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I begin from the assumption that the social groups within which people acquire subjective attributes belong to two different orders. Those of the first order follow the model of organized, closed structures that define fixed places. Examples are social institutions, the state, and the oedipal structure. The groups of the second order are ad hoc groups whose life and consistency depend on the emergence of a problem that must be solved and, therefore, on a doing together. I call these groups communities. This approach to the matter of globalization responds to a way of thinking linkage organization that privileges different ontologies and a characteristic topology for each of them. We should ask ourselves whether solidarity requires an ontological definition; whether it constitutes an ethical problem (commitment), a moral problem (behaviour or obligation), an action/doing based on a previous knowledge of one of the parties, a practice created in connection with an emerging problem, a psychic mechanism, and so on. To answer these manifold questions, I travel a path – one among many possible paths – that involves understanding solidarity as a resource and a practice referred to psychic suffering, especially in present-day Argentina. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a historical overview of the Interamerican Society of Psychology, which was founded on December 17, 1951, in Mexico City. Firstly, the historical circumstances of the foundation period are presented, as well as the people who made this organization possible, and the state of psychology on the American continent at that time. Secondly, the most important activities that the Interamerican Society of Psychology has developed during its 60 years are mentioned, such as the publication of books and scientific journals, the creation of several task forces and the Interamerican Congresses of Psychology. Basically, the purpose of this paper is to review the history of the Interamerican Society of Psychology through the recovery and use of various documentary sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present paper is to provide an integrated analysis of indigenous psychologies and to outline the epistemological foundation of indigenous psychologies. In the first part of this paper, the authors provide commentary of the four articles in this Special Issue. In the second section, the epistemological foundation of general psychology is reviewed. General psychology has adopted positivism in search of abstract and universal laws of human behavior and eliminated the subjective aspects of human functioning (i.e. agency, meaning, intention and goals) and the influence of context and culture. In the third section, the authors introduce the transactional model of science. In this approach, human beings are viewed as agents of their own action and are motivated to control and manage their environment. In the fourth section, indigenous psychologies and culture are defined. Cultural differences exist due to the diverse goals that cultures pursue, the methods people use to attain the goals, and the differential use of natural and human resources. In the fifth section, a review of empirical studies focusing on academic achievement is provided to highlight the scientific merits of indigenous psychologies. In the final section, the authors distinguish between the speculative analyses of indigenous concepts from systematic indigenous analyses. Indigenous psychologies represent a scientific paradigm in which the goal is to create a more rigorous, systematic and universal science that can be theoretically and empirically verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the nature of educational studies is considered and discussed. Following some introductory comments, the paper deals with philosophy, psychology and sociology in relation to education. This is followed by a section on social psychology and the paper ends with a section on the history of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engel presented a compelling case for a biopsychosocial model of health. This challenged a biomedical model that he saw as reductionistic, physicalistic, and exclusionist. Yet despite its laudable goals and popularity, the biopsychosocial model can be faulted for being incremental, imprecise, and individualistic. Ultimately, this means it is no less reductionist than the biomedical model which it sought to supplant. In this paper, we present a reformulation of this model that foregrounds the capacity for social groups—and the social contexts in which those groups are embedded—to structure psychology and, through this, biology and health. This sociopsychobio model argues that the three elements of Engel's framework are not fixed and immutable but rather dynamic and interdependent. The model is consistent with a range of recent approaches to health that have focused on the important role that social class, social inequality, social structure, and social networks play in shaping health outcomes. In this paper, though, the concrete value of this reformulation is illustrated through a discussion of recent research that focuses on the role of group memberships and associated social identities in shaping the psychology and biology of stress. This review underlines two key points that are central to the general case for a sociopsychobio model of health. First, that groups are a force in the world that shape the psychology and biology of their members (as well as members of other groups) in ways that cannot be reduced to those group members' functioning as individuals. Second, that groups provide their members with a basis for seeking to change the world rather than simply accepting it. In this, group life is not merely an appendage to psychology and biology but is instead a basis for collective experiences that have the potential to unleash new expressions of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract The paper recalls experiences as a member of groups taken by Isabel Menzies Lyth during the 1960s and the significance of matters of 'presence' and stance. It sketches out ways in which she was to extend Bion's frame of reference to take account of the institutional contexts in which groups were located and her insistence on the two-way inter-relation between individual and group work, psychoanalysis and group relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain processes and social processes are not as separated as many of our Social Psychology and Neuroscience departments. This paper discusses the potential contribution of social neuroscience to the development of a multi-level, dynamic, and context-sensitive approach to prejudice. Specifically, the authors review research on event related potentials during social bias, stereotypes, and social attitudes measurements, showing that electrophysiological methods are powerful tools for analyzing the temporal fine-dynamics of psychological processes involved in implicit and explicit prejudice. Meta-theoretical implications are drawn regarding the social psychological modeling of social attitudes, and for the integration of social neuroscience into a multi-level account of cultural behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functional approach to identification suggests that people with a particular motive tend to identify with groups that fulfill this motive. Thus, identification should be strongest when individual motives and group features match. The present paper explores the predictive power of this motive-feature match principle. Participants judged themselves on five motives (self-esteem, distinctiveness, belongingness, uncertainty reduction, and power), rated several groups on features relevant to fulfillment of these motives (e.g., the group's power as to the power motive), and indicated their identification with each group. Although the most predicted Motive x Feature interactions on identification emerged, the overall fit between data and predictions was moderate. The reductionist nature of the motive-feature match principle is discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the role, status and development of Asian social psychology from four perspectives: (i) looking back; (ii) looking in; (iii) looking out; and (iv) looking forward. Looking back elaborates early attempts to ‘add Asians’ to social psychology and replicate classic social psychological research in Asian contexts. Looking in describes more sophisticated developments in Asian social psychology including the indigenization of theory, methods and measurements. Looking out critically examines the position of Asian social psychology in the international arena and discusses its impact on the discipline more broadly. Finally, looking forward makes some cautious predictions about the future of Asian social psychology in both regional and international spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue (SI), which marks the 10th anniversary of the Asian Journal of Social Psychology, carries the triple roles of taking stock of the past, scouting the present, and envisioning the future. In so doing, it connects with the 6th biennial conference of the Asian Association of Social Psychology held in 2005, in which several keynote speakers (Atsumi, Hofstede, Leung, and Ward) addressed the same troika of concerns. Together with invited commentary from Chiu and Matsumoto they form the substance of this SI. As SI Editors, we read the papers several times, for what they were and, just as enlightening, for what they were not. In the process, we reflected on what is social about Asian social psychology and, equally intriguing, on what is Asian about it. The (tentative) conclusion that we have reached is that a practical and creative social psychology that is in, of, and for Asia, and defines itself as a network of like-minded collaborators gathered around a central purpose rather than as a geographic or genetic entity will have the best chance of realizing the potential of Asian social psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the development of social psychology in Australia from its early beginnings, through post- World War II, to the current situation. Social psychology became an integral part of the psychology curriculum after the Second World War, with a strong emphasis at the University of Melbourne. It received an impetus in the 1960s with the creation of Flinders, Macquarie, and La Trobe universities. Currently, teaching and research in social psychology is widespread, with major centres at the Universities of Queensland and New South Wales, and at the Australian National University, but with universities such as Flinders, Macquarie, and Melbourne continuing to contribute. In general, social psychologists in Australia have not deliberately set out to develop a distinctive local identity. Instead, they have a strong international focus and are eclectic in their interests, drawing on theories and methodologies from major centres in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. They have made distinctive contributions in many areas, including research on acculturation, achievement motivation, the psychological impact of unemployment, values, expectancy-value theory, role theory, social identity and self-categorization theory, deservingness, gender studies and household work, close relationships, decision-making, social cognition, ostracism, and the effects of mood. Uniquely, Australian topics include research on tall poppies or high achievers, and on the cultural cringe. Social psychologists in Australia have also been active in industrial/organizational research and in cross-cultural research, but there is little social psychological research involving the indigenous Australian population. Australian contributions to social psychology are not always recognized, partly because of Australia's distance from the major centres. However, social psychologists in Australia now have their own association, the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists (SASP), offer symposia and special academic appointments that draw international visitors, and compensate for the tyranny of distance by travelling widely and using the internet. Social psychology is now one of the strongest areas of Australian psychology internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines membership and participation in neighborhood improvement associations. Individual-level and contextual-level structural variables associated with the community of limited liability model are important for the decision to join associations but not to participate in them. Also, social ties in the community are more important than psychological attachment for both membership and participation. However, neither social ties nor attachment serve as intervening variables in the relationship between structural variables and membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to provide a picture of the present European research topics in Social Psychology, using the 339 papers presented at the 1993 General Meeting of the EAESP. The most frequent themes of research are analysed and the structure of the association of those themes are described in a two-factor structure. The first factor differentiates research in terms of level of analysis and the second factor contrasts types of applied research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moscovici has ushered in the 'era of social representations', widely welcomed as a European alternative to what are increasingly regarded as the shortcomings of mainline' American social psychology. The rapid and enthusiastic adoption by many psychologists of Moscovici's theoretical approach has not so far evoked a great deal of critical appraisal of the ideas he put forward. The present paper seeks to make a start in filling this gap by an examination of the conceptual structure and sonic of its underlying assumptions. There appear to be a number of internal inconsistencies and some doubt concerning the logical status of social representations'. It is suggested that clarification of such issues, together with the establishment of closer links with the findings of neighbouring disciplines, would help to strengthen what is undoubtedly one of the most stimulating new departures in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an elaboration of Stinchcombe's model of the structure of functional explanations, this paper attempts to integrate the notions of equilibrium structures, structural contradictions, and social conflicts. It proposes that two variables of an unquestionably empirical nature can account for the distinctions among the three structural forms: (1) the emergence of a double loop in the basic structure of functional systems and (2) the embodiment of systemic, mechanical forces in the intentions and actions of persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efforts of Asian social psychology and the Asian Association of Social Psychology (AASP) over the past decade and longer have clearly drawn attention to Asian cultures and their potential influence on psychological processes, and have highlighted the need to incorporate Asian social psychology into a global understanding of social psychology. Despite these advancements, however, all four authors, in their own way, suggest that these efforts are only the tip of the iceberg, and describe how Asian social psychology can shift their contributions to a higher gear. In this brief commentary, I discuss three points raised in the papers by Atsumi, Hofstede, Leung, and Ward: identity, the gold standard of comparison, and the contribution of Asian social psychology to a global social psychology, all in relation to visions of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on culture identity and dress. The sociology of dress is a vibrant field, exploring intriguing theoretical, methodological, and empirical domains. During the mid-twentieth century, clothing scholars began investigating the sociological and psychological implications of dress and appearance. In 1989, a group met to discuss the direction of the analysis of dress. The published papers from that meeting considered a wide range of topics, including identity, social psychology, cultural anthropology and sociology, semiotics, affect and cognition, social construction of gender, literary analysis, as well as qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Recent textbooks in the area continue to thaw from sociology and other fields to refine theories of dress and human behavior. Related to the misperception that dress only applies to the psychology of the self is the notion that dress is trivial both substantively and theoretically. Perhaps sociologists' neglect of dress might also be linked to a misperception that it is nonrational behavior similar to other actions that do not lend themselves to systematic analysis. Again these articles provide a contrasting view. In organizational and institutional settings, such as greedy organizations, total institutions, and mass media, dress and all it symbolizes are debated and discussed in ways that can be studied scientifically. Further, all of the articles have identified patterns in how dress is used in identity embracing and distancing that can be incorporated into broader theoretical frameworks.

This paper introduces a special issue of the journal Personal Relationships dealing with context and relationships. It reflects on the state of the literature and discusses five approaches to the interplay of context and relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on theoretical developments made by the editorial board of the "European Journal of Social Psychology," for the success of the journal. The journal has provided a forum for some of the most important debates and some of the most exciting empirical and theoretical developments in the discipline of social psychology as a whole. In this way, the journal has helped to broaden the platform for social psychological debate and to encourage different approaches to key issues as much as it has maintained an underlying commitment to research scholarship and excellence. The journal has become more and more successful, with the result that it receives more submissions, publishes more papers, attracts more readers and has greater visibility than ever before. Moreover, it now has a much broader, truly international, audience and one that any researcher would aspire to have as the readership for his or her work.