1,721,013 research outputs found
Histories of Social Psychology in Europe and North America, as Seen from Research Topics in Two Key Journals
No full textThe study presented in this chapter compares European and US social psychology through the analysis of papers published by two pivotal journals in the discipline: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the European Journal of Social Psychology. Scientific production can be considered a starting point for the study of the history of a discipline as it includes theories, application domains and methods that contribute to delineate its trajectory. All the abstracts (from the first publication to the last one in 2016) of the papers of the two journals were collected. By means of a correspondence analysis, the existence of a latent temporal pattern in keywords’ occurrences was explored. Furthermore, in order to detect, retrieve and compare the main topics the journals dealt with over time, an analysis implemented by means of Reinert’s method was conducted. The topics evolution along time was thus observed and matched in the two journals. Results showed that the two journals have common trajectories particularly in their inception (among others, studies on aggression and attribution) and more recently (among others, studies on gender by means of implicit measures and culture). However, the distinctive feature that characterises the US social psychology, that is the attention on the individual aspects, and the one that characterises the European one, that is the attention on social aspects, seems to remain
Rappresentazioni della storia della psicologia sociale in Europa e Nord America attraverso l'analisi della produzione scientifica: European Journal of Social Psychology e Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Full text linkIf we consider a discipline as a historical product of the dynamics that exist between institutions, scientific communities and their practices (Danziger, 1995), scientific production, as a product of these dynamics, can be considered crucial to outline its history. Studying the history of a discipline starting from its scientific production means understanding how it is built around a specific community, since it contains its theories, methods and fields of application (Trevisani & Tuzzi, 2015, 2018). The aim of the present dissertation is to offer a representation of the history of social psychology in two communities or centres (cf. Danziger, 1996), European and North American, which are historically linked and at the core of debated issues in the field. Thus, we started from the study of the temporal evolution of contents in two central journals in their respective contexts: European Journal of Social Psychology and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In particular, we intend: 1) to offer a reflection on the contribution of the methods used to portray a history of a discipline, 2) to identify the direction of publications by highlighting hegemonic or marginal perspectives and methods and 3) to contribute to a reflection on the discipline itself. Since these journals convey the contents of the articles through keywords, all the titles and the abstracts of the two journals have been collected from their foundation (1971 and 1965 respectively) until the last issue of 2016. By means of a (lexical) correspondence analysis (SPAD software), the existence of a latent temporal pattern in keywords' occurrences has been explored. An overview of the words that characterised each year in each corpus is presented to observe and compare debated themes, processes, and methods covered by the two journals throughout the years. Furthermore, the main debated topics (that are clusters of words with a common meaning) by the journals and their temporal trajectories have been identified and compared by means of Reinert's method (1986) (IRaMuTeQ and R software) and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (Blei, Ng, & Jordan, 2003) (implemented in the R environment). The individual trajectories of the keywords were then tracked and grouped together based on their temporal pattern (Functional Data Analysis and Curve Clustering) in order to identify their "life cycle" (Trevisani & Tuzzi, 2015; 2018). Finally, some interviews with social psychologists were carried out to discuss some of the outcomes of the analyses, they were also invited to highlight methods and perspectives that might remain marginal to the field and to discuss on the overall history and development of the discipline. The results from all the moments of data collection and analysis were discussed a) by making a comparison between the journals and the literature, b) with respect to the methods used and c) reflecting on some questions posed in the beginning of this project - or that have emerged during the course of the work -considered relevant to fully explore the influence the history of the discipline to the field of Social Psychology
Risk Co-De model: a machine learning approach to monitor the risk construction in social media
No full textSocio-psychological processes such as denial, moral disengagement, and psychological distance can hinder the willingness to act in front of risks. In order to promote an effective risk communication, it is thus fundamental to identify these mechanisms and intervene timely. In this contribution, we will present the Consciousness to Denial (Co-De) model and discuss a derived machine learning tool. The model combines the different nuances of denial, disengagement, and distance into four macro and nine micro categories. These categories are at the core of a tool dedicated at analysing psychosocial processes expressed in natural language in social media communication. A total of 2813 tweets in Italian, related to major events (Covid-19 pandemic, climate change), were collected and manually annotated by four experts according to the nine micro-categories. We then identified the linguistic features (i.e. expressions in the language) of the model’s categories and created a training set to train machine learning algorithms aimed at the automatic classification of texts. Finally, we tested the effectiveness of the model. Prodigy annotation tool was used. Results showed a satisfactory accuracy in predicting the model categories. The effectiveness of the model and of resulting tools for implementing effective risk communication will be discussed, focusing on the potential of studying psycho-social processes through machine learning
When Novel and Familiar Look Alike: Testing the impact of comparison focus on familiarity and behavioural intentions towards ethnic food
No full textPeople are often reluctant when it comes to approaching novel food. This behavioural tendency falls under the label of food neophobia. Prior research based on mere exposure indicated that novel foods are more likely approached when perceived as more familiar. The present paper proposes a strategy to increase the perceived familiarity of ethnic food that is not based on direct exposure, but instead, on comparative thinking. Across three pre-registered studies (n=649), the impact of a comparison focus manipulation on familiarity, perceived closeness, and intention to try ethnic foods was tested. Participants were presented with ethnic recipes and asked to highlight the ingredients that made the recipe alike vs. different from known food. Study 1 revealed that focusing on similarities increased the perceived familiarity of an ethnic food relative to a no-comparison condition, but not to a difference condition. As the latter non-significant comparison was likely due to the specific features of the ethnic food considered, in Studies 2 and 3 a mixed design was adopted. Each participant was asked to process two different ethnic recipes, one assigned to a no-comparison focus task and the other to a comparison focus (similarity vs. difference) task. Results demonstrated that the food assigned to the comparison task increased in familiarity and perceived closeness, whereas the effect did not emerge on behavioural intentions. Crucially, this was true only when the comparison focus was on the similarities with Italian recipes. These findings provide useful insights for future research within the context of food-behaviour change
Sensing transit. The role of senses in slow tourism
No full textIn recent decades, slow tourism, a form of tourism marked by a change in tourists’ mode of transit within or to a locality, has garnered attention. Slow tourism is the result of specific entanglements of people, transport infrastructure, technology, spaces, and landscapes that specifically promote the use of regional trains, bicycles, or walking. This article analyses the sensory aspects of slow tourism at the junction of mobilities and tourism studies, to better comprehend its transit. Transit is the “mobile” backstage of most tourist encounters and often originates from various means of conveyance whose sensory engagement has been little investigated. This study employs data from an Italian online survey that polled slow travellers. The survey sought to test slow tourism “theories”, and to deepen the embodied meanings of “slowing down” through the involvement of the senses. It examined slow tourist trips between 2020 and 2022, and also enabled a better understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected this form of tourism. The findings were based on descriptive statistics and Natural Language Processing, including Semantic Network Analysis and topic detection. The results showed that slow tourism is often enacted through multi-modal transport modes, highlighting multifarious physical, mental, and sensory entanglements that are associated with nature and landscape. The different patterns of these entanglements denote different sensorial experiences of “slowing down” in tourism. The attainment of a more complete understanding of slow tourist transit, including its sensory features, will help policymakers to comprehend the phenomena, contributing to a more informed transition toward sustainability. Facilitating a more informed sustainability transition
The social construction of risk: Representing Covid-19 related risk via WhatsApp.
No full textEven in front of risk awareness, there is not always the willingness to act or to change one's lifestyle habits by responding effectively. Understanding the social construction of risk (SCR) can help to grasp this gap. This means, in the social representation (SR) theory, to approach the complexity of the meanings made of risks by people positioned within specific social contexts, and conceptualise lay readings of risk as forms of thinking based on common sense and generated in communication. During the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular in the lockdown periods, social media have become a privileged medium for interpersonal communication. Social media contribute to the SCR both by fostering the circulation of existing SRs of risks, and interpersonal interactions, also becoming means of construction. The present contribution aims at exploring the SCR related to the Covid-19 pandemic starting from the analysis of informal exchanges via WhatsApp, collected during the first part of 2020 and one year later (12936 exchanges). First, the content of SR has been analysed through a topic detection technique. Then emotional objectification and anchoring have been individuated. Results will be discussed reflecting on the role of SRs in preventing or fostering effective responses to risk
Ageing Well through Self-Other Positioning
No full textReferring to SR theory, the present study focuses on
how the elderly construct their own identity positioning
themselves in relation to Others. Episodic interviews
were analysed to identify main points-of-views in thinking about oneself in this period of economic crisis
The identity-attitude nexus in the representation of energy transition in a coal region (Sulcis, Italy). An exploration through Structural Topic Model
No full textThis paper explores the contribution of Structural Topic Model (STM) to study the intertwining of social representations, attitudes, and identities. We examine newspapers’ discourse on energy transition in a coal-dependent region (Sulcis, Italy), whose identity and economy are built around mining and carbon-intensive industry. Drawing upon Social Representations Theory, we combined STM and qualitative content analysis to examine how newspapers represented the energy issue in Sulcis, and how these representations (including denotative and connotative facets) differed according to the social identities’ salience. Results show that coal is legitimated by discourses making salient local identities and providing continuity in the place-identity link, with no alternative to extractivism. When the Sardinian superordinate identity becomes salient, new themes emerge (e.g., renewables) but energy transition maintains ambivalent or negative connotations. Overall representations seem to replicate and reflect processes of domination and injustice hindering a just transition, potentially explaining negative attitudes and collective resistance toward decarbonisation
Storie della produzione scientifica in psicologia sociale tra Europa e Nord America. Evoluzione dei topic in EJSP e JPSP
No full textMapping the meanings of decarbonisation: A systematic review of studies in the social sciences using lexicometric analysis
No full textThe present paper provides a systematic overview of the way decarbonisation has been treated in social sciences in recent years. Titles and keywords of 404 papers, published from 2015 to June 2020, and indexed in the Scopus database, were submitted to lexicometric and bibliometric analyses. Results confirm that decarbonisation has become a key term in social sciences research on energy, with a growing number of articles published by interdisciplinary journals. Key terms associated with decarbonisation shifted their focus from issues connected with production to broader themes related to sustainability and solutions. Governance, discourse in the social arena and public opinion are the main semantic associated areas emerging from the selected sample. Themes included in these areas range from biophysical and technological risks to social movements, issues of justice, and visions of the future. The overall picture detected in the current study poses further questions and suggests possible research paths concerning the voices and themes at the centre of the stage and those left in the shadows
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