Social Sciences

Cognitive Scientist Shows How Culture Shapes Personality Traits

September 16, 2019

Complex societies produce people with more varied personalities. That’s the surprising finding of a cognitive science study that attempts to understand how people develop into who they are: social and ecological environments in which we develop have a lot to do with it. “The way...

Kids Under 2 Can Spy Deception in Others, Study Shows

In its most positive form, deception — when used in moderation — can be critical to maintaining social relationships. The ability to recognize and use deception is considered point of demarcation in a young person’s growth and maturation. UC Merced...

Professor Studies Link Between Youth Unemployment, Mental Health

Young people who are neither employed nor pursuing an education are vulnerable to mental health issues like depression and anxiety, but their commitment to finding work is surprisingly strong according a recent study coauthored by UC Merced Professor...

Project Aims to Fight Breast Cancer One Message at a Time

Research indicates that obesity can increase a woman’s risk of developing and dying from breast cancer. But while communication about healthy eating has proven to be effective, a growing and significant subset of the population might not be getting the ...

Standout Sociology Program Earns Approval for Grad Degrees

Current and prospective graduate students have new degree options at UC Merced, which recently received approval from the UC system and the WASC Senior College and University Commission for both master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology. Sociology...

Student Examines Role of Gender in Perception of Political Scandals

With the 2016 presidential race already in full swing, political science graduate student Kayla Canelo’s research is particularly timely. This spring and summer, Canelo designed and carried out a study that examines the effects of scandal on the public...

Alumnus Takes Trailblazing Spirit to Washington

David Do sits in his office in Washington, D.C. — nearly 3,000 miles from UC Merced — reflecting on the path he’s cut for himself. Do, who now serves as director of the city’s Office of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs under Mayor Muriel Bowser, has...

NIH Grant Charts Path to UC Merced Ph.D. for Fresno State Students

A new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will create a pipeline to doctoral degrees in biomedical and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Merced, for underrepresented minority students from California State University,...

SSHA Professors Conducting Summer Research Projects

Like their colleagues in science and engineering, researchers in UC Merced’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts are keeping busy this summer with a wide variety of projects. Among them: • Sociology Professors Tanya Golash-Boza and Zulema...

Grad Student Examines Use of Social Media in Health Care

The use of images and direct questions by health communicators on Facebook tends to increase user engagement, though linking to external websites and videos does not. Posts conveying positive emotions have no clear impact on engagement, while negative...

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