Mihaela-Alexandra Gherman | Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma (original) (raw)
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Papers by Mihaela-Alexandra Gherman
Journal of Social Psychology [Revista de Psihologie Socială], 2014
This study aims to explore the influence of women's body dissatisfaction on their romantic relati... more This study aims to explore the influence of women's body dissatisfaction on their romantic relationships by investigating how their body shape concerns influence the responsibility attributions they make when exposed to spousal infidelity. The current experimental research was conducted on a sample of 60 women who were divided into two groups according to their level of body shape concern. They were asked to identify with the wife in four sexual jealousy-inducing vignettes which varied according to the attractiveness of the mistress (upward versus downward comparison) and according to the nature of the extramarital affair (emotional versus sexual). All participants assigned responsibility for the extramarital affair to the three characters-wife, husband and mistress-for each of the four scenarios. Our results revealed that body shape concern significantly influenced the responsibility attributions made by our participants. The attractiveness of the mistress (the type of social comparison) and the nature of the affair also influenced the responsibility attributions of our participants, but not to the expected extent.
Annals of the Al. I. Cuza University, Psychology Series, 2013
This paper comprises four studies that aim to offer empirical support to Freudian and Lacanian th... more This paper comprises four studies that aim to offer empirical support to Freudian and Lacanian theories on addictions on samples of female nicotine addicts. The two authors argue (as summarized by Loose in 2002) that the individuals who had relational issues with their main caregiver in their preverbal stages of development did not acquire the ability to obtain satisfaction in social interactions due to their poor relational skills; this increases their propensity toward becoming addicts, because addiction is seen as a manner of circumventing the other in the process of obtaining satisfaction. Our results support these theoretical claims in what regards nicotine addiction in women. The implications of our findings suggest that therapeutic interventions for nicotine addicts should be focused on the individual rather than on the object of the addiction itself, as the individual etiology of nicotine addiction seems to vary from one addict to another according to their previous experiences in attachment relationships.
Psihologia Socialã [Social Psychology], 2014
The aim of the current research was to investigate Romanians’ social representations of organic f... more The aim of the current research was to investigate Romanians’ social representations of organic foods and the connections between their self identification to the cultural referents related to organic foods and, respectively, their actual organic food consumptions. Study 1 was conducted on a sample of 74 participants, who filled in an associative map task (Dafinoiu & Crumpei, 2013). Results have shown that the nucleus of the representation comprised the following elements: price, health, authenticity and availability, while the peripheral zone was formed by evocations such as expensive, money, income, whims, supermarket, additives, benefits etc. The second study was conducted on a sample of 80 participants who filled in a Self Identification Conceptual Network (de Rosa & Holman, 2011) and a questionnaire measuring their actual food consumption. The findings revealed that people who self identify positively with health, openness to new, diet, health consciousness, food consciousness, informed choice, organic foods, trust and quality and negatively with convenience, price, suspicion, tradition, quantity consumed larger amounts of organic foods as compared to those who did not. Results are discussed in light of their contribution to the national and international literature on organic foods and social representations.
Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology, 2014
The aim of this research was to investigate Romanians' social representations of ageing and posit... more The aim of this research was to investigate Romanians' social representations of ageing and positive ageing, as well as the variations of these social representations according to the age and gender of the participants in what regards the centrality of the components and basic cognitive scheme activations. Study 1 was conducted on 80 participants who filled in two associative map tasks (Dafinoiu & Crumpei, 2013) that had as inductors "ageing" and, respectively, "positive ageing". Results have shown a notable variation between the two social representations, in the sense that the latter was entirely made up of positive associations, whereas the former comprised both positive and negative associations. The second study was conducted on another sample of 80 participants (20 young adult men and 20 young adult women and, respectively, 20 mature adult men and 20 mature adult women) and it found by employing the questioning principle ("mise-en-cause", Moliner, 1994) that two core elements of the social representation of ageing vary in centrality according to the age of the participants. Moreover, variations across age were also encountered in the overall activation of basic cognitive schemes as well as in the activation of the three dimensions: Description, Praxis and Attribution / Evaluation (Rateau, 1995). Results are discussed in the light of their contribution to the social representations theory.
Psihologia Sociala [Social Psychology], 2013
The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between men and women regarding their... more The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between men and women regarding their romantic and professional choices. A sample of 60 young women and a sample of 60 young men participated in an experiment to assess the likelihood of settling for less-desired romantic partners and jobs when their ideal romantic partner and job were difficult to attain. The experiment asked them to write down the five most important attributes of their ideal romantic partner; afterward, they were told they could stay with that partner if they spent six months in jail as opposed to staying with a partner that possesses the last three attributes they mentioned. The same procedure was applied to choosing a job. The results indicated that men were more likely to settle for a less than ideal partner, whereas women were more willing to overcome the proposed obstacle in order to stay with their desired romantic partner; when presented with the same two options regarding their ideal job, both men and women chose to overcome the imposed obstacle in order to obtain their ideal job. The attachment style of the participants had an influence only on the participants' choices regarding their romantic long term ideal partner . The results are discussed in the light of their contribution to gender differences research, work-family enrichment and ways of coping with work-family conflict.
Books by Mihaela-Alexandra Gherman
![Research paper thumbnail of Aspecte psiho-fizice ale dependentei de nicotina [Psycho-physiological aspects of nicotine addiction]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/58321685/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Optimizarea comportamentului uman în sănătate și în boală [Optimising human behaviour in sickness and in health], 2016
This chapter presents an overview of the most recent research regarding nicotine addiction, speci... more This chapter presents an overview of the most recent research regarding nicotine addiction, specifically focusing on pharmacological and psychological interventions in smoking cessation.
Journal of Social Psychology [Revista de Psihologie Socială], 2014
This study aims to explore the influence of women's body dissatisfaction on their romantic relati... more This study aims to explore the influence of women's body dissatisfaction on their romantic relationships by investigating how their body shape concerns influence the responsibility attributions they make when exposed to spousal infidelity. The current experimental research was conducted on a sample of 60 women who were divided into two groups according to their level of body shape concern. They were asked to identify with the wife in four sexual jealousy-inducing vignettes which varied according to the attractiveness of the mistress (upward versus downward comparison) and according to the nature of the extramarital affair (emotional versus sexual). All participants assigned responsibility for the extramarital affair to the three characters-wife, husband and mistress-for each of the four scenarios. Our results revealed that body shape concern significantly influenced the responsibility attributions made by our participants. The attractiveness of the mistress (the type of social comparison) and the nature of the affair also influenced the responsibility attributions of our participants, but not to the expected extent.
Annals of the Al. I. Cuza University, Psychology Series, 2013
This paper comprises four studies that aim to offer empirical support to Freudian and Lacanian th... more This paper comprises four studies that aim to offer empirical support to Freudian and Lacanian theories on addictions on samples of female nicotine addicts. The two authors argue (as summarized by Loose in 2002) that the individuals who had relational issues with their main caregiver in their preverbal stages of development did not acquire the ability to obtain satisfaction in social interactions due to their poor relational skills; this increases their propensity toward becoming addicts, because addiction is seen as a manner of circumventing the other in the process of obtaining satisfaction. Our results support these theoretical claims in what regards nicotine addiction in women. The implications of our findings suggest that therapeutic interventions for nicotine addicts should be focused on the individual rather than on the object of the addiction itself, as the individual etiology of nicotine addiction seems to vary from one addict to another according to their previous experiences in attachment relationships.
Psihologia Socialã [Social Psychology], 2014
The aim of the current research was to investigate Romanians’ social representations of organic f... more The aim of the current research was to investigate Romanians’ social representations of organic foods and the connections between their self identification to the cultural referents related to organic foods and, respectively, their actual organic food consumptions. Study 1 was conducted on a sample of 74 participants, who filled in an associative map task (Dafinoiu & Crumpei, 2013). Results have shown that the nucleus of the representation comprised the following elements: price, health, authenticity and availability, while the peripheral zone was formed by evocations such as expensive, money, income, whims, supermarket, additives, benefits etc. The second study was conducted on a sample of 80 participants who filled in a Self Identification Conceptual Network (de Rosa & Holman, 2011) and a questionnaire measuring their actual food consumption. The findings revealed that people who self identify positively with health, openness to new, diet, health consciousness, food consciousness, informed choice, organic foods, trust and quality and negatively with convenience, price, suspicion, tradition, quantity consumed larger amounts of organic foods as compared to those who did not. Results are discussed in light of their contribution to the national and international literature on organic foods and social representations.
Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology, 2014
The aim of this research was to investigate Romanians' social representations of ageing and posit... more The aim of this research was to investigate Romanians' social representations of ageing and positive ageing, as well as the variations of these social representations according to the age and gender of the participants in what regards the centrality of the components and basic cognitive scheme activations. Study 1 was conducted on 80 participants who filled in two associative map tasks (Dafinoiu & Crumpei, 2013) that had as inductors "ageing" and, respectively, "positive ageing". Results have shown a notable variation between the two social representations, in the sense that the latter was entirely made up of positive associations, whereas the former comprised both positive and negative associations. The second study was conducted on another sample of 80 participants (20 young adult men and 20 young adult women and, respectively, 20 mature adult men and 20 mature adult women) and it found by employing the questioning principle ("mise-en-cause", Moliner, 1994) that two core elements of the social representation of ageing vary in centrality according to the age of the participants. Moreover, variations across age were also encountered in the overall activation of basic cognitive schemes as well as in the activation of the three dimensions: Description, Praxis and Attribution / Evaluation (Rateau, 1995). Results are discussed in the light of their contribution to the social representations theory.
Psihologia Sociala [Social Psychology], 2013
The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between men and women regarding their... more The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between men and women regarding their romantic and professional choices. A sample of 60 young women and a sample of 60 young men participated in an experiment to assess the likelihood of settling for less-desired romantic partners and jobs when their ideal romantic partner and job were difficult to attain. The experiment asked them to write down the five most important attributes of their ideal romantic partner; afterward, they were told they could stay with that partner if they spent six months in jail as opposed to staying with a partner that possesses the last three attributes they mentioned. The same procedure was applied to choosing a job. The results indicated that men were more likely to settle for a less than ideal partner, whereas women were more willing to overcome the proposed obstacle in order to stay with their desired romantic partner; when presented with the same two options regarding their ideal job, both men and women chose to overcome the imposed obstacle in order to obtain their ideal job. The attachment style of the participants had an influence only on the participants' choices regarding their romantic long term ideal partner . The results are discussed in the light of their contribution to gender differences research, work-family enrichment and ways of coping with work-family conflict.
Optimizarea comportamentului uman în sănătate și în boală [Optimising human behaviour in sickness and in health], 2016
This chapter presents an overview of the most recent research regarding nicotine addiction, speci... more This chapter presents an overview of the most recent research regarding nicotine addiction, specifically focusing on pharmacological and psychological interventions in smoking cessation.