Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
- View all journals
Psychology articles from across Nature Portfolio
Psychology is a scientific discipline that focuses on understanding mental functions and the behaviour of individuals and groups.
New insights from gene expression patterns on the neurobiological basis of risky behavior
The tendency to engage in risky behavior relates to genetic predispositions and brain structure, but the molecular pathways linking genes to neuroanatomical changes remain elusive. A recent study reveals how specific gene expression patterns shape brain structures associated with risk-taking, suggesting a mechanistic pathway from genes to maladaptive behavior.
- Gökhan Aydogan
- Christian C. Ruff
Local government actions can curb air pollution in India and Pakistan
Burning crop waste causes devastating pollution in South Asia. When local administrators have appropriate incentives to control burning, incidents go down — a finding that could guide future efforts to manage air pollution.
- Satchit Balsari
- Manoj Mohanan
Electric cars could save billions in health-care costs
Improving air quality by discontinuing combustion-engine vehicles would slash health-care costs in the United States, but the projected savings in rural areas depend on how the replacements are powered.
- Abigail Klopper
Related Subjects
- Human behaviour
Latest Research and Reviews
Climate actions by climate and non-climate researchers
- Fabian Dablander
- Maien S. M. Sachisthal
- Jonas M. B. Haslbeck
A unified account of why optimism declines in childhood
Optimism declines across early childhood, but there is no theoretical account for why such changes occur. In this Perspective, Leonard and Sommerville discuss and integrate three candidate causes for age-related declines in optimism: learning from experience, theory development and valenced learning biases.
- Julia A. Leonard
- Jessica A. Sommerville
Evaluating cognitive penetrability of perception across the senses
The debate over cognitive penetrability of perception, which has been largely limited to vision, remains unsolved; in this Review, Vetter and colleagues detail cognitive influences on perception across vision, audition, somatosensation, vestibular perception and chemosensation to advance the debate.
- Petra Vetter
- Stephanie Badde
- Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
Global patterns of gender disparities in STEM and explanations for their persistence
Women remain underrepresented in some STEM fields throughout much of the world. In this Review, Cheryan and colleagues discuss four factors that might explain this underrepresentation — access to education and employment, masculine cultures, insufficient positive experiences, and men’s choices — and interventions that might help reduce these disparities.
- Sapna Cheryan
- Ella J. Lombard
- Katherine Weltzien
The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research
Across five pre-registered studies, Koetke et al. find that perceptions of scientists’ intellectual humility positively affect the perceived trustworthiness of scientists and their research.
- Jonah Koetke
- Karina Schumann
- Nina Vaupotič
Original actions performed by a beginner attacker modify defensive dispersion in small-sided soccer games
- Paulo Henrique Borges
- Lucas Shoiti Carvalho Ueda
- José Guilherme
News and Comment
Why we are all lab rats in the digital world
Researchers need to establish robust ethical protocols for online experiments.
How to do research in classroom settings
Research conducted in classrooms has theoretical, methodological and practical implications, but also entails addressing challenges related to internal and external validity, replicability and ethics. Here we illuminate the issues involved in each step of the research process and offer practical recommendations to address them.
- Sébastien Goudeau
- Matthew J. Easterbrook
- Marie-Pierre Fayant
Surprise finding reveals mitochondrial ‘energy factories’ come in two different types
Mitochondria divide to share the load when nutrients are scarce — plus, how smashing atomic nuclei together helps identify their shapes.
- Benjamin Thompson
- Emily Bates
Perceived climate justice
Aspirations for a just society can motivate individuals to engage in climate action; however, public awareness of climate justice remains low, and the extent of injustice within the climate crisis is often underestimated.
Racial biases in polygraphs and their legal implications
- Freya Whittaker
- Angelica DeFalco
- Daniel E. Bradford
The midlife crisis is not universal
Study of thousands of people in rural communities shows that many do not experience a slump in well-being during their forties and fifties.
Quick links
- Explore articles by subject
- Guide to authors
- Editorial policies
IMAGES
VIDEO