{
  "id": 5344118,
  "title": "Male politicians show a spike in care-oriented language during peak periods of war",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/male-politicians-show-a-spike-in-care-oriented-language-during-peak",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-03T14:00:59.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/male-politicians-show-a-spike-in-care-oriented-language-during-peak-periods-of-war/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study of parliamentary speeches during the Israel-Hamas war has found that male politicians show a spike in expressions of care-oriented language when conflict reaches its peak. The research, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, suggests that female politicians consistently use more care-based language. Professor Alexander D. Stajkovic from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dr. Kayla S. Stajkovic from the University of California, Davis, emphasize that their findings challenge the notion that caring and strength are opposites in leadership. Instead, they argue that ethics of care leadership focuses on balancing traditional strategic duties with a public concern for those affected by decisions. The study analyzed 5.2 million words spoken by 152 legislators in the Israeli Knesset between October 2023 and January 2025, breaking down the data into monthly periods based on the intensity of the conflict. The researchers found that during peak months, male legislators expressed care-based leadership less frequently but those who did so were more likely to propose constructive policies, such as repair-oriented solutions and social inclusion. This relationship was not as pronounced for female legislators, whose higher care expression was more consistently linked to constructive policy suggestions.",
  "summary": "A new study of the Israeli Knesset reveals that politicians who use care-based language propose more constructive policies. While women express care more consistently, male lawmakers show a surprising spike in empathy during peak periods of war.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}