The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodologica... more The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodological framework grounding the analysis of the Models of Signification of Italian school principals. Second, we present the results of a survey conducted on a sample of Italian principals, aimed at studying their conceptions of school, starting from the assumption that such knowledge will aid in understanding the ways they orient their different organizational school practices
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutio... more The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutions and policymakers. The paper outlines a psychoanalytically grounded semiotic-cultural psychological interpretation of such a scenario. First, we underline how the actual emotional reaction (mainly of fear) of our society is a marker of how the mind functions in conditions of affective activation related to heightened uncertainty: it produces global, homogenizing and generalizing embodied interpretations of reality, at the cost of more fine-grained and differentiated analytical thought. Such a process, called affective semiosis, represents an adaptive response to the emergency in the short-term. Second, we argue that this adaptive value provided by affective semiosis will be reduced when we have to deal with the process of managing the transition to the post-crisis and the governance of the medium and longterm impact of the crisis. Third, we suggest that, in order to manage the pandemic...
Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversi... more Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversifying at a steady pace. Scholarly literature presents us with an array of typologies of participation, some of which were conceived theoretically, and others derived from empirical research. This paper studies how political participation surfaces in media discourse in Italy and Greece. Specifically, it seeks to understand the social representations of political participation in both countries between 2000 and 2015, and to see which typologies of political participation are reflected in such representations. A media analysis was carried out on a sizeable corpus of newspaper articles in both countries. Data were analysed using a combination of correspondence and cluster analysis. The results indicate higher internal differentiation and gradualness characterising the social representations of political participation in the Italian corpus. In Greece, there was the presence of more radical id...
The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping car... more The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping carried out between 2007 and 2009 on three different school populations (teachers, students, principals). Overall, the research included a sample of about 120 schools and 20.000 participants. The first survey concerns the students and is presented in the contribution The meaning of being at school: The Models of Signification of the school context in a sample of high school students ; the second one concerns the teachers and is presented in the contribution The representations of teachers’ role identity: A study on the “professional common sense” ; the third one refers to the school principals and is presented in the contribution The school system: A survey on school principals’ Models of Signification.
Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation impleme... more Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation implementing organizational autonomy so as schools were allowed to manage programs and interventions independently, although in line with standards from the National Education System. Because of their mediating positioning in-between technical and lay spheres, teachers have been charged to translate legal innovation into concrete forms thus challenging more or less established systems of shared meanings, representations and practices – i.e. “professional common sense” – across expert and commonsensical systems of knowledge. In line with social representations theory, this paper examines professional common sense of teachers interweaving representations of their role and professional identity as well as of education function and school contexts. A survey was conducted with 829 teachers (80% female) drawn from 29 education institutions (primary, middle, and high school) throughout Italy. Results ...
Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian nati... more Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian national sample (N=818) to test a culture-based model of populist voting. The model assumed that a set of socio-political orientations (i.e., support for democracy, civicness, egalitarianism, anti-elitism, confidence in institutions, and respect for diversity) would mediate the relationship between symbolic universes (i.e., generalized affect-laden sets of meanings) and mainstream vs. populist voting. The results supported the main hypotheses, revealing that populist voting was favoured by a combination of concern for democracy and distrust. As expected, symbolic universes affected socio-political orientations, while a structural variable such as socio-economic status proved to be irrelevant. Implications for the SCPT framework and for research on populism and voting behaviour are discussed.
Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative ... more Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative and psychological understanding of SLD. Few studies have been developed to detect SLD perception in school participants in reference to a cultural standpoint. Adopting a social constructivist perspective, which is part of a cultural framework, the present work aims at detecting the cultural models influencing the perception of SLD in a sample of parents and teachers. A multiple choice survey was administered to primary school parents (n = 1095) and teachers (n = 110), and a subsequent multidimensional analysis procedure consisting of both Multiple Correspondence and Cluster Analysis allowed the collection of cluster profiles describing SLD knowledge among the sample. Finally, a Chi-Square analysis investigated the significant differences in SLD perception among parents 1 Department of History Society and Human Studies, University of Salento. E-mail: alessandro.gennaro@unisalento.it. ...
Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, ... more Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, psychopathological conditions, social representations of phenomena, and ways of coping with others. The characteristics of affect have been traditionally investigated through physiological, self-report, and behavioral measures. The present article proposes a text-based measure to detect affect intensity: the Affective Saturation Index (ASI). The ASI rationale and the conceptualization of affect are overviewed, and an initial validation study on the ASI’s convergent and concurrent validity is presented. Forty individuals completed a non-clinical semi-structured interview. For each interview transcript, the ASI was esteemed and compared to the individual’s physiological index of propensity to affective arousal (measured by heart rate variability (HRV)); transcript semantic complexity (measured through the Semantic Entropy Index (SEI)); and lexical syntactic complexity (measured through the...
The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 Europe... more The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 European countries (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom). The analysis is based on a questionnaire (View of Context—VOC) applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. According to the methodological framework outlined in the previous chapter, responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis—a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified three fundamental dimensions of meanings, interpreted as lines of semiotic forces comprising the semiotic field of European societies: Affective connotation of the world—foe versus friend; Direction of desire—passivity versus engagement; Form of demand—demand for systemic resources versus demand for community bond. Moreover, 5 symbolic universes were mapped. Each symbolic universe corresponds to a basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldview: People in this study see the world as either (a) an ordered universe; (b) a matter of interpersonal bond; (c) a caring society; (d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; (e) a hostile place (others’ world).
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodologica... more The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodological framework grounding the analysis of the Models of Signification of Italian school principals. Second, we present the results of a survey conducted on a sample of Italian principals, aimed at studying their conceptions of school, starting from the assumption that such knowledge will aid in understanding the ways they orient their different organizational school practices
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutio... more The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutions and policymakers. The paper outlines a psychoanalytically grounded semiotic-cultural psychological interpretation of such a scenario. First, we underline how the actual emotional reaction (mainly of fear) of our society is a marker of how the mind functions in conditions of affective activation related to heightened uncertainty: it produces global, homogenizing and generalizing embodied interpretations of reality, at the cost of more fine-grained and differentiated analytical thought. Such a process, called affective semiosis, represents an adaptive response to the emergency in the short-term. Second, we argue that this adaptive value provided by affective semiosis will be reduced when we have to deal with the process of managing the transition to the post-crisis and the governance of the medium and longterm impact of the crisis. Third, we suggest that, in order to manage the pandemic...
Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversi... more Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversifying at a steady pace. Scholarly literature presents us with an array of typologies of participation, some of which were conceived theoretically, and others derived from empirical research. This paper studies how political participation surfaces in media discourse in Italy and Greece. Specifically, it seeks to understand the social representations of political participation in both countries between 2000 and 2015, and to see which typologies of political participation are reflected in such representations. A media analysis was carried out on a sizeable corpus of newspaper articles in both countries. Data were analysed using a combination of correspondence and cluster analysis. The results indicate higher internal differentiation and gradualness characterising the social representations of political participation in the Italian corpus. In Greece, there was the presence of more radical id...
The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping car... more The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping carried out between 2007 and 2009 on three different school populations (teachers, students, principals). Overall, the research included a sample of about 120 schools and 20.000 participants. The first survey concerns the students and is presented in the contribution The meaning of being at school: The Models of Signification of the school context in a sample of high school students ; the second one concerns the teachers and is presented in the contribution The representations of teachers’ role identity: A study on the “professional common sense” ; the third one refers to the school principals and is presented in the contribution The school system: A survey on school principals’ Models of Signification.
Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation impleme... more Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation implementing organizational autonomy so as schools were allowed to manage programs and interventions independently, although in line with standards from the National Education System. Because of their mediating positioning in-between technical and lay spheres, teachers have been charged to translate legal innovation into concrete forms thus challenging more or less established systems of shared meanings, representations and practices – i.e. “professional common sense” – across expert and commonsensical systems of knowledge. In line with social representations theory, this paper examines professional common sense of teachers interweaving representations of their role and professional identity as well as of education function and school contexts. A survey was conducted with 829 teachers (80% female) drawn from 29 education institutions (primary, middle, and high school) throughout Italy. Results ...
Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian nati... more Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian national sample (N=818) to test a culture-based model of populist voting. The model assumed that a set of socio-political orientations (i.e., support for democracy, civicness, egalitarianism, anti-elitism, confidence in institutions, and respect for diversity) would mediate the relationship between symbolic universes (i.e., generalized affect-laden sets of meanings) and mainstream vs. populist voting. The results supported the main hypotheses, revealing that populist voting was favoured by a combination of concern for democracy and distrust. As expected, symbolic universes affected socio-political orientations, while a structural variable such as socio-economic status proved to be irrelevant. Implications for the SCPT framework and for research on populism and voting behaviour are discussed.
Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative ... more Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative and psychological understanding of SLD. Few studies have been developed to detect SLD perception in school participants in reference to a cultural standpoint. Adopting a social constructivist perspective, which is part of a cultural framework, the present work aims at detecting the cultural models influencing the perception of SLD in a sample of parents and teachers. A multiple choice survey was administered to primary school parents (n = 1095) and teachers (n = 110), and a subsequent multidimensional analysis procedure consisting of both Multiple Correspondence and Cluster Analysis allowed the collection of cluster profiles describing SLD knowledge among the sample. Finally, a Chi-Square analysis investigated the significant differences in SLD perception among parents 1 Department of History Society and Human Studies, University of Salento. E-mail: alessandro.gennaro@unisalento.it. ...
Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, ... more Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, psychopathological conditions, social representations of phenomena, and ways of coping with others. The characteristics of affect have been traditionally investigated through physiological, self-report, and behavioral measures. The present article proposes a text-based measure to detect affect intensity: the Affective Saturation Index (ASI). The ASI rationale and the conceptualization of affect are overviewed, and an initial validation study on the ASI’s convergent and concurrent validity is presented. Forty individuals completed a non-clinical semi-structured interview. For each interview transcript, the ASI was esteemed and compared to the individual’s physiological index of propensity to affective arousal (measured by heart rate variability (HRV)); transcript semantic complexity (measured through the Semantic Entropy Index (SEI)); and lexical syntactic complexity (measured through the...
The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 Europe... more The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 European countries (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom). The analysis is based on a questionnaire (View of Context—VOC) applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. According to the methodological framework outlined in the previous chapter, responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis—a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified three fundamental dimensions of meanings, interpreted as lines of semiotic forces comprising the semiotic field of European societies: Affective connotation of the world—foe versus friend; Direction of desire—passivity versus engagement; Form of demand—demand for systemic resources versus demand for community bond. Moreover, 5 symbolic universes were mapped. Each symbolic universe corresponds to a basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldview: People in this study see the world as either (a) an ordered universe; (b) a matter of interpersonal bond; (c) a caring society; (d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; (e) a hostile place (others’ world).
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodologica... more The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodological framework grounding the analysis of the Models of Signification of Italian school principals. Second, we present the results of a survey conducted on a sample of Italian principals, aimed at studying their conceptions of school, starting from the assumption that such knowledge will aid in understanding the ways they orient their different organizational school practices
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutio... more The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutions and policymakers. The paper outlines a psychoanalytically grounded semiotic-cultural psychological interpretation of such a scenario. First, we underline how the actual emotional reaction (mainly of fear) of our society is a marker of how the mind functions in conditions of affective activation related to heightened uncertainty: it produces global, homogenizing and generalizing embodied interpretations of reality, at the cost of more fine-grained and differentiated analytical thought. Such a process, called affective semiosis, represents an adaptive response to the emergency in the short-term. Second, we argue that this adaptive value provided by affective semiosis will be reduced when we have to deal with the process of managing the transition to the post-crisis and the governance of the medium and longterm impact of the crisis. Third, we suggest that, in order to manage the pandemic...
Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversi... more Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversifying at a steady pace. Scholarly literature presents us with an array of typologies of participation, some of which were conceived theoretically, and others derived from empirical research. This paper studies how political participation surfaces in media discourse in Italy and Greece. Specifically, it seeks to understand the social representations of political participation in both countries between 2000 and 2015, and to see which typologies of political participation are reflected in such representations. A media analysis was carried out on a sizeable corpus of newspaper articles in both countries. Data were analysed using a combination of correspondence and cluster analysis. The results indicate higher internal differentiation and gradualness characterising the social representations of political participation in the Italian corpus. In Greece, there was the presence of more radical id...
The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping car... more The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping carried out between 2007 and 2009 on three different school populations (teachers, students, principals). Overall, the research included a sample of about 120 schools and 20.000 participants. The first survey concerns the students and is presented in the contribution The meaning of being at school: The Models of Signification of the school context in a sample of high school students ; the second one concerns the teachers and is presented in the contribution The representations of teachers’ role identity: A study on the “professional common sense” ; the third one refers to the school principals and is presented in the contribution The school system: A survey on school principals’ Models of Signification.
Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation impleme... more Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation implementing organizational autonomy so as schools were allowed to manage programs and interventions independently, although in line with standards from the National Education System. Because of their mediating positioning in-between technical and lay spheres, teachers have been charged to translate legal innovation into concrete forms thus challenging more or less established systems of shared meanings, representations and practices – i.e. “professional common sense” – across expert and commonsensical systems of knowledge. In line with social representations theory, this paper examines professional common sense of teachers interweaving representations of their role and professional identity as well as of education function and school contexts. A survey was conducted with 829 teachers (80% female) drawn from 29 education institutions (primary, middle, and high school) throughout Italy. Results ...
Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian nati... more Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian national sample (N=818) to test a culture-based model of populist voting. The model assumed that a set of socio-political orientations (i.e., support for democracy, civicness, egalitarianism, anti-elitism, confidence in institutions, and respect for diversity) would mediate the relationship between symbolic universes (i.e., generalized affect-laden sets of meanings) and mainstream vs. populist voting. The results supported the main hypotheses, revealing that populist voting was favoured by a combination of concern for democracy and distrust. As expected, symbolic universes affected socio-political orientations, while a structural variable such as socio-economic status proved to be irrelevant. Implications for the SCPT framework and for research on populism and voting behaviour are discussed.
Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative ... more Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative and psychological understanding of SLD. Few studies have been developed to detect SLD perception in school participants in reference to a cultural standpoint. Adopting a social constructivist perspective, which is part of a cultural framework, the present work aims at detecting the cultural models influencing the perception of SLD in a sample of parents and teachers. A multiple choice survey was administered to primary school parents (n = 1095) and teachers (n = 110), and a subsequent multidimensional analysis procedure consisting of both Multiple Correspondence and Cluster Analysis allowed the collection of cluster profiles describing SLD knowledge among the sample. Finally, a Chi-Square analysis investigated the significant differences in SLD perception among parents 1 Department of History Society and Human Studies, University of Salento. E-mail: alessandro.gennaro@unisalento.it. ...
Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, ... more Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, psychopathological conditions, social representations of phenomena, and ways of coping with others. The characteristics of affect have been traditionally investigated through physiological, self-report, and behavioral measures. The present article proposes a text-based measure to detect affect intensity: the Affective Saturation Index (ASI). The ASI rationale and the conceptualization of affect are overviewed, and an initial validation study on the ASI’s convergent and concurrent validity is presented. Forty individuals completed a non-clinical semi-structured interview. For each interview transcript, the ASI was esteemed and compared to the individual’s physiological index of propensity to affective arousal (measured by heart rate variability (HRV)); transcript semantic complexity (measured through the Semantic Entropy Index (SEI)); and lexical syntactic complexity (measured through the...
The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 Europe... more The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 European countries (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom). The analysis is based on a questionnaire (View of Context—VOC) applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. According to the methodological framework outlined in the previous chapter, responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis—a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified three fundamental dimensions of meanings, interpreted as lines of semiotic forces comprising the semiotic field of European societies: Affective connotation of the world—foe versus friend; Direction of desire—passivity versus engagement; Form of demand—demand for systemic resources versus demand for community bond. Moreover, 5 symbolic universes were mapped. Each symbolic universe corresponds to a basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldview: People in this study see the world as either (a) an ordered universe; (b) a matter of interpersonal bond; (c) a caring society; (d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; (e) a hostile place (others’ world).
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodologica... more The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we intend to present the epistemic and methodological framework grounding the analysis of the Models of Signification of Italian school principals. Second, we present the results of a survey conducted on a sample of Italian principals, aimed at studying their conceptions of school, starting from the assumption that such knowledge will aid in understanding the ways they orient their different organizational school practices
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutio... more The COVID-19 pandemic represents an extraordinary challenge to clinicians, health care institutions and policymakers. The paper outlines a psychoanalytically grounded semiotic-cultural psychological interpretation of such a scenario. First, we underline how the actual emotional reaction (mainly of fear) of our society is a marker of how the mind functions in conditions of affective activation related to heightened uncertainty: it produces global, homogenizing and generalizing embodied interpretations of reality, at the cost of more fine-grained and differentiated analytical thought. Such a process, called affective semiosis, represents an adaptive response to the emergency in the short-term. Second, we argue that this adaptive value provided by affective semiosis will be reduced when we have to deal with the process of managing the transition to the post-crisis and the governance of the medium and longterm impact of the crisis. Third, we suggest that, in order to manage the pandemic...
Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversi... more Various forms of political participation are found in democratic societies, and these are diversifying at a steady pace. Scholarly literature presents us with an array of typologies of participation, some of which were conceived theoretically, and others derived from empirical research. This paper studies how political participation surfaces in media discourse in Italy and Greece. Specifically, it seeks to understand the social representations of political participation in both countries between 2000 and 2015, and to see which typologies of political participation are reflected in such representations. A media analysis was carried out on a sizeable corpus of newspaper articles in both countries. Data were analysed using a combination of correspondence and cluster analysis. The results indicate higher internal differentiation and gradualness characterising the social representations of political participation in the Italian corpus. In Greece, there was the presence of more radical id...
The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping car... more The paper proposes a research composed of different surveys dealing with the cultural mapping carried out between 2007 and 2009 on three different school populations (teachers, students, principals). Overall, the research included a sample of about 120 schools and 20.000 participants. The first survey concerns the students and is presented in the contribution The meaning of being at school: The Models of Signification of the school context in a sample of high school students ; the second one concerns the teachers and is presented in the contribution The representations of teachers’ role identity: A study on the “professional common sense” ; the third one refers to the school principals and is presented in the contribution The school system: A survey on school principals’ Models of Signification.
Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation impleme... more Between 2000 and 2001, the Italian education system underwent an important transformation implementing organizational autonomy so as schools were allowed to manage programs and interventions independently, although in line with standards from the National Education System. Because of their mediating positioning in-between technical and lay spheres, teachers have been charged to translate legal innovation into concrete forms thus challenging more or less established systems of shared meanings, representations and practices – i.e. “professional common sense” – across expert and commonsensical systems of knowledge. In line with social representations theory, this paper examines professional common sense of teachers interweaving representations of their role and professional identity as well as of education function and school contexts. A survey was conducted with 829 teachers (80% female) drawn from 29 education institutions (primary, middle, and high school) throughout Italy. Results ...
Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian nati... more Inspired by Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, the study surveyed a representative Italian national sample (N=818) to test a culture-based model of populist voting. The model assumed that a set of socio-political orientations (i.e., support for democracy, civicness, egalitarianism, anti-elitism, confidence in institutions, and respect for diversity) would mediate the relationship between symbolic universes (i.e., generalized affect-laden sets of meanings) and mainstream vs. populist voting. The results supported the main hypotheses, revealing that populist voting was favoured by a combination of concern for democracy and distrust. As expected, symbolic universes affected socio-political orientations, while a structural variable such as socio-economic status proved to be irrelevant. Implications for the SCPT framework and for research on populism and voting behaviour are discussed.
Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative ... more Mainstream perspectives about Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) range between the rehabilitative and psychological understanding of SLD. Few studies have been developed to detect SLD perception in school participants in reference to a cultural standpoint. Adopting a social constructivist perspective, which is part of a cultural framework, the present work aims at detecting the cultural models influencing the perception of SLD in a sample of parents and teachers. A multiple choice survey was administered to primary school parents (n = 1095) and teachers (n = 110), and a subsequent multidimensional analysis procedure consisting of both Multiple Correspondence and Cluster Analysis allowed the collection of cluster profiles describing SLD knowledge among the sample. Finally, a Chi-Square analysis investigated the significant differences in SLD perception among parents 1 Department of History Society and Human Studies, University of Salento. E-mail: alessandro.gennaro@unisalento.it. ...
Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, ... more Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, psychopathological conditions, social representations of phenomena, and ways of coping with others. The characteristics of affect have been traditionally investigated through physiological, self-report, and behavioral measures. The present article proposes a text-based measure to detect affect intensity: the Affective Saturation Index (ASI). The ASI rationale and the conceptualization of affect are overviewed, and an initial validation study on the ASI’s convergent and concurrent validity is presented. Forty individuals completed a non-clinical semi-structured interview. For each interview transcript, the ASI was esteemed and compared to the individual’s physiological index of propensity to affective arousal (measured by heart rate variability (HRV)); transcript semantic complexity (measured through the Semantic Entropy Index (SEI)); and lexical syntactic complexity (measured through the...
The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 Europe... more The chapter reports the main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus of a sample of 11 European countries (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom). The analysis is based on a questionnaire (View of Context—VOC) applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. According to the methodological framework outlined in the previous chapter, responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis—a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified three fundamental dimensions of meanings, interpreted as lines of semiotic forces comprising the semiotic field of European societies: Affective connotation of the world—foe versus friend; Direction of desire—passivity versus engagement; Form of demand—demand for systemic resources versus demand for community bond. Moreover, 5 symbolic universes were mapped. Each symbolic universe corresponds to a basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldview: People in this study see the world as either (a) an ordered universe; (b) a matter of interpersonal bond; (c) a caring society; (d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; (e) a hostile place (others’ world).
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