86 research outputs found
Ofer Grosbard, Babel: A Guide to the East–West Encounter
No full textIn the scientific community, the constructs of Individualism and Collectivism arouse particular interest, so that the amount of literature produced is large and diverse. Many authors contributed to the development of the construct both in terms of theoretical validity and on measurement techniques and tools. Ofer Grosbard's book Babel-A Guide to the East-West Encounter is an example of this trend. Starting from the proposal of new principles characterizing the two different paradigms of thought (Eastern-Collectivist, Western-Individualist), the author coined the term Thinking Vector which can be oriented externally or internally depending on the individual's mode of thinking. The author also proposes a questionnaire for measuring the Thinking Vector and suggestions for an optimal encounter between individuals with different paradigms of the mind. The book offers the opportunity to reflect on the explanatory significance of the constructs of Individualism and Collectivism on both a theoretical and methodological level
For “a meaning-centered, culturally oriented psychology” of climate change
No full textThe present paper emphasizes the central role of meaning in human action, highlighting how the analysis of its emergence and reproduction can offer insights into complex phenomena, including the challenges posed by contemporary society, with a particular focus on the climate crisis. A microgenetic model of the constitution of experience is initially proposed, followed by a presentation of the concept of “value of life” of signs. Next, the article introduces the Semiotic-Cultural Psychology Theory (SCPT), highlighting its processual interpretation of culture understood as a continuous sensemaking process. Two empirical studies are presented that apply the theoretical framework of SCPT, demonstrating the impact of meaning systems on pro-environmental behaviors: the first explores the relationship between wildfire risk perception and preventive behaviors and the moderating role played by symbolic universes, while the second analyzes the role of affect in the link between attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors. The results underscore the crucial importance of the symbolic universes and lines of semiotic force in shaping individuals’ perceptions, thoughts, and actions, suggesting relevant theoretical and practical implications for promoting a culture of sustainability
Hubert J.M. Hermans, Rob Bartels. Citizenship Education and the Personalization of Democracy. Routledge. 2021. 220~pp. Paperback. {ISBN} 9,780,367,467,890
No full textCitizenship education is a topic of great relevance in a historical period characterized by a strong change in social morphology. There is a shared awareness of the need to cross strict national borders in order to promote a broader sense of citizenship conceived in terms of globality. Hubert Hermans and Rob Bartels in the book Citizenship Education and the Personalization of Democracy, designed for undergraduate and graduate levels in higher education, support these goals by adding a psychological dimension based on the theory of the Dialogical Self. The authors aim to promote not only critical thinking in general, but also self-critical thinking, inviting students to examine the ways they relate to themselves. The book also underlines the personal and social responsibilities that everyone has as a citizen of a wider global community, that of the whole world, which must be preserved and respected from an ecological point of view. For this reason there is a need to develop "ecological identities" aware of being an integral and active part of the planet Earth. The book achieves these objectives through critical information on basic democratic principles, but mainly through the promotion of the personalization of democracy, through the exploration of students' life experiences
Redefining meaning: a micro-genetic model of the constitution of experience
No full textThis article aims to renew the discussion about meaning in the field of psychology. A model is presented that, contrary to the classical view of meaning as an entity taken for granted, explains the dynamics through which it comes to be constituted, opening itself to the possibility of being experienced, as a psychological reality. The autoethnographic analysis carried out by von Fircks (IBPS 53(4):632–643, 2023) is used as example to show how such a model enables an understanding of local phenomena through the comprehension of the semiotic dynamics underlying them. Finally, this paper offers insights into the mechanisms that underlie the field of possibility of meaning-making processes, thus of human experience
Psycho-social determinants of racism: from psychoanalysis and social psychology to a new interpretative approach
No full textRacism is a critical phenomenon that continues to pervasively plague contemporary society. There are many factors underlying the manifestations of hatred and discrimination. In this article, we decided to focus on the role played by psycho-social factors in the onset and maintenance of these problematic phenomena. The first part focused on the contribution of psychoanalysis, in understanding racism from the perspective of the unconscious mechanisms that perpetrate its expression. The second part sees the contribution of social psychology and of the theories about intergroup relations. The last part sees the contribution of the semiotic approach to cultural psychology, which offers an alternative framework capable of addressing the specific object of racism from a different and innovative angle; namely, that according to which this problem is determined by specific cultural models which influence how the individual attributes meanings to the signs of the world
I discorsi di odio come costruzione di senso. Note per una politica di promozione delle competenze semiopoietiche = Hate speech as a construction of meaning. Notes for a policy of promoting semio-poietic skills
No full textHate speech is one of the critical phenomena that characterize contemporary societies. In the first part of this work, a conceptual framework is proposed, in line with the uncertainty-affectivization model: that is, how social actors make sense of their experience under conditions of contextual uncertainty. According to this conceptual framework, the affective activation acts as a semiotic organizer and restores the subject's sensemaking destabilized by the uncertainty. In the final part of the paper, an intervention scenario is outlined, which proposes to consider tertiary settings as the hub of development of sense-making dynamics capable to generate innovative meanings to those produced through the affective activation
The influence of the new ecological paradigm and cultural worldviews on pro-environmental behavior
No full textTo achieve a sustainable future there is a need to gain a better understanding of what drives pro-environmental behavior. This study analyzes the role played by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and cultural worldviews on pro-environmental behavior. For this purpose, a national sample of 1726 Italian respondents completed a survey designed to measure the NEP, cultural worldviews (declined in terms of symbolic universes) and pro-environmental behavior. These variables were used in a model with pro-environmental behaviors as an outcome variable, the NEP as a direct predictor, and symbolic universes - grouped by polarization (moderate-extremist) and valence (optimistic-pessimistic) - as indirect predictors. The analyses revealed that the NEP has a direct influence on pro-environmental behaviors and polarized symbolic universes indirectly influence pro-environmental behaviors through the NEP. In addition, the valence of symbolic universes moderates the relationship between polarized symbolic universes and the NEP. The results are interpreted within the framework of Semiotic-Cultural Psychology Theory (SCPT) and highlight that taking people’s meaning-making into account can guide policy makers to understand what fosters or hinders adaptive responses to climate emergence
The representation of climate change: A retrospective newspaper analysis
No full textThis paper presents the results of an in-depth analysis aimed to identifyclimate change representations in four major Italian newspapers over 11years. The objectives of the study were to map the prevailing themes, to examinethe underlying semantic structures that shape the content of thesethemes, and to investigate the way they have evolved. To this end, the studyused the Automated Co-occurrence Analysis for Semantic Mapping(ACASM) procedure applied to a text corpus consisting of the journal articles.The results highlight four distinctive themes based on two basic structuresthrough which climate change is represented in the Italian media. Additionally, the study revealed significant temporal variability in the use ofthe themes during the period examined. Drawing on the framework of SemioticCultural Psychology theory, the implications of the findings are discussed,offering valuable insights into the perception and social representationof climate change in the Italian media landscape
The Search for Origins by the Adopted Children: The Perspective of Adoptive Mothers in the Italian Context
No full textThe present study examined Italian adoptive mothers’ perspective about Adoptee Searching for their Origins. 37 adoptive mothers were interviewed. Interviews were analyzed through an automated method for content analysis combining a combining Cluster Analysis and Correspondence Analysis. In their whole the results highlight the difficulty encountered by mothers who seem to chase a model of family normality rather than confront the specificity of their own family history. Beyond the results, the research work suggests professionals to support adoptive families in their life path, recognizing their specificity as a way to favor the integration of their children in a longlife perspective
A Tool to Analyze the Cultural Milieu: View of Context (VOC)
No full textThe View of Context (VOC) questionnaire is a tool for the analysis of the cultural milieu. It focuses on affect-laden meanings—according to the terminology adopted—symbolic universes and lines of semiotic force—that are at the basis of the dynamics of sensemaking substantiating the cultural milieu of a given social group. VOC has three major distinctive characteristics: (1) it is aimed at detecting both the content and the structure of the cultural milieu; (2) it adopts a free-scale approach, which makes the instrument applicable whatever the dimension of the social group (e.g., from a whole national population to members of a given community or organization); (3) it follows an endogenous, context-specific logic—that is, it maps the symbolic universes in the particular form that they have locally, in the cultural milieu under investigation, rather than classifying them according to a priori dimensions. The paper presents the characteristics of VOC. After outlining the conceptual and methodological rationale at its basis, the questionnaire is described. Afterwards, studies that have applied the VOC are reviewed. Finally, the concluding section presents some further considerations about the instrument
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