Growing support for far-right parties in Europe casts further doubt on political scientist Francis Fukuyama’s idea of the end of history, which held that liberal democracy would prevail worldwide. Asking why voters from France to Finland are rejecting a system that helped rebuild societies after the second world war, psychologist Ralph Hertwig of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and psychologist Stephan Lewandowsky of the University of Bristol write that personal experience is a little-discussed factor. After nearly 75 years of “[experiencing] democracy and growing prosperity”, some Western Europeans “may underestimate the risk of democratic collapse”. How can new experiences help make up for unlived ones? The authors recommend visiting historical sites like the former Stasi prison in Berlin, and inviting immigrants who have lived under autocratic regimes into classrooms.

Interacting with a non-native speaker of your own language is common enough in cities worldwide, but research shows that listeners tend to assume that people with foreign accents are less linguistically competent than they may be. In light of this situation, Alice Foucart, a psycholinguistics researcher at Universidad Nebrija, Luca Bazzi, who holds a PhD in applied linguistics from the same university, and Suzanne Brouwer, a psycholinguistics researcher at Radboud University, discuss their study that showed that native Spanish speakers under-perceived irony in comments from speakers with Romanian-accented Spanish. How can native speakers be sure to catch someone’s drift and give them the respect they deserve? “Focus on what someone is actually saying, instead of the way they sound,” the authors write.

Children living today are often thought of as “digital natives”, but such status doesn’t necessarily indicate a healthy relationship with technology and the Internet. To help psychologists, educators and parents learn more about how children are doing, researchers from across the EU have developed the Digital Maturity Index, an assessment tool that includes categories such as “digital citizenship”, “risk awareness” and “regulation of negative emotions”. IE University’s Konstantina Valogianni, a professor of information systems and technology, and Aqib Siddiqui, a doctoral candidate in the same field, who both helped develop the Index, write that it was designed to help adults craft interventions for kids who may need help.

Parents also need to think about the potential effects of having AI-driven pets in their homes. Alisa Minina Jeunemaître, a marketing professor at EM Lyon Business School, allows that the furry Ropet is adorable, but raises questions about attachment and mental health.