Antonio Aiello

Articulatory rehearsal and phonological storage in working memory

The theoretical distinction between an articulatory control process and a short-term phonological store was supported in five experiments on immediate serial recall. In Experiment 1, articulatory suppression during the presentation and recall of auditory material abolished the word length effect but not the phonemic similarity effect. In Experiment 2, the two latter effects were found to be independent with auditory presentation. In Experiment 3, the effects of irrelevant speech and word length were found to be independent with visual presentation. In Experiment 4, articulatory suppression during the presentation and recall of auditory material abolished the phonemic similarity effect with a slow presentation rate. Nevertheless, in Experiment 5, articulatory suppression with a conventional presentation rate did not reduce the effect of phonemic similarity, even when a 10-sec interval was interposed between presentation and recall. These results indicate that the encoding, maintenance, and retrieval of spoken material within the phonological store do not depend on a process of articulatory rehearsal.

Social dominance in context and in individuals: Contextual moderation of robust effects of social dominance orientation in 15 languages and 20 countries.

We tested the internal reliability and predictive validity of a new 4-item Short Social Dominance Orientation (SSDO) scale among adults in 20 countries, using 15 languages (N = 2,130). Low scores indicate preferring group inclusion and equality to dominance. As expected, cross-nationally, the lower people were on SSDO, the more they endorsed more women in leadership positions, protecting minorities, and aid to the poor. Multilevel moderation models showed that each effect was stronger in nations where a relevant kind of group power differentiation was more salient. Distributions of SSDO were positively skewed, despite use of an extended response scale; results show rejecting group hierarchy is normative. The short scale is effective. Challenges regarding translations, use of short scales, and intersections between individual and collective levels in social dominance theory are discussed.

Attitudes Toward Arab Ascendance Israeli and Global Perspectives

Arab nations are decades behind many other previously colonized nations in developing stronger economies, more democratic institutions, and more autonomy and self-government, in part as a result of external interference. The year 2011 brought the potential for greater Arab autonomy through popular uprisings against autocratic governments in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, and through the Palestinian request for state recognition by the United Nations. We examined the psychology of support for Arab ascendancy among adults in 14 nations in the Balkans, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and North America. We predicted and found that people low on social dominance orientation endorsed forming an independent Palestinian state and desired that the Arab uprisings succeed. Rejection of ideologies that legitimize outside interference with Arabs mediated this support. Measures and model results were robust across world regions. We discuss theoretical implications regarding the advent of new ideologies and extending social dominance theory to address international relations.

International support for the Arab uprisings: Understanding sympathetic collective action using theories of social dominance and social identity

Inspired by the popular Arab protests against oppressive regimes that began in 2010, people around the world protested in sympathy with the Arab peoples. The present research draws on two major theories of intergroup relations to develop an initial integrative model of sympathetic collective action. We incorporate social dominance theory’s (SDT) concept of (rejectionist) legitimizing myths with the solidarity and emotional mediation concept of the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) to understand motivations for sympathetic collective action among bystanders. Using data from 12 nations (N = 1,480), we tested three models: (a) SIMCA (i.e., solidarity, anger, and efficacy), (b) a social dominance theory model of collective action (i.e., social dominance orientation and ideologies concerning Arab competence), and (c) an integrated model of sympathetic collective action combining both theories. Results find the greatest support for an integrated model of collective action. Discussion focuses on theoretical pluralism and suggestions for future research.

Social dominance in context and in individuals: Contextual moderation of robust effects of social dominance orientation in 15 languages and 20 countries (vol 4, pg 587, 2013)

Pratto, F., Çidam A., Stewart, A. L., Zeineddine, F. B., Aranda, M., Aiello, A., Chryssochoou, X., Cichocka, A., Cohrs, J. C., Durrheim, K., Eicher, V., Foels, R., Górska, P., Lee, I.-C., Licata, L., Liu, J. H., Li, L., Meyer, I., Morselli, D., Muldoon, O., Muluk, H., Papastamou, S., Petrovic, I., Petrovic, N., Prodromitis, G., Prati, F., Rubini, M., Saab, R., van Stekelenburg, J., Sweetman, J., Zheng, W., Henkel, K. E. (2013). Social dominance in context and in individuals: Contextual moderation of robust effects of social dominance orientation in 15 languages and 20 countries. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(5), 587-599. (Original DOI: 10.1177/1948550612473663) On page 587 of the above article published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, author Monica Rubinis institutional affiliation was listed as the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland; however, her institutional affiliation was with the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy.

The work-related well-being of social workers: Framing job demands, psychological well-being, and work engagement.

Summary Social workers’ occupational health has become a central theme in the psychosocial literature. This study aimed at exploring how specific job demands and psychological well-being are related to work engagement. A sample of 140 Italian social workers was analyzed in accordance with the job demands–resources model. Participants were asked to complete a written questionnaire containing several measurement scales. Findings Multiple regression analyses showed that social workers’ psychological well-being was positively related to work engagement. Moderation analyses also indicated that, when psychological well-being was high (vs. low), job demands were associated to higher levels of work engagement, thus highlighting the buffering role of psychological well-being as a specific personal resource. When job demands were high (vs. low), the psychological well-being appeared to be strongly related to lowest levels of work engagement, showing that high job demands could reduce the fostering role of psychological well-being on social workers’ work engagement. Applications While administration of job demands may often be difficult in social work contexts, managers should be encouraged, as part of a systemic approach to training, to promote specific measures for improving social workers’ psychological well-being as a personal resource for promoting work engagement.

Emotional job demands within helping professions: Psychometric properties of a version of the Emotional Job Demands scale.

People working in helping professions are particularly exposed to emotional demands at work, as emotional situations are a typical component of helping relationships with service users. The main aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties of the Emotional Job Demands brief scale proposed by Xanthopoulou, Bakker, and Fischbach (2013) in the Italian context. The sample consisted of 302 Italian healthcare professionals. Exploratory, confirmatory, and multigroup factor analyses showed that the scale had a two-correlated factor structure which was invariant across gender, age, and professional seniority. The first factor — called “emotional charge of job” — captures the perceived emotional charge of a job and the second factor — called “dealing with users’ complaints” — captures the emotional demands of dealing with negative relationships with service users. The two factors were correlated with other constructs, as expected. The practical implications, limitations of the study, and possible future research lines are discussed.

QUOTIDIANI LOCALI, COMUNICAZIONE POLITICA E PERCEZIONE AMBIENTALE

Quotidiani locali, comunicazione politica e percezione ambientale - The present contribution concerns the interface role between politics and the readers that print media play, with reference to management choices which have an impact on the environment. We acknowledged that the influence of media on shared social representations within users’ communities is a strategic point for politicians’ research and building of consensus. Thus, this study focused on the content analysis of both the press conference on the Regional Landscape Plan held by the President of the Sardinia Autonomous Region and the articles published by the three newspapers at Regional circulation on such topic during the previous and the following days. Consistently with our hypothesis, the statistical analysis of the textual material show that the three newspapers mirror a clear and distinct political orientation, and use different newsmaking modalities, insofar confirming the openness to manipulation of the press conference tool in the political communication.