ANXIETY VERSUS EGO STRENGTH

INVESTIGATING THE INGREDIENTS OF PERCEIVED SAFETY: DEVELOPMENT OF INTERVENTION TOOLS AND PROGRAMMES FOR DIFFERENT ACTORS AND INSTITUTIONS FUNCTIONAL AT VARIOUS SEGMENTS OF SOCIAL SAFETY

Financed by: National Research, Development and Innovation Office
Construction: NKP - Nemzeti Kiválósági Program / New National Excellence Program
Project number: 2018-1.2.1-NKP-2018-00006
Implementation period: From 1 October, 2018 to 30 September, 2021
Amount of aid: 242 562 257 HUF

Project leaders: Katalin Felvinczi (ELTE-PPK Institute of Psychology), Zoltán Rónay (ELTE-PPK Institute of Education)

Researchers: Mária Hercz (ELTE-TÓK), Adrienn Újhelyi (ELTE PPK Institute of Psychology), Csaba Kucsera (ELTE-TáTK), Katalin N. Kollár (ELTE-PPK Institute of Psychology), Lan Ahn Nguyen Luu (ELTE-PPK Institute of Intercultural Psychology and Education), Gabriella Papp (ELTE-BGGYK) és Mariann Ziss (ELTE-PPK Institute of Psychology)

Aim: During the implementation of the project, social safety will be interpreted on three levels of societal functioning in line with the results of the EVS. According to this interpretation social safety is a skill and/or competence which is experienced by individuals and community members as a consequence of a high level confidence in social institutions and which can result in individual and social competencies which will lead to the appropriate recognition, prevention of and coping with unexpected risky life situations. 
The project aims at revealing the components of perceived safety or lack of it. We’ll also concentrate on the conditions of developing an elevated level of perceived safety. We’ll describe those conditions which can undermine the development of such environments in the different domains of social behavior. During the implementation of the project apart from investigating the relevant ingredients of perceived safety we will also develop and evaluate pilot interventions.

Publications:
Boreczky Á. (2022) Families in the swirl of time. The Extended Symbolic Family. L’Harmattan. Budapest.  

Goodwin, R., Nguyen Luu, L. A., Wiwattanapantuwong, J., Kovács, M., Suttiwan, P., & Levin, Y. (2022). Two-Tailed Dogs, Social Unrest and COVID-19 Vaccination: Politics, Hesitancy and Vaccine Choice in Hungary and Thailand. Vaccines, 10(5), 789.  https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10050789 

Goodwin, R., Ben-Ezra, M., Takahashi, M., Nguyen Luu, L. A., Borsfay, K., Kovács, M.,Hou, W.K., Hamama-Raz, Y. & Levin, Y. (2022). Psychological factors underpinning vaccine willingness in Israel, Japan and Hungary. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35013430/   

Nguyen Luu, L. A., & Boreczky, Á. (2022). Diversity and Hungarian teachers’ views on nationalism, migration and multiculturalism. Intercultural Education, 33(3), 264-281. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14675986.2022.2070376  

Psychological aspects of international mobility in higher education: Adaptation and acculturation of students studying abroad (K-120433, National Research, Development and Innovation Fund) 
Principal researcher: Nguyen Luu Lan Anh

This research proposal aims to investigate the acculturation experiences of international students – a soujorner group as considered in acculturation literature - studying in Hungary and those of Hungarian students studying abroad in a longitudinal study. To gain a deeper understanding of the acculturation processes and experiences of international students, it combines both qualitative (interview and focus group) as well as quantitative (survery) methods. It focuses on the main questions of the acculturation orientations (toward culture of origin, host culture, and the culture of international students), the psychological and sociocultural adaptation (how they feel and how well they manage their everyday life) and changes in time, influencing factors (those that promote or hinder adaptation). The main aim is not the description of these factors but instead, the exploration of their relationship.The final aim of the research is to contribute to the understanding of acculturation and adaptation of international students especially in Hungarian context, to build and test a model on acculturation and adaptation of international students that takes into account the relative status of home country (students arriving from richer vs. poorer countries) and to offer recommendations for counselling and support services for international students. It also aims to compare the acculturation and adaptation of students whose study language is the local language or an international language that is a foreign language for the host country and as a consequence, international students will have less opportunity to have host contact.

Trust and Discrimination in the Sharing Economy —With a Special Focus on Collaborative Consumption Platforms

Principal investigator: Borbála Simonovits, PhD.

Financed by: Young Researcher’s Grant by the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (FK 127978)

Implementation period: From 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2021

Abstract: Sharing economy organisations are rapidly spreading worldwide. We focus our attention on collaborative consumption platforms in order to understand the working mechanisms of creating online trust and discriminatory selection of service users, as literature in this area is limited. We argue that the personalization of transactions through the built-in selection mechanisms on the platforms results in various types of discrimination. We will carry out several field experiments manipulating both service users’ ethnicity/nationality and review information by employing randomized control trials. Beyond the analysis of the experimental outcome the qualitative analysis of the messages received from the service providers in the field experiment We will complete our field research with qualitative research—including individual and group interviews—with different stakeholders using collaborative consumption platforms as well as contextual analysis of selected sites. The qualitative data analysis will enable us to understand how on-line trust is built and maintained in these on-line platforms as well as to explore which type of discriminatory models (statistical vs. taste-based) can be better applied to the users of the different online market platforms.

Methods to be applied: The personal and group interviews with individual users and service providers will enable us to better understand why and how the different stakeholders discriminate against each other; but more importantly the experimental design will serve as a basis for establishing causality between the type of information available for the service user (review/self-claimed review/no information) and the potentially discriminatory behaviour of the private service provider. In other words, with the randomized experimental setup we will be able to answer our core research question: Is there a direct link between lack of information and discrimination by the users (supporting the idea of statistical discrimination)? Or the other way around: Does discrimination still persist, even if there is sufficient information provided on the user (supporting the idea of taste-based discrimination)? 

Key words: sharing economy, collaborative consumption, field experiments, trust, statistical discrimination, taste-based discrimination

Relevant publications that have emerged from the pilot phase of this project:

Simonovits, B. and G. Simonovits (2020): Would You Ride With Me? Discrimination in Shared Mobility Platforms. Results of a Pilot Study. 
International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS). Conference paper.

Bori Simonovits; Anikó Bernát; Bálint Balázs (2019): The Fragile Landscape of the Sharing Economy in Hungary. Country Report. Working Paper.

B. Simonovits and A. Cioancă (2019): Trust and Discrimination on Collaborative Consumption Platforms With a Special Focus on Ridesharing Platforms. Working Paper.

Simonovits, B., Shvets, I. and Taylor, H. C (2018): Discrimination in the sharing economy: evidence from a Hungarian field experiment. Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. Vol .9 (2018)1, 55-79. DOI: 10.14267/CJSSP.2018.1.03 http://cjssp.uni-corvinus.hu/index.php/cjssp/article/view/254/0

Published papers:

Simonovits, G., Simonovits, B. Víg, Á. Hobot, P. Németh, R. Csomor, G. (2021). Back to ‘normal’: The short-lived impact of an online NGO campaign of government discrimination in Hungary. Political Science Research and Methods. p. 1-9.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2021.55
 

A Meta Analysis of Intergroup Contact Theory Based on Surveys, Controlled Experiments and Case Studies—With a Special Focus on Immigrants Living in Europe

Principal investigator: Borbála Simonovits, PhD.

Financed by: Post-Doctorate Research Grant by theNational Research, Development and Innovation Fund (PD 121095)

Implementation period: from 1 October 2016 to 31 March 2019

Abstract: Intergroup relations between the majority population and immigrant minorities is inevitably a hot issue in the European context. Most of the European countries experience some kind and level of social change brought about by international migration and face the serious challenge of integrating first-, second- and third-generation migrants. Moreover, the migration crisis of the recent years has been increasingly affecting Europe, raising further policy questions and security dilemmas related to the integration of third country national migrants and refugees. As ethnic tensions and conflicts have been a major concern for European urban and social policy makers, the different aspects of intergroup relations and the dynamic processes of social change evolving in increasingly diverse local societies has become a major research area in the social sciences.

Methods: As in this project our aim is to understand how the different types of intergroup contacts (on the individual level) and the different patterns of coexistences (on the neighbourhood level) enhance or hamper the development of intergroup relations and integration of immigrants, we apply the following various research methods: secondary data analysis, interviews and case studies, field experiments.

Key words: intergroup contact, integration, migration migration related threats

Relevant publications that have emerged from the project:

Published papers:

Simonovits, B. (2016): Realistic and Symbolic Threats. The Social Basis of Mass-Migration Related Fear in Contemporary Hungary. Review of Sociology. 2016/4. Vol. 4. pp. 53-74. http://real.mtak.hu/51724/1/53_73_veg.pdf

Simonovits, B,  Sik E., and  Szeitl B. (2016)  Az idegenellenesség alakulása és a bevándorlással kapcsolatos félelmek Magyarországon és a visegrádi országokban Régió. 24. Évf. 2016/2. pp. 81-108.

Simonovits, B. and Szeitl, B. (2016) Menekültekkel és migrációs politikával kapcsolatos attitűdök Magyarországon és nemzetközi összehasonlításban In:  Kolosi, T. and Tóth, I. Gy. (eds): Társadalmi Riport 2016. TÁRKI, Budapest, 2016 p. 420-440.

B. Simonovits (2018): Inter-Group Contacts and Anti-Immigrant Sentiments at the Dawn of the 2015 Migration Crisis: The Case of Hungary. Working Paper.

Simonovits, B. and Szeitl, B. (2019): Attitudes towards migration and migration policies in Hungary and Europe (2014-2018) In:  Kolosi, T. and Tóth, I. Gy. (eds): Social Report 2018. TÁRKI, Budapest, 2018. http://www.tarki.hu/sites/default/files/2019-02/295_313_Simonovits_Szeitl.pdf

Simonovits, B. (2020): The Public Perception of the Migration Crisis from the Hungarian Point of View—Evidence from the Field. In:  Birgit Glorius, Jeroen Doomernik (eds) Geographies of Asylum in Europe and the Role of European Localities. Part II: Moralities and Rationalities of Refugee Reception. IMISCOE Research Series, Springer. 155-176. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030256654

Koltai, J. Sik, E. and Simonovits, B (2020) Network capital and migration potential, International Journal of Sociology, DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2020.1726110

Network capital and migration potential. Interview with Bori Simonovits in Hungarian and a report in English by ELTE PPK. Interview republished by elte.hu, ELTE.

Teachers' intercultural beliefes and their impact on the classroom practice

Principal Investigator: János Győri, PhD

In line with constructivist pedagogy and sociocognitive psychology cognition traditions of teachers’ cognition research, and taking into consideration the shift towards multiculturality in school, our research aims at studying Hungarian school teachers’ interculturality-related attitudes and beliefs. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, with the participation of 300-350 teachers we plan to unveil teachers’ beliefs and expectations concerning immigrant and other sociocultural minority (e.g. Roma) students. Teachers’ concepts about gifted students of these groups as well as teachers’ interpretations of differences between female and male students in these groups and in general are also to be examined.
A smaller group of teachers will be selected on the basis of specific criteria to participate in a classroom observation study – a less wide-spread method in research in Hungary. Its target is to show whether teachers’ interculturality-related beliefs are mirrored? reflected? and if yes, how are these beliefs manifested in their classroom practices. We hypothezise? suppose? that in the current situation teachers’ thinking in Hungary is more strongly characterized by the monocultural concept and much less by the realization of sociocultural diversity, as a consequence, the earlier will dominate the beliefs and classroom practices of school teachers. We also expect that variability in teachers’ belief system and classroom practices in some cases can be accounted for the different educational level of the teachers, the school atmosphere or for the fact that they do have or do not have minority students. 

In a representative sample of teachers in Budapest we found that they are not familiar with the concept of "interculturalism" rather with "multiculturalism". According to students' diversity, they support full integration in the school as a main pedagogical goal; however, in everyday practice they are rather ambivalent with it. They hold a generally positive view of their immigrant students; and their (divers) Gipsy students seem to be a homogeneous group to them. Our participants hold rather a "universalist" view in education (all students /who are Hungarian speaker/ are teachable in the same way). They feel, professionally they are not well prepared to handle different types of students' diversity - still, they feel they are able to handle all of their students with diverse backgrounds effectively, because of their good basic personal abilities as teachers (sensitivity, empathy, tolerance etc.). Those teachers are the most sensitive from multicultural aspects in education who come from 1st or 3rd generation professional families. Their attitudes toward student diversity is deeply influenced by their whole life and career, not only by the early events and experiences. However, for most of the teachers multiculturalism in education is mainly and only an academic topic. For pedagogical reasons teachers in the classroom wittingly construct and use different types of diversities in education by themselves too, while they neglect some other types of diversities at the same time.

https://www.otka-palyazat.hu/download.php?type=zarobeszamolo&projektid=79143