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Back to Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)

All Work Published on Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)

Contextualizing Meaningful Social Interactions and Psychological Well-Being in Everyday Life
Mahnaz Roshanaei, Sumer S. Vaid, Andrea L. Courtney, Serena J. Soh, Gabriella Harari, Jamil Zaki
Jun 28, 2024
Research
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Using three large-scale longitudinal datasets collected from a cohort of university students over the span of 3 years (total N = 2,896 participants; ecological momentary assessments = 129,414), we found that engagement in meaningful social interactions with peers was associated with lower momentary loneliness and greater affective well-being. We also examined the role of four contextual factors (interaction partners, communication channels, places, and co-occurring activities) in explaining the relationships between meaningful social interactions and momentary well-being. Across samples, we found (a) participants reported experiencing greater loneliness and lower affective well-being after engaging in meaningful social interaction via computer-mediated channels (and via direct messaging in particular), compared to face-to-face, and (b) participants reported experiencing lower affective well-being after engaging in meaningful social interactions while dining and studying or working, compared to while resting. Taken together, our findings provide insight into the relationships between meaningful social interactions, momentary well-being, and contextual factors.

Contextualizing Meaningful Social Interactions and Psychological Well-Being in Everyday Life

Mahnaz Roshanaei, Sumer S. Vaid, Andrea L. Courtney, Serena J. Soh, Gabriella Harari, Jamil Zaki
Jun 28, 2024

Using three large-scale longitudinal datasets collected from a cohort of university students over the span of 3 years (total N = 2,896 participants; ecological momentary assessments = 129,414), we found that engagement in meaningful social interactions with peers was associated with lower momentary loneliness and greater affective well-being. We also examined the role of four contextual factors (interaction partners, communication channels, places, and co-occurring activities) in explaining the relationships between meaningful social interactions and momentary well-being. Across samples, we found (a) participants reported experiencing greater loneliness and lower affective well-being after engaging in meaningful social interaction via computer-mediated channels (and via direct messaging in particular), compared to face-to-face, and (b) participants reported experiencing lower affective well-being after engaging in meaningful social interactions while dining and studying or working, compared to while resting. Taken together, our findings provide insight into the relationships between meaningful social interactions, momentary well-being, and contextual factors.

Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)
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Research
Emma Lundberg
Associate Professor of Bioengineering and of Pathology
Person

Emma Lundberg

Associate Professor of Bioengineering and of Pathology
Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)
Person
From Privacy to ‘Glass Box’ AI, Stanford Students Are Targeting Real-World Problems
Nikki Goth Itoi
Feb 27, 2026
News

An Amazon-backed fellowship will support 10 Stanford PhD students whose work explores everything from how we communicate to understanding disease and protecting our data.

From Privacy to ‘Glass Box’ AI, Stanford Students Are Targeting Real-World Problems

Nikki Goth Itoi
Feb 27, 2026

An Amazon-backed fellowship will support 10 Stanford PhD students whose work explores everything from how we communicate to understanding disease and protecting our data.

Generative AI
Healthcare
Privacy, Safety, Security
Computer Vision
Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)
News
How Culture Shapes What People Want From AI
Chunchen Xu, Xiao Ge, Daigo Misaki, Hazel Markus, Jeanne Tsai
May 11, 2024
Research
Your browser does not support the video tag.

There is an urgent need to incorporate the perspectives of culturally diverse groups into AI developments. We present a novel conceptual framework for research that aims to expand, reimagine, and reground mainstream visions of AI using independent and interdependent cultural models of the self and the environment. Two survey studies support this framework and provide preliminary evidence that people apply their cultural models when imagining their ideal AI. Compared with European American respondents, Chinese respondents viewed it as less important to control AI and more important to connect with AI, and were more likely to prefer AI with capacities to influence. Reflecting both cultural models, findings from African American respondents resembled both European American and Chinese respondents. We discuss study limitations and future directions and highlight the need to develop culturally responsive and relevant AI to serve a broader segment of the world population.

How Culture Shapes What People Want From AI

Chunchen Xu, Xiao Ge, Daigo Misaki, Hazel Markus, Jeanne Tsai
May 11, 2024

There is an urgent need to incorporate the perspectives of culturally diverse groups into AI developments. We present a novel conceptual framework for research that aims to expand, reimagine, and reground mainstream visions of AI using independent and interdependent cultural models of the self and the environment. Two survey studies support this framework and provide preliminary evidence that people apply their cultural models when imagining their ideal AI. Compared with European American respondents, Chinese respondents viewed it as less important to control AI and more important to connect with AI, and were more likely to prefer AI with capacities to influence. Reflecting both cultural models, findings from African American respondents resembled both European American and Chinese respondents. We discuss study limitations and future directions and highlight the need to develop culturally responsive and relevant AI to serve a broader segment of the world population.

Design, Human-Computer Interaction
Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)
Your browser does not support the video tag.
Research
Julia Palacios
Associate Professor of Statistics and of Biomedical Data Science
Person

Julia Palacios

Associate Professor of Statistics and of Biomedical Data Science
Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)
Machine Learning
Person
AI Can’t Do Physics Well – And That’s a Roadblock to Autonomy
Andrew Myers
Jan 26, 2026
News
breaking of pool balls on a pool table

QuantiPhy is a new benchmark and training framework that evaluates whether AI can numerically reason about physical properties in video images. QuantiPhy reveals that today’s models struggle with basic estimates of size, speed, and distance but offers a way forward.

AI Can’t Do Physics Well – And That’s a Roadblock to Autonomy

Andrew Myers
Jan 26, 2026

QuantiPhy is a new benchmark and training framework that evaluates whether AI can numerically reason about physical properties in video images. QuantiPhy reveals that today’s models struggle with basic estimates of size, speed, and distance but offers a way forward.

Computer Vision
Robotics
Sciences (Social, Health, Biological, Physical)
breaking of pool balls on a pool table
News
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