Internet source evaluation: The role of implicit associations and psychophysiological self-regulation

This study focused on middle school students\u2019 source evaluation skills as a key component of digital literacy. Specifically, it examined the role of two unexplored individual factors that may affect the evaluation of sources providing information about the controversial topic of the health risks associated with the use of mobile phones. The factors were the implicit association of mobile phone with health or no health, and psychophysiological self-regulation as reflected in basal Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Seventy-two seventh graders read six webpages that provided contrasting information on the unsettled topic of the potential health risks related to the use of mobile phones. Then they were asked to rank-order the six websites along the dimension of reliability (source evaluation). Findings revealed that students were able to discriminate between the most and least reliable websites, justifying their ranking in light of different criteria. However, overall, they were little accurate in rank-ordering all six Internet sources. Both implicit associations and HRV correlated with source evaluation. The interaction between the two individual variables was a significant predictor of participants\u2019 performance in rank-ordering the websites for reliability. A slope analysis revealed that when students had an average psychophysiological self-regulation, the stronger their association of the mobile phone with health, the better their performance on source evaluation. Theoretical and educational significances of the study are discussed

Sounding Strange(r): Origins, Consequences, and Boundary Conditions of Sociophonetic Discrimination

Talking is an immediate and rich form of communication. Through vocal signals we provide information about ourselves and our social background. In six empirical articles, one review article, and a commentary, this special issue gathers an integrated collection of research covering the effects of vocal cues associated with minority membership, in particular, in relation to sexual orientation and migration status. People infer speakers\u2019 nativity to the country and their sexual orientation by integrating vocal and visual cues. This diagnostic use of vocal cues can fuel intergroup conflict in two ways: It triggers discriminatory behaviors against those sounding strange(r) and language stigma triggers social anxiety among strange(r) speakers, resulting in selfstereotyping and social exclusion. The socionormative context plays a major role in containing the consequences of this phenomenon. This special issue prompts future development of social interventions to increase familiarity and normativity of acoustic social signals that deviate from the mainstream

Grounding Social Cognition in Space

The meaningfulness of links between space and social meaning is tackeld from a socio-cogntive perspective. We addressed the role of space in basic social-cognitive processes, such as group membership definition (differentiation of in-group vs. out-group), stereotyping (the attribution of characteristics on the base of social membership), emergence of prejudice (whether we prefer or dislike people because of their group membership), and creation of social status. We addressed the role spatial features play in these social phenomena, specifically focusing on three major spatial aspects, namely distance, verticality, and asymmetries in the horizontal axis. Each of these is linked to primarily one social aspect, namely social closeness, hierarchy, and agency, respectively. These links between aspects of the spatial environment and the social environment direct our cognition, behavior, feeling, and relations

Aesthetic asymmetries, spatial agency, and art history: A social psychological perspective.

The analysis of works of art provides a fertile meeting point between the arts and the sciences. In this chapter we focus on the statistical regularities that can be identified in large series of paintings, and we discuss possible explanations for such regularities, particularly assessing the extent to which spatial arrangement is used strategically in portrait paintings, and how this is related to Spatial Agency Bias. The availability of large corpuses of artistic images provides fertile ground both for generating and testing such theories. Spatial regularities in artworks can be explained in terms of embodiment theory, as a consequence of cultural determinants such as the direction of writing and reading, as well as being a consequence of social group membership of both observers and those being portrayed, invoking social psychological processes such as stereotyping and intergroup processes

"make it Happen!": Verbs as Markers of Agency Increase Message Effectiveness

Verbs may be attributed to higher agency than other grammatical categories. In Study 1, we confirmed this hypothesis with archival datasets comprising verbs (N = 950) and adjectives (N = 2115). We then investigated whether verbs (vs. adjectives) increase message effectiveness. In three experiments presenting potential NGOs (Studies 2 and 3) or corporate campaigns (Study 4) in verb or adjective form, we demonstrate the hypothesized relationship. Across studies, (overall N = 721) grammatical agency consistently increased message effectiveness. Semantic agency varied across contexts by either increasing (Study 2), not affecting (Study 3), or decreasing (Study 4) the effectiveness of the message. Overall, experiments provide insights in to the meta-semantic effects of verbs - demonstrating how grammar may influence communication outcomes

The indirect effect of a focus group for psoriatic patients on their caregivers

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease involving not only epidermic damages but also psychological distress for patients and their family caregivers. Little is known about the effects of a psychological support for psoriatic patients on their caregivers' well-being. The goal of the present study was to investigate the indirect effects of the participation in a dynamic focus group reserved for psoriatic patients on their caregivers in terms of quality of life. The study involved 52 psoriatic patients and 41 family caregivers. Patients' wellbeing was assessed using the dermatology quality of life index, hospital anxiety and depression scale. The impact of the disease on caregivers was assessed using the family dermatology life quality index (FDLQI). Data were analyzed with linear mixed models. The caregivers of psoriatic patients involved in the psychodynamic focus group reported levels of FDLQI that decreased over time, therefore showing an improvement in their quality of life in relation to the pathology of their relatives; the caregivers of patients who did not participate in the psychodynamic focus group, instead, had levels of FDLQI that were stable over time. The results provide preliminary evidence that the group setting of the Psychodynamic Focus Group may alleviate the negative impact of psychosomatic disease on the caregivers

Immigrations, styles and topics: A study about Italian politics tweet

Immigration has been one of the most relevant topics during the Brexit Referendum, United States presidential election, and Italian and European Parliament elections (e.g., Zappettini, 2019; Faris, Roberts, Etling, Bourassa, Zuckerman, & Benkler, 2017). In particular, during these events, the anti-immigration-politicalgroups gain consensus (Muis and Immerzeel, 2017). In this study, we investigate, with a text-Analysis of 1000 Italian political leaders' tweets, which topics are associated with negative or positive sentiment toward immigrants. The results show that negative messages are associated, in a logistic regression model, with a populistic communication style, and with conspiracy suspicions. Moreover, a network analysis reveals that anti-immigration messages are associated with security and justice topics, whereas pro-immigration messages are associated with the topics of civil rights, culture, and Europe. Stylistics elements of populist and conspiratorial communication and their relation with the diffusion of anti-immigration contents and related consequences on composition and transmission of values, in social media context, are discussed

Dynamic embodiment and its functional role: A body feedback perspective

The situated nature of memory is here discussed with a specific focus on body memory. The chapter describes two studies on the effects of dynamic movement qualities on memory and one study on the Spatial Agency Bias, that is the ten- dency to envisage action as evolving in the same direction in which we habitu- ally read and write. In addition to showing the situated nature of memory, we will for the first time provide evidence for its dynamic aspect. Situated memory will be discussed as functional in the interaction with the environment and body feedback as a key underlying mechanism