Social Identity Theory: a critical synthesis of its bases, evidence and controversies

The social identity theory (SIT) and the self-categorization theory have had considerable influence on contemporary Social Psychology, making notable contributions to our understanding of the social dimension of behaviour. In the present work, we summarise the bases of these theories and critically review the most controversial elements of SIT, exploring its limits and potential. As shown here, the literature offers a heterogeneous body of research that includes outstanding efforts of synthesis and integration, but also numerous fragmentary studies and decontextualized interpretations that have generated distorted views of group behaviour. Taking into account the multidimensional, contextually mediated, dynamic and functional nature of identitary processes, which clearly emerge in the most serious works in the field, there is obviously a need to review the epistemological and methodological tools currently employed, with a view to developing practices that allow the study of group phenomena in a manner more suited to their complexity.     

Teacher Efficacy In the Context of Teaching Low Achieving Students

This paper focused on the efficacy of Singapore teachers who teach low achieving adolescent students. Three dimensions of self-reported teacher efficacy—instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement—were examined in relation to teacher attributes and the teacher–student relationship. Data were obtained from the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (Teaching and Teacher Education 17:783–805, 2001) and the Teacher–Student Relationship Scale Ang (The Journal of Experimental Education 74:55–73, 2005). Significant differences between novice teachers and experienced teachers emerged in teacher efficacy beliefs in relation to instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. Conflict in teacher–student relationship was found to predict teacher efficacy for teachers of low achieving students. Implications for teachers’ professional development were discussed.     

Identifying young people's guidance needs through telephone counseling.

This study examined the needs that young people in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, expressed in phone calls to a research unit of the Mexican Social Security Institute. Three hundred forty-five calls, from individuals 11 to 24 years old who phoned from June 1995 to November 1998, were analyzed. Two hundred ninety-four of the callers were female and 51 were male. Greater percentages of females than males called to ask about sexuality and family problems. Males more than females asked about reproductive health (particularly pregnancy) and mental health. There were significant differences by gender and age, differences that were not detected in health service statistics. The findings have implications for decision makers and health and education service providers. They point to the need for programs that will reinforce young people's good health practices and help them avoid risky behaviors.     

Beauty in the blink of an eye: The time course of aesthetic experiences

Under normal circumstances, perception runs very fast and seemingly automatic. In just a few ms, we go from sensory features to perceiving objects. This fast time course does not only apply to general perceptual aspects but also to what we call higher-level judgements. Inspired by the study on ‘very first impressions’ by Bar, Neta, and Linz (2006, Emotion, 6 , 269) the current research examined the speed and time course of three aspects of the aesthetic experience, namely beauty, specialness, and impressiveness. Participants were presented with 54 reproductions of paintings that covered a wide variety of artistic styles and contents. Presentation times were 10, 50, 100 and 500 ms in Experiment 1 and 20, 30 and 40 ms in Experiment 2. Our results not only show that consistent aesthetic judgements can be formed based on very brief glances of information, but that this speed of aesthetic impression formation also differs between different aesthetic judgements. Apparently, impressiveness judgements require longer exposure times than impressions of beauty or specialness. The results provide important evidence for our understanding of the time course of aesthetic experiences.     

Development and validation of the Granada Burnout Questionnaire in Spanish police

The goal of the present study is to develop a questionnaire, with proper psychometric properties and current norms, to evaluate the burnout syndrome in Spain. The operative definition of burnout proposed by Maslach and Jackson is used to define three dimensions (Emotional exhaustion, Depersonalization and Personal accomplishment). A total of 2,403 national Spanish police participated. Evidence of construct validity was checked through cross validation (showing a good fit of the three factors model to the data). Using the MBI, NEO-FII and CECAD evidence of convergent validity and criteria validity were developed (showing that the relations are similar to the ones that appear in other research). The discrimination, mean, standard deviation, and typical error of the average of the items composing the various dimensions were analyzed. Both the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the conditional standard error of measurement (CSEM) were calculated for each of the dimensions. The results showed good internal consistency (all α values > .85). Finally, the questionnaire was scaled using T scores. The psychometrical properties reported here support the use of this new questionnaire for the burnout evaluation in Spanish police.     

Adapting to Context in Community-Based Participatory Research: “Participatory Starting Points” in a Chinese Immigrant Worker Community

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is increasingly being used to better understand and improve the health of diverse communities. A key strength of this research orientation is its adaptability to community contexts and characteristics. To date, however, few studies explicitly discuss adaptations made to CBPR principles and processes in response to community context and partners’ needs. Using data from our CBPR study, the San Francisco Chinatown Restaurant Worker Health and Safety Project, and drawing from literature on immigrant political incorporation, we examine the links between the contexts of the Chinese immigrant worker community, adaptations made by our collaborative, and study outcomes. In particular, we explore the concepts of contexts of reception and participatory starting points, which may be especially relevant for partnerships with immigrant communities whose members have historically had lower rates of civic and political participation in the US. We discuss contextual findings such as worker partner accounts of language barriers, economic and social marginalization, and civic skills and participation, as well as subsequent adaptations made by the partnership. We also describe the relative effectiveness of these adaptations in yielding equitable participation and building partners’ capacity. We conclude by sharing lessons learned and their implications for CBPR and partnerships with immigrant communities more broadly.     

Experimental evidence of relaxation arising from the motion of geometrical kinks on screw dislocations in iron

Abstract

Internal friction measurements with a superimposed bias stress have provided evidence for geometrical kink migration on screw dislocations in iron. This intrinsic process causes a relaxation phenomenon in internal friction which has been identified with the occurrence of a subpeak (below 20 K) of the α-peak. The effect of different bias stress has allowed us to evaluate the kink migration energy, E ^m _k ? 0·001eV.     

Opening the Creative Mind of High Need for Cognitive Closure Individuals through Activation of Uncreative Ideas

Drawing on the integrative system theory of creativity combining the person, process, and press perspectives, this research offers the first evidence of how high-need-for-cognitive-closure (NFC) individuals’ creative mind can be opened up, by making them become more cognizant of uncreative ideas as consensually invalid solutions to creative problems. A validation study was conducted to first establish the utility of a newly developed chocolate design task. In the second study, half of the participants were made aware of conventional chocolate designs by drawing these designs before generating a revolutionized design of chocolate; the other half did not have to draw out the conventional designs first. Results confirmed that, given the opportunity to cognize uncreative solutions, high-NFC participants who had a higher creative ideation potential became the most creative. Their low-NFC counterparts, however, did not seem to benefit from the trigger of uncreative solutions. The implication that holding onto a chronic motive to attain cognitive closure or epistemic certainty is not necessarily detrimental to creative performance was discussed.