Zira Hichy

Reconsidering ‘virtuous circle’ and ‘media malaise’ theories of the media: An 11-nation study

This study, based on a content analysis of television news and survey in eleven nations, explores the split between those who see the media as politically alienating and others who see the media as encouraging greater political involvement. Here, we suggest that both positions are partly right. On the one hand, television news, and in particular public service television news, can be very effective in imparting information about public affairs and promoting a culture of democracy in which news exposure, public affairs knowledge, sense of democratic competence and political interest feed off each other. On the other hand, the views represented in public affairs news are overwhelmingly those of men and elites, which can discourage identification with public life.

Effects of basic human values on host community acculturation orientations

Although literature provides evidence for the relationship between values and acculturation, the relationship between host community acculturation orientations has not yet been investigated. In this study we tested the effects of four high-order values (openness to change, self-transcendence, conservation, and self-enhancement, devised according to Schwartzs model) on host community acculturation orientations towards immigrants (devised according the interactive acculturation model) in the public domain of employment and the private domain of endogamy/exogamy. Participants were 264 Italian University students, who completed a questionnaire containing the Portrait Values Questionnaire, a measure of personal values, and the Host Community Acculturation Scale, aimed at measuring Italian acculturation strategies towards three groups of immigrants: Immigrants (the general category), Chinese (the valued immigrant group), and Albanians (the devalued immigrant group). Results showed that personal values are related to the adoption of acculturation orientations: In particular, the values that mostly impacted on acculturation orientations were self-transcendence and conservation. Values concerning self-transcendence encourage the adoption of integrationism, integrationism-transformation, and individualism and reduce the adoption of assimilationism, segregationism, and exclusionism. Values concerning conservation encourage the adoption of assimilation, segregation and exclusion orientations and reduce the adoption of both types of integrationism and individualism. Minor effects were found regarding self-enhancement and openness to change.

Pronorm and antinorm deviants: a test of the subjective group dynamics model.

The authors replicated the study by D. Abrams, J. M. Marques, N. Bown, and M. Henson (2000, Study 2), performed to test the subjective group dynamics model (J. M. Marques, D. Abrams, D. Paez, & C. Martinez-Taboada, 1998). Participants were students enrolled in the psychology department at an Italian university. The present study considered the relationship between students and professors, and the attitude object was limited enrollment for admission to the department. Participants evaluated either in-group or out-group members. Findings replicated those of Abrams et al., except the in-group pronorm deviant was perceived to be less typical and evaluated less positively than the normative members. This finding suggests that, during an intergroup conflict, perception of the typicality of deviants exaggerating the in-group norms—and thus their evaluations—may increase as long as deviance is not perceived to be too accentuated.

Facial expressions and ability to recognize emotions from eyes or mouth in children

This research aims to contribute to the literature on the ability to recognize anger, happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust and neutral emotions from facial information. By investigating children’s performance in detecting these emotions from a specific face region, we were interested to know whether children would show differences in recognizing these expressions from the upper or lower face, and if any difference between specific facial regions depended on the emotion in question. For this purpose, a group of 6-7 year-old children was selected. Participants were asked to recognize emotions by using a labeling task with three stimulus types (region of the eyes, of the mouth, and full face). The findings seem to indicate that children correctly recognize basic facial expressions when pictures represent the whole face, except for a neutral expression, which was recognized from the mouth, and sadness, which was recognized from the eyes. Children are also able to identify anger from the eyes as well as from the whole face. With respect to gender differences, there is no female advantage in emotional recognition. The results indicate a significant interaction ‘gender x face region’ only for anger and neutral emotions.

The Role of Secularism of State on the Relationship Between Catholic Identity, Political Orientation, and Gay Rights Issues

In discussions of regulations governing same-sex marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians, the issue of state secularism is often called into question. This study aims to test the mediating effects of state secularism on the relationship between Catholic identity, political orientation, and gay civil rights. Participants were Catholic Italians who completed a questionnaire measuring the constructs under investigation. Results showed that state secularism mediates the effects of Catholic identity and political orientation on attitudes toward same-sex marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians.

The Interplay Between Religious Orientations, State Secularism, and Gay Rights Issues

The aim of this study was to test the effects of religious orientations (intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest) and secularism of state on attitude towards both same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. Moreover, the mediating effects of secularism of state on the relationship between religious orientations and attitude towards gay rights were assessed. Participants were 276 heterosexual, Catholic Italians who completed a questionnaire containing measures of the investigated constructs. Results showed that state secularism and quest orientation positively correlated with both attitudes investigated, whereas intrinsic orientation negatively correlated with both types of attitude. Moreover, secularism of state mediated the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic orientations and attitude towards both same-sex marriage and adoption by gay men and lesbians.

Effects of Political Orientation, Religious Identification and Religious Orientations on Attitude toward a Secular State

The debate concerning the secularism of the state always returns to the regulation of certain issues, such as same-sex marriage or embryonic stem cell research. In this study, we analysed the effects of political orientation, Catholic identity, and religious orientations (extrinsic, intrinsic, and quest) on the desire to have a secular state. Participants were 209 Italians who completed a questionnaire containing measures of the investigated constructs. The results showed that secularism of the state is negatively correlated with Catholic identity, extrinsic and intrinsic orientation, and right-wing political orientation, and is positively correlated with quest orientation. Moreover, the application of dominance analysis showed that intrinsic orientation dominates all other variables.

Facial Expressions and the Ability to Recognize Emotions from the Eyes or Mouth: A Comparison Between Children and Adults

ABSTRACT The authors sought to contribute to the literature on the ability to recognize anger, happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, and neutral emotions from facial information. They aimed to investigate if—regardless of age—this pattern changes. More specifically, the present study aimed to compare the difference between the performance of adults and 6- to 7-year-old children in detecting emotions from the whole face and a specific face region, namely the eyes and mouth. The findings seem to indicate that, for both groups, recognizing disgust, happiness, and surprise is facilitated when pictures represent the whole face. However, with regard to a specific region, a prevalence for children was not found between the eyes and mouth. Meanwhile, for adults, would seem to detect a greater role of the eye region. Finally, regarding the differences in the performance of emotions recognition, adults are better only in a few cases, whereas children are better in recognizing anger from the mouth.

Smartphone Addiction and Dissociative Experience: An investigation in Italian adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years

The aim of this investigation was the exploration of Smartphone addiction and dissociative experience and their consequences in adolescents.

Distanza sociale e disabilità: gli atteggiamenti degli insegnanti curriculari e di sostegno

L’obiettivo di questo studio era di indagare la percezione che gli insegnanti curriculari e gli insegnanti di sostegno hanno nei confronti della disabilita. A tale scopo, abbiamo somministrato un questionario a 56 soggetti per rilevare i vissuti di distanza sociale riferiti a quattro tipi specifici di disabilita (Sensoriale, Motoria, Intellettiva, Psichiatrica). I risultati mostrano che entrambi i gruppi di insegnanti hanno atteggiamenti simili per i vari tipi di disabilita ma atteggiamenti diversi verso la disabilita intesa come categoria generica. The aim of this study was to investigate the perception that regular education teachers and special education teachers have towards disability. To this end, a questionnaire investigating feelings of social distance referred to four specific types of disability (Sensory, Physical, Intellectual, Mental) was administrated to 56 participants. Results showed that both groups of teachers had same attitudes towards different kinds of disability; moreover, the two groups of teachers had different attitudes towards disability as a general category.