Mediated Contact

Author(s):  
Nick Joyce

Mediated contact involves exposing audiences to people from other social groups (ethnic, religious, political, etc.) through media. It is an extension of intergroup contact theory, one of the most widely studied and successful prejudice reduction strategies in the social sciences. Mediated contact has effects on explicit and implicit attitudes, as well as physiological responses towards other groups. These effects generally serve to improve intergroup relations in terms of affective, cognitive, and normative outcomes. These outcomes can be understood in terms of a number of psychological processes, which here are synthesized into three thematic headers: Liking, identifying, and learning. Each of these themes taps into existing theoretical areas including parasocial relationships, social identification, and social cognition. Mediated contact has been shown to be effective across a wide variety of study methodologies and contexts, for a wide variety of participants, targeting a wide variety of social out-groups. Although the effects of mediated contact seem to be secondary to face-to-face experience, the fact that many people possess information about groups primarily through media make it an important area of study. While the current media landscape is often less positive and diverse than the ideals of mediated contact, research suggests that positive mediated contact can still have an impact on audiences in both the laboratory and the real world.

Author(s):  
Arturo García Santillán ◽  
Milka Elena Escalera Chávez ◽  
Josefina Carmen Santana Villegas ◽  
Bertha Yolanda Guzmán Rivas

Abstract.Mathematical knowledge is very important in the lives of people, therefore, it is necessary understand it and make good use of mathematics in everyday life. Therefore, the aim of this work is to identify whether there is a set of latent variables that allow explain the anxiety toward math on students at Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtepec, Oaxaca. The study is quantitative; and the study sample was formed of 303 college students from several profiles of the social sciences and engineering areas. The instrument utilized, is the scale of Munoz and Mato (2007) and was applied face to face to sample of study, in order to get data that allow us measure mathematics anxiety. The results show that students consider about the exposed variables that, the most prominent variable is the anxiety toward mathematics when faced in real life situations. The results allow us to observe that the studied variables explained 81% of variance that explains the math anxiety; the remaining 19% is explained by other variables that have not been considered in this research. Hence, if the student increases their anxiety in one of those, for example toward compression of mathematical problems, other variables also increase as the results show that there is a direct relationship between them.Keywords: Anxiety, Mathematics, Attitude toward mathematics, mathematics evaluationResumen.Los conocimientos matemáticos son de suma importancia en la vida de las personas, por lo tanto en la actualidad es necesario entender y hacer buen uso de las matemáticas en la vida diaria. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar si en los alumnos del Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtepec, existe un conjunto de variables que pueden explicar la ansiedad frente a las matemáticas. El estudio es cuantitativo, la muestra de estudio se conformó de 303 estudiantes del nivel universitario del Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, de varios perfiles de ciencias sociales e ingeniería. Se utilizó el cuestionario Muñoz y Mato-Vázquez (2007), para medir la ansiedad a las matemáticas. Los resultados muestran que los estudiantes consideran que de las variables expuestas, la más preponderante es la ansiedad que les causa las matemáticas cuando se encuentran en situaciones de la vida real. Los resultados dejan ver que las variables analizadas contribuyen con el 81% a determinar la ansiedad hacia las matemáticas, el 19% restante es explicado por otras variables que no han sido consideradas en esta investigación. De ahí que, si el estudiante incrementa su ansiedad en una de ellas por ejemplo hacia la compresión de los problemas matemáticos, las otras variables también se incrementan ya que los resultados muestran que hay una relación directa entre ellas.Palabras clave: Ansiedad, Matemáticas, Actitud hacia las matemáticas, Evaluación matemática.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Kogovšek ◽  
Valentina Hlebec

Like in other fields of inquiry in the social sciences, in social network research the most frequently used measurement method is the survey. Compared with other measurement objects such as networks of opinions, attitudes or values, measurement is more complex and thus often more challenging. Measurement typically occurs in two main phases. First, network units are measured (generated). Second, the relationships among the units and other unit characteristics (e.g. demographic properties) are determined, while some specific questions arise as to whether whole or egocentric (personal) networks are to be measured. In this paper, we limit ourselves to measuring personal networks, especially when compared with different methods for generating networks. There are five basic approaches to generating a personal network: name generator, role generator, event generator, positional generator, and contextual generator. Each is associated with particular research goals, costs (financial, time, respondent burden), advantages, and limitations. Moreover, the complexity and specifics of generating networks mean one must consider the characteristics of data collection modes (e.g. face-to-face, telephone, web). In this sense, we will present the advantages and limits of various methods of generating personal networks, evaluate them critically and comparatively, and illustrate them with often used examples.


Author(s):  
Linda R. Tropp ◽  
Ludwin E. Molina

This chapter reviews individual and contextual processes that explain why prejudice exists in diverse societies and what processes and strategies can contribute to its reduction. The first half of the chapter discusses origins and definitions of intergroup prejudice, along with ideological and structural factors that support the endurance of intergroup prejudice, such as authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and patterns of social segregation. The second half discusses strategies and processes involved in prejudice reduction, with a particular emphasis on those derived from intergroup contact theory, including situational conditions, social categorization, cross-group friendships, and motivational processes such as anxiety reduction and empathy. Taken together, this chapter highlights that prejudice and its diminution are best understood when individual and contextual factors, and their interaction, are jointly employed to illuminate negative and positive intergroup relations between groups.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Oleinik

ArgumentThis article focuses on a problematic character of communication in science. Two solutions are compared: paradigm-based science (the natural sciences model and its extension to the social sciences as represented by economics) and the semiotic solution developed in the arts and social sciences. There are several parallels between the latter approach and Marxist dialectics. A third, original, approach to solving communication problems is proposed; it can be labeled “transactional.” It represents a version of the semiotic solution with particular emphasis on interactions, both face-to-face and depersonalized, and the imperative of negotiating and finding compromises. Communication problems existing at two registers of interactions, face-to-face and depersonalized, are differentiated; freedom is interpreted as the capacity to change the registers at will. An in-depth case study of the Coase theorem in economic sciences and legal studies illustrates key points in the proposed analysis.


Author(s):  
David Thompson

Much of the research into higher education and its role in work-based learning (WBL), and especially in supporting undergraduate students on placements, has focussed on longer term internships and sandwich courses. Research has also focussed on subject areas that have traditionally been associated with the above; for example, Business, Health, and Engineering. By contrast, the aim of this study was to gather data from students on a much shorter period of placement, categorised as a ‘short project’ (Brennan & Little, 1996). Furthermore, the data recovered was from students studying within the social sciences paradigm, undertaking an undergraduate degree in Education Studies (not teacher education). The social sciences and humanities more generally have not been discussed to any great extent within the context of research on placement or work-based learning (see Smith, Clegg, Lawrence, & Todd, 2007); the subject of Education Studies is not covered at all by previous research. This paper considers the different ways practitioners might blend learning and support university students’ experiential and academic learning in this short project format. The results suggest that even a relatively short period of structured placement can be of significant benefit to students although for many respondents, face-to-face contact in the form of lectures and tutorials is still an important component of a blended approach to WBL.


Author(s):  
Valeri Stoyanov

Using the methodological approach of qualitative research to conduct empirical research in the social sciences, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' experiences of the present and their projections for the future is revealed. The results show that many of them find positives from social isolation in the opportunity to pay more attention to the people important to them and to work more purposefully on their own development. On the other hand, serious fears are revealed, the main of which is for the health and life of their loved ones, as well as for the future, for their career development and realization. They find it difficult to tolerate social isolation and most of them experience their mental state as shaky, as depressed. In general, students have a negative attitude towards distance learning – online, considering it inferior to face-to-face training and assess this training as a risk to their professional development and subsequent realization in the labor market.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 205979911772060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary R Potter

This article explores the interplay between online and offline approaches in criminological ethnography. Criminology has come to embrace online research: in addition to offering numerous research benefits generic to the social sciences, the Internet offers solutions to various problems specific to active offender research. Furthermore, as many types of criminal or deviant behaviour increasingly have online aspects, so engaging in online research becomes both valid and vital to any meaningful ethnography. However, online approaches should be treated with caution: they are subject to their own limitations, and to rely on online methods as an alternative to traditional approaches can be as problematic as failing to embrace online research at all. Drawing on my experiences researching cannabis cultivation, I demonstrate some of the ways that offline and online methods complement one another. Online methods were useful in expanding my own study beyond the normal constraints of ethnography by generating a larger and more varied sample and providing access to more data than traditional ethnographic approaches. They were also essential for exploring the various online aspects of cannabis cultivation. But offline methods proved invaluable in accessing and recruiting respondents online and in providing the experience essential to participating in – and understanding – cultivation-related online interactions. Both approaches revealed findings not identified by the other, and research in each environment helped with understanding experiences and observations in the other. I argue that while there are clear strengths in online approaches to criminological ethnography, certain pitfalls arise when online techniques are used without employing face-to-face research as well. Triangulation of online and offline methods can enhance the understanding of many human behaviours, but may be particularly useful in overcoming the difficulties inherent in criminological ethnography. For many (although by no means all) criminological topics, online methods can usefully enhance, but not replace, traditional ethnographic techniques.


Author(s):  
Linda R. Tropp ◽  
Ludwin E. Molina

This chapter reviews individual and contextual processes that explain why prejudice exists in diverse societies and what processes and strategies can contribute to its reduction. The first half of the chapter discusses origins and definitions of intergroup prejudice, along with ideological and structural factors that support the endurance of intergroup prejudice, such as authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and patterns of social segregation. The second half discusses strategies and processes involved in prejudice reduction, with a particular emphasis on those derived from intergroup contact theory, including situational conditions, social categorization, cross-group friendships, and motivational processes of individuals such as anxiety reduction and empathy. Taken together, this chapter highlights that prejudice and its diminution are best understood when individual and contextual factors, and their interaction, are jointly employed to illuminate negative and positive intergroup relations between groups.


Author(s):  
Marcos Antonio Lins da Costa Cintra ◽  
André Felipe Simões

This study provides an overview of 25 Upstream attributes of the Brazilian oil and natural gas sector and of the country itself, identifying from the industry stakeholders’ perspective the strengths and weaknesses that were aggregated with the support of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) in four factorials: Trade, Regulatory, Prospectivity and Business Environment. The four field surveys which totalled 1,143 structured face-to-face interviews were conducted during the 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 editions of Rio Oil & Gas, the largest trade fair of the industry in Latin America. The methodology used - based on established international research, competitive determinants related to industry and market structures, and traditional variables to assess the attractiveness of the segment - seems to have been consistent with the intended objective to elucidate issues to statistically confirm current opinions and to bring original information.


Author(s):  
Brian F. Harrison ◽  
Melissa R. Michelson

Gordon Allport’s Intergroup Contact Theory predicts that coming into contact with a member of an outgroup will, under the right conditions, lead to reduced intergroup prejudice. Scholars have found significant evidence that contact with gay men and lesbians does typically lead to reductions in explicit prejudice, even when Allport’s specific conditions are not met. People who report that they personally know someone who is gay or lesbian are more supportive of gay and lesbian rights and relationships and people who report contact with same-sex couples in committed relationships are more supportive of legal recognition of those relationships. There is also evidence that mediated contact, also known as paracontact, can reduce prejudice—in other words, that exposure to positively portrayed gay men and lesbians via the media, including television shows, can shift attitudes. Less is known about how contact affects attitudes toward bisexuals, but initial evidence suggests similar effects. Contact with transgender people is more mixed, with some evidence that interpersonal contact is not as effective due to the negative reactions that many individuals have to transgender people, and some evidence that mediated contact may be more effective, although this is also limited due to the small (but growing) number of positively portrayed transgender characters in the media. A final complication is self-selection bias, in that members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community are more likely to come out to individuals whom they believe will respond positively but both observational and experimental evidence suggests that this does not completely explain the power of contact to reduce prejudice against LGBT people.


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