Sumários
: Social Interactions and the Development of Children Born Preterm
31 Maio 2022, 17:00 • Rita Sousa
Conference held by Joana Baptista (PhD), Department of Psychology, Iscte
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year, 15 million babies are estimated to be born preterm worldwide (< 37 weeks of gestation), and this number is rising. In Portugal, approximately 8% of children are born preterm, one of the highest prematurity rates in Europe. With an increased survival rate comes important, yet problematic, developmental sequelae. For instance, preterm children seem to be particularly at risk for impairments in executive function (EF), defined as a collection of top-down processes that allow for conscious, goal-directed control of thoughts and actions. Despite evidence documenting such average developmental limitations of preterm children, the fact remains that not all such children exhibit impaired EF. This heterogeneity remains poorly understood, as do mechanisms underlying links between prematurity and poor EF and other developmental competencies. Because most work on the effects of prematurity on child development has been guided by diathesis-stress/vulnerability thinking - with disproportionate attention being paid to adversity and its negative consequences - much remains to be learned about the developmental plasticity of preterm children. In fact, there are reasons to believe that preterm children may be especially susceptible, not just to adverse, but also to positive environmental inputs, including supportive early interactions. We will present results from a longitudinal study with preterm children and their families, assessed during the first three years of life, aiming to explore the links between the quality of early social interactions and child developmental outcomes, including EF.
coordination lecture
27 Maio 2022, 14:30 • Rita Sousa
This was the coordination lecture at the end of the academic year in which we reflected about the lectures and the programme, exchanged feedback and discussed ideas how to enrich the program in the future.
Dynamics of forgiveness and self-forgiveness
6 Maio 2022, 11:00 • Rita Sousa
Lecture given via ZOOM by Prof. Michael Wenzel, Flinders University, Adelaide, AUS
Following interpersonal transgressions, victims' forgiveness and offenders' self-forgiveness are considered important for the restoration of the individuals' integrity, health, and their relationships. Typically, however, psychological research has studied forgiveness and self-forgiveness as outcomes rather than part of the of moral repair process; as intrapsychic phenomena rather than interactively negotiated, ignoring the dynamic and dialogical processes between victim and offender. However, fundamentally, a wrongdoing is a violation of values presumed to be shared, thus threatening the personal and social identities these values underpin. The two parties are mutually interdependent in their reaffirmation of these values. Forgiveness and self-forgiveness require co-engagement and joint working through the wrongdoing; their meanings are mutually interpreted and negotiated. Their appraised genuineness may be critical for positive repair outcomes. I will be presenting a series of empirical investigations that illustrate and support this perspective.
Sound judgment: Folk beliefs and empirical evidence
29 Abril 2022, 16:00 • Rita Sousa
Sound judgment: Folk beliefs and empirical evidence
Lecture given bey
Igor Grossmann
University of Waterloo, Canada
I will start by documenting a pervasive belief across cultures that better judgment depends on consulting one's thoughts and feelings rather than asking close others or wisdom of the crowds: From indigenous groups in Peru to post-industrial Global North, people prefer individualized deliberation strategies and rate them as wiser than transactive deliberation strategies involving others. Next, I will compare these folk beliefs with the empirical insights from experimental philosophy, social psychology, and forecasting research: In each of these domains, less individualized and more transactive strategies provide greater foresight and wisdom in managing life's challenges. Moreover, while some folk beliefs suggest that wisdom chiefly benefits from abstract rather than concrete deliberation, empirical evidence shows that tendencies to mentally represent situations in abstract and concrete fashion jointly contribute to individual differences in wise reasoning about interpersonal transgressions. It appears that judgmental preferences contradict the collective empirical wisdom about strategies that in fact promote sound judgment.
Who does identify with all humanity and what consequences does it bring?
22 Abril 2022, 11:00 • Rita Sousa
Lecture given by
Katarzyna Hamer-den Heyer, Ph.D.
Institute of Psychology of Polish Academy of Sciences
Who does identify with all humanity and what consequences does it bring?
The concept of a global social identification such as identification with all humanity swiftly gains interest in many areas of psychology (from social and political psychology to consumer behavior). However, it often elicits two types of reactions. For those who consider the pervasiveness of such identification in the era of globalization, it is obvious that all people are part of one community with which they bond and identify. Others, however, argue that it is very difficult to experience a sense of identity at such a general level and doubt the existence of identification with all humanity, which they do not feel themselves. Where do these differences between people come from and what are their social consequences? How do we define identification with all humanity and how does it manifest itself in interactions between people? Is it universal or is it rather a Western world phenomenon? In this talk, I will present the results of several own studies on this topic.