Untitled

Funder

Organizational Unit

Publications

Prosociality in Cyberspace: Developing Emotion and Behavioral Regulation to Decrease Aggressive Communication

Publication . Veiga Simão, Ana; Ferreira, Paula; Pereira, Nádia Salgado; Oliveira, Sofia; Paulino, Paula; Rosa, Hugo; Ribeiro, Ricardo; Coheur, Luisa; Carvalho, Joao P.; Trancoso, Isabel

Different forms of verbal aggression are often present in cyberbullying, which may impair executive function skills that enable the regulation of emotions and behavior. Emotion and behavioral regulation has been associated with better social adjustment and more positive interactions between peers. This study aimed to understand if fostering emotion and behavioral regulation strategies could decrease aggressive communication. A quasi-experimental longitudinal design, based on a Twitter client mobile application, with pre-posttest measures was used. For the application, we explored different machine learning approaches, including computational intelligence methods. Multilevel linear modeling and frequency analyses were performed. A convenience sample of 218 adolescents (M age=14.67, SD=0.84, 53% female) participated in the study. Results suggest that a Twitter client mobile application intervention based on emotion and behavioral regulation strategies may help decrease adolescents’ aggressive communication. Moreover, female and male participants who used the digital application tended to present distinct trajectories over time with regard to searching for information concerning prosocial behavior. These findings suggest that digital tools resorting to emotion and behavioral regulation strategies may be effective in reducing an aggressive communication style amongst adolescents, and consequently, promote resource seeking to engage in prosociality. These results can be significant for the design of intervention programs against cyberbullying.

2021-03-19Journal article

Restricted access

Família e escola: Perspetivas sobre a utilização de meios tecnológicos e segurança

Publication . Veiga Simão, Ana; Paulino, Paula; Ferreira, Paula; Costa-Ramalho, Susana; Francisco, Sofia; Souza, Sidclay B.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo compreender como os jovens reportam a utilização de meios tecnológicos e conhecer a perceção que encarregados de educação e professores têm acerca dessa utilização. Propôs-se ainda perceber se estes monitorizam a utilização que os jovens fazem dos meios tecnológicos e que práticas de sensibilização utilizam. Foram aplicados o Inventário de Incidentes Observados de Cyberbullyinga 269 adolescentes e o Inventário sobre Segurança Online e Cyberbullying a 155 encarregados de educação e 28 professores. Evidenciam-se diferenças significativas entre a utilização reportada pelos alunos e as perceções dos encarregados de educação e professores.

2017Journal article

Open access

When Cognitive Reflection Leads to Less Overall but More Systematic Judgment Bias: The Case of the Base Rates Fallacy

Publication . Ferreira, Mário B.; Assunção, Hugo; Seruti, Amanda

Although widely used in the judgment under uncertainty literature, the so-called Lawyer– Engineer problem does not have a Bayesian solution because the base rates typically oppose qualitative stereotypical information, which has an undefined diagnostic value. We propose an experimental paradigm that elicits participants’ subjective estimates of the diagnosticity of stereotypical information and allows us to investigate the degree to which participants are able to integrate both sources of information (base rates and stereotypical descriptions) according to the Bayesian rule. This paradigm was used to test the hypothesis that the responses (probability estimates) to the Lawyer–Engineer problem from more rational individuals deviate from normative Bayesian solutions in a way that shows smaller but more systematic bias. The results further suggest that the estimates of less rational participants are noisier (less reliable) but may be more accurate when aggregated across several problems.

2023-05-24Journal article

Open access

Aggressive Communication Style as Predictor of Cyberbullying, Emotional Well-being, and Personal Moral Beliefs in Adolescence

Publication . Salgado Pereira, Nádia; Ferreira, Paula; Paulino, Paula; Oliveira, Sofia; Mora-Merchán, Joaquín A.

Different forms of verbal aggression are often presented in cyberbullying and are used to harm others in online communication. This study proposed to understand the influence of an aggressive communication style on adolescents’ intentions to engage in cyberbullying, their emotional well-being, and personal moral beliefs. A convenience sample of 218 adolescents (Mage = 14.67, SD = 0.84, 53% girls) in Portugal responded to questionnaires. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to test mediating effects. An aggressive communication style may lead adolescents to perceive cyberbullying behavior as fair, and to decrease their emotional well-being. Moreover, this communication style may contribute to adolescents’ intentions to engage in cyberbullying, and whether they believe this type of behavior is fair or unfair may determine those intentions. These findings contribute to an understanding of determiners of cyberbullying and the provision of insights to develop school interventions in this field.

2022-06Journal article

Open access