Society

Society: Understanding Human Nature and Behavior

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Keely Muscatell with an illustration of a brain

Brain-Body Breakthroughs

Psychoneuroimmunology. It's a mouthful, but it’s also a burgeoning field addressing how psychological stress impacts the brain and the body. Keely Muscatell is one of just a few scholars conducting research within this realm and is working closely with two PhD students to uncover the short- and long-term effects of one particularly ugly social experience: racial discrimination.

Karlisle Kirkland sits in front of a mirror covered in post-its with messages of self-compassion on them

Teaching Teens to Love Themselves

Karen Bluth has a mission to teach youth how to be compassionate with themselves. As a psychiatry professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, she researches how effective self-compassion practices are at improving the depression and anxiety of transgender teenagers.

An illustration of two hands out stretched to a pink heart with bandaids on it.

You Matter.

In the United States, suicide, suicidal ideation, and self-harm are public health crises among children and teens. To reduce these behaviors, researchers in the UNC School of Education and School of Medicine are addressing how school systems can help students return from hospitalization after a suicide-related crisis.

Alie Chandler plays the piano during a virtual session with a client

Clarifying Copyright to Improve Care

With the shift to online health care during the pandemic, media law expert Amanda Reid questioned how copyright affects the work of music therapists. After learning how it can dictate care, she wrote a paper proposing that Congress create an exemption for these services.

Jessica Griffiths hugs her 18-month-old daughter, Genevieve

Small Bodies, Big Stressors

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from UNC-Chapel Hill and Michigan State University is conducting a long-term study to determine how poverty-induced stress might impact an infant’s ability to grow and develop. They're collecting their data from two places: the brain and the gut.

photo by Andrew Russell

Luca Maini

Luca Maini is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. He studies how drug manufacturers compete and how the government regulates prices to get needed drugs into the hands of as many patients as possible.

Tatum Jolink at the Forest Theater with four couples posing behind her

We Just Clicked

Friends are essential to our happiness and health. Because they’re such a large part of our lives, Tatum Jolink wants to know how these lasting bonds begin. What occurs during our initial interactions with others that lays the foundation for long-lasting friendship — or even love?

On Being Human

For decades, philosophers have pointed to reason as the trait that differentiates humans from other beings. Now, as many scholars identify what makes humans similar to other creatures, philosophy professor Susan Wolf strives to discover other attributes that make us unique.

photo by Andrew Russell

Iheoma U. Iruka

Iheoma U. Iruka is a research professor in the Department of Public Policy within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences and founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition within the FPG Child Development Institute. She studies how to promote the health, wealth, and educational excellence of minoritized children and children from low-income households.