Socio-psychological Dimensions Research Articles

What Drives Anti-Shia Framing in Indonesia?

As a global phenomenon, the Anti-Shia movement in Indonesia is damaging the moderate characteristics of Indonesian Islam. Even though previous literature showed the role of state actors in Anti-Shia movement in Muslim-majority countries and uncovered religious, economic, and political causes, this current study focused on Anti-Shia framing and the contributing factors. Furthermore, fieldwork and library studies on MIUMI (the Indonesian Council of Young Intellectuals and Ulama) and ANNAS (National Anti-Shia Alliance) showed Shia was framed as a heretical sect and a source of conflict in Muslim society. To address this issue, a nationally applied fatwa and the prohibition of Shia organizations, institutes, and foundations were required, in addition to exercising jihad against Shia. This was due to interconnected factors between religious ideology, majoritarian mindset, and perceived threat. Therefore, cultural and socio-psychological dimensions were significant in social movement studies.

Role of Mythical Heroic Narratives in Parenting of Nepal

Myths and stories are an indispensable part of Nepali society. In this study, I explore the socio-psychological role of mythical heroic narratives in parenting of Nepal. Mythical heroic characters play a major role in developing the initial conscience of young children. Myths are often the first abstract concepts introduced to the children and are done so frequently. Thus, such stories have a lasting impact on the child’s psyche and seem to affect the child until they are old, thereafter passing on the stories to their grandchildren. The purpose of the study is to explore the constructive role of mythical heroic narratives in parenting and articulating those ideas in their child development in Nepal. The research is based on constructive, interpretative qualitative ideas of KII with open-ended questionnaires using purposive sampling and in-depth interviews used as tools and techniques to acquire data. The findings showed that mythical stories have a huge importance in child upbringing in Nepali society. There are ranges of stories told for multifaceted purposes- using fear for disciplining the kids, creating the fun environment, and relationship building, among others. Mythical heroes in the stories seem to have distinct traits and have an aesthetic and didactic purpose based on the intention of continuity of mythical heroic narratives and structures. These also play a part in changing the socio-psychological dimensions of individuals. Hence, the mythical stories are important in child upbringing and development in the Nepali context. These stories are told across cultures, areas, gender and ethnicities, yet carry similar messages of changes of hope and sincerity towards structural values in an individual.

Which factors affect the Italian consumer’s intention to insect-eating? An application of an integrated attitude-intention-eating model

This research explored the role of key socio-psychological dimensions on individuals’ intention to eat insect-based foods (IEIBF). In particular, the theoretical framework included biospheric values and social norms, whose impact on pro-environmental choices has been largely evidenced, but also those factors related to animal welfare and neophobia/neophilia attitudes. An online survey was carried out in different Italian regions intercepting 1402 individuals to verify the relationships predicted by our proposed model, i.e. the Integrated Sustainable Neophilic Insect-based Eating Model (ISNIEM), for predicting IEIBF. Participants completed a survey containing measures of IEIBF, biospheric values, general pro-environmental beliefs, attitude toward sustainability, food neophilia, concern for insect welfare, and social norms (both injunctive and descriptive). Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was used for testing the ISNIEM. The main findings show that individuals having higher concern about environmental and ethical sustainability are more open to eating insects, especially if the latter are treated ethically. Overall, these results suggest that a typical consumer of insect foods is likely to be driven to their consumption from one side by curiosity (related to the neophilia dimension), and from the other side either by the sense of responsibility towards the environment or by the concern for ethical issues (i.e., animal welfare). The integrated attitude-food-intention model used to explore intention to eat insect foods (IEIBF) with a visual scheme represents an innovative approach in the study of consumer behaviour.

Transformation of Geopolitical Perceptions in the Russian-Ukrainian War: Impact on Regional Relations in the Future

The purpose of the research is to highlight the transformation of geopolitical activity during the Russian-Ukrainian war in the early twenty-first century. The specificity of the study is that the regional military conflict has acquired the features of a global confrontation involving (so far without direct participation) many players in world politics. At the same time, the objectives of the article determine the formation of a new paradigm of state interests of different levels of influence. The Russian-Ukrainian war is not only causing geopolitical changes but also transforming the conceptual dimensions of geopolitics. The methodology used in the article is based on historical research methods: historical-systemic (to understand the content of geopolitics), historical-typological (to characterise the format of geopolitics), historical-comparative (to determine geopolitical activity). The general scientific methods of structural-functional and socio-psychological dimensions allow us to analyse the features and consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the local-regional and global-international context. The results of the study show the transformation of the role and positioning of geopolitical actors in the context of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and also a paradigm shift in geopolitics in terms of reorientation from its traditional stable definition to a dynamic hybrid meaning. The classical geopolitical principles of ordering the coexistence of states and their relations are losing relevance both in the institutional (UN crisis) and functional sense. Geopolitics, which used to determine the interests and level of influence of individual states or alliances, is now focused on the synergy of the overall world order in the context of global historical mega-activities. History is familiar with the alternation of geopolitical calm and geopolitical explosions, and the current Russian-Ukrainian war has the potential to end the long-standing orderly world order and to trigger the volatility and uncertainty of civilisational development. So, today, the Russian-Ukrainian war, according to the usual geopolitical interpretation, is a regional conflict that has indirect effects on global processes (political, military, economic, cultural). However, a new conceptual understanding of geopolitics, based on synergistic principles, argues that a military confrontation of this scale has every chance of escalating to the point of a world war. The prospects of the study lie in the need to identify geopolitical principles that will be able to keep the Russian-Ukrainian war at the stage of a regional conflict.

The Expansion of the Spectrum in Stuttering Disorders to a Novel ARMC Gene Family (ARMC3)

Stuttering is a common neurodevelopment speech disorder that negatively affects the socio-psychological dimensions of people with disability. It displays many attributes of a complex genetic trait, and a few genetic loci have been identified through linkage studies. Stuttering is highly variable regarding its phenotypes and molecular etiology. However, all stutters have some common features, including blocks in speech, prolongation, and repetition of sounds, syllables, and words. The involuntary actions associated with stuttering often involve increased eye blinking, tremors of the lips or jaws, head jerks, clenched fists, perspiration, and cardiovascular changes. In the present study, we recruited a consanguineous Pakistani family showing an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. The exome sequencing identified a homozygous splice site variant in ARMC3 (Armadillo Repeat Containing 3) in a consanguineous Pashtun family of Pakistani origin as the underlying genetic cause of non-syndromic stuttering. The homozygous splice site variant (NM_173081.5:c.916 + 1G > A) segregated with the stuttering phenotype in this family. The splice change leading to the skipping of exon-8 is a loss of function (LoF) variant, which is predicted to undergo NMD (Nonsense mediated decay). Here, we report ARMC3 as a novel candidate gene causing the stuttering phenotype. ARMC3 may lead to neurodevelopmental disorders, including stuttering in humans.

Orisa Sanponna: Indigenous health systems, disability, and morality in Osofisan’s dramaturgy

The relevance of indigenous literature (by this is meant African literature) as an important resource for the interrogation and understanding of the social construction of the body, illness, or well-being in the African context seems not to be of primary interest to most African researchers in the field of sociology of health. In this article we explore how the notion of Sanponna (the smallpox deity) depicted in Femi Osofisan’s play Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels can be integrated into disability and indigenous health systems in a way that acknowledges both the biological and social facts as well as how this experience can be interrogated within the domain of epistemological, ontological, and moral foundations and concerns. We rely on mythological and analytical approaches as the theoretical underpinning. We begin with a brief explanation of the concept and potential of Sanponna in Yoruba metaphysics. We also look for relationships between moral values and other socio-psychological dimensions and traditional understandings of disability. Thereafter, we briefly examine Orisa Sanponna and its possible impacts on characters and disability in Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels and conclude with an explanation of the relevance of the themes explored by Osofisan in the play to the Nigerian contemporary experience and situation.

Repressive Moralism: World Making and Petty Fascism in Transgender Politics

The past decade has seen a shift in the way that minorities exert their influence in society. Where in previous decades the emphasis was on winning the hearts and minds of the population at large, a recent strategy has been to ignore general public discourse and only to target specific influential bodies. In this paper we use the example of transgender issues to analyse the socio-psychological dimensions of this approach. We show how some groups promoting these issues eschew a wider social discourse and debate in the mass media, and how their strategy rests on a self-construction as victims of the hetero-normative society, with a concomitant appeal to moral rather than factual argumentation. This is combined with a programme of aggressive challenge to opponents through social media, and sometimes direct action, which effectively closes discussion on the topic. We conclude that these methods have much in common with the oppressive politics of fascist rule.

The Impact of the Magnitude of the Group of Bullies on Health-Related Quality of Life and Academic Performance Among Adolescents

This study examines the consequences that physical and verbal/social victimization by peers and the magnitude of the groups of bullies have on academic performance and the psychological and social domains of Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL). 1428 secondary school students in the south-east Spain completed the Spanish version of the “Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument-Bullying” and “KIDSCREEN-52” questionnaires in order to analyse, respectively, peer victimization and the psychological and social domains of HRQoL. Data on sociodemographic characteristics and academic achievement was also collected. Findings emphasise the potential of peer victimization in all its forms as risk factors explaining poor HRQoL in psychological, social and emotional domains. The number of bullies was an imponent and significant risk factor that explains a worse HRQoL in the five socio-psychological dimensions studied (Odds Ratio 4.08, Odds Ratio 9.25, Odds Ratio 4.69, Odds Ratio 2.91, Odds Ratio 11.92). Nevertheless, peer victimization rarely seems to affect academic achievement. Results suggest that much of prevention and intervention are still needed to reduce peer victimization, focusing on large bullies’ groups and their harmful impact on adolescent’s HRQoL.

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

<p>Education is a dynamic social process with its two main components: teaching and learning. As a field of study in social sciences education science / pedagogy has a truly interdisciplinary basis. In this article we will discuss socio-psychological aspects of teaching and learning. As human beings we are all social actors: educational managers, teachers, students, parents, etc. All people have their own social responsibilities and tasks in educational activities. When we analyze and understand comprehensively this social reality it will be much more successful to establish effective strategies and apply them in society. Of course, as individuals, social groups and societies we are facing psychological interactions as well. These are very connected to people’s being social actors. This is why it is more proper to take a “socio-psychological” level of analysis for profoundly understanding educational processes. In this scientific discussion we will refer to Marx’s concepts related to education, theories in sociology of education and educational psychology. Our academic purpose is contributing to the progressive literature in education studies as broadening the discussion.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0965/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Landownership as a socio-psychological phenomenon: Exploration of the owner-land relationship

ABSTRACT Land fragmentation and conversion compromise the integrity of the privately-owned landscape nationwide. Landowners’ choices and actions play a critical role in these dynamics. To better understand these individuals’ land-management behaviors, this phenomenological study used the theory of psychological ownership to explore landowners’ lived experiences with their properties. We conducted nine semi-structured interviews with landowners holding properties in the Hill Country region of Texas, the leading state in the loss of agricultural land. Our results showed that the owner-land relationship extends beyond feelings of psychological ownership by embracing a combination of human-centered and nature-centered philosophies. With the current study, we expand the understanding of socio-psychological dimensions of landownership by providing a detailed examination of landowners’ personal contexts, experiences, conservation views, and other factors associated with owning land. We conclude by providing a definition of landownership as a socio-psychological phenomenon.

Group communications in the system of social institutions

The paper highlights the socio-psychological dimensions of group identity and other integration phenomena in the context of social institutions. The concept of group communication is studied, the theoretical aspects of the functioning of group communication in the system of social communications are revealed, the structure, functions, types and forms of organization of group communications are analyzed.

Towards quality of life indicators for historic urban landscapes – Insight into a German-Polish research project

Cultural heritage was long absent from mainstream sustainability debates but its potential to contribute to more liveable, viable and equitable environments is now widely acknowledged. The actual contribution of cultural heritage resources to sustainability and a high level of quality of life for current and future generations is however seldom proven. The presented research initiative addresses this desideratum with a methodological study on how to improve the assessment of urban quality of life by means of indicators that take into consideration cultural heritage resources. The study was undertaken within a binational cooperation project of the programme INTERREG Poland-Saxony 2014–2020 funded by the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRE). Ten historic small and medium-sized towns in the German-Polish border area, that partake in the project REVIVAL! – Revitalisation of historic towns in Lower Silesia and Saxony, serve the research initiative as case study. The article presents the methodological study as an integral part of the project REVIVAL! and illustrates how both intend to leverage the potential of cultural heritage on the basis of integrated landscape management. In the study, urban quality of life studies were analysed and a draft list of cultural heritage related indicators compiled. Contribution of cultural heritage resources to urban quality of life and sustainable development were explored on the basis of desk research, expert consultations and focus group discussions. In the case study, cultural heritage was found to contribute to all three pillars of sustainability and predominantly to socio-psychological dimensions of urban quality of life, if adequately managed.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Environmental and Health Concern Pathways Toward Meat Consumption.

The dramatic increase of meat production in the last decades has proven to be one of the most impacting causes of negative environmental outcomes (e.g., increase of greenhouse emissions, pollution of land and water, and biodiversity loss). In two studies, we aimed to verify the role of key socio-psychological dimensions on meat intake. Study 1 (N = 198) tested the predictive power of an extended version of the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) model on individual food choices in an online supermarket simulation. In an online survey, participants were directed to a virtual shop and asked to buy food within a set amount of money. Subsequently, they completed measures of behavioral intention, the VBN constructs (values, general pro-environmental beliefs, awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and personal norm), and social norms (injunctive and descriptive). The outcome variable was operationalized in terms of percentage of expenses dedicated to meat and processed meat items, which provided a more robust behavioral measure than the common self-reported ones. Results confirmed the VBN sequential path, showing direct effects of biospheric values and descriptive norm on personal norm. Furthermore, a proof of validity for the new behavioral measure was provided (medium-sized correlation with behavioral intention). Study 2 (N = 218) aimed at verifying whether the meat consumption could be also motivated by a health concern, reflecting individual (cost/benefit) considerations, besides pro-environmental drivers. Results showed the direct impact of health concern and confirmed the indirect role of biospheric values and descriptive norm (via personal norm) on meat intake. This evidence would suggest the use of multiple-frame messages, highlighting both pro-environmental and health consequences, for meat consumption reduction. Nevertheless, the different implications of moral (e.g., environmental concern) vs. non-moral motivators (e.g., health concern) for reducing meat intake need to be stressed: indeed, the first drivers are more central for self-identity and for engaging in environmental citizenship behaviors.

РЕЛИГИОЗНЫЕ ОТНОШЕНИЯ В СОЦИОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ И СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ ИЗМЕРЕНИЯХ

РЕЛИГИОЗНЫЕ ОТНОШЕНИЯ В СОЦИОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ И СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ ИЗМЕРЕНИЯХ

Distance matters: the impact of physical and relative distance on pleasure tourists' length of stay in Barbados

This paper argues that length of stay is a reflection of the distance between the origin and destination country. Past interpretations of distance premised on spatial aspects. This study extends the dimensional space of distance to include socio-psychological dimensions, climate distance and economic distance. Our empirical analysis utilizes airport data covering over 350,000 pleasure tourists to Barbados from 144 countries. The results suggest that the length of stay of pleasure tourists to Barbados increases with geographic distance, cultural distance and climatic distance, but is inversely related to economic distance. We find no evidence that long-distance relationships (captured by transnational and diasporic relationships) affect tourist length of stay. Implications of these findings are provided.

The Politics of Unreason: The Frankfurt School and the Origins of Modern Antisemitism

The Politics of Unreason: The Frankfurt School and the Origins of Modern Antisemitism

Consumer Environmental Attitude and Willingness to Purchase Environmentally Friendly Products: An SEM Approach

It has been found that in spite of showing concern for the environment and advocating environmentally safe activities, the Indian consumer is still not ready to accept the hard truth that it the responsibility of one and all to minimize their contribution to the overall environmental pollution. This article aims at studying socio-psychological factors which contribute in the formation of environmental attitude of consumers. It further aims at establishing the connection between environmental attitude of the consumer and his/her willingness to buy environmentally friendly products (WTB-EFPs). A conceptual model has been proposed and tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). It has been found that the dimensions, such as environmental knowledge (EK), perceived seriousness of environmental (PSE) problem, interpersonal influence (IPI), collectivism and long-term orientation (LTO), have positive relationship with consumer environmental attitude (CEA). It has also been observed that consumer with favourable environmental attitude expresses their WTB-EFPs. This is an original study conducted for the first time in India using five antecedents of CEA with the application of SEM. No demographic factors have been studied in this article in order to put more focus on their socio-psychological dimensions.

Social media approaches to modeling wildfire smoke dispersion: spatiotemporal and social scientific investigations

ABSTRACTWildfires have significant effects on human populations, economically, environmentally, and in terms of their general well-being. Smoke pollution, in particular, from either prescribed burns or uncontrolled wildfires, can have significant health impacts. Some estimates suggest that smoke dispersion from fire events may affect the health of one in three residents in the United States, leading to an increased incidence of respiratory illnesses such as asthma and pulmonary disease. Scarcity in the measurements of particulate matter responsible for these public health issues makes addressing the problem of smoke dispersion challenging, especially when fires occur in remote regions. Crowdsourced data have become an essential component in addressing other societal problems (e.g., disaster relief, traffic congestion) but its utility in monitoring air quality impacts of wildfire events is unexplored. In this study, we assessed if user-generated social media content can be used as a complementary source of data in measuring particulate pollution from wildfire smoke. We found that the frequency of daily tweets within a 40,000 km2 area was a significant predictor of PM2.5 levels, beyond daily and geographic variation. These results suggest that social media can be a valuable tool for the measurement of air quality impacts of wildfire events, particularly in the absence of data from physical monitoring stations. Also, an analysis of the semantic content in people’s tweets provided insight into the socio-psychological dimensions of fire and smoke and their impact on people residing in, working in, or otherwise engaging with affected areas.

A Systematic Review of the Factors Affecting the Cyclone Evacuation Decision Process in Bangladesh

Researchers are investigating a broad spectrum of factors affecting positively and/or negatively the evacuation decision-making process occurring after people at risk receive cyclone warnings and advisories. Previous studies suggest that early warnings themselves do not propagate evacuation processes to be investigated but, rather, that human risk perceptions do so. This in turn encourages the sociopsychological dimensions of risk perception to be evaluated, which must be done within a country’s own cultural context. In applying content analysis here, we review the literature on evacuation decision-making processes during rapidonset hazards, i.e., tropical cyclones, in coastal Bangladesh. We focus on three broad overlapping themes – early warning, risk perception, and evacuation decision-making. Major content-analysis findings suggest that two things – a lack of credibility in early warning messages and an inefficient dissemination process – tend to affect the risk perception of people at risk and are likely to eventually determine the success of evacuation decision-making. Findings also show that different socioeconomic and socio-cultural issues related to risk perception appear to be more influential than formal warning messages in propagating decisions to evacuate during a cyclone. Based on these results, we suggest specific policy recommendations for improving local evacuation efficiency.

Categorization of Hong Kong Modern Males with Regard to Predictors of Menswear Design Preferences in Terms of Physical and Socio-Psychological Dimensions

Proportional grading, which offers the closest fit by producing various sizes, is commonly used in sizing systems for mass production today. However, wearers’ socio-psychological concerns are not taken into account during the development of the system, which may churn out ineffective fits. This study provides knowledge of menswear evaluation by taking into account men’s physical and socio-psychological dimensions.This study successfully categorizes modern males according to their preferences of menswear, concerning the predictors of menswear design preferences in physical (i.e. Body Mass Index [BMI]) and psychological dimensions (i.e. menswear functions and menswear involvement). Subjects were divided into three clusters: (1) Fashion & Masculine; (2) Low-Function Value; and (3) Camouflage and Comfort; in which they were identified as having different clothing preferences as they had unique characteristics in clothing functions and levels of fashion involvement. The results suggested that modern men treat fashion in a multidimensional way that might be even more complicated than women. Not just for practical function and performance, they also dress to promote their identity, style and image based on their own concerns.