Annalisa Versari

Sharing distress increases helping and contact intentions via social identification and inclusion of the other in the self: Children’s prosocial behaviour after an earthquake

We surveyed young children (N = 517) affected by two major earthquakes to shed light on the role of identity processes in relation to the common observation that disasters can bring survivors closer together and enhance helping amongst them. As expected, posttraumatic stress symptoms caused by the earthquake were positively associated with intentions to have contact with and help other survivors of the earthquake, these effects being sequentially mediated by inclusion of the other in the self and by one-group representation. These findings extend previous research on both the antecedents and the behavioural effects of identity-fusion. The results are also the first quantitative test of a social identity account of collective resilience in children. We argue that these findings have practical as well as theoretical significance, as they demonstrate the adaptive function of group processes in informal responses to disasters.

Out-group threats and distress as antecedents of common in-group identity among majority and minority group members in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of out-group threats in fostering one-group perceptions directly and indirectly via post-traumatic stress symptoms in the aftermath of a natural disaster. We also tested whether these relationships differ depending on the ethnic group of belonging (majority vs. minority). Participants were 589 Italians and 122 immigrants from a region strongly affected by the earthquakes that struck Northern Italy in 2012. Results revealed that among Italians threat stemming from negative out-group behaviour was associated positively with post-traumatic stress symptoms and negatively with perceptions of being a common group with immigrant survivors. Among immigrants, threat posed by the out-group for economic resources was positively associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms and, indirectly, with higher one-group perceptions.

Processi di autovalutazione in età evolutiva: aspetti metacognitivi e stili attributivi

Lo scopo di questa ricerca e lo studio della capacita di autovalutazione di 271 alunni della scuola primaria e secondaria ai quali sono state proposte due prove di ragionamento aritmetico e formale. Ai soggetti veniva richiesto di stimare il numero di risposte esatte che ritenevano di avere dato e successivamente di confrontare la propria prestazione con quella di soggetti a loro simili. I risultati dimostrano che per tutti i soggetti e in tutte le prove tra i punteggi reali e gli indici dell’autovalutazione vi e una relazione negativa e significativa. L’analisi dei giudizi comparativi conferma i risultati ottenuti da Kruger e Dunning (1999): i soggetti meno abili tendono a sovrastimare significativamente la loro prestazione mentre i soggetti piu abili tendono a sottostimarla. La prima tendenza e presente in tutte le fasce di eta ma la seconda emerge in misura significativa in seconda media. Questi risultati possono essere interpretati come la verifica che l’accuratezza della valutazione comparativa dipende da molte variabili, alcune di natura cognitiva e metacognitiva, altre riferibili all’autorappresentazione. Per questo motivo questi bias nell’autovalutazione sono stati riportati anche alla prospettiva dello stile attribuzionale causale (fattori interni vs esterni; controllabili vs non controllabili). In conclusione i processi cognitivi e metacognitivi vanno ricondotti anche alle dinamiche dell’autorappresentazione soggettiva ed ai bisogni della salvaguardia dell’immagine di se.