CP v2

Tag: Draugystė

  • Naujas tyrimas: motinų nepritarimas dažnai nutraukia vaikų draugystes, bet kaina gali būti didelė

    Daugelis tėvų atpažįsta situaciją, kai vaiko draugų ratas kelia nerimą ir norisi įsikišti. Dažnai atrodo, kad paprasčiausias kelias yra uždrausti bendrauti su „netinkamu“ draugu. Tačiau naujas ilgalaikis tyrimas rodo: toks sprendimas išties veikia, tik ne visada taip, kaip tikimasi.

    Žurnale Child Development paskelbtame dvejus metus trukusiame tyrime mokslininkai analizavo, kaip tėvų nepritarimas veikia vaikų draugystes. Tyrimą vykdė Florida Atlantic University ir Mykolo Romerio universitetas, o stebėjime dalyvavo 394 mokiniai nuo 9 iki 14 metų, jų santykiai buvo sekami tris semestrus.

    Nors vaikai ir toliau mokėsi tose pačiose klasėse, maždaug trečdalis artimiausių draugysčių per stebėjimo laikotarpį nutrūko. Tyrimo autoriai pažymi, kad dažniausiai lūžį nulėmė būtent motinos išsakyta neigiama nuomonė apie konkrečią draugystę.

    Kaip „suveikia“ nepritarimas

    Tėvai neretai mano, kad draudimas privers vaiką susimąstyti ir pačiam atsitraukti nuo žalingos įtakos. Tyrimo išvados rodo kitą mechanizmą: nepritarimas dažnai veikia kaip tiesioginis socialinis „stabdis“, mažinantis galimybes susitikti ir didinantis psichologinį spaudimą atsisakyti ryšio.

    „Motinos yra labai veiksmingos santykių „vykdytojos“. Dauguma draugysčių neišgyvena motinos pasmerkimo“, – sakė Florida Atlantic University psichologijos profesorius Brettas Laursenas.

    Pasak tyrėjų, dalis vaikų nutraukia santykį todėl, kad nori įtikti tėvams, priima jų argumentus arba susiduria su praktiškais ribojimais. „Gali būti, kad paauglys leidžiasi įtikinamas. Arba nori, kad tėvai būtų patenkinti. Arba draugystę užgniaužia tėvų nustatyti apribojimai“, – sakė pirmoji tyrimo autorė Goda Kaniušonytė.

    Kitu atveju draugystė nesubyra iš karto, bet palaipsniui praranda kokybę. Kai vaikas nuolat girdi kritiką apie draugą, santykyje atsiranda įtampa, mažėja šiluma ir parama, o draugas gali jaustis nepageidaujamas. Ilgainiui ryšys tampa toks nepatogus, kad nutrūksta savaime.

    Kodėl tai nebūtinai gera žinia

    Nors „uždraustas“ draugas dažnai iš tiesų dingsta iš vaiko kasdienybės, mokslininkai ragina tokios baigties nelaikyti pergale. Nutraukta draugystė gali reikšti, kad vaikas laikinai lieka be artimų ryšių arba yra priverstas rinktis iš mažiau tinkamų alternatyvų.

    Tyrėjai pabrėžia ir rizikas vaiko emocinei savijautai: socialinis atstūmimas, vienišumas ir silpnesnis draugų palaikymas gali didinti pažeidžiamumą bendraamžių patyčioms. Vaikai, neturintys draugų, dažniau atsiduria pažeidžiamoje pozicijoje klasėje ir kieme, o tai gali atsiliepti pasitikėjimui savimi bei elgesiui.

    Tyrime taip pat pastebėtas amžiaus skirtumas. Jaunesni vaikai po motinos įsikišimo dažniau patirdavo palaikymo sumažėjimą draugystėje, o vyresniems tai greičiau tapdavo tiesioginiu signalu ryšį nutraukti. Vis dėlto bendras scenarijus kartojosi abiejose grupėse: nepritarimas, prastėjanti santykių kokybė ir galiausiai išsiskyrimas.

    Ką siūlo mokslininkai vietoj draudimų

    Autoriai siūlo alternatyvą, kuri iš pirmo žvilgsnio gali atrodyti mažiau „griežta“, bet ilgainiui veiksmingesnė. Vietoj draudimų rekomenduojama stiprinti ryšį su vaiku, kurti namuose šiltą ir palaikančią atmosferą, o rizikingas situacijas aptarti ramiai ir konkrečiai.

    „Vietoj sunkios rankos geriau kurti namuose šilumos ir palaikymo atmosferą. Tai ne tik stiprina ryšį su tėvais, bet ir padeda vaikams atsispirti neigiamam bendraamžių spaudimui bei kurti sveikas draugystes“, – sakė B. Laursenas.

    Specialistų požiūriu, tėvų tikslas turėtų būti ne greitai „nukirsti“ nepatinkančią draugystę, o padėti vaikui ugdyti socialinius įgūdžius ir gebėjimą atpažinti riziką. Tai ypač svarbu paauglystėje, kai draugų įtaka didėja, o vien draudimai gali paskatinti slaptą bendravimą ir silpnesnį atvirumą namuose.

  • Cornell study suggests scent can predict platonic chemistry in minutes, and conversations may reshape what we smell

    New research from Cornell University suggests that scent plays a measurable role in how quickly strangers decide whether they could become friends. The study found that, within minutes, people’s reactions to another person’s everyday smell aligned with their impressions after a brief face-to-face chat.

    The work, published in Scientific Reports, examined how odor-based preferences interact with early social encounters. Researchers focused on friendship formation rather than romantic attraction, an area that has historically dominated social olfactory research.

    How the speed-friending test worked

    The study recruited heterosexual women who took part in four-minute speed-friending conversations. Participants also evaluated the everyday scent of other participants using T-shirts that had absorbed their normal, day-to-day odor.

    Researchers reported that individual, highly personal scent preferences predicted how much participants liked their interaction partners after the short conversations. Those patterns were not driven by a single universally appealing or unpleasant smell, but by idiosyncratic taste that varied by person.

    Everyday odor, not lab-made purity

    Instead of isolating a so-called natural body odor, the research leaned into what the authors describe as a signature scent shaped by daily life. That includes choices such as hygiene products, household environment, pets, and other common exposures that can influence how someone smells in real settings.

    In that sense, the study frames scent as part of a broader social signal people carry into first meetings, even if they are not consciously aware of it. The findings suggest smell is registered alongside conversation cues, body language, and other first-impression factors.

    Can a chat change how someone smells?

    One of the most notable findings was that the interaction appeared to work both ways. Participants’ ratings from the live conversation predicted shifts in how they later judged that same person’s T-shirt scent.

    That pattern suggests social experience can reshape odor perception, linking a person’s smell to the quality of the encounter. The researchers argue this feedback loop may help explain why people sometimes warm to someone over time, including on a sensory level.

    While the study focuses on a specific group and a controlled experimental design, it adds to evidence that scent influences social bonding beyond dating. The authors say future work could test whether similar effects appear across broader populations and in more natural social settings.

  • Long-term gorilla study finds friendship can boost survival yet raise health risks

    Friendship among mountain gorillas can pay off in some ways while creating new risks in others, according to a new long-running field study tracking health and reproduction. Researchers say the mixed outcomes may help explain why some individuals are more sociable than others.

    The analysis drew on more than 20 years of observations of 164 wild mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Scientists compared patterns of close social bonds with measures including illness, injuries from conflict and reproductive success.

    Benefits shift with group size

    The study found that the advantages of social ties depended heavily on a gorilla’s group environment, including group size and stability. What looked beneficial in one setting could become costly in another as competition and exposure to disease changed.

    For females, strong and stable relationships were generally linked to less illness, but the pattern was not uniform across groups. In smaller groups, more socially connected females tended to fall ill less often but also had fewer offspring.

    In larger groups, the relationship appeared to flip in important ways, with friendly females showing higher birth rates while also experiencing illness more frequently. Researchers suggested that crowded social settings may increase exposure to pathogens even as they improve access to support and mating opportunities.

    Male bonds trade illness for safety

    For males, tight social bonds were associated with getting ill more often, but those connections also came with a protective effect. Well-bonded males were less likely to be injured in fights, a major threat in a species where conflict can be severe.

    Lead author Robin Morrison of the University of Zurich said the findings suggest it is not simply a case of more social contact causing more disease. One possibility raised by the team is that maintaining close ties may carry energetic and stress-related costs for males, potentially affecting immune function.

    The work, conducted with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Zurich, underscores how social behaviour can be shaped by competing pressures. The authors argue that there may be no single best social strategy, because the optimal level of sociability shifts with sex, group context and life stage.

    The paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and adds to broader evidence that social environments can strongly influence health and lifespan across social mammals, including humans. At the same time, it cautions against assuming that more friends is always better, even in highly social species.

  • Study suggests strong social ties may slow biological aging, with epigenetic clocks offering new clues

    Study suggests strong social ties may slow biological aging, with epigenetic clocks offering new clues

    Building strong relationships throughout life — from loving parents in childhood to close friends, active communities, and faith involvement in adulthood — may actually slow how the body ages. Researchers suggest that these “social advantages” can influence biological aging markers known as epigenetic clocks, which track changes in DNA methylation. People who enjoy more supportive and connected lives often appear biologically younger than their chronological age.

    Long-Term Study Links Social Advantage to Youthful Biology

    The findings were published in the October issue of Brain, Behavior and Immunity — Health and draw on data from over 2,100 adults who participated in the long-running Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study.

    Anthony Ong, a psychology professor at Cornell University, and his colleagues discovered that people with greater “cumulative social advantage” — a measure of lifelong social and emotional support — tended to show slower biological aging and reduced chronic inflammation.

    Measuring the Pace of Aging

    The study examined two leading measures of biological age, called GrimAge and DunedinPACE. Both are epigenetic clocks that scientists use to predict health risks and life expectancy. Participants with richer and more consistent social relationships displayed younger biological profiles on both measures.

    “Cumulative social advantage is really about the depth and breadth of your social connections over a lifetime,” Ong said. “We looked at four key areas: the warmth and support you received from your parents growing up, how connected you feel to your community and neighborhood, your involvement in religious or faith-based communities, and the ongoing emotional support from friends and family.”

    The Biology of Connection

    The researchers hypothesized that sustained social advantage becomes reflected in core regulatory systems linked to aging, including epigenetic, inflammatory and neuroendocrine pathways. Remarkably, they found that higher social advantage was linked to lower levels of interleukin-6, a pro-inflammatory molecule implicated in heart disease, diabetes and neurodegeneration. Interestingly, however, there were no significant associations with short-term stress markers like cortisol or catecholamines.

    Why Lifelong Relationships Matter

    Unlike many earlier studies that looked at social factors in isolation — whether a person is married, for example, or how many friends they have — this work conceptualized “cumulative social advantage” as a multidimensional construct. And by combining both early and later-life relational resources, the measure reflects the ways advantage clusters and compounds.

    “What’s striking is the cumulative effect — these social resources build on each other over time,” Ong said. “It’s not just about having friends today; it’s about how your social connections have grown and deepened throughout your life. That accumulation shapes your health trajectory in measurable ways.”

    Connection as a Form of Investment

    This doesn’t mean a single friendship or volunteer stint can turn back the biological clock. The authors suggest that the depth and consistency of social connection, built across decades and different spheres of life, matters profoundly. The study adds weight to the growing view that social life is not just a matter of happiness or stress relief but a core determinant of physiological health.

    “Think of social connections like a retirement account,” Ong said. “The earlier you start investing and the more consistently you contribute, the greater your returns. Our study shows those returns aren’t just emotional; they’re biological. People with richer, more sustained social connections literally age more slowly at the cellular level. Aging well means both staying healthy and staying connected — they’re inseparable.”

  • How reward bias can make lies feel true, especially from friends

    How reward bias can make lies feel true, especially from friends

    New neuroscience research is adding detail to a familiar problem: people often struggle to spot dishonesty, particularly when the message sounds beneficial. The findings suggest that the promise of a gain can subtly weaken how carefully we evaluate whether information is true.

    The study, led by Yingjie Liu of North China University of Science and Technology, tested how people judge messages depending on who delivers them. Researchers focused on whether trust shifts when information comes from a friend versus a less familiar person.

    Inside the brain during deception

    Using brain imaging with 66 healthy adults, the team examined neural activity while participants exchanged information through computer screens. Messages were framed around outcomes described as gains or losses, allowing scientists to track how reward and risk contexts shape belief.

    Across the experiment, participants were more likely to accept false information in gain situations. Brain regions linked to reward processing, risk assessment and interpreting others’ intentions showed patterns consistent with relaxed scrutiny when a positive outcome seemed possible.

    Why friends can be persuasive

    Friendship added another layer: when a friend delivered the potentially misleading message, the pair showed synchronized brain activity. That alignment shifted with context, strengthening in reward-related areas during gains and in risk-related areas during losses.

    Researchers reported that these shared neural patterns helped predict when someone was most likely to be misled by a friend. The results point to a mechanism in which social closeness and reward expectations combine to make certain claims feel credible even when they should prompt doubt.

    While the work does not mean people always trust friends blindly, it highlights a consistent vulnerability. In everyday decisions, offers that appear mutually beneficial may deserve extra verification, precisely because the brain can treat them as safer than they are.