Social Schema Research Articles

Looking for the good in times of adversity: Examining the interplay of temperament and social schemas in shaping resilience in youth.

Resilience is a broad and dynamic concept that can be seen as being constituted by the combination of internal factors, for example, temperament profiles, and external factors, for example, social support. This paper aimed to identify temperament profiles in help-seeking youth exposed to adverse childhood experiences, and to investigate whether temperament (putative internal protective factor) interacts with social schemas (as proxy for the putative external protective factor social support) such that their combination is associated with (a) reduced mental health problems and (b) attenuated decrease in positive affect following daily life stressors. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure temperament, social schemas and mental health problems. The experience sampling method was used to assess stress and positive affect (i.e., stress-sensitivity as a potential daily life resilience mechanism). Temperament profiles were identified by latent profile analysis and regression analyses were used to examine (interaction) effects. In 138 subjects, three temperament profiles were identified, that is, a moderate, volatile and persevering profile, of which the latter was negatively associated with mental health problems. Neither mental health problems nor stress sensitivity were found to be affected by the interaction between temperament and social schemas. However, positive social schemas were found to be independently associated with reduced mental health problems (b = -4.41; p = <.001) and reduced stress sensitivity (b = .10, p = .044). Findings are relevant for both practice and research, and contribute to improving our understanding of putative protective factor in the development of mental ill-health, thereby further unravelling the construct of resilience.

New dyads? The effect of social robots’ anthropomorphization on empathy towards human beings

Research on Human-Technology Interactions revealed that, under certain conditions, people instinctively interact with social robots in ways comparable to Human–Human Interactions. Indeed, people apply social perception schemas and attribute a mind to social robots, especially when they present anthropomorphic characteristics. Furthermore, under certain conditions, anthropomorphic social robots are awarded with moral consideration and participate to moral dyads. Thus, anthropomorphism facilitates social robots integration in people's lives. However, what is still unknown is whether adopting social schemas with social robots, in turn, affects how individuals perceive and interact with other people. To fill this gap, we experimentally investigated whether the type of mind attributed to anthropomorphic social robot, then, complementary influences the empathy towards a person in trouble. Participants (n = 269) interacted (vs. did not interact) through a chatbot with a highly (vs. lowly) anthropomorphic social robot, evaluated it on mind dimensions and, finally, expressed their empathy towards a person. Results demonstrated that anthropomorphism fosters the attribution of agency (anthropomorphic appearance and interaction through chatbot) and experience (anthropomorphic appearance only), which, in turn, significantly, but in opposite directions, affected empathy towards the social target. Implications and future research directions are outlined.

Identity management in the face of HIV and intersecting stigmas: A metasynthesis of qualitative reports from sub-Saharan Africa.

While stigma experienced by people living with HIV (PLWH) is well documented, intersectional stigma and additional stigmatized identities have not received similar attention. The purpose of this metasynthesis is to identify salient stigmatized intersections and their impact on health outcomes in PLWH in sub-Saharan Africa. Using Sandelowski and Barroso's metasynthesis method, we searched four databases for peer-reviewed qualitative literature. Included studies (1) explored personal experiences with intersecting stigmas, (2) included ≥1 element of infectious disease stigma, and (3) were conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. Our multinational team extracted, aggregated, interpreted, and synthesized the findings. From 454 screened abstracts, the 34 studies included in this metasynthesis reported perspectives of at least 1258 participants (282 men, 557 women, and 109 unspecified gender) and key informants. From these studies, gender and HIV was the most salient stigmatized intersection, with HIV testing avoidance and HIV-status denial seemingly more common among men to preserve traditional masculine identity. HIV did not threaten female identity in the same way with women more willing to test for HIV, but at the risk of abandonment and withdrawal of financial support. To guard against status loss, men and women used performative behaviors to highlight positive qualities or minimize perceived negative attributes. These identity management practices ultimately shaped health behaviors and outcomes. From this metasynthesis, the Stigma Identity Framework was devised for framing identity and stigma management, focusing on role expectation and fulfillment. This framework illustrates how PLWH create, minimize, or emphasize other identity traits to safeguard against status loss and discrimination. Providers must acknowledge how stigmatization disrupts PLWH's ability to fit into social schemas and tailor care to individuals' unique intersecting identities. Economic security and safety should be considered in women's HIV care, while highlighting antiretrovirals' role in preserving strength and virility may improve care engagement among men.

Learning organizations and innovative work behaviors: A moderated mediation model from the perspective of social schema theory

Purpose. The present study aimed to examine the intervening impact of creative self-efficacy amid learning organizations — innovative work behaviors relationships. Also, this study investigates the moderating role of self-leadership amid learning organizations — innovative work behaviors and amid creative self-efficacy — innovative work behaviors relationships. Study design. Three hundred sixty-one employees and one hundred twenty-six immediate supervisors (officers) voluntarily participate in the data collection survey from the manufacturing sector (pharmaceutical and automobile). Using different statistical software (i.e., AMOS v.22, Smart-PLS v.3, SPSS v.25, and PROCESS-macro), the hypothesized relationships (i.e., direct, indirect, moderation, and moderated mediation) were tested. Findings. The present study’s findings reveal that creative self-efficacy partially mediates the learning organizations— innovative work behaviors relationships. Also, results indicate that self-leadership moderates the learning organizations — innovative work behaviors and creative self-efficacy — innovative work behaviors relationships. Implications for practice. The present study enlightens the importance of learning organizations for enhancing innovative work behaviors in the workforce. Rapid worldwide unprecedented changes increase the competition level and require a change in the working structure. Creative self-efficacy of the employees helps the management overcome this uncertain situation through innovative behaviors. Additionally, self-leadership plays a vital role with the support of learning organizational culture and creative self-efficacy for enhancing innovative work behaviors. Value of theresults. The present study will be helpful for management by explaining how to overcome the situation of uncertain change in the business world; also, this study responds to the unanswered questions which occur in the current era, such as how organizations increase the innovative behaviors of their workforce for survival and competitive advantage. Moreover, this study adds knowledge to work psychology and organizational behavior by explaining the intervening role of creative self-efficacy and moderating role of self-leadership.

Learning Organizations and Innovative Work Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Model of Creative Self-Efficacy and Self-Leadership from the Perspective of Social Cognitive Theory and Social Schema Theory

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the direct effect of learning organizations on innovative work behaviors. This study also examines the mediating effect of creative self-efficacy between learning organizations and innovative work behaviors. Additionally, this study investigates the moderating role of self-leadership between creative self-efficacy and innovative work behaviors.&#x0D; Study design/methodology/approach: A total of 487 permanent employees (361 subordinates and 126 immediate officers/supervisors) from the manufacturing sector voluntarily in a non-contrived setting participate in the data collection survey. Statistical analysis of this study is conducted using different statistical software (SPSS v.25, AMOS v.22, and Smart-PLS v.3) to test the direct, mediation, moderation, and moderated mediation hypothesized relationships.&#x0D; Findings: Results of this study reveal that learning organizations predict innovative work behaviors of employees. This study's findings also reveal that creative self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between learning organizations and innovative work behaviors. Furthermore, results indicate that a higher level of self-leadership moderates the positive relationship between creative self-efficacy and innovative work behaviors. Finally, this study’s results confirm that a higher level of self-leadership indirectly influences the positive relationship between learning organizations and innovative work behaviors via creative self-efficacy.&#x0D; Research limitations/implications for Practice: The present study highlights the importance of learning organizations for the enhancement of innovative work behaviors of employees. The employees' creative self-efficacy helps the management to overcome the uncertain situations of rapid globalized change through innovative behaviors. Additionally, self-leadership is vital for individuals and organizations to support the learning organization's culture and creative self-efficacy for enhancing innovative work behaviors.&#x0D; Originality/value of the Results: The present study will be helpful for the management how to overcome the circumstances of unprecedented changes which occur rapidly around the world; also, the findings of this study be beneficial for the management how to increase innovative behaviors of their workforce, which are now mandatory for survival and competitive advantage. Moreover, this study adds knowledge to positive psychology and organizational behavior by explaining the mediating role of creative self-efficacy and moderating role of self-leadership.

Are gender roles associated with well-being indicators? The role of femininity, fear of negative evaluation, and regret in decision-making in a spanish sample

Gender roles operate as a social schema through which people learn how they must behave and make decisions; that is, socially, what women and men are expected to do is pre-established. This gender socialization is such a deep-rooted process that people may not aware of how they have been socialized, which is thus often is difficult to analyze in people's discussions of their own decision-making. On this basis, this research examines whether endorsing gender roles could be related to women’s decisions (regret), as well as the possible consequences for their well-being. Moreover, we analyzed the content of the most important decisions that people make throughout their lives. Therefore, this research aimed to understand the meaning of gender and how its internalization seems to be related to sex differences in decision-making and well-being. In a sample of the Spanish general population (N = 203; Mage = 41.70, SD = 10.93; range from 20 to 65 years old), results showed that women (vs. men) had a greater internalization of gender roles (i.e., femininity), which was associated with higher fear of negative evaluation. This, in turn, was associated with experienced regret in decision-making, which finally seemed to lead to lower well-being. Analysis of the content of decisions showed that women’s decisions were based mainly on work and family domains, whereas men’s decisions were based on work to a greater extent.

Visualizing a disembodied agent: young EFL learners’ perceptions of voice-controlled conversational agents as language partners

Artificial agents, such as voice-controlled conversational agents (VCAs) built into smart devices, are becoming more prevalent in daily and educational contexts, enhancing the possibility of using them as language partners. However, research has primarily focused on the cognitive or affective outcomes of using these agents, overlooking questions about language learners’ perceptions of agents as human-like conversational partners and about what aspects of agents generate the social interaction schema required for language learning. To address these gaps, this exploratory study examined to what extent EFL students perceived a VCA as a human-like language partner and what knowledge regarding language partners these students used to justify their perceptions. Sixty-seven Korean EFL students, all of them being nine years old, completed three interactional tasks with a VCA designed to act as a language partner. They then participated in a drawing task and in-depth interview implemented to explore students’ perceptions toward the VCA as a language partner. Thematic analysis of students’ drawings and interview transcripts found that the majority of students identified human elements in the VCA, perceiving it either as a human-like partner or as something between artifact and human. This strong tendency toward anthropomorphism indicates VCAs’ great potential as interactive language partners in EFL contexts. Additionally, this study discusses the reasons for and implications of students’ strong anthropomorphism tendency and how students used their knowledge regarding language partners to justify their VCA perceptions. Future recommendations for the use of VCAs were suggested from both pedagogical and technological standpoints.

On Touching, Where Tender Meets Tough

On Touching, Where Tender Meets Tough

Devianță psihologică și stil cognitiv în Enigma Otiliei de G. Călinescu (1938)

Drawing on theoretical developments from cognitive sciences and the literary field, more specifically on concepts such as mind style, literary categorization, and prototypical distortion, in the present article, I set out to explore the relationship between literary characters and psychological deviance. In so doing, I analyze G. Călinescu’s 1938 novel Enigma Otiliei (Otilia’s Riddle) and, in the wake of several literary critics’ shared view that the novel’s characters are individuals driven by much more complex internal mechanisms than simply being based on a single social schema, I suggest that this complexity can be accounted for by the tools provided by psychopathology. Therefore, I point to the maladaptive psychological traits that the characters exhibit and to how these are projected into the character’ language, forming thus idiosincratic linguistic patterns. Finally, I argue that the author employs the narrative device of “prototypical distortion” to lampoon the characters’ deviance.

Charismatic Christianity’s Impact on Growth and Revival in Singapore: The Case of the Methodist Church from 1889–2012

Abstract This paper aims to explain patterns of Charismatic revival by utilizing a quantitative lens on church growth in Singapore during the mid-1900s. The research digitized and then analyzed data from the archives of the Methodist Church of Singapore between the years 1889 and 2012. The annual conference reports recorded several variables over this 123-year period such as church membership, baptisms, and professions of faith. In recent years, it also records the average Sunday attendance at each of 23 churches throughout Singapore. This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the historical data and concludes that, in line with predictions from the cognitive science of religion (CSR), religious revival can serve to energize religious communities that are primarily reliant on rituals with high frequency and low-arousal (see Whitehouse 2004). Typically, high frequency and low-arousal rituals allow for high levels of consensus and social identification among large religious groups. However, as a byproduct of their high frequency and low-arousal, the repeated rituals are predicted to suffer from the effects of tedium, which lowers motivation for the information presented during the rituals and can have negative effects on group cohesion. The ethnographic and historical records investigated within the theory of Divergent Modes of Religiosity (DMR) have suggested that short bursts of reinvigoration can be used to revitalize motivation in doctrinal religions. While the data from Singapore’s Clock Tower Revival events in the 1970s suggest that such an event did occur, the DMR, as traditionally formulated, is unable to capture the dynamics of Singaporean Christian demographics because 1) it does not clearly account for the high number of converts who have entered the religion and 2) it cannot account for the sustained presence of high-arousal rituals in the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in Singapore since the Clock Tower Revival. Demographic data from Singapore, in particular the Singaporean Methodist church, complicate CSR’s current approach to tedium because it appears that the religious communities in Singapore have not only sustained their motivation, they have grown since the initial revival period in the 1970s, suggesting that new amendments to our approach to tedium in doctrinal religions may be appropriate (Lane, 2021, 2019; Lane, Shults, &amp; McCauley, 2019). As such, this paper discusses how the data from the Methodist church in Singapore are more easily explained through the use of a new approach toward understanding social cohesion in religions that relies on a cognitive (i.e., information processing) approach that links social and personal information schemas with rehearsal, memory, and personal experiences. The theory also aims to formulate its claims with sufficient specificity to be modeled in computer simulations (Lane 2018, 2013) to be further tested against other historical groups, which this paper discusses in regards to future directions for the research.

Structural determination and social practice: towards a new understanding of ‘structure’ in health inequality research

The relationship between social position and health is a central issue in medical sociology. While researchers typically agree that health inequalities are ultimately determined by structural factors, the concept of ‘structure’ is often unspecified and vaguely understood. This paper contributes to our understanding of structure by clarifying and critiquing two main understandings of structure within health inequality research, respectively, ‘structure’ as synonymous with socioeconomic inequality and ‘structure’ as an arrangement of pre-given components. Inspired by the concept of structuration, I then outline a more practice-oriented conception hinging on a threefold distinction between structural determinants, structuring practices and structural outcomes. A model is then presented in which ‘structure’ is understood as the evolving conditions and outcome of practices in which actors produce, distribute and consume resources according to social schemas. The conclusion discusses the concept’s implications for researchers aiming to examine and reduce social inequalities in health.

Cognitive and Affective Processes Associated with Social Biases.

BackgroundOur social activities are quite often erroneous and irrational, based on biased judgements and decision-making, known as social biases. However, the cognitive and affective processes that produce such biases remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated associations between social schemas, such as social judgment and conformity, entailing social biases and psychological measurements relevant to cognitive and affective functions.MethodThis study recruited 42 healthy adult subjects. A psychological test and a questionnaire were administered to assess biased social judgements by superficial attributes and social conformity by adherence to social norms, respectively, along with additional questionnaires and psychological tests for cognitive and affective measurements, including negative affects, autistic traits, and Theory of Mind (ToM). Associations of social judgment and conformity with cognitive and affective functions were examined using a multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling.ResultsAnxiety and the cognitive realm of ToM were mutually associated with both social judgments and conformity, although social judgements and conformity were still independent processes. Social judgements were also associated with autistic traits and the affective realm of ToM, whereas social conformity was associated with negative affects other than anxiety and an intuitive decision-making style.ConclusionsThese results suggest that ToM and negative affects may play important roles in social judgements and conformity, and the social biases connoted in these social schemas.

‘The Ties That Bind’: Indonesian Female Academic Leaders’ Agency and Constraints in Higher Education

&lt;p style="text-align:justify"&gt;Indonesia has achieved equal parity in access to education, income, and career opportunities. Yet in many parts of the country, female academic leaders are still highly under-represented in top academic boards. This study examines how fourteen (14) Indonesian female higher education academic leaders (FALs) enact identity salience and agency in performing their duties, while experiencing social control schemas or ‘triple binds’—exigencies of gender roles, unequal power-plays due to social status and positions, and lack of organizational resources and capital in higher education—in Indonesia, one of the world’s emerging economies still consolidating democracy and building necessary social, fiscal, and physical infrastructures. Taken as a whole, the study found the ‘triple binds’ as aggregate constraints for female leadership progression, driving female academic leaders to resist and rise above this discursive struggle and confrontation through sense-making, assertiveness, depth of conviction, a take-charge attitude, and the use of other tactical strategies like networking with key gatekeepers to obtain the resources they need. The study presents a framework of the triple binds that university leaders can use to assess constraints to academic leadership.&lt;/p&gt;

A time for creativity: How future-oriented schemas facilitate creativity

According to the creative cognition approach, extraordinarily creative ideas are rare because people often generate ideas by retrieving and incrementally modifying concepts from accessible schemas. Grounded in social schema research, we hypothesize that a future-orientation is a means to broaden thinking through activating change and progress schemas, which in turn facilitates creativity. We first offered qualitative evidence that people generally hold a schema that the future is inundated with change and progress. In three experimental studies, we established the creative benefit of future-oriented (vs. present-oriented) thinking in divergent thinking tasks. Further, we offered support that schemas of change and progress mediate the link between future-oriented (vs. present-oriented) thinking and creativity (Study 2) and demonstrated the causal role of schema activation by manipulating accessibility of change and progress schemas under a future-orientation (Study 3). We discuss the implications of how the study of schematic future projections contributes to creative cognition.

Patient-Made Videos as a Tool of Self-Observation Enhancing Self-Reflection in Psychotherapy

Photographs have been used in psychotherapy from the late 1970s, but patient-made videos have not been used directly as an integral part in individual psychotherapeutic treatment. We now propose a new approach, VideoTalk, using visual material as an aid in the psychotherapy process with a schema therapy framework as an example. VideoTalk builds on life-review method, providing information about the patient’s social relations, coping skills, affect/emotion regulation and schemas. This information is used as a platform for focused patient-made videos, i.e. self-talk at home in a typical problematic situation for the patient. The VideoTalk method enables documentation of the expression of mind states and dysfunctional schemas in a natural environment and related to an everyday emotional context. Subsequently, this video material is watched step by step together with the therapist. In this report, we describe the flow and functionality of the VideoTalk method through the case of a 24-year-old female patient suffering from depression and social phobia. The self-mirroring from the video facilitates self-observations of the patient’s own facial expressions, voice and body posture. We hypothesize that this new information gradually changes emotional processing, leads to better self-awareness and strengthens more functional schemas.

Implicit bias and social schema: a transactive memory approach

To what extent should we focus on implicit bias in order to eradicate persistent social injustice? Structural prioritizers argue that we should focus less on individual minds than on unjust social structures, while equal prioritizers think that both are equally important. This article introduces the framework of transactive memory into the debate to defend the equal priority view. The transactive memory framework helps us see how structure can emerge from individual interactions as an irreducibly social product. If this is right, then debiasing interventions are structural interventions. One upshot is that the utility of the individual versus structural distinction is not apparent for the purposes of intervention.

Związki wczesnych nieadaptacyjnych schematów z poczuciem sensu życia i dobrostanem psychicznym

&lt;p&gt;W niniejszym badaniu przebadano grupę 120 osób – studentów uczelni lubelskich. Wykorzystano Kwestionariusz Wczesnych Nieadaptacyjnych Schematów Younga, Skalę Osobistego Profilu Sensu Wonga oraz Skalę Dobrostanu Psychicznego Ryff i Keyes. Należy stwierdzić, iż istnieją związki między nieadaptacyjnymi schematami (EMS) a sensem i dobrostanem. Im wyższe nasilenie schematów, tym niższe&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;poczucie sensu życia i mniejsza odczuwana jakość życia. Między schematem Izolacja Społeczna a wymiarami sensu i dobrostanu odnoszącymi się do relacji zachodzi wysoka korelacja ujemna. Schematy dotyczące sposobu, w jaki jednostka spostrzega samą siebie, jej relacji z innymi i radzenia sobie z otoczeniem, wiążą się z tymi wymiarami sensu i dobrostanu, które dotyczą relacji osoby do siebie, innych i świata. W kontekście dostępnej w psychoterapii tzw. terapii schematu interesującą perspektywą dla dalszych badań nad EMS, sensem i dobrostanem byłoby przebadanie osób, które zdecydowały się na terapię. Wykorzystanie powtarzalnego pomiaru dałoby odpowiedź na pytanie, czy i w jakim stopniu można modyfikować istniejący ujemny związek między tymi zmiennymi.&lt;/p&gt;

Intuitive Moral Reasoning in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Matter of Social Schemas?

Using a schema-theoretical perspective in the field of moral cognition, we assessed response behavior of adolescent (n = 15) and adult (n = 22) individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in comparison with adolescent (n = 22) and adult (n = 22) neurotypically developed controls. We conceptualized the Intuitive Moral Reasoning Test-in five moral dilemmas, participants had to choose between two alternative actions and assess their decision with respect to emotional valence, arousal, moral acceptability and permissibility from both the perspective of the acting person and then of the victim. Patients with ASD displayed a different decision and response behavior, particularly when the dilemmas were based on extreme life situations in combination with a social schema involving close social relationships.

Teachers-as-Action Researchers in Reflective Teaching Approach: Intervening for Preschool Children’s Social Emotional Competences in Molo Sub-County, Kenya

This study examined teachers-as-action researchers in reflective teaching approach on preschool children’s social emotional competences (SECs) in Molo Sub-County in Kenya from 71 preschool children and 4 teachers. Methodologies used were; quasi-experimental design with pretest postest model, a training module for preschool teachers, Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA), preschool teachers’ semi-structured interview schedule and documentary analysis for preschool teachers. The study sample was portioned into a treatment class and a control class. Teachers in the treatment class were trained to be classrooms’ action researchers in reflective teaching approach and to deliver explicit lessons that teach preschool children’s SECs while finding occasions for learners to reinforce their use in the course of the day. DESSA pretest and posttest were administered to all children in a span of three months between pretest and posttest. The social emotional composite scores obtained were converted to Standard T-score for data analysis using ANCOVA test. The study found statistically significant difference in the class where teachers were trained compared to the class where they were not. Semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis were also conducted in both classes. From the findings, teachers’ action research in reflective teaching approach could be effective in teaching preschool children’s SECs in the Sub-County. This takes place through growth and development of children’s social emotional cognitive schema and professionally for teachers. The study recommends preschool teachers’ to be trained and quality assured by both the National and County Governments in action research in reflective teaching approach for children’s SECs. This should happen through regular in-service training in teachers’ action research, teachers’ action research workshops and teachers’ action research seminars. Teachers’ action research in reflective teaching approach and children’s SECs scholarly materials should be made available in preschools offices/libraries and resource centers in the Sub-county to enable teachers to have a local resource.

Adolescent Fertility Attitudes and Childbearing in Early Adulthood.

Teens' attitudes about adolescent childbearing predict childbearing in the short term. If these attitudes reflect persistent goals and values, they may also be linked to later outcomes. To test long-term linkages, we analyze the association of adolescent fertility attitudes with actual and prospective fertility in adulthood using Waves I (1994-95) and IV (2007-08) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and focusing on men (N = 4,275) and women (N=4,418) without a teen birth. For women, we find that more negative teen attitudes predict lower hazards of a first birth up to around age 30 but that teens' attitudes are unrelated to planned childlessness among those who have not yet had children. Men's adolescent attitudes are unrelated to actual fertility or prospective intentions. For both men and women, more advantaged individuals are less likely to have had a child by around age 30; socioeconomic advantage is also related to postponement of childbearing rather than planned childlessness, though more so for women than men. We interpret the findings as evidence that, for girls, teens' attitudes toward adolescent childbearing capture an internalization of social schema about childbearing, childrearing, and sequencing with other life outcomes but do not reflect overall preferences about having children. More work is needed to understand the psychosocial factors that influence men's fertility.