Ricerc@Sapienza

Why are people (de)motivated to mobilize in favor of immigrants? Addressing this question, we investigated the role of individuals' epistemic motivation (i.e., need for closure) in influencing the process of becoming motivated to participate in collective action in favor of immigrants in Italy. Specifically, the mediational role of binding moral foundations and political conservatism in explaining the relationship between need for closure and collective action in favor of immigrants was examined in three studies.

From the 1950s onward, psychologists have generally assumed that people possess a general need for cognitive consistency, whose frustration by an inconsistency elicits negative affect. We offer a novel perspective on this issue by introducing the distinction between epistemic and motivational impact of consistent and inconsistent cognitions. The epistemic aspect is represented by the updated expectancy of the outcome addressed in such cognitions. The motivational aspect stems from value (desirability) of that outcome.

A unique advantage of Psychological Inquiry’s format is that it encourages a free exchange of ideas allowing authors to “drill down” on points of disagreement and clarify possible misunderstandings. This is particularly helpful where an article asks its readers, as we do here, to revisit fundamental assumptions and reconsider widely accepted views. We are delighted at the opportunity to address the commentaries on our target article and explore the issues that they raise.

Videogaming is an increasingly prevalent activity among adolescents worldwide. The present study aimed at adapting the Gaming Motivation Scale (GAMS) to the Italian context, assessing its psychometric properties and verifying its sensitivity to predict depression and anxiety levels. From a sample of 1899 participants, a group of 388 adolescents who participated in the survey was divided into two subgroups of Heavy (HG, N = 188) and Light Gamers (LG, N = 200). A sub-sample of N = 172 adolescents also filled-in CESD and STAI to assess, respectively, depression and trait anxiety.

The present study examines the relationships between generalized problematic Internet use (GPIU) and two regulatory modes (RMs) namely Locomotion and Assessment. Through an on-line survey conducted on two hundred and forty six participants we found that Locomotion and Assessment regulatory orientations have opposite effects on the likelihood of developing GPIU, with the former reducing and the latter increasing it.

Biodiversity loss is a widely debated world problem, with huge economic, social, and environmentally negative consequences. Despite the relevance of this issue, the psychological determinants of committed action towards nature and biodiversity have rarely been investigated. This study aims at identifying a comprehensive social-psychological profile of activists committed to biodiversity protection and at understanding what determinants best predict their activism.

Obiettivi. Il presente studio si propone di esplorare ed approfondire un diverso metodo di selezione delle Risorse Umane, basato sul principio di consonanza, che possa ridurre il conflit- to ed avere un impatto positivo sulla performance.

Recalling information from a particular category can reduce one's memory capability for related, non-retrieved information. This is known as the retrieval-induced forgetting effect (RIF; Anderson et al., 1994). The present paper reviews studies that show that the RIF effect is motivated. More specifically, we describe research showing that the need for closure (NFC; the motivation to attain epistemic certainty; Kruglanski and Webster, 1996) generally enhances the RIF, because this prevents uncertainty and confusion from the intrusion of unwanted memories during selective-retrieval.

Self-determination theory (SDT) hypothesizes a multi-factor structure of motivation distinguishing between amotivation, extrinsic motivation (in turn consisting of external regulation, identified regulation, and introjected regulation), and intrinsic motivation. The purpose of the present paper is to introduce the Military Academic Motivation Scale (MAMS), a short and reliable instrument for assessing the aforementioned types of motivation among military cadets. Two representative samples of military cadets completed the MAMS.

Bidirectional relations among adolescents' positivity, perceived positive school climate, and prosocial behavior were examined in Colombian youth. Also, the role of a positive school climate in mediating the relation of positivity to prosocial behaviors was tested. Adolescents (N=151; M-age of child in Wave 1=12.68, SD=1.06; 58.9% male) and their parents (N=127) provided data in two waves (9months apart). A model of bidirectional relations between positivity and perceived positive school climate emerged.