Psychology Hub

The indirect Need for Cognitive Closure effect on preference for men in authority

Conrad Baldner, Marta Viola, Antonio Pierro — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A recent research has found an effect of the need for cognitive closure, or the desire for stable and certain knowledge, on the acceptance on stereotypes of women as not wanting, and not being good at, roles involving authority. This study found an indirect, experimentally manipulated (i.e., acute) NCC effect, through these harmful gender stereotypes, on preference for men in positions of authority. According to NCC theory, individuals who have either an acute or chronic desire for stable and certain knowledge can accept many kinds of stereotypes, given that stereotypes themselves are perceived to be sources of stable and certain knowledge. As the NCC can be acute as well as chronic (i.e., an individual difference), we sought to assess the indirect effect of chronic NCC on preference for men in authority through acceptance of harmful gender stereotypes. We conceptually replicated this finding in a sample of 199 participants recruited from the United States. Given these results, we suggest avenues for future research.

Covid-19 Outbreak and Italian College Students’ Well-being: Evidence for both Negative and Positive Consequences

Yura Loscalzo, Marco Giannini — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The Covid-19 virus rapidly spread worldwide, with Italy being one of the most affected countries. College students might have experienced psychological and physical impairment due to this threat to their health and the uncertainty concerning their academic path because of universities’ unexpected and sudden closure. Hence, we aim to analyze college students’ well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: We gathered 6075 Italian college students (Mage = 23.60±5.02). They have been evaluated for depression, anxiety, stress, daytime sleepiness, and sleep quality impairment. MANOVAs, MANCOVAs, and one-sample t-tests (with students gathered before the pandemic as the reference group) have been performed. Results: During the Covid-19 pandemic, females and Humanities students experienced higher psychological and physical impairment than males and Technology students. Though, the participants generally experienced an amelioration in their well-being compared to students evaluated before the Covid-19 outbreak, indicating a positive effect of the pandemic. Conclusions: We suggest that Universities should increase their psychological services’ offering, including group counseling interventions. They should also plan to reduce the burden felt by their students during the “regular” academic life. They could allow students to attend lessons from home through recording, and they should try to reduce the overstudying climate.

Do text messages impact adolescents’ sleep? A Narrative Review

Martina Mesce, Luca Cerniglia, Silvia Cimino — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

New technologies, such as cell phones, are now a fundamental part of daily life and have become an essential tool in the social lives of all individuals. Adolescent sleep has been explored through various conceptual and empirical models and the most recent research shows that electronic media use has a significant role in sleep, especially during adolescence. This paper reviews the current knowledge of the impact of adolescents’ text messaging habits and their sleep health. A narrative review of the literature on the impact of texting habits on adolescents' sleep was performed. Empirical evidence concerning adolescents' sleep confirms the relevance of texting habits in developing and maintaining sleep disturbances. In particular, increased time spent texting after getting into bed is associated with insufficient sleep, insomnia, and irregular sleep patterns, such as social jetlag, tiredness in school, difficulties in both waking up and falling asleep, and differences between weeknights and weekends.

The Definition and Similar Constructs of Gratitude: A Critical Review

Bala R Subramanian, Munish Thakur, Gloryson Chalil — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the interest shown in the concept of gratitude over the last decade, there is no agreement on its definition and underlying dimensions. This paper provides a critical review of the definitions of gratitude and other similar constructs. A total of 22 definitions for gratitude were identified. The identified definitions were analyzed against each other for their commonality and differences. After highlighting the lacunae, lack of consensus, and overlap among the available definitions of gratitude, this paper differentiates gratitude from other similar constructs.

Representations of immigration on Facebook

Laura Prislei, Gabriele Di Cicco, Gilda Sensales, Enrico d'Urso — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This study proposes a psycho-social reading of immigration communication on Facebook by five Italian political leaders during the Conte II government (5 September 2019 to 13 February 2021).

The research is inserted into the theoretical framework of social representations that presuppose the complexity and tendentiousness of language by actively participating in constructing reality.

We analyzed the discursive construction of the migration phenomenon in the posts published by two leaders of the right and center-right populist parties (Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, respectively), the leader of the populist catch-all party 5-Star Movement (Luigi Di Maio), and two left-wing non-populist leaders (Nicola Zingaretti and Laura Boldrini), in order to ensure a comprehensive coverage of the different political ideologies in the Italian context.

From the entire corpus of posts published by the five leaders under examination during the analysed period, only the posts concerning immigration were selected, for a total of 1171 posts. Of these, 311 were pubblished by Giorgia Meloni, 760 by Matteo Salvini, 45 by Luigi Di Maio, 30 by Laura Boldrini and 25 by Nicola Zingaretti.

We noticed important differences in communication regarding the migration phenomenon, with the two right-wing populist leaders (Salvini and Meloni) more likely to publish posts about immigration and promoting a negative representation of the migration phenomenon, showing support for restriction policies and adopting an 'exclusionary' populist style, in contrast to Di Maio (who, despite being a populist leader, maintains a more neutral style) and especially the two left-wing non populist leaders Boldrini and Zingaretti who are advocates of a humanitarian attitude towards immigration.

Editorial

Fabio Presaghi, Carlo Lai, Francesco Gazzillo, Stefano Livi — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000