Facebook as a Site for Inter-religious Encounters: A Case Study from Finland

The aim of this article is to analyse the social networking site Facebook as a possible platform for inter-religious dialogue. Building on a case study—an attack on a Buddhist temple in Turku, Finland, and the consequent interaction that took place online immediately following the attack—the article investigates the strengths and limitations of social networking sites such as Facebook for encountering and connecting with religious others. The ethnographic material—consisting of both Internet material and interviews with concerned parties—is discussed in close connection with current research on religion, social media, and discussions online. Themes that are highlighted include stereotypes and superficiality as assumed aspects of online conversations, the role of power in dialogue—both offline and online, and symbolic communicative actions and social networking sites.     

Drawing what lies ahead: False intentions are more abstractly depicted than true intentions

The aim of this study was to examine how people mentally represent and depict true and false statements about claimed future actions—so‐called true and false intentions. On the basis of construal level theory, which proposes that subjectively unlikely events are more abstractly represented than likely ones, we hypothesized that false intentions should be represented at a more abstract level than true intentions. Fifty‐six hand drawings, produced by participants to describe mental images accompanying either true or false intentions, were rated on level of abstractness by a second set of participants (N = 117) blind to the veracity of the intentions. As predicted, drawings of false intentions were rated as more abstract than drawings of true intentions. This result advances the use of drawing‐based deception detection techniques to the field of true and false intentions and highlights the potential for abstractness as a novel cue to deceit.     

In what conditions are intercultural practices implemented in disadvantaged and diverse settings in Portugal? Associations with professional and organization-related variables

Social Psychology of Education - Although intercultural practices are believed to be extremely relevant to combat educational disadvantages, evidence on the factors that are related to their...     

Flexibility and rigidity in hunting behaviour in rodents: is there room for cognition?

Animal Cognition - Predatory hunting is a complex species-typical behaviour involving different skills, some of which may include learning. This research aims to distinguish between rigid and...     

Testing Developmental Pathways to Antisocial Personality Problems

This study examined the development of antisocial personality problems (APP) in young adulthood from disruptive behaviors and internalizing problems in childhood and adolescence. Parent ratings of 507 children’s (aged 6–8 years) symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and anxiety, were linked to self-ratings of adolescents’ (aged 14–16 years) symptoms of depression, substance use, conduct problems, and somatic problems, to predict self-ratings of APP in young adulthood (age 20–22 years). The findings suggested a hierarchical development of antisocial behavior problems. Despite being positively associated with conduct problems in adolescence, neither internalizing problems nor substance use added to the prediction of APP in young adulthood from conduct problems in adolescence. The developmental pathways to APP in young adulthood did not differ by gender.     

Swedish adolescents’ experiences of cybervictimization and body-related concerns

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between cybervictimization and three body-related concerns: body-esteem, self-objectification, and internalization of body ideals. The aim was also to examine these relationships not only to cybervictimization in general but also to appearance-related cybervictimization more specifically. The sample comprised 482 adolescents (233 girls and 247 boys aged 13–15; two participants did not answer the question about gender) from four Swedish schools. The results showed that victims of appearance-related cyberbullying suffered from more body-related concerns: they had a poorer view of their general appearance and of their weight. They also reported more body shame, thin-ideal internalization, and appearance-related pressure from the media. This study shows that cyberbullying that focuses on the victim's appearance is associated with several body-related concerns that have not previously been studied. A novel finding was also that body-related concerns were not related to cyberbullying in general, as has been implied in earlier research, but specifically related to cyberbullying directed at the victim's appearance. The findings suggest that there is a need to include attention to the specific relationships between appearance-related cyberbullying and body-related concerns in future prevention and intervention work.     

Similarities and Differences in the Functions of Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury (NSSI) and Sex as Self‐Injury (SASI)

Differences and similarities were studied in the functions of two different self‐injurious behaviors (SIB): nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) and sex as self‐injury (SASI). Based on type of SIB reported, adolescents were classified in one of three groups: NSSI only (n = 910), SASI only (n = 41), and both NSSI and SASI (n = 76). There was support for functional equivalence in the two forms of SIB, with automatic functions being most commonly endorsed in all three groups. There were also functional differences, with adolescents in the SASI only group reporting more social influence functions than those with NSSI only. Adolescents reporting both NSSI and SASI endorsed the highest number of functions for both behaviors. Clinical implications are discussed, emphasizing the need for emotion regulation skills.     

Normalization of Racism and Moral Responsibility: Against the Exculpatory Stance

In this article, we take the case of racism in contemporary Italy as a starting point for a discussion about moral responsibility for racism in cases where ignorance is involved. We focus on the issue of the normalization of racism and its contribution to different forms of ignorance to assess the extent to which these might potentially mitigate judgments of responsibility for racism, thereby grounding an Exculpatory Stance. After illustrating the phenomenon of the normalization of racism and offering an outline of how the normalization of racism contributes to ignorance, we argue against the Exculpatory Stance by appealing to a socially situated variety of capacitarian approach to the epistemic condition of moral responsibility. This approach provides us with the tools to claim that the moral ignorance favored by the normalization of racism does not mitigate judgments of individual responsibility. Finally, we point out that the interdependence of individual responsibility and the social environment is such that, in addition to backward-looking individual responsibilities for racism, there are also forward-looking, both individual and shared, responsibilities to counter racism in its various manifestations and the increased risk of moral ignorance connected to its normalization.     

Hyperactivity,shyness, and sex: Development and socio‐emotional functioning

Based on formulations about the possible consequences for adaptation of gender non‐normative behaviour, we investigated predictive and concurrent relations of hyperactivity and shyness to various aspects of adaptation focusing on possible effects of sex. At ages 5–6, parents and preschool teachers rated hyperactivity and shyness for 151 children (50% boys). At age 9, we obtained teacher ratings of hyperactivity, internalizing and externalizing problems, self‐ratings of trait anxiety, and peer nominations of shyness, social preference, and aggression. Several effects of sex were found. Hyperactivity ratings were more strongly related across time and raters for boys than for girls. In the predictive analyses, boys' hyperactivity was more strongly related to aggression than was girls' hyperactivity, and in concurrent analyses, girls' hyperactivity was more strongly associated with low social preference than was boys' hyperactivity. There was a protective effect of shyness with regard to aggression that applied only to boys, that is, at high hyperactivity levels, boys with high shyness levels were less aggressive than boys with low shyness levels. There were also main effects of hyperactivity and shyness. In predictive and concurrent analyses, hyperactivity was associated with low social preference, high levels of externalizing problems and with aggression, whereas shyness was associated with high levels of internalizing problems. Finally, there was an interactive effect of hyperactivity and shyness. In the concurrent analyses, an exacerbating effect was demonstrated insofar as high shyness was associated with low social preference at high, but not at low levels of hyperactivity. The different developmental risks of hyperactivity and shyness were discussed.