Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jenna Watling Neal @jennawneal.bsky.social · 12h

TGIF! If you need a start of the weekend boost, this guy is amazing!

Damien Robitaille @damienrobitaille.bsky.social · Nov 29

PUMP UP THE JAM • Technotronic

4 years ago today !
Il y’a 4 ans seulement !

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Meltem Yucel @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social · 15h

Parents of 0- to 12-year-olds, come do science with us!

We run short, game-like studies with kids. We offer in-person and online options, flexible scheduling (weekdays & weekends), and sessions that are fun for children and easy for caregivers.

Moral Minds Lab - CHILDatabase Signup

redcap.link

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Social Development @socialdevelopment.bsky.social · 20d

Interested in measuring Big Five personality traits in upper-elementary students? Qingqing Du and colleagues adapted and validated a brief questionnaire among Chinese children with proved reliability and validity. Out now in our Methods Articles section
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Mapping Young Minds: Adapting and Validating a Brief Big Five Inventory for Chinese Children in Upper Elementary School

This paper describes the adaptation and validation of a brief Big Five Inventory for upper elementary school children in China. Two independent samples, comprising 1884 and 2245 children from Grade 4...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · 10d

Want to promote transparency and clarity in network research by helping develop 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 (𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃)?

Sign up to get involved here: tinyurl.com/help-with-GR...

▪️ All career stages welcome
▪️ All fields welcome
▪️ Be compensated for your time

GRAND Recruitment

Complete this short questionnaire to help develop Guidelines for Reporting About Network Data (GRAND).

tinyurl.com

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Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · 10d

Republicans are more likely than democrats to think the government should play a role in encouraging people to have kids.

But, there's also less support among Republicans for any actual government policies like subsidized childcare, family medical leave, or IVF coverage.

Pew Research Center @pewresearch.org · 10d

Over half of Americans (53%) now say fewer people choosing to have children in the future would negatively impact the United States. Still, a majority (56%) say the federal government should have no role in encouraging more people to have kids.

Growing share of Americans say fewer people having kids would negatively impact the U.S.

Over half of Americans (53%) now say fewer people choosing to have children in the future would negatively impact the United States.

www.pewresearch.org

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Ted Schwaba @tedmond.bsky.social · Sep 2

I'm looking for a PhD student to do some trailblazing at the frontier of personality genomics and lifespan gene-environment transactions (start Fall 2026)! If you want to work with me: psychology.msu.edu/graduatestud...
(PS @drmeltemyucel.bsky.social is taking a student too, in moral psych/dev!)

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Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · Sep 1

(No) Labor Day

A calico cat sleeping in a blue chair near a sunny window.

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · Jul 16

Not that there would be anything wrong with demonizing meat...

Steve Sando and the Rancho Gordo staff @ranchogordo.bsky.social · Jul 16

“I’m certainly not demonizing meat,” she added. “But I think beans are the best food in the entire world. They have a lot of fiber — which we don’t get enough of as a society — and they’re cheap, filling and full of protein.” 2/3

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Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · Jul 7

I'm disappointed in NPR's sensationalist coverage of this new UN report. They paint the issue as a problem (it's complicated), hold women responsible (they're not), and mainly describe the perspective of pro-natal think-tanks.

For a different take on the issue, check out thechildfree.org

NPR @npr.org · Jul 7

Far more families are choosing to have fewer — or no — children. Many countries, including the U.S., now face a rapidly aging population that could begin to shrink.

As women have far fewer babies, the U.S. and the world face unprecedented challenges

Far more families are choosing to have fewer — or no — children. Many countries, including the U.S., now face a rapidly aging population that could begin to shrink.

n.pr

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Social Development @socialdevelopment.bsky.social · Jul 1

In a new paper, Payton Nault and Michele Morningstar demonstrate that hat hostile attribution bias is linked to youth’s evaluation of tone of voice when selecting responses to peer provocation
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Hostile Attribution Biases and Evaluation of Vocally Enacted Responses to Peer Provocation in Early Adolescents

Hostile Attribution Bias (HAB) is the tendency to perceive ambiguous social information as threatening. The social information processing (SIP) model provides a theoretical framework for determining ....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Social Development @socialdevelopment.bsky.social · Jun 30

Publication alert! A 4-year longitudinal study by Xiyuan Xu and Lijn Zhang illustrates the complex interplay between temperament and culture in the development and differentiation of shyness in childhood.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Temperament, Parenting, and Trajectories of Anxious and Regulated Shyness in Chinese Children: A 4‐Year Longitudinal Study

Anxious shyness refers to social inhibition and wariness toward familiar peers or authority figures, possibly due to concerns about negative social evaluation. In contrast, regulated shyness is chara...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Jenna Watling Neal @jennawneal.bsky.social · Jun 23

Congrats! We’ll miss you!

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Miranda Lubbers @mirandalubbers.bsky.social · Jun 17

I just found out that the Sunbelt in Paris has a bluesky account! @sunbelt2025paris.bsky.social‬

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · Jun 11

Another excellent piece from a demographer, this time Stuart Gietel-Basten, on how "pronatalism is a dead end"

"Without addressing the root causes of low fertility—inequality, instability, and the incompatibility of work and family life—top-down efforts to “encourage” childbearing will fail"

The politics of pronatalism and the two-child benefit cap - British Politics and Policy at LSE

Nigel Farage supports the scraping the two-child benefit cap as a way of encouraging people to have more children. But pronatalist policies that offer a one-off "baby bonus" are not effective.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Lynda Boothroyd @drboothroyd.bsky.social · Jun 3

A common claim in #EvoPsych is that the persistence of psychological sex differences in gender-egalitarian* countries shows that the differences are innate. I've argued that ignores the highly-gender-unequal media environment. Now @larawood.bsky.social has proved me right!

#EHBEA
#HBES

Social Development @socialdevelopment.bsky.social · Jun 2

Children’s animated films inaccurately and consistently portray predators as male and prey as female. Young children learn and maintain these gender stereotypes into adulthood.

See thread by @larawood.bsky.social or read the whole paper
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Mr Predator and Mrs Prey: Gender Stereotypes in Children's Films Correlate With Explicit and Implicit Gender Stereotyping

Children acquire gender stereotypes at a young age and these subsequently influence cognition and behavior. Stereotypes may be learned through a child's direct observation of gender differences as we...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · Jun 4

Ironic that transit from #NetSci2025 @netsciconf.bsky.social is disrupted due to failure of a high-betweenness node.

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Social Development @socialdevelopment.bsky.social · Jun 2

Children’s animated films inaccurately and consistently portray predators as male and prey as female. Young children learn and maintain these gender stereotypes into adulthood.

See thread by @larawood.bsky.social or read the whole paper
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Mr Predator and Mrs Prey: Gender Stereotypes in Children's Films Correlate With Explicit and Implicit Gender Stereotyping

Children acquire gender stereotypes at a young age and these subsequently influence cognition and behavior. Stereotypes may be learned through a child's direct observation of gender differences as we...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Nicholas Landry @nwlandry.bsky.social · Jun 2

Software and Data satellite at @netsciconf.bsky.social:

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Lara Wood @larawood.bsky.social · May 29

🚨New publication... Children's films contain innacurate gender stereotypes and these corresespond to children's (and adult's) implicit and explicit gendered associations.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Read thread for more details...

Mr Predator and Mrs Prey: Gender Stereotypes in Children's Films Correlate With Explicit and Implicit Gender Stereotyping

Children acquire gender stereotypes at a young age and these subsequently influence cognition and behavior. Stereotypes may be learned through a child's direct observation of gender differences as we....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Jenna Watling Neal @jennawneal.bsky.social · May 28

I'm excited to be participating in this #NetSci2025 satellite on sharing network data and software next week!

Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · May 28

Going to #NetSci2025 next week? Check out the satellite on "Software and Data for Supporting Network Science"

Hear some great short talks & get involved:
▪️ Discussion on sharing data
▪️ Discussion on standards for describing data
▪️ Interactive software fair

Complete details at netsci.nascol.net

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Jenna Watling Neal @jennawneal.bsky.social · May 19

Oh! I really like that idea. I’d love to see the form you used.

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Jenna Watling Neal @jennawneal.bsky.social · May 19

Hi #AcademicBluesky

I'm prepping a new writing intensive undergrad course & am looking for resources and fun activities to build writing skills.

Any recommendations of what has worked for you? Bonus points for content related to AI, crafting clear arguments, and outlining papers.

Thanks!

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Zachary Neal @zpneal.bsky.social · May 13

𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐒

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐧
"𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬"

Do you use a classroom activity to help students understand networks? Share it with others in Connections!

Submit your abstract (up to 300 words) to [email protected] by 15 September 2025

We invite abstracts for short papers describing an interactive classroom activity designed to illustrate, demonstrate, or reinforce network features or processes. Submissions are welcome for activities designed:
• for teaching about any network feature or process
• for any level of student (e.g., high school, undergraduate, graduate)
• for any discipline (e.g., social science, natural science)
• for any course (e.g., specialty course on networks, general course with a module about networks)

We especially encourage abstracts co-authored by instructors who have designed/used the activity and students who have participated in the activity.

Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to submit a full paper in Spring 2026. Invited submissions will be peer-reviewed, and accepted papers will be published open-access in Connections at no cost to the author.

Submit your abstract (up to 300 words) to zpneal@msu.edu by 15 September 2025

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Reposted by Jenna Watling Neal

Slim Hiney @timdaggerboy.bsky.social · May 15

No thank you

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jimi adams @jimiadams.bsky.social · May 5

When what a tie is/represents remains undefined, interpreting any network analysis of those "data" becomes an impossible exercise in reading tea leaves.

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