Clara Amato - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Clara Amato

Personality and Individual Differences, 2016

Abstract This research examined the relationship between individual differences in the tendency t... more Abstract This research examined the relationship between individual differences in the tendency towards locomotion (i.e., the aspect of self-regulation concerned with movement from state to state), job search behaviors, and positive employment outcomes (i.e., number of interviews, number of job offers, employment status). Data from two studies with unemployed Italian job seekers found support for a chain reaction towards employment that is initiated by locomotion orientation: individuals who are characterized by high locomotion show more intense job search behavior; as a result, they receive more interviews and job offers, and are more likely to attain employment. These findings are consistent with the literatures on locomotion orientation (Kruglanski, Thompson, Higgins, Atash, Pierro, Shah, & Spiegel, 2000) and job search success (Saks, 2006). Implications for the effect of locomotion orientation on job search success and employment status are discussed.

Journal of Small Business Management, 2016

Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurs play a key role in the success of their ventures. But... more Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurs play a key role in the success of their ventures. But relatively little is currently known about how they produce such effects. The present research provides data suggesting that two modes of entrepeneurs' self-regulation-locomotion and assessment-enhance a firm's success through their effects on the components of alertness. This mediational model was tested and supported with data from 120 entrepreneurs. Locomotion was positively related to the scanning and search component, while assessment was positively related to the association and evaluation components. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of founders' self-regulation in the performance of their companies.

Why do some people focus their attention on thinking about the past? Why do others concentrate on... more Why do some people focus their attention on thinking about the past? Why do others concentrate on present events and why do others think mainly about what is going to happen in the future? Previous research investigated the individual characteristics associated with a preferred "temporal focus" but the connection between the regulatory modes and the "temporal foci" have not yet been investigated. The present paper aims to address this issue by conducting a study with 259 participants. The results confirm the following hypotheses: 1) Individuals who are locomotion-oriented are focused on present and future dimensions. 2) Individuals who are assessment-oriented are focused on the past and tend to pay less attention to present events.

Time & Society, 2017

Prior research on time issues has demonstrated that the value of time is subjective and shows tha... more Prior research on time issues has demonstrated that the value of time is subjective and shows that different evaluations of time (as a valuable or as an undefined resource) correspond to different attitudes, behaviors, and emotions. Based on recent research on the relationship between time and motion, the present research aimed to investigate the relationship between locomotion orientation (i.e., proclivity toward movement and change) and the evaluation of time as a resource. Two studies were conducted with 313 (244 students and 69 workers) and 139 (students) Italian participants, respectively. In the first study, The Locomotion Regulatory Mode Scale and the Mental Account Scale (Time version) were administered, while in the second study, participants were presented with two scenarios of a transaction where prior investments of time led to negative outcomes. The results of the two studies confirmed the hypotheses that (1) locomotion orientation is associated with the existence of a ...

International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances

School dropout is a spread phenomenon in the various countries of the European community. It is m... more School dropout is a spread phenomenon in the various countries of the European community. It is meant to be slowing the path of formal study, and lacking of compliance in mandatory school; causing the exit from the school year – in the current one or in the end of it – in various levels of schooling before reaching the title within the different school cycles (Ghione, 2005). In Italy, over the past 3 years, were respectively observed the 0,1% and the '1.6% of "missing students" in secon- dary school of first and second degree (Ministry of Education, 2008). To contain this problem means to analyze its features and identify the intervening variables to understand its dynamics and stop them in time. The purpose of this study is to construct a questionnaire that can replace or support the TVD-Test Evaluation of discomfort and school dropout (Mancini & Gabrielli, 1998) as used in Italian schools. Indeed, an easier and more immediate instrument of interpretation is needed. T...

Ethical leadership is an important factor in leadership effectiveness, but the study of the conti... more Ethical leadership is an important factor in leadership effectiveness, but the study of the contingencies of its influence is still in its infancy. Addressing this issue we focus on the moderating role of followers’ need for cognitive closure, the disposition to reduce uncertainty and swiftly reach closure in judgment and decision, in the relationship between ethical leadership and its effectiveness. We propose that need for closure captures followers’ sensitivity to the uncertaintyreducing influence of ethical leadership. In a field survey study we found support for the hypothesis that perceived ethical leadership has a stronger (positive) relationship with leadership effectiveness for followers higher in need for closure. This support is found across two indicators reflecting different aspects of leadership effectiveness: effort investment and job satisfaction. We discuss how these findings advance our understanding of the uncertainty-reducing role of ethical leadership.

Certain mental processes are suggested to exist beyond conscious awareness and control. These pro... more Certain mental processes are suggested to exist beyond conscious awareness and control. These processes have often been categorized as implicit, in contrast to explicit, processes, which are readily available to conscious report. Researchers have attempted to measure and assess these implicit processes in a different number of ways. Projective measures, for instance, present ambiguous or unstructured stimuli to respondents, with the assumption that their responses will reveal aspects about their attitudes, personality, and etc. Despite longstanding evidence disfavoring most projective measures, their use in clinical and forensic settings has been remarkably robust. Phrased in terms of modern psychological research, projection might be considered an instance of misattribution, that is, mistaking the source for the effect. People, for example, might misinterpret the transient pleasure of a sunny day as lasting life satisfaction. Such source of confusion is a common feature of events i...

Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and Internet of Things (UMI) technologies, are widely diff... more Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and Internet of Things (UMI) technologies, are widely diffused in the everyday life. In addition to their primary usage (e.g., supporting the implementation of the future 5G network), these technologies can be used in the context of Science Education. According to this perspective, the innovative psycho-pedagogical approach here presented has been ad-hoc developed for the Horizon 2020 Project “Exploiting Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and the Internet of Things to promote Science Education” (Umi-Sci-Ed). The aim of the project is to enhance knowledge and skills of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and to promote positive attitudes towards these disciplines. In order to reach this goal, the UMI technologies, framed in the Community of Practices (CoPs) paradigm, will be introduced in the learning process of secondary schools’ students (i.e., 9 and 10 grade). Specifically, the students will attend to innovative learni...

International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology: INFAD. Revista de Psicología, 2011

For years entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship have been the subject of multidisciplinary studies a... more For years entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship have been the subject of multidisciplinary studies and nowadays they are the main actor of the European economic scene (Brandstatter, 1997). They are very important to increasing wealth—both personal and societal (Baron, 1998). The entrepreneurs avowed as the capital of the economy and so the European Union seeks to promote more effectively the entrepreneurial spirit (Commission of European Communities, 2003). Effort to answer this claim has focused on the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs in terms of personality factors (Brandstatter, 1997, Ciavarella et al. 2003, Zhao & Seibert, 2006). The present study suggests that valuable insight into the questions posed above may be obtained through careful analysis of the values of entrepreneurs. “The values are a motivational construct. They refer to the desirable goals people strive to attain” (Schwartz, 1992, pag.1). The construct of personal values increase the likelihood to answer to ...

In childhood, the headache may be the expression of psychological difficulties such as anxiety an... more In childhood, the headache may be the expression of psychological difficulties such as anxiety and depression, and stressful life events. It is also true that the headache itself can be a source of stress and can cause anxiety both in patients and in their families (Holmes, MacGregor, 2001). From research made in recent years by authors such as Guidetti (1998) and Sillanpää (2000) showed that there is a comorbidity between migraine and psychiatric disorders. The hypothesis of the research is to show that pet therapy is an effective treatment for the improvement of aspects such as depression and behavioral disorders, which are comorbid to headache disorder. Pet therapy contributes to the maturation of prosocial behavior directed toward the outside world, to the development of positive self-image, good self-esteem and personal adequacy level. The statistical sample consisted of 50 children: 44% male and 46% female, aged between 8 and 11 years who have participated in 5 months of pet-t...

International Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2018

Many recent contributions try to identify the way of thinking of individuals who pursue entrepren... more Many recent contributions try to identify the way of thinking of individuals who pursue entrepreneurial careers. This study aims at investigating the cognitive styles (i.e., the stable preferred way to thinking by an individual) of a sample of entrepreneurs (vs. non-entrepreneurs.) According to Sternberg’s theories and based on the previous researches it is assumed that some cognitive styles better describe the entrepreneurial way of thinking. Through a discriminant analysis, this assumption has been assessed on an Italian sample of 276 participants (147 entrepreneurs and 129 non-entrepreneurs.) The data show that the anarchical (i.e., a random approach to problems, by sometimes drawing up connections that the others would not be able to establish), legislative (i.e., the free decision of what to do and how to do it), internal (i.e., the inclination towards autonomy for the performance of tasks) and liberal style (i.e., the tendency to deviate from the way in which things are curren...

The aim of the study was to analyze freely generated self-presentations through the natural langu... more The aim of the study was to analyze freely generated self-presentations through the natural language processing technique of Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA). Four hundred fifty-one participants (F = 360; M = 143) recruited from LinkedIn (a professional social network) were randomly assigned to generate 10 words to describe themselves to either an employer (recruitment-condition) or a friend (friendship-condition). The words’ frequency-rate and their semantic representation were compared between condi-tions and to the natural language (Google’s n-gram database). Self-presentations produced in the recruitment condition (vs. natural language) had significantly higher number of agentic words (e.g., problem-solver, responsible, able team-worker) and their contents were semantically closer to the concept of agency (i.e., competence, assertiveness, decisiveness) comparing to the friendship condition. Further-more, the valence of the self-presentations’ words was higher (i.e., with a more po...

PeerJ

Background Health assessment among individuals with mental health problems often involves measure... more Background Health assessment among individuals with mental health problems often involves measures of ill-being (e.g., anxiety, depression). Health is, however, defined as a state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease (WHO, 1948, 2001). Hence, in order to address mental illness during the 21st century, we need to develop methods for the prevention, identification and treatment of mental illness; but also, for the promotion, identification, and maintenance of well-being. In this context, over three decades of subjective well-being research have resulted in the development of measures of positive aspects of human life, such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985). Our aim was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in a Swedish population of individuals with mental illness using both Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). Method A total of 264 participants (age mean ...

Personality and Individual Differences, 2016

Abstract This research examined the relationship between individual differences in the tendency t... more Abstract This research examined the relationship between individual differences in the tendency towards locomotion (i.e., the aspect of self-regulation concerned with movement from state to state), job search behaviors, and positive employment outcomes (i.e., number of interviews, number of job offers, employment status). Data from two studies with unemployed Italian job seekers found support for a chain reaction towards employment that is initiated by locomotion orientation: individuals who are characterized by high locomotion show more intense job search behavior; as a result, they receive more interviews and job offers, and are more likely to attain employment. These findings are consistent with the literatures on locomotion orientation (Kruglanski, Thompson, Higgins, Atash, Pierro, Shah, & Spiegel, 2000) and job search success (Saks, 2006). Implications for the effect of locomotion orientation on job search success and employment status are discussed.

Journal of Small Business Management, 2016

Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurs play a key role in the success of their ventures. But... more Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurs play a key role in the success of their ventures. But relatively little is currently known about how they produce such effects. The present research provides data suggesting that two modes of entrepeneurs' self-regulation-locomotion and assessment-enhance a firm's success through their effects on the components of alertness. This mediational model was tested and supported with data from 120 entrepreneurs. Locomotion was positively related to the scanning and search component, while assessment was positively related to the association and evaluation components. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of founders' self-regulation in the performance of their companies.

Why do some people focus their attention on thinking about the past? Why do others concentrate on... more Why do some people focus their attention on thinking about the past? Why do others concentrate on present events and why do others think mainly about what is going to happen in the future? Previous research investigated the individual characteristics associated with a preferred "temporal focus" but the connection between the regulatory modes and the "temporal foci" have not yet been investigated. The present paper aims to address this issue by conducting a study with 259 participants. The results confirm the following hypotheses: 1) Individuals who are locomotion-oriented are focused on present and future dimensions. 2) Individuals who are assessment-oriented are focused on the past and tend to pay less attention to present events.

Time & Society, 2017

Prior research on time issues has demonstrated that the value of time is subjective and shows tha... more Prior research on time issues has demonstrated that the value of time is subjective and shows that different evaluations of time (as a valuable or as an undefined resource) correspond to different attitudes, behaviors, and emotions. Based on recent research on the relationship between time and motion, the present research aimed to investigate the relationship between locomotion orientation (i.e., proclivity toward movement and change) and the evaluation of time as a resource. Two studies were conducted with 313 (244 students and 69 workers) and 139 (students) Italian participants, respectively. In the first study, The Locomotion Regulatory Mode Scale and the Mental Account Scale (Time version) were administered, while in the second study, participants were presented with two scenarios of a transaction where prior investments of time led to negative outcomes. The results of the two studies confirmed the hypotheses that (1) locomotion orientation is associated with the existence of a ...

International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances

School dropout is a spread phenomenon in the various countries of the European community. It is m... more School dropout is a spread phenomenon in the various countries of the European community. It is meant to be slowing the path of formal study, and lacking of compliance in mandatory school; causing the exit from the school year – in the current one or in the end of it – in various levels of schooling before reaching the title within the different school cycles (Ghione, 2005). In Italy, over the past 3 years, were respectively observed the 0,1% and the '1.6% of "missing students" in secon- dary school of first and second degree (Ministry of Education, 2008). To contain this problem means to analyze its features and identify the intervening variables to understand its dynamics and stop them in time. The purpose of this study is to construct a questionnaire that can replace or support the TVD-Test Evaluation of discomfort and school dropout (Mancini & Gabrielli, 1998) as used in Italian schools. Indeed, an easier and more immediate instrument of interpretation is needed. T...

Ethical leadership is an important factor in leadership effectiveness, but the study of the conti... more Ethical leadership is an important factor in leadership effectiveness, but the study of the contingencies of its influence is still in its infancy. Addressing this issue we focus on the moderating role of followers’ need for cognitive closure, the disposition to reduce uncertainty and swiftly reach closure in judgment and decision, in the relationship between ethical leadership and its effectiveness. We propose that need for closure captures followers’ sensitivity to the uncertaintyreducing influence of ethical leadership. In a field survey study we found support for the hypothesis that perceived ethical leadership has a stronger (positive) relationship with leadership effectiveness for followers higher in need for closure. This support is found across two indicators reflecting different aspects of leadership effectiveness: effort investment and job satisfaction. We discuss how these findings advance our understanding of the uncertainty-reducing role of ethical leadership.

Certain mental processes are suggested to exist beyond conscious awareness and control. These pro... more Certain mental processes are suggested to exist beyond conscious awareness and control. These processes have often been categorized as implicit, in contrast to explicit, processes, which are readily available to conscious report. Researchers have attempted to measure and assess these implicit processes in a different number of ways. Projective measures, for instance, present ambiguous or unstructured stimuli to respondents, with the assumption that their responses will reveal aspects about their attitudes, personality, and etc. Despite longstanding evidence disfavoring most projective measures, their use in clinical and forensic settings has been remarkably robust. Phrased in terms of modern psychological research, projection might be considered an instance of misattribution, that is, mistaking the source for the effect. People, for example, might misinterpret the transient pleasure of a sunny day as lasting life satisfaction. Such source of confusion is a common feature of events i...

Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and Internet of Things (UMI) technologies, are widely diff... more Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and Internet of Things (UMI) technologies, are widely diffused in the everyday life. In addition to their primary usage (e.g., supporting the implementation of the future 5G network), these technologies can be used in the context of Science Education. According to this perspective, the innovative psycho-pedagogical approach here presented has been ad-hoc developed for the Horizon 2020 Project “Exploiting Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and the Internet of Things to promote Science Education” (Umi-Sci-Ed). The aim of the project is to enhance knowledge and skills of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and to promote positive attitudes towards these disciplines. In order to reach this goal, the UMI technologies, framed in the Community of Practices (CoPs) paradigm, will be introduced in the learning process of secondary schools’ students (i.e., 9 and 10 grade). Specifically, the students will attend to innovative learni...

International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology: INFAD. Revista de Psicología, 2011

For years entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship have been the subject of multidisciplinary studies a... more For years entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship have been the subject of multidisciplinary studies and nowadays they are the main actor of the European economic scene (Brandstatter, 1997). They are very important to increasing wealth—both personal and societal (Baron, 1998). The entrepreneurs avowed as the capital of the economy and so the European Union seeks to promote more effectively the entrepreneurial spirit (Commission of European Communities, 2003). Effort to answer this claim has focused on the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs in terms of personality factors (Brandstatter, 1997, Ciavarella et al. 2003, Zhao & Seibert, 2006). The present study suggests that valuable insight into the questions posed above may be obtained through careful analysis of the values of entrepreneurs. “The values are a motivational construct. They refer to the desirable goals people strive to attain” (Schwartz, 1992, pag.1). The construct of personal values increase the likelihood to answer to ...

In childhood, the headache may be the expression of psychological difficulties such as anxiety an... more In childhood, the headache may be the expression of psychological difficulties such as anxiety and depression, and stressful life events. It is also true that the headache itself can be a source of stress and can cause anxiety both in patients and in their families (Holmes, MacGregor, 2001). From research made in recent years by authors such as Guidetti (1998) and Sillanpää (2000) showed that there is a comorbidity between migraine and psychiatric disorders. The hypothesis of the research is to show that pet therapy is an effective treatment for the improvement of aspects such as depression and behavioral disorders, which are comorbid to headache disorder. Pet therapy contributes to the maturation of prosocial behavior directed toward the outside world, to the development of positive self-image, good self-esteem and personal adequacy level. The statistical sample consisted of 50 children: 44% male and 46% female, aged between 8 and 11 years who have participated in 5 months of pet-t...

International Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2018

Many recent contributions try to identify the way of thinking of individuals who pursue entrepren... more Many recent contributions try to identify the way of thinking of individuals who pursue entrepreneurial careers. This study aims at investigating the cognitive styles (i.e., the stable preferred way to thinking by an individual) of a sample of entrepreneurs (vs. non-entrepreneurs.) According to Sternberg’s theories and based on the previous researches it is assumed that some cognitive styles better describe the entrepreneurial way of thinking. Through a discriminant analysis, this assumption has been assessed on an Italian sample of 276 participants (147 entrepreneurs and 129 non-entrepreneurs.) The data show that the anarchical (i.e., a random approach to problems, by sometimes drawing up connections that the others would not be able to establish), legislative (i.e., the free decision of what to do and how to do it), internal (i.e., the inclination towards autonomy for the performance of tasks) and liberal style (i.e., the tendency to deviate from the way in which things are curren...

The aim of the study was to analyze freely generated self-presentations through the natural langu... more The aim of the study was to analyze freely generated self-presentations through the natural language processing technique of Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA). Four hundred fifty-one participants (F = 360; M = 143) recruited from LinkedIn (a professional social network) were randomly assigned to generate 10 words to describe themselves to either an employer (recruitment-condition) or a friend (friendship-condition). The words’ frequency-rate and their semantic representation were compared between condi-tions and to the natural language (Google’s n-gram database). Self-presentations produced in the recruitment condition (vs. natural language) had significantly higher number of agentic words (e.g., problem-solver, responsible, able team-worker) and their contents were semantically closer to the concept of agency (i.e., competence, assertiveness, decisiveness) comparing to the friendship condition. Further-more, the valence of the self-presentations’ words was higher (i.e., with a more po...

PeerJ

Background Health assessment among individuals with mental health problems often involves measure... more Background Health assessment among individuals with mental health problems often involves measures of ill-being (e.g., anxiety, depression). Health is, however, defined as a state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease (WHO, 1948, 2001). Hence, in order to address mental illness during the 21st century, we need to develop methods for the prevention, identification and treatment of mental illness; but also, for the promotion, identification, and maintenance of well-being. In this context, over three decades of subjective well-being research have resulted in the development of measures of positive aspects of human life, such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985). Our aim was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in a Swedish population of individuals with mental illness using both Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). Method A total of 264 participants (age mean ...