New research from a large survey study, co-authored by Husker political scientists Kevin Smith, Kyle Hull and Clarisse Warren, demonstrates the willingness of people to bend their morals — even behave unethically — when engaging in the political realm. Results also suggest that hostility toward outgroups is the driving factor for the moral ambiguity exercised when respondents switch from the personal to the political arena. The research was featured in Fast Company, PsyPost and Skeptic Society Magazine.
Jody Koenig Kellas, communication studies, was cited in a March 4 Deseret News article on the potential of using family history to improve youth mental health. “Not all stories and not all storytelling are equal,” she said during the RootsTech conference on March 1, with past experiences shared in “positive, hopeful, resilient ways” especially impactful. Yahoo! News picked up the story.
A new climatology tool available online from the High Plains Regional Climate Center provides detailed wind data for any location in Nebraska, as well as the center’s six-state region. The information has practical value for firefighting, agriculture and the energy sector. Stories on the tool appeared in KETV, Drovers and Iowa Farmer Today.
A Psychology Today blog post by Dawn O. Braithwaite, professor emerita of communication studies, was cited in a March 16 WKRG story on “work spouses” making a comeback. “The number of work spouses has increased due to: a) active organizational efforts to encourage employee camaraderie, b) longer hours spent working, in person or remotely, and c) cultural tendencies to name and define relationships,” Braithwaite wrote. Yahoo! News picked up the article.
Kelsy Burke, sociology, was quoted in a March 17 New York Times article on the coarsening of evangelical mores. “There’s an automatic assumption that men are more sexual than women and they have this hypersexuality that is natural,” said Burke, who has written about evangelicals and sexuality. A certain amount of lust is “a sin that they acknowledge but is also part of the natural male condition,” she said. Yahoo! News picked up the article.
