Some Notes on the Census of Religious Bodies, 1926

In line with previous results that challenge the traditional primacy of warmth over competence in outgroup perception, we propose to bridge elements from stereotype content model and social identity theory: Perceivers will use the competence and warmth dimensions differentially when interpreting higher or lower status outgroup members' behavior. We test the hypothesis that the dimension that is less favorable for the outgroup and more favorable for the ingroup will be used. In particular, we investigate whether the warmth dimension would better predict the interpretation of higher status outgroup members' behavior than the competence dimension, whereas the competence dimension would better predict the interpretation of lower status outgroup members' behavior than the warmth dimension. Two studies separately test these effects. Results suggest the existence of a motivated bias in interpreting outgroup members' behavior, especially when there is ingroup identification.     

Factor Validity of the Beck Hopelessness Scale in Italian Medical Patients

The aim of the present study was to assess the factor structure of the Italian version of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) in a large sample of patients with medical conditions, comparing four different models proposed previously in the literature. Participants were 514 Italian adult patients with diagnoses of chronic daily headache, type 1 (insulin-dependent) or type 2 diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, open-angle glaucoma, human immunodeficiency virus infection, and women admitted for childbirth to a Department of Fetal–Maternal Medicine. All the patients were administered the BHS during routine visits. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to compare four models using several fit indices. The one-construct two-method model (i.e., the BHS measures one substantive hopelessness construct plus artifacts due to negative–positive item polarity) had the best fit indices and was more parsimonious than other models. The BHS seems to be a unidimensional measure of hopelessness, although there may be artifacts due to item polarity (i.e., positively and negatively worded items). Hopelessness scores differed in patients with particular medical diseases, with higher scores in conditions such as chronic daily headache and diabetes, and lower scores in patients positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and with open-angle glaucoma or epilepsy.     

Functions and Mechanisms in Structural-Modelling Explanations

One way social scientists explain phenomena is by building structural models. These models are explanatory insofar as they manage to perform a recursive decomposition on an initial multivariate probability distribution, which can be interpreted as a mechanism. Explanations in social sciences share important aspects that have been highlighted in the mechanisms literature. Notably, spelling out the functioning the mechanism gives it explanatory power. Thus social scientists should choose the variables to include in the model on the basis of their function in the mechanism. This paper examines the notion of ‘function’ within structural modelling. We argue that ‘functions’ ought to be understood as the theoretical underpinnings of the causes, namely as the role that causes play in the functioning of the mechanism.     

Early memories in young adults from separated and non-separated families

Two studies investigated the earliest memories of New Zealand European young adults (N = 80, Study 1 and N = 120, Study 2) from separated and non-separated families. Participants' earliest memories were assessed for age, for density (how far apart the memories were, Study 2) and for narrative coherence of the memories. Questionnaires were designed to investigate the role of changes in family structure, for example, in the number of adults in the participants' households and the timing of the parental separation. Study 2 further investigated stress and painful divorce-related feelings as additional variables in adjustment after divorce. No overall differences in age of earliest memory emerged between young adults from separated and non-separated parents. Within the group from separated parents, however, memories were earlier when parents separated early in the child's life (<age 7), which related to having extended family ties and more coherent memory narratives from early childhood (Study 2). Participants from separated families reported earlier but sparser memories when they reported higher levels of stress and painful feelings about the separation. The development of early autobiographical memories and the offset of childhood amnesia are discussed via transition and social interaction theories of autobiographical memory.     

Group Merger Between Political Parties: The Role of the Ingroup Projection Process

In 2007, the two most important Italian left‐wing parties merged into a single political entity. This study intends to analyze the merging process. Specifically, and in line with the ingroup projection hypothesis of Mummendey & Wenzel, we have explored whether the identification and the favoritism toward the upcoming common group was affected by the perceivers' projection of specific and common stereotypical traits from the subordinate groups to the superordinate one. Political militants' (N = 132) levels of ingroup identification; their representations of the previous ingroup, outgroup, and of the new party; and their attitudes towards the common group were assessed. Results confirmed that the cognitive representation of the merged party was shaped much more on the basis of the typical traits of the ingroup than of the outgroup. Moreover, structural equation analyses showed that the identification with the superordinate category and the consequent favoritism toward the merger were related to the projection of ingroup attributes. The findings also suggested that the ingroup projection may be particularly crucial when the intergroup bias is high. Finally, political implications are discussed in terms of obstacles and resources inherent to the merging process.     

From ghetto to emancipation: the role of Moisè Formiggini

The move toward emancipation of the Jewish ghetto society of late eighteenth-century Modena can be traced by studying its leader, the merchant Moisè Formiggini, and his advocacy of full political rights following the Napoleonic conquest of October 1796. Though not unprepared to deal with the novel freedom Napoleon brought, Modenese Jewry’s path toward emancipation was not straightforward. Officially, in Modena, there had been no Jewish question, no public debate. Yet though the Este Dukes granted the Jewish elite extensive liberties, they refused to give them civil rights. In a speech delivered in front of the new Modenese government, Formiggini drew from earlier Jewish apologetic works by Simone Luzzatto, Isaac de Pinto, Jacob Saraval, Benedetto Frizzi, and Isaac Valabrègue extolling Jewish commercial utility. But Formiggini did not discuss Jewish regeneration and never distinguished between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. He asked that Jews be recognized as “active citizens,” which included the responsibility of voting, the ability to hold public office, and access to university education and the liberal professions, and demonstrated awareness of legal rights obtained by Jews in 1791. Yet Formiggini and other leading Jews acted from within the community and held fast to their Jewish identity. By negotiating between gradual civil modernization and maintaining traditional communal networks and institutions, Modenese Jews moved gradually toward a new civil world.     

Facet analysis in the development of a general controlled vocabulary

Nuovo Soggettario is a verbal subject indexing system renewing the existing Soggettario used in many Italian libraries. The renewal work consists of substantive improvements in the structure and the relationships of the system, now making it a true faceted thesaurus. Facet analysis is a key part of this development, both in identifying a set of facets and categories to which terms in the thesaurus belong, and in providing a scheme of the roles they can play within a subject string, as well as rules for their citation order.     

Benign joint hypermobility syndrome: psychological features and psychopathological symptoms in a sample pain-free at evaluation1

30 subjects with BJHS (Hypermobile) (M age = 32.3 yr., SD = 10.4) and two control groups, 25 healthy subjects (Healthy) (M age = 33.9 yr., SD = 9.3) and 30 fibromyalgic patients (Fibromyalgic) (M age = 32.2 yr., SD=9.4), were given the Symptom Checklist-90-R, the Illness Behavior Questionnaire, the Female Functional Symptoms Frequency (FFF) and the Male Functional Symptoms Frequency (MFF), derived from the DSM-III-R, evaluating functional somatic disturbances and their intensity, and the Symptom Questionnaire. The mean scores for the Hypermobile group showed significant psychological distress and increased frequency and intensity of somatic symptoms. Scores on Anxiety and Somatic Symptoms, General Hypochondriasis, Disease Conviction, Affective Disturbance, Denial, and Irritability were significantly higher in the Hypermobile than in the Healthy group. Elevated scores were found for the Fibromyalgic group on the Illness Behavior Questionnaire subscales for Psychological vs Somatic Focus, Disease Affirmation, and Discriminating Factors when compared with the Hypermobile group. Considerable emotional symptoms were detected which should not be underestimated by physicians when establishing an integrated biopsychosocial therapy.     

Faces of Shame: Implications for Self-Esteem,Emotion Regulation,Aggression, and Well-Being

There is an increasing interest in psychological research on shame experiences and their associations with other aspects of psychological functioning and well-being, as well as with possible maladaptive outcomes. In an attempt to confirm and extend previous knowledge on this topic, we investigated the nomological network of shame experiences in a large community sample (N = 380; 66.1% females), adopting a multidimensional conceptualization of shame. Females reported higher levels of shame (in particular, bodily and behavioral shame), guilt, psychological distress, emotional reappraisal, and hostility. Males had higher levels of self-esteem, emotional suppression, and physical aggression. Shame feelings were associated with low self-esteem, hostility, and psychological distress in a consistent way across gender. Associations between characterological shame and emotional suppression, as well as between bodily shame and anger occurred only among females. Moreover, characterological and bodily shame added to the prediction of low self-esteem, hostility, and psychological distress above and beyond the influence of trait shame. Finally, among females, emotional suppression mediated the influence of characterological shame on hostility and psychological distress. These findings extend current knowledge on the nomological net surrounding shame experiences in everyday life, supporting the added value of a multidimensional conceptualization of shame feelings.