Imagens das emoções na infância: Representações sociais da alegria e da tristeza entre crianças em idade pré-escolar

As crianças são muito sensíveis a qualquer mudança no meio familiar ou social. O modo como apreendem, vivenciam e exprimem emoções ou sentimentos, em interacção com o meio - pais, professores e colegas determina, em muito, o seu desenvolvimento, nomeadamente a nível cognitivo, emocional e social. Nesta investigação averiguámos as representações sociais dos sentimentos, em particular da alegria e da tristeza, entre crianças com 5 e 6 anos, de ambos os sexos, que frequentam Jardins de Infância em Lisboa. Enquadrámos teoricamente a investigação na teoria das Representações Sociais (e.g. Moscovici,1976). Os dados foram recolhidos através de desenhos e por associação livre de palavras, a questões colocadas individualmente às crianças, e tratados através de AFO. Os resultados revelaram bastante acerca dos sentimentos das crianças, o que também nos estimula a reflectir sobre o modo mais cuidado para actuar com elas, contribuindo para o seu bem-estar psíquico e social, e aprendizagem. ABSTRACT; Children are deeply sensitive to any change in the family or social environment. The way in which they perceive, experience, and express emotions or feelings when interacting with the environment - parents, teachers, and fellow students - largely determines their development namely on a cognitive, emotional and social level. This research examines the social representations of feelings, particularly of joy and sadness, among children aged 5 and 6 years old, of the both sexes, and attending Kindergartens in Lisbon. On a theoretical perspective, the empirical research is framed on the Social Representations theory (e.g., Moscovici,1976). The data was gathered using drawings and free association, from questions individually made to the children, and examined through FCA2. The results showed quite a lot about the feelings of the children, which also leads us to reflect on the most careful way to act with them, as to contribute to their psychic and social well being, as well as their learning

Identification with the neighborhood: Discrimination and neighborhood size

This paper analyzes the impact of a geographical social grouping (neighborhood) and its relative perceived size in the spontaneous group’s identiication level and place satisfaction, as well as the intensity of and motives for discrimination against inhabitants of other places. Two studies are presented: an experimental one using the minimal group categorization paradigm and an onsite investigation of a city neighborhood. Consistent with the predictions, the results showed that smaller neighborhoods reported higher identiication and satisfaction with the place of residence, as well as higher discrimination of other neighborhoods. In line with the optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT), the indings showed that the motivation for discrimination varies as a function of the in-group size. Thus, the members of larger groups discriminate by increasing the diferentiation between the in-group and the out-group, whereas the members of smaller groups increased the value of the in-group. Furthermore, the results were consistent with a social identity theory and ODT explanation of diverse research that shows the non-trivial nature of geographical bounded social grouping and its importance in a diverse set of contexts and its impact in inter-neighborhood relationships.

Contributos das percepções de auto-eficácia e de instrumentalidade para a promoção da aprendizagem auto-regulada no ensino profissional

Assumindo a teoria sociocognitiva de Bandura como marco teórico, o presente estudo aborda as percepções de auto-eficácia e de instrumentalidade enquanto preditoras da auto-regulação da aprendizagem e as influências que as variáveis sexo, idade, habilitações escolares e profissão do pai e da mãe, ano de escolaridade, curso profissional, quantidade de módulos em atraso e quantidade de horas de estudo semanais poderão ter. A amostra é constituída por 521 formandos de ambos os sexos de uma escola profissional privada. Os instrumentos utilizados foram a Ficha de Dados Pessoais e Escolares, o Questionário de Auto-Eficácia da Auto-Regulação da Aprendizagem e o Questionário de lnstrumentalidade da Auto-Regulação da Aprendizagem. Os resultados corroboram a literatura ao verificar-se que as raparigas são mais auto-reguladas na sua aprendizagem, estudam mais tempo e têm menos módulos em atraso do que os rapazes. Verificou-se também a influência do curso profissional sobre as percepções de auto-eficácia e instrumentalidade percebidas. /ABSTRACT: Assuming Bandura’s social-cognitive theory as our framework, the present study refers to the perspectives of self-efficacy and instrumentality as predictors of self­regulated learning and the influence that the variables sex, age, parents school degree and profession, grade and vocational course, the number of modules in which the students weren't successful at and the amount of study hours per week might have on them. The sample is formed by 521 students of both genders from a private vocational school. The instruments used were the FDPE (Sociodemographic data file), QSEsrl (Questionnaire of Self-Efficacy of Self-Regulated Learning) and and Qlsrl (Questionnaire of lnstrumentality of Self-Regulated Learning). The results corroborate previous studies and reveal that female students have higher perceptions of self-efficacy and instrumentality, possess fewer non-successful modules and study more time than the male students. There are significant differences throughout the vocational courses for the perceived self-efficacy and instrumentality.