Shankar Vedantam

Despite being aware that the background music on a documentary about sharks was manipulating them, viewers found they were unable to keep the music from producing a sense of upliftment or of menace.

During an experiment, people consented to sharing their private information with the NSA, and to surrendering their first-born as payment for access to a fictitious social networking site.

Researchers find that long waiting times for surgery are not associated with worse health outcomes for patients. The study involved patients waiting for surgery in England.

A Stanford University researcher finds that products purchased mainly by poor people were increasing in price much more quickly than those purchased by the wealthy.

Teens showed an image that was deemed to have lots of "likes" tended to also like the image. Seeing popular pictures also produced greater activation in the reward centers of the brain.

An experiment found that parents cheated at a game less when their kids were present, but gender made a big difference: The parents modeled honest behavior more with daughters than with sons.

Presidential elections draw lots of attention, but voters also have to make lots of less familiar choices. The order in which their names are listed on the ballot can help candidates, a study shows.

To help ex-felons land jobs, many states have enacted a law that prevents employers from asking applicants to check a box to reveal criminal history. But these laws may not have the intended effect.

A new study looks at the link between racial bias and the Tea Party. Researchers found that people who looked at images of Barack Obama that were edited to make his skin look darker were more likely to express support for the Tea Party.

President Obama has tried to diversify the federal judiciary by appointing more black judges. Data show black federal district judges are overturned on appeal 10 percent more often than white judges.

Nearly one quarter of all Americans reach for a bottle of Tylenol every week to take the edge off a headache, fever or toothache. Experiments suggest it might also have another effect on you.

Barbara Wolfe and Jason Fletcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found children from lower income families have lower non-cognitive skills than children from richer families.

A new study looks at the psychology of giving wedding gifts. Researchers found when buying wedding gifts, people closest to the recipient often diverge from the registry to express their unique relationship to the recipient. But this leaves the recipient less happy than if they had received something from the registry.

A new study looks at friendships in the workplace. Researchers found friendships do improve workers' job performance reviews but they also detract from performance — leading to emotional exhaustion.

Why do so few women sign up for careers in science, technology, engineering and math? Research suggests having few women in college in these fields and in technology companies creates a vicious cycle.

Researchers examine the effects of student debt on the personal choices that young adults have to make. For example, decisions about whether to get married or when to have children.

Researchers found that students perform better in science where they read stories about how famous scientists struggled rather than when they read stories about what those scientists achieved.

In a new study on gender and ethics, researchers found women receive harsher punishments than men for ethical violations at work.

Researchers studying racial bias examined juvenile court cases between 1996 and 2012 and found judges are more likely to send juveniles of their own race to jail and for longer sentences.

A study examined the economic effects of the Affordable Care Act. Researchers found states that opted to expand Medicaid through Obamacare had residents with fewer unpaid bills and less debt overall.