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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.

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

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.

Italian Fascist propaganda was compared with contemporary right-wing material to explore how political propaganda depicts specific target groups in different historical periods. Taking the theory of delegitimization as the theoretical framework, we analyzed visual images concerning despised social groups used by the Fascist regime and current images of contemporary targets of social resentment used by Lega Nord (currently part of the governing coalition). Images of Jewish and Black people published in the Fascist magazine La Difesa della Razza were classified according to eight delegitimizing strategies, as were images of immigrants used on Lega Nord propaganda posters. Although the target group has changed, six of the eight strategies of delegitimization were used in both periods. In most cases, overlap was found in the way target groups were portrayed in the past and in the present., International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV), Vol 4 No 2 (2010)

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. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Colonialism, that Loomba calls “the most complex and traumatic relationship in human history” (2005, 8), has left its mark on international relations, social relationships within nations, and the ideologies and imaginaries of virtually all the peoples of the world. Understanding colonialism and its con¬sequences is therefore essential to comprehending the dynamics and conflicts of the contemporary world. This special focus was born out of a desire to bring social psychological studies on colonialism to broader attention.

The present studies were carried out in 2002, as a part of a cross-cultural project (Glick et al. 2006) and, successively, in 2003 and 2005. The Stereotype Content Model and the Image Theory are the theoretical frameworks. The questionnaire administered measured stereotypical traits, emotions, perceptions of the status, and judgments concerning aims and motivations of the target group. Results emerging from the studies showed that the USA were perceived as arrogant, competent, lacking of warmth, and as willing to dominate other countries. In expressing their evaluations, participants differentiated between USA population and USA governement. Differences were significant though modest. Effects related to participants’ political orientation were also discussed, as the differences related to their geographical origin, and the attitude changes due to the military intervention in Iraq

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the most influential fake in contemporary history. The persuasive power of the Protocols comes from the combination of a particular series of stereotypes from secular anti-Semitism, enhanced with contents outlining the “conspiracy”. To understand the success of the Protocols, it is necessary to examine the content of the group images and stereotypes conveyed by the text. The text has been content analyzed using psychological theories and methods. Specifically, the Protocols are investigated within the framework of the stereotype content model (SCM; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) and the theory of group images (Alexander, Brewer, & Herrmann, 1999). We expected to find an envious stereotype content of the Jewish group, which results from their being perceived as low in warmth but high in competence. Moreover, we expected that such a representation fit the image of the ‘enemy’. Results are in line with our predictions.

Il presente lavoro ha l’obiettivo di indagare l’autostereotipo proposto agli italiani dall’élite dominante del regime fascista, al fine di: a) mettere in luce i processi di costruzione e rafforzamento dell’identità sociale italiana; b) cogliere gli stereotipi dell’ingroup e degli outgroup più salienti, prendendo spunto dalla tassonomia di Glick e Fiske (2001); c) ricercare le strategie di «iper-legittimazione» dell’ingroup capovolgendo l’impianto teorico del modello di delegittimazione di Bar-Tal (1989). L’analisi del contenuto e l’analisi delle corrispondenze, condotte a partire da dati d’archivio (articoli della rivista La Difesa della Razza), hanno consentito di rilevare un processo di costruzione dell’identità sociale dell’ingroup che risponde ai lineamenti del pregiudizio di ammirazione; inoltre, sono state rilevate modalità di iper-legittimazione del gruppo nazionale.

Social role theory (Eagly, Wood, & Diekman, 2000) predicts that traditional gender ideology is associated with preferences for qualities in a mate that reflect a conventional homemaker-provider division of labor. This study assessed traditional gender ideology using Glick and Fiske’s (1996, 1999) indexes of ambivalent attitudes toward women and men and related these attitudes to the sex-typed mate preferences of men for younger mates with homemaker skills and of women for older mates with breadwinning potential. Results from a nine-nation sample revealed that, to the extent that participants had a traditional gender ideology, they exhibited greater sex-typing of mate preferences. These relations were generally stable across the nine nations.

The International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) has lowered the dose limits for workers and for the general public exposed to ionizing radiation. Consequently, a reliable dosimetric method for monitoring possible radiation-induced damage is of great importance in radioprotection. The counting of dicentric chromosomal aberrations and of micronuclei in peripheral blood lymphocytes is unreliable when it is applied to in vivo biopsies and for low-dose exposures. Single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE or comet assay), although sensitive and rapid, shows high variability when applied in vivo, probably due to prompt repair of the DNA breaks and confounding environmental factors. In this paper, we describe specific in situ hybridization of Ret, Abl1 (cAbl), and Trp53 gene fragmentations on SCGE slides (comet-FISH assay) in peripheral blood cells from C57BL/6 and CBA/J mice as an indicator of radiation-induced DNA damage. The results obtained from four mice for each experimental point (0, 1, 2 and 4 Gy of X rays) discriminated in a statistically significant way the effects of all doses when fragmentations were analyzed for the Ret, Ab1 and Trp53 genes. SCGE alone, when applied to the same specimens, produced no significant results because of interindividual and experimental variability.

A 16-nation study involving 8,360 participants revealed that hostile and benevolent attitudes toward men, assessed by the Ambivalence Toward Men Inventory (P. Click & S.T. Fiske, 1999), were (a) reliably measured across cultures, (b) positively correlated (for men and women, within samples and across nations) with each other and with hostile and benevolent sexism toward women (Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, P. Click & S.T. Fiske, 1996), and (c) negatively correlated with gender equality in cross-national comparisons. Stereotype measures indicated that men were viewed as having less positively valenced but more powerful traits than women. The authors argue that hostile as well as benevolent attitudes toward men reflect and support gender inequality by characterizing men as being designed for dominance.