Social Sciences + Humanities

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Low-resolution online videos are less likely to influence opinion and also more likely to dissuade viewers from engaging with future content, research by Oregon State University scientists shows.

The study carries major implications for the design and delivery of video content and suggests that deviations from high-quality presentations can create repercussions regarding the video’s content, according to Christopher Sanchez of the OSU College of Liberal Arts.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – If you really like holding hands and saying “I love you” but your partner doesn’t, your relationship is still probably better off than if both of you had modest interest in expressing affection.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, scientists have published a new study that suggests a romantic relationship’s total amount of affectionate communication is a much stronger predictor of relationship satisfaction, trust and intimacy than whether each partner communicates at a similar level.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The children of people who grew up with parental acceptance and lack of negativity tend to struggle less with their own parenting, a new analysis indicates.

The study by researchers at Oregon State University and Utrecht University in The Netherlands also shows that the parenting people experience as young children is more likely to correlate with how they raise their kids than the parenting they receive as teenagers.

CORVALLIS, Ore – A new analysis of stone tools offers strong evidence for the theory that ancient people from the Pacific Rim traveled a coastal route from East Asia during the last ice age to become North America’s First Peoples, according to a paper published this week in the journal Science Advances.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Child care, particularly for children of preschool age, is becoming more available to Oregon families in many parts of the state, a new report by Oregon State University researchers has found.

Only nine of Oregon’s 36 counties are now considered preschool child care deserts, and child care supply has increased across the state since 2022, researchers found.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study from Oregon State University indicates that artificial intelligence can significantly enhance creativity in student writing, but only when instructors provide guidance about how to incorporate it into the creative process.

Researchers in the university’s College of Liberal Arts found that when students receive instruction on how to use AI, there is a significant increase in creativity over both their original writing and their AI use without instruction.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State University researchers found that U.S. adults are fairly confident in linking wildfires and heat to climate change, but less confident when it comes to other extreme weather events like hurricanes, flooding or tornadoes.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — An Oregon State University study found evidence that Indigenous groups in the Pacific Northwest were intentionally harvesting edible camas bulbs at optimal stages of the plant’s maturation as far back as 3,500 years ago.

The findings contribute to the growing body of research around Traditional Ecological Knowledge and practices, demonstrating the care and specificity with which Indigenous groups have been stewarding and cultivating natural resources for millennia.