Psychology Research Digest
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Europe’s Journal of Psychology (EJOP) is a quarterly electronic publication of scientific psychology featuring original Research Reports, Theoretical Contributions and practical Tutorials written by and intended for psychologists worldwide. EJOP's main objectives are to expand, on the one hand, the publication space in which knowledge can be contributed by everyone and accessed by everyone without barriers. We therefore focus on creating an open research environment that maximizes transparency and accessibility.
Material Engagement Shaping Participation of Children on the Autism Spectrum: Embodiment and Subjectivity in Small-Group Learning
This study investigated the material engagement and their affordances for participation of children on the autism spectrum (AS) in small-group learning. Framed by a methodology called Idea Diary that fosters social interactions in classroom environments, our focus was on understanding how and when the construction and manipulation of the diary supported children's participation and knowledge construction in small groups. This investigation was guided by the intersection of the theory of...
Publication date: Fri, 09 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Shared Construction of Social Pretend Play Sequences at the Kindergarten
Pretend play is usually defined as an activity wherein objects and actions (but also affective expression, at times) are separated from their original meanings. Its developmental appearance is set around the second year of life, and increases dramatically in duration, frequency and quality when play episodes start becoming more complex, both linguistically and interactionally reaching its peak in preschool years. To date, however, little attention has been paid to how social pretend play emerges...
Publication date: Fri, 09 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Babies in the Corporeal Turn: The Cognitive Embodiment of Early Motor Development and Exploration in the Brazilian Context of Early Childhood Education
The corporeal turn in developmental psychology has rekindled interest regarding how early motor development contributes to and enhances cognitive development across the first years of life. By highlighting embodied perceptual-motor engagement with the world, embodied cognitive learning emphasizes the importance of experience and perceptual-motor mechanisms in modulating the development of person-environment systems. The field currently calls for research that combines such conceptual frameworks...
Publication date: Fri, 09 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>An Ecological Approach to Conceptual Thinking in Material Engagement
Although post-cognitivist approaches have shaken the status quo by emphasising the dynamic interactions among the brain, the body, and the environment in cognition, mainstream psychological theories continue to view concepts as primarily representational or skull-bound mental phenomena. As a result, the dynamics of action and the possible impact of material culture on conceptual thinking are poorly understood. In this paper, we explore the process and meaning of conceptual thinking from a...
Publication date: Fri, 09 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Gestures, Objects, and Spaces: Exploring Teachers' Multimodal Communication in Nursery Schools
This study builds on the increasing evidence that the multimodal nature of adult-child interactions and the use of objects play an important role in early linguistic development. Most of these studies analyzed dyadic interactions at home, whereas few research has been conducted in early childhood education and care settings. In this paper, we characterized the multimodal nature of teachers' communicative bids during classroom-based group interactions in nursery schools. Observational data of...
Publication date: Fri, 09 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Internet Addiction and Psychological Distress: Can Social Networking Site Addiction Affect Body Uneasiness Across Gender? A Mediation Model
CONCLUSION: This paper contributes to the existing literature on online addictive behaviors by also highlighting gender differences. The findings underscore the need for educational experiences that can prevent problematic use of the Internet and SNSs.
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Personal Growth and Motto Goals: Strengthening Emotion Regulation Ability via Affirmatory Metaphors Coaching
Interventions can foster personal growth. However, our understanding of the specific mechanisms for change and the types of interventions driving this growth process remains limited. In this study, we focused on emotion regulation ability as a potential mechanism. We examined the effects of an affirmation coaching intervention on changes in emotion regulation ability, an important facet of personality. In this coaching intervention, participants created a personal mantra/goal derived from a...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Accuracy and Speed of Emotion Recognition With Face Masks
Wearing face masks is one of the important actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among people around the world. Nevertheless, social interaction is limited via masks, and this impacts the accuracy and speed of emotional perception. In the present study, we assess the impact of mask-wearing on the accuracy and speed of emotion recognition. Fifty people (female n = 39, male n = 11) aged 19-28 participated in the study (M = 21.1 years). We used frontal photos of a Kosova woman who belonged to...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Correction of Alberto Dionigi, Mirko Duradoni, & Laura Vagnoli (2023). Understanding the Association Between Humor and Emotional Distress: The Role of Light and Dark Humor in Predicting Depression, Anxiety, and Stress
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.5964/ejop.10013.][This corrects the article DOI: 10.5964/ejop.10013.].
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Social Support and Adherence to Self-Care Behavior Among Patients With Coronary Heart Disease and Heart Failure: A Systematic Review
Cardiovascular diseases stand out as the foremost cause of mortality on a global scale and encompass conditions that require long term self-care. Coronary heart disease and heart failure are two cardiovascular conditions that require significant lifestyle modifications. Adherence to self-care is a multifaceted phenomenon, and is influenced by various factors that include social, economic, disease-related and healthcare system-related factors. A key factor in adherence to self-care in chronic...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Conspiracy Mentality: How it Relates to Populism, Relative Deprivation, Mistrust of Expertise and Voting Behaviour
Background and research aims. Considering the high prevalence of conspiracy theories and misinformation, there is an urgent need to explain the tendency to adopt a conspiracy mentality and identify behavioural (including voting) outcomes of a high conspiracy mentality. The aims of the present paper are 1) the examination of populist attitudes dimensions, relative deprivation and mistrust of expertise as predictors of conspiracy mentality and 2) proposal of comprehensive models, that combine...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>The Association Between Parental Generativity and Parent-Child Attitude-Similarity Through Parent- and Child-Reported Authoritative Parenting: A Replication
Generativity is the desire to pass something on to the coming generations. Through parents' and children's reports on authoritative parenting, parents' generativity is associated with how similar young adults think their attitudes are to those of their parent (Peterson et al., 1997; https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.5.1202). The present study represents a direct replication of these results. Altogether, a sample of 365 German parent-child dyads participated in the study (parents' age: M =...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Level of Effort and Economic Dishonesty: Are Expectations Relevant?
Some research has shown that expectations modulate people's economic dishonesty. These studies have allowed their participants to precisely establish the dishonest extra financial gain, without threatening their image of honesty. In this article, we show that in situations where our economic dishonesty is driven by hard-to-quantify motivators such as level of effort, it is difficult to change the categorization of (dishonest) judgments. Faced with this ambiguity, people make decisions guided by...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Does Existential Flexibility Associate With Individuals' Acceptance of Inequality? A Study Relating Existential Questing to Values and to Prejudice
This study investigated whether existential quest, a relatively new construct defining individual willingness to reflect on existential issues such as the meaning of life and death, was negatively associated with generalized prejudice through the mediation with personal values of universalism and conservation (conformity, security, and tradition). A structural equation model was performed on a convenience sample of 1136 Italian adults. Results confirmed a negative indirect relationship with...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Understanding the Relationship Between the Multidimensional Perfectionism and Self-Compassion in Adults: The Effect of Age
Literature suggests that perfectionism is associated to self-compassion. However, the multiple relationships between the types of perfectionism (adaptive, maladaptive and non-perfectionists) and the multidimensional construct of self-compassion have not been thoroughly examined. To this end, the present study aimed (a) to examine the relationships between the types of perfectionism and the self-compassion components in an adult sample and (b) to check the effect of age on the relationship...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Understanding the Association Between Humor and Emotional Distress: The Role of Light and Dark Humor in Predicting Depression, Anxiety, and Stress
Despite increasing interest in the relationship between humor and psychological distress, investigations have failed to focus on specific categories of humor and negative mental conditions. A sample of 686 Italian participants (187 men and 499 women), aged between 20 and 76 years, completed an online survey, data from which was used to investigate the relationship between eight comic styles, depression, anxiety, and stress. Findings from the multiple linear regression demonstrate benign humor as...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>"Liberty Can Be for You One Thing, and for Me Something Different": Muslim Women's Experiences of Identity and Belonging in Switzerland
Belonging and identity are fundamental human needs, with positive experiences closely correlated with affirmative mental health. This paper investigates how these concepts are experienced by Muslim women in Switzerland, a minority group targeted in the political campaign nicknamed the "burka ban." There were two research questions: How do Muslim women construct their identity in Switzerland? How do Muslim women experience a sense of belonging in Switzerland? Semi-structured interviews were...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>An Integrated Cognitive-Motivational Model of Ikigai (Purpose in Life) in the Workplace
In the Japanese philosophy of life, 'ikigai' broadly refers to having a 'reason for living', or a purpose in life. From a phenomenological and empirical viewpoint, ikigai is reported to increase human well-being and even life expectancy. However, it remains difficult to translate, define and formalize with regard to contemporary psychological theories. In this respect, the aim of this paper is twofold: to capture as accurately as possible what ikigai is, and to examine whether the concept...
Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400 Access the article >>Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
- Carl Jung, Psychological Reflections (1973)
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