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In a proof-of-principle prototypical demonstration we describe a new type of brain-machine interface (BMI) paradigm for upper limb motor-training. The proposed technique allows a fast contingent and proportionally modulated stimulation of afferent proprioceptive and motor output neural pathways using operant learning. Continuous and immediate assisted-feedback of force proportional to rolandic rhythm oscillations during actual movements was employed and illustrated with a single case experiment. One hemiplegic patient was trained for 2 weeks coupling somatosensory brain oscillations with force-field control during a robot-mediated center-out motor-task whose execution approaches movements of everyday life. The robot facilitated actual movements adding a modulated force directed to the target, thus providing a non-delayed proprioceptive feedback. Neuro-electric, kinematic, and motor-behavioral measures were recorded in pre- and post-assessments without force assistance. Patient's healthy arm was used as control since neither a placebo control was possible nor other control conditions. We observed a generalized and significant kinematic improvement in the affected arm and a spatial accuracy improvement in both arms, together with an increase and focalization of the somatosensory rhythm changes used to provide assisted-force-feedback. The interpretation of the neurophysiological and kinematic evidences reported here is strictly related to the repetition of the motor-task and the presence of the assisted-force-feedback. Results are described as systematic observations only, without firm conclusions about the effectiveness of the methodology. In this prototypical view, the design of appropriate control conditions is discussed. This study presents a novel operant-learning-based BMI-application for motor-training coupling brain oscillations and force feedback during an actual movement.

Vibro-tactile ERPs were recorded using whole hand stimulation in a classical odd-ball paradigm. Five different classification methods applied to single brain responses were compared off-line to perform a suboptimal selection of the algorithm for future on-line implementation of a brain-computer interface.

In the historiographical literature, the debate on the interpretations of Italian Fascism is still alive. Fascism has combined violence and atrocities, with social control and consensus construction. Thus, a positive vision of this regime could have survived at time passing. Additionally, the Italian government, except for a few acknowledgements, has never apologized for the crimes committed during the fascist era. As a consequence, the Italian public opinion has never had the chance for an historical reflection. Thus, people may alter the historical record to make the ingroup actions justified and glorified, while de-emphasizing episodes that may potentially damage the ingroup image. A qualitative study aimed at identifying the social representation of contemporary Italians concerning which groups or individuals are considered victims, perpetrators and by-standers of the fascist crimes. Additionally, we asked participants to recall positive and negative aspects or events of the fascist period. Results showed that Mussolini and Hitler, with fascists and Nazis are considered the perpetrators of the historical period. Italians are viewed more as bystanders. Additionally, Fascism is also remembered, along with its crimes (e.g., racial laws, politic persecutions, etc.), also for some positive aspects (e.g., structural and social reforms).

Dehumanization is one of the main strategies to delegitimize the other, to exclude him/her from the circle of those who are considered human, justifying measures of extreme cruelty. There are animalistic and mechanistic forms of dehumanization, which it may also take the form of demonization, biologization, objectification, and invisibility. After a brief review of the psycho-social studies on dehumanization, the present work focuses on the dehumanization of Jews in the Fascist propaganda through the analysis of images that appeared in La Difesa della Razza ("The Defense of the Race"), an Italian magazine published from August 1938 to June 1943 with the aim to convey racist and anti-Semitic ideas to the Italian population. Copyright © FrancoAngeli.

The survival of a virtual community is guaranteed by the users’ creation of content. However, the literature has found that the percentage of users who create innovative content is very modest. The content contribution process can also be interpreted as a social collective action in which we-intentions play a primary role. Nevertheless, some people choose not to participate in the collective action, but to benefit from the community’s resources and to maximize individual outcomes. In this study (N = 250), we investigated the effects of the free- riding tendency, conceived as the willingness to maximize personal outcomes. The specific setting was a virtual support forum, the most common type of web platform, generally used instrumentally by web users to find information and solutions to specific problems. We used the theory of planned behavior theoretical framework, plus social influence variables to test the effect of the free-riding tendency as a drawback for contributions, considering both the role of individual and we-intentions on the observed behavior. Findings showed that neither we-intentions nor I-intentions predicted the actual contribution behavior. Both types of intentions and contribution behavior were negatively influenced only by the free-riding tendency construct. Considerations and future developments of these results are discussed.

Emerging research suggests that outgroup partner’s anxiety can disrupt intergroup rapport-building. The present study extends previous findings by investigating the interactive effects of anticipated outgroup partner’s anxiety and perceived ethnic discrimination on self-anxiety and intergroup contact avoidance. A sample of immigrant adolescents belonging to different ethnic minorities in Italy (N = 118) was considered. Results showed that when participants expected to interact with an anxious outgroup (Italian) versus ingroup partner, self-anxiety increased and, as a consequence, their intentions to avoid future encounters. However, these effects were observed only for participants with higher (vs. lower) perceptions of being discriminated against. The implications of these results for interethnic communication and misunderstandings are discussed

Body dissatisfaction is recognized as a robust risk factor for eating disorders. Despite over 80% of college men are body dissatisfied, not all men report several levels of eating disorder symptoms. In this study, we examined poor impulse control, social anxiety and internalization of media ideals as potential moderators. Data collected from 405 college-aged men were analysed, using latent variable structural equation modelling approach. All variables investigated have been found to moderate the body dissatisfaction-eating disorder symptomatology, such that male body dissatisfaction was strongly related to men's eating disorder symptomatology when each moderator was at its highest level. Practical implications are discussed.

During intractable conflicts,”competitive victimhood“ refers to the subjective belief that one’s own ingroup has suffered more than the outgroup. Although competitive victimhood is considered an important inhibitor of reconciliation processes, no research has attempted to examine ways of reducing it. The present study aims to fill this gap. Kosovar Albanians students (N = 170) were asked to report their perception of ingroup and outgroup victimhood during the protracted violence between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. Our findings revealed that frequent and high-quality extended contact with outgroup members and identification with a common ingroup reduced competitive victimhood. The effects of extended contact and common ingroup identification were fully accounted for by increased perspective taking and trust toward the outgroup, and by decreased outgroup infrahumanization. The implications of these results for restoring fractured intergroup relations are discussed.

According to objectification theory (Fredrickson e Roberts, 1997), the effect of sexually objectifying media on self-objectification and on psychophysical young adults well-being have been examined. As far as for women, the exposure to sexually objectifying media leads to self-objectification/body surveillance which in turn leads to body shame, that is related to the etiology of disordered eating. Similar results (even if weaker) came out from the male sample. Women obtained significantly higher mean scores in all variables examined. We found gender issues in body surveillance and shame if considered as mediator variables. Practical implications are discussed

In line with previous results that challenge the traditional primacy of warmth over competence in evaluating people and considering the ingroup bias perspective, we postulate that perceivers use the competence and warmth dimensions differentially when judging higher or lower status group members. We test the hypothesis that the dimension that is less favorable for the outgroup and more favorable for the ingroup will be used as basis for judgment. More precisely, we investigate whether the warmth dimension would better predict the judgment toward higher status group members than the competence dimension, whereas the competence dimension would better predict the judgment toward lower status group members than the warmth dimension. Two studies test separately these effects. Results suggest the existence of a motivated bias in judging outgroup members, and underline the importance of considering a social interaction perspective when studying social judgment.

L’equal opportunity (EO) climate riguarda l’aspettativa di un membro dell’organizzazione che i comportamenti verso sé e verso gli altri riflettano il merito, e non l’appartenenza a gruppi etnici, religiosi o di genere (Landis, 1990). Tale variabile risulta una importante declinazione del clima organizzativo, in ordine alla centralità che i temi dell’equità e delle discriminazioni percepite hanno nel determinare un numero elevato di variabili, come il commitment organizzativo e professionale (Meyer & Allen, 1991; Meyer, Allen & Smith, 1993), le intenzioni di turnover o la job satisfaction. Ad oggi, poche ricerche si sono occupate di esplorare queste relazioni, e non vi sono studi nel contesto militare italiano. In questo lavoro si è cercato di colmare tale gap ipotizzando due modelli di mediazione: gli effetti delle variabili di clima di pari opportunità su intenzioni di turnover organizzativo e professionale (variabili criterio per Modello 1), e soddisfazione (variabile criterio per Modello 2), sono mediati dagli effetti del commitment all’organizzazione ed alla professione militare. Un questionario è stato somministrato a 296 rispondenti (M = 264, F = 25, 7 non hanno dichiarato il genere; età media = 28), arruolati con vario grado nelle Forze Armate italiane, di stanza sul territorio nazionale (n = 191) oppure in missione in Kosovo (n = 105). L’EO gender climate è stato rilevato mediante item, appositamente tradotti per questo studio, tratti dalla MEOCS (Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey; Dansby & Landis, 1991; Landis, 1990), ampiamente testati nel contesto militare statunitense. Per la misura del commitment si è fatto invece riferimento al modello tripartito di Meyer & Allen (1991), che vede l’impegno organizzativo declinarsi in dimensione affettiva, per continuità e normativa. Infine si sono rilevate le intenzioni di turnover e la soddisfazione. E’ stata verificata la struttura a sei fattori della scala di EO climate (comportamento differenziale

Equal opportunity (EO) climate refers to individuals’ perceptions of likelihood concerning discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Despite the importance of this concept, to date little research has been devoted to investigating the relationships between EO climate and central work attitudes, especially in the Italian military context. In the present study we tested a mediational model. We hypothesized that the effects of EO climate on turnover intentions, job satisfaction, absenteeism and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) were partially mediated by organizational and occupational commitment, mainly by both the affective components. Italian Army personnel (N = 296), employed either in the national context or in an international conflict area, were asked to answer a cross-sectional survey. We measured EO climate by considering a five factor structure plus a factor of general perception (Dansby & Landis, 1991). A series of structural equation modeling with LISREL was used to test the hypotheses. Findings supported the hypothesized mediational model. Additionally, the presence of direct unmediated effects of the factors of EO climate emerged particularly on intentions to leave and absenteeism. Differential command behaviors and racist-sexist behaviors were found to be the EO variables with the greater number of unmediated effects.Our findings suggest that perceptions of EO climate have a great impact on work attitudes and job related outcomes, and should be considered when developing strategies to reduce inequalities and to ameliorate the general workplace climate and conditions and

La semantica della comunicazione in rete è differente da quella della carta stampata e tale differenza emerge anche nella somministrazione di web survey. In psicologia sociale, e in generale in tutte le discipline sociali, poche sono le rassegne e gli studi metodologici offerti al ricercatore sull’utilizzo di specifici strumenti informatici. Questa rassegna presenta una panoramica degli attuali strumenti offerti dal mercato software –commerciale e open source– per la creazione di una sessione di raccolta dati tramite la rete. Vengono inoltre proposte considerazioni circa il campionamento via web e le problematiche legate all’accessibilità di una web survey creata ad hoc tramite linguaggi di programmazione, The semantics of the communication in Internet is different from the one on printed paper, and this difference also persists in the administration of web surveys. In social psychology, and more generally in all the social science disciplines, there are few reviews and methodological studies available to a researcher describing the use of specific computer programs. This work presents an overview of the current tools and software offered by both the commercial market and the open source community for collecting data online. Furthermore, considerations are described about sampling issues and web accessibility of a web survey created ad hoc with programming languages.

The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) suggests potentially universal intergroup depictions. If universal, they should apply across history in archival data. Bridging this gap, we examined social groups descriptions during Italy's Fascist era. In Study 1, articles published in a Fascist magazine-La Difesa della Razza-were content analyzed, and results submitted to correspondence analysis. Admiration prejudice depicted ingroups; envious and contemptuous prejudices depicted specific outgroups, generally in line with SCM predictions. No paternalistic prejudice appeared; historical reasons might explain this finding. Results also fit the recently developed BIAS Map of behavioral consequences. In Study 2, ninety-six undergraduates rated the content-analysis traits on warmth and competence, without knowing their origin. They corroborated SCM's interpretations of the archival data. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The present study aims at exploring gender identity and its relationships with motherhood. We compared three groups of women with different experiences of motherhood: biological mothers (N = 73), adoptive mothers (N = 39), and childless women (N = 59). We hypothesize that the experience modifies both attitude and emotions toward motherhood and their relationship with gender identity. A newly devised self-report questionnaire was administered to collect free associations to three inducers (mother, child, adoption) and to measure women's social identity, emotions and attitudes toward motherhood. Main results highlight a shared conceptual core, where motherhood is seen as a positive experience that evokes elements of love, happiness and completeness. With regard to the differences between the three groups, the mothers feel intense positive emotions; the childless women seem to focus especially on the negative aspects of the maternal role; the adoptive mothers underline the courage they think is necessary to be a mother. Lastly, gender identity is strongly associated to motherhood: in a more positive way and underlining realization, family and body aspects by the biological mothers; with associations to negative aspects by the adoptive mothers, who feel «lesser» citizens than the other women; and by the childless women who are in an intermediate position.