArticleOpen Access31 Mar 2023 Nature Communications
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  Nationwide geospatial analysis of county racial and ethnic composition and public drinking water arsenic and uranium

  Environmental justice and drinking water in the US: Higher proportions of Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and non-Hispanic Black residents were associated with higher public water arsenic and uranium at the county-level, findings differed by region.

  • Irene Martinez-Morata
  • Benjamin C. Bostick
  • Anne E. Nigra

  ArticleOpen Access3 Dec 2022 Nature Communications
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  Using performance art to promote intergroup prosociality by cultivating the belief that empathy is unlimited

  People tend to feel less empathy toward people who do not belong to their social group (outgroup members). Here, the authors show that leading people to believe that empathy is unlimited increases empathy, support for prosocial actions, and empathic behaviors toward outgroup members.

  • Yossi Hasson
  • Einat Amir
  • Eran Halperin

  ArticleOpen Access16 Dec 2022 Nature Communications

• Community voices: broadening participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine among persons with disabilities

  Disability has too often been peripheral to efforts to widen the STEMM pipeline, hampering research quality and innovation. Inspired by change in education delivery and research collaborations during the pandemic, we offer a structure for efforts to recruit and retain disabled scientists and practitioners.

  • Siobhán M. Mattison
  • Logan Gin
  • Katherine Wander

  CommentOpen Access3 Dec 2022 Nature Communications
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  Neural implementation of computational mechanisms underlying the continuous trade-off between cooperation and competition

  Social interactions change continuously from cooperation to competition. Here, using an economic game, the authors show how the social context and inferences about others’ intentions modulate cooperativeness, and examine the neural network underlying the continuous cooperation competition trade-off.

  • M. A. Pisauro
  • E. F. Fouragnan
  • M. G. Philiastides

  ArticleOpen Access11 Nov 2022 Nature Communications
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  Measuring exposure to misinformation from political elites on Twitter

  Misinformation online can be shared by major political figures and organizations. Here, the authors developed a method to measure exposure to information from these sources on Twitter, and show how exposure relates to the quality of the content people share and their political ideology.

  • Mohsen Mosleh
  • David G. Rand

  ArticleOpen Access21 Nov 2022 Nature Communications
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  Public attitudes value interpretability but prioritize accuracy in Artificial Intelligence

  For many AI systems, it is hard to interpret how they make decisions. Here, the authors show that non-experts value interpretability in AI, especially for decisions involving high stakes and scarce resources, but they sacrifice AI interpretability when it trades off against AI accuracy.

  • Anne-Marie Nussberger
  • Lan Luo
  • M. J. Crockett

  ArticleOpen Access3 Oct 2022 Nature Communications
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  Revisiting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy around the world using data from 23 countries in 2021

  Vaccine hesitancy is a public health challenge. Here the authors examine COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in June 2021 using a survey including individuals from 23 countries, and report differences compared to a year earlier.

  • Jeffrey V. Lazarus
  • Katarzyna Wyka
  • Ayman El-Mohandes

  ArticleOpen Access1 Jul 2022 Nature Communications
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  Accuracy prompts are a replicable and generalizable approach for reducing the spread of misinformation

  Prompting people to consider accuracy can improve the quality of news they share online. Here, using an internal meta-analysis, the authors show that this effect is replicable and generalizes across headlines, types of accuracy prompt, and various participant characteristics.

  • Gordon Pennycook
  • David G. Rand

  ArticleOpen Access28 Apr 2022 Nature Communications
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  Leveraging the science of stress to promote resilience and optimize mental health interventions during adolescence

  Adolescence is marked by heightened stress exposure and psychopathology, but also vast potential for opportunity. We highlight how researchers can leverage both developmental and individual differences in stress responding and corticolimbic circuitry to optimize interventions during this unique developmental period.

  • Dylan G. Gee
  • Lucinda M. Sisk
  • Nessa V. Bryce

  CommentOpen Access28 Sep 2022 Nature Communications
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  Contrasting inequality in human exposure to greenspace between cities of Global North and Global South

  Through an analysis of global differences in human exposure to greenspace, a new study identifies a contrasting pattern of greenspace exposure between Global South and North cities and finds seasonal variations in greenspace exposure inequality.

  • Bin Chen
  • Shengbiao Wu
  • Peng Gong

  ArticleOpen Access8 Aug 2022 Nature Communications
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  Electrocorticographic evidence of a common neurocognitive sequence for mentalizing about the self and others

  The individual roles of default network regions in social thinking remain unclear. Using electrocorticography, the authors show a spatiotemporal hierarchy of neurocognitive specialization across temporoparietal and prefrontal default network regions.

  • Kevin M. Tan
  • Amy L. Daitch
  • Matthew D. Lieberman

  ArticleOpen Access8 Apr 2022 Nature Communications
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  Pathway to a land-neutral expansion of Brazilian renewable fuel production

  Fuel output of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol facilities may be increased by over 40% without using additional land if production is combined with synthetic fuel processes. This amounts to 100TWh of fuel, sparing 27,000 km² of land.

  • Luis Ramirez Camargo
  • Gabriel Castro
  • Johannes Schmidt

  ArticleOpen Access7 Jun 2022 Nature Communications
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  Prosocial correlates of transformative experiences at secular multi-day mass gatherings

  Mass gatherings may elicit experiences of profound personal change. Here the authors show across six field sites that reporting of transformative experiences at mass gatherings are common, increase over time, and predict lasting increases in participants’ circle of moral regard.

  • Daniel A. Yudkin
  • Annayah M. B. Prosser
  • M. J. Crockett

  ArticleOpen Access27 May 2022 Nature Communications
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  Indigenous oyster fisheries persisted for millennia and should inform future management

  ‘Commercial fisheries have decimated keystone species, including oysters in the past 200 years. Here, the authors examine how Indigenous oyster harvest in North America and Australia was managed across 10,000 years, advocating for effective future stewardship of oyster reefs by centering Indigenous peoples.’

  • Leslie Reeder-Myers
  • Todd J. Braje
  • Torben C. Rick

  ArticleOpen Access3 May 2022 Nature Communications
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  Contrasting influences of biogeophysical and biogeochemical impacts of historical land use on global economic inequality

  Historical land use impacts climate by biogeophysical and biogeochemical effects. Their combined effects on mean and extreme temperature may harm economically disadvantaged countries but benefit those in rich countries, raising questions of equality.

  • Shu Liu
  • Yong Wang
  • Le Yu

  ArticleOpen Access5 May 2022 Nature Communications
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  Cumulative lifetime stressor exposure assessed by the STRAIN predicts economic ambiguity aversion

  Uncertainty is a factor in most decisions. Here the authors quantify tolerance for two forms of economic uncertainty—risk and ambiguity—and show that greater lifetime stressor exposure (as assessed by a comprehensive lifetime stressor exposure inventory) was associated with higher aversion to decisions involving ambiguity, but not risk.

  • Candace M. Raio
  • Benjamin B. Lu
  • Paul Glimcher

  ArticleOpen Access30 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
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  The world-wide waste web

  The 2001–2019 web of international waste trade is investigated, allowing the identification of countries at threat of improper handling and disposal of waste. Chemical tracers are used to identify the environmental impact of waste in these countries.

  • Johann H. Martínez
  • Sergi Romero
  • Ernesto Estrada

  ArticleOpen Access29 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
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  High-resolution population estimation using household survey data and building footprints

  A lack of up-to-date population figures may hamper effective decision-making. Here, the authors develop a Bayesian model to estimate population data at high resolution in five provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  • Gianluca Boo
  • Edith Darin
  • Andrew J. Tatem

  ArticleOpen Access14 Mar 2022 Nature Communications
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  Accounting for interactions between Sustainable Development Goals is essential for water pollution control in China

  The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are highly interrelated. This study finds 319 interactions between SDGs for the case of water pollution in China. Results show that effective pollution control requires accounting for these interactions.

  • Mengru Wang
  • Annette B. G. Janssen
  • Carolien Kroeze

  ArticleOpen Access8 Feb 2022 Nature Communications
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  National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

  Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

  • Jay J. Van Bavel
  • Aleksandra Cichocka
  • Paulo S. Boggio

  ArticleOpen Access26 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
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  The reduction of race and gender bias in clinical treatment recommendations using clinician peer networks in an experimental setting

  Race and gender bias in healthcare contribute to health disparities. Here the authors show in an experimental setting that structured information sharing networks among clinicians can reduce race and gender bias in medical decisions.

  • Damon Centola
  • Douglas Guilbeault
  • Jingwen Zhang

  ArticleOpen Access15 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  A measurement strategy to address disparities across household energy burdens

  Net energy metrics reveal disparities in United States household energy burdens. Here the authors find that at least five million households are excluded from current accounting methods, with race, education, and housing tenure accounting for large differences in energy burden.

  • Eric Scheier
  • Noah Kittner

  ArticleOpen Access12 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
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  Increased labor losses and decreased adaptation potential in a warmer world

  Outdoor workers may need to adapt to warming by moving labor from midday to cooler hours. Here the authors find this adaptation strategy loses efficacy under additional climate change due to increased heat exposure in the coolest hours of the day.

  • Luke A. Parsons
  • Drew Shindell
  • June T. Spector

  ArticleOpen Access14 Dec 2021 Nature Communications
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  Shifting parental beliefs about child development to foster parental investments and improve school readiness outcomes

  Parents’ investments in their children are a critical input in the production of early skills, yet those investments differ across socioeconomic backgrounds. Here the authors show that variations in parental beliefs about the impact of such investments can be one of the sources of investment disparities, and report interventions that can potentially shift those beliefs.

  • John A. List
  • Julie Pernaudet
  • Dana L. Suskind

  ArticleOpen Access1 Oct 2021 Nature Communications
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  How social relationships shape moral wrongness judgments

  Moral judgments depend on relational context, with different normative cooperative expectations – relational norms – embedded in different social relationships, such as parent-child, romantic partners, siblings, or acquaintances. Here, the authors show how relational norms for care, hierarchy, reciprocity, and mating are embedded in a set of everyday social relationships in the United States, and use this information to predict out-of-sample moral judgments in relational context.

  • Brian D. Earp
  • Killian L. McLoughlin
  • Molly J. Crockett

  ArticleOpen Access1 Oct 2021 Nature Communications
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  Scientific prizes and the extraordinary growth of scientific topics

  Scientific revolutions have famously inspired scientists and innovation but large-scale analyses of scientific revolutions in modern science are rare. Here, the authors investigate one possible factor connected with a topic’s extraordinary growth—scientific prizes.

  • Ching Jin
  • Yifang Ma
  • Brian Uzzi

  ArticleOpen Access5 Oct 2021 Nature Communications
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  Wise reasoning, intergroup positivity, and attitude polarization across contexts

  Here, the authors show that an integrative thinking process linked philosophically to wisdom may reduce group polarization. Specifically, wise reasoning improves intergroup attitudes and behavior even at time of heightened societal conflicts.

  • Justin P. Brienza
  • Franki Y. H. Kung
  • Melody M. Chao

  ArticleOpen Access3 Jun 2021 Nature Communications