Social axioms on high school students in the North African context: Validation and fit of the SAS-II.

Manuel García-Alonso,Miguel Ángel Gallardo-Vigil,Adrián Segura-Robles,Patricia Melgar Alcantud,Frantisek Sudzina

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241510

Manuel García-Alonso, Miguel Ángel Gallardo-Vigil + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241510

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Nov 2, 2020
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Granada

Abstract

Social axioms or general social beliefs represent people’s cognitive map of their social world acquired through social experiences. Empirical research has related the central constructs in the study of psychology and social axioms, establishing a broad nomological network in various cultural settings. This paper studies the validity of the Social Axioms Survey II (SAS-II) short form, Spanish version, on the individual level in Melilla as North Africa´s borderland. Participants were 410 high school students from 14 to 18 years of age. The reliability analysis, the discriminant validity analysis, and the confirmatory factor analysis through the structural model equation, showed similar results to previous studies in other contexts and allowing the use of the survey in Melilla. In addition it is presented a fitted model that improves the psychometric results showing significant differences with the initial model. The confirmatory multi-group analysis of the fitted model shows measurement invariance across educational centers, allowing new research possibilities in the cultural context of Melilla.

Highlights

Leung and Bond [1,2] argue from a functionalist perspective that social axioms or general social beliefs represent people’s cognitive map of their social world
Social axioms are defined as generalized beliefs about people, social groups, social institutions, the physical environment, or the spiritual world, as well as categories of events and phenomena in the social world
The second aim was to develop a fitted model to improve the psychometrical measures of the Social Axioms Survey II (SAS-II)

Summary

Introduction

Leung and Bond [1,2] argue from a functionalist perspective that social axioms or general social beliefs represent people’s cognitive map of their social world. Social axioms are defined as generalized beliefs about people, social groups, social institutions, the physical environment, or the spiritual world, as well as categories of events and phenomena in the social world. These generalized beliefs are encoded in the form of an assertion about the relationship between two entities or concepts [1,2,3,4]. The term social refers to the assumption that axioms are acquired through social experiences and are concerned with living

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