{"title":"Sexuality as Gendered: Understanding the Intertwining of Sexual Orientation and Gender Across Individual and Sociocultural Domains","authors":"P. J. Henry","doi":"10.1177/09637214261438050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261438050","url":null,"abstract":"The theory of sexuality as gendered holds that sexual orientation and gender are inseparably linked, shaping individual experience and perceptions as well as sociocultural systems. Although long recognized in feminist and queer theory and analyzed in some domains in the psychological sciences, this connection has the potential for much broader reach. This article advances the framework by outlining three broad hypotheses: Beliefs and behaviors toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual people will be grounded in gender norms; institutional treatment of sexual minorities will mirror patterns of gender equality and treatment of women; and known gender differences will reveal analogous differences by sexual orientation. Together, these hypotheses highlight the generative scientific potential of viewing sexuality and gender as intertwined rather than separate dimensions.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148322021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Developmental Change in Cortisol Reactivity Following Early Deprivation: Potential Links to Emotional Adjustment","authors":"Nicole B. Perry","doi":"10.1177/09637214261439665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261439665","url":null,"abstract":"Institutional rearing in infancy and early childhood followed by adoption into well-resourced homes provides information on the long-term sequelae of adverse care limited to the earliest years of life. The current article synthesizes research on cortisol stress reactivity and emotional functioning among previously institutionalized youth from early childhood through young adulthood. It examines potential mechanisms through which alterations in cortisol reactivity following early institutional care may contribute to behavioral and mental-health outcomes. Evidence is summarized showing that blunted cortisol reactivity is linked to emotional difficulties in previously institutionalized children during early and middle childhood, followed by recent findings that pubertal increases in cortisol reactivity toward more typical levels are paradoxically associated with heightened internalizing symptoms. The article concludes by outlining directions for future research to clarify the mechanisms connecting cortisol stress reactivity with psychological adjustment, with the goal of advancing understanding of emotional development following early adverse rearing.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148322020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katie A. McLaughlin, Sarah Kate Bearman, Maureen Zalewski
{"title":"Transforming the Youth Mental Health Workforce","authors":"Katie A. McLaughlin, Sarah Kate Bearman, Maureen Zalewski","doi":"10.1177/09637214261436736","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261436736","url":null,"abstract":"Youth mental health problems have increased dramatically in the past decade, whereas the availability of mental health providers has not. This workforce shortage reflects complex dynamics that make it difficult to increase the supply of providers through existing graduate-training pipelines. Task shifting involves transferring the delivery of healthcare services to providers with less specialized training and is one strategy with potential for growing the behavioral health workforce. Here we review evidence that nonspecialist providers can effectively deliver behavioral health services and argue that a bachelor’s-level mental health profession with standardized training in evidence-based practices may be a solution to growing workforce shortages. We describe the undergraduate program at the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health as a model for how to grow the youth behavioral health workforce through the creation of a bachelor’s-level profession with a scope of practice emphasizing the early identification and prevention of mental health problems. The replication of this program at other universities is underway alongside program evaluation and policy work to create the credentialing and billing mechanisms needed to support sustainable employment pathways for a new profession. We invite partnership with universities interested in joining the movement to create a coordinated workforce development solution to the youth mental health crisis.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148322023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Combining Psychology With Artificial Intelligence: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?","authors":"Iris van Rooij, Olivia Guest","doi":"10.1177/09637214261438379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261438379","url":null,"abstract":"The current AI hype cycle combined with psychology’s various crises make for a perfect storm. Psychology, on the one hand, has a history of weak theoretical foundations, a neglect for computational and formal skills, and a hyperempiricist privileging of experimental tasks and testing for effects. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, has a history of conflating artifacts for theories of cognition, or even minds themselves, and its engineering offspring likes to move fast and break things. Many of our contemporaries now want to combine the worst of these two worlds. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot. Does this mean that psychology and artificial intelligence can best part ways? Not at all. There are very fruitful ways in which the two disciplines can interact and theoretically contribute to cognitive science, for instance, by studying the scope and limits of computational models of human cognition. But to reap the fruits, one needs to understand how to steer clear of potential traps.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148287065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Raymond C. K. Chan, Ling-ling Wang, Yi Wang, Simon S. Y. Lui
{"title":"Revisiting Social Anhedonia: Beyond Monolithic Assessments and Interventions","authors":"Raymond C. K. Chan, Ling-ling Wang, Yi Wang, Simon S. Y. Lui","doi":"10.1177/09637214261436743","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261436743","url":null,"abstract":"Social anhedonia, the inability to experience social pleasure, is a transdiagnostic symptom. Current research on social anhedonia adopts a monolithic approach to evaluate and treat this complex symptom. In this article, we reconceptualize social anhedonia using a triune framework encompassing functional, ecological, and ethological validity. This framework can better guide the future development of assessment tools and interventions. Moreover, it addresses the online-versus-offline, contextualized-versus-decontextualized aspects of social anhedonia in the digital era. We argue that future assessment tools should adopt virtual reality and multimodal data-collection platforms. Personalized, dimension-specific interventions are likely to be more effective. Our timely revisit paves ways for more sophisticated, context-sensitive evaluations and interventions for social anhedonia.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148287067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jacob D. Teeny, Kimberly Klugescheid, Johannes Luther, Sandra C. Matz
{"title":"The Promise of Generative AI for Personalized Persuasion","authors":"Jacob D. Teeny, Kimberly Klugescheid, Johannes Luther, Sandra C. Matz","doi":"10.1177/09637214261424859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261424859","url":null,"abstract":"Generative AI (GenAI) has transformed many aspects of modern life. In this article, we explore the potential of GenAI for personalized persuasion: the process of tailoring the content of a persuasive message to an individual’s unique preferences, needs, and motivations. First, we describe how GenAI addresses the “identification-customization” challenge in personalized persuasion, and we offer a scoping review of the research supporting its effectiveness to date. Second, we introduce a framework that allows researchers to classify a study’s empirical approach according to several critical design choices, including (a) the data sources and types of personal information used to determine the personalized elements, (b) the complexity of the personalization approach, and (c) the delivery of the personalized content. This framework facilitates the integration of existing work and identifies important gaps in our current knowledge. We discuss promising avenues for future research throughout and conclude with a discussion of important ethical considerations.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148285805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implications of the Racial Position Model for Intraminority Relations","authors":"Linda X. Zou","doi":"10.1177/09637214261432563","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261432563","url":null,"abstract":"Whether people of color compete or coalesce has significant social and political ramifications. The Racial Position Model, which reveals that people of color in the United States are subordinated along the dimensions of perceived status and cultural foreignness, provides a theoretical framework through which to study intraminority relations. Asian, Black, and Latino Americans are divided from each other along both dimensions of the Racial Position Model, contributing to the perception of distinct group interests and goals that can impede coalition building across racial and ethnic lines. At the same time, by strategically emphasizing groups’ experiences with discrimination along shared or “matched” dimensions of subordination, group positions in the Racial Position Model can be leveraged to promote greater solidarity.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147731783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On Evaluating Abstraction and Analogy in Humans and Machines","authors":"Melanie Mitchell","doi":"10.1177/09637214261433528","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261433528","url":null,"abstract":"This article reviews two case studies in which AI systems were evaluated for abstraction and analogy-making capabilities and compared with those of humans. These studies illustrate how AI systems should be evaluated not only for accuracy on benchmark tasks but also for robustness to task variations and for insight into how the system is solving the tasks. These studies also illuminate the need for transparency, interpretability, and scientifically informed experimental methodology in AI evaluations.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147731784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Intellectual Humility in the Eyes of Others: Implications for Social Perception and Trust","authors":"Jonah Koetke, Karina Schumann","doi":"10.1177/09637214261419421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261419421","url":null,"abstract":"Prior research offers compelling evidence for the social, personal, and societal benefits of intellectual humility (IH). This article shifts the focus to social perception by examining the emerging literature on perceived IH—how people judge others’ awareness of their intellectual limitations. We describe how perceived IH enhances social evaluations in everyday and expert contexts and identify conditions under which high IH may backfire. We then outline key directions for future research, including the roles of identity, authenticity, and culture, in shaping how IH is perceived and socially rewarded.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147641457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Crossing Boundaries: A Culture-First Approach to Studying Early Learning","authors":"Su-hua Wang","doi":"10.1177/09637214261417958","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214261417958","url":null,"abstract":"How do children learn in everyday situations? This article reviews recent findings of cultural variation in effective support for infants’ learning and navigating challenging situations to illustrate a culture-first approach to studying early learning. It contrasts the paradigm that treats culture as a variable added to a generic process for differentiating outcomes across groups. Culture-first research begins with analyzing cultural frameworks of how learning is defined, practiced, and fostered by the focal community, which informs the selection of behaviors to measure. The culture-first approach shifts the perspective from deficit-oriented to strengths-based to identify different profiles of parental guidance that effectively support early learning and various strengths that children begin to develop during infancy. The article underscores the need to bridge domains and cross disciplinary lines toward an understanding of learning that is culturally construed from the outset to inform strategies to support all learners.","PeriodicalId":10802,"journal":{"name":"Current Directions in Psychological Science","volume":"141 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147641458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}