The increased contact between diverse cultures in recent years has precipitated growing interest in research on biculturalism. Due to migration, globalization, travel, media and electronic communication, people have closer acquaintance with diverse cultures and ethnic groups than ever before (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). This fact is increasingly of more significance in the study of contemporary identity formation. Scholars have been interested in biculturalism as a prime illustration of the modern phenomenon of identity negotiation against the backdrop of the availability of social identities, the fluidity of social interactions and the multiplicity of choice available to the individual who comes into contact with more than one culture. This research aims to examine the process of bicultural identity negotiation within the specific context of the bicultural couple, extending and adapting two existing models of bicultural assessment from the bicultural individual and applying it to the bicultural couple: the bi-dimensional acculturation model (Berry, 1990, 1997, 2003) and the Bicultural Identity Integration model – BII (Benet-Martínez, 2010). The new conceptualization and measurement will be applied to religious-secular mixed couples in Israel - 'bicultural' Israeli couples in which one spouse defines him/herself as religious and the other as secular. Specifically, the study will examine the relationships between the level and patterns of marital bicultural identities and three central psychological aspects of marital functioning: (a) marital satisfaction (b) the level of differentiation of self, and (c) conflict resolution styles. This study will employ questionnaires measuring aspects of marital functioning which are existing validated measures widely used in marital research. The questionnaires derived from the new conceptualizations of biculturalism put forward in this study will be developed within the framework of the research, based on a preliminary qualitative phase using an exploratory mixed methods design (Creswell, 2005). Examining religious-secular bicultural couples is of particular relevance in the Israeli context, where there are deep divides between the religious and secular subgroups, but also a great deal of shared interaction and exchange in day to day life. In some sense, bicultural couples reflect on a small scale the broader cultural divides within Israeli society, and hence their study promises interesting and highly relevant insights with regard to Israeli society at large. Examining the patterns of interaction that contribute to strong relationships amongst couples who must bridge cultural divides within their marriages and resolve conflict stemming not only from personal, but from cultural differences as well, may have theoretical implications for conflict resolution within the broader society suffering from cultural alienation amongst different subgroups.
The objective of the thesis, is to understand the structuring of the cultural attitude to the stranger as it transpires from the literary formation of Esau and Zipporah in the biblical narrative and the Midrashic narrative as a basis for educational perception in the field of Jewish teaching. As educators, involved in the mediation of Jewish texts to their students, we wish to investigate not only what the attitude is to the stranger characters who appear in the narrative but rather also what this attitude can teach us about the appropriate educational method when we come to deal with the attitude to male and female stranger characters in general.
המחקר מתבסס על מחקרים קודמים שנערכו בשנת 2016, ובשנת 2015 אשר בחנו דפוסי נשירה וסוגיות ספציפיות בקרב סטודנטים לשעבר, אשר נשרו מהאוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים. בוחן אפקטיביות של תכניות הדיקנט למניעת נשירה. מטרתו להרחיב את עדשת ההסתכלות ולהתייחס גם לתלמידי המוסמך. זאת, בכדי לגבש מדיניות אפקטיבית לצמצום תופעת הנשירה באוניברסיטה העברית.
מתבצע עבור דיקנט הסטודנטים ורקטור האוניברסיטה העברית.
המחקר נערך עבור משרד החינוך, במימון לשכת המדען הראשי. המחקר מתמקד בסוגיית הנשירה של תלמידים ממוסדות חינוך שבפיקוח מינהל החינוך הדתי ונועד לעמוד על היקף התופעה (נשירה סמויה וגלויה), להבין את הגורמים לה ולזהות דרכי התערבות וניהול אפקטיביים על מנת לצמצמה.
איסוף המידע לצורכי מחקר זה כולל העברת מספר קבוצות מיקוד בנושא העומד לבדיקה, בהן מתוכננים ליטול חלק בעלי תפקיד שונים במערכת החינוך הממלכתית-דתית כגון מחנכים, רכזים, יועצים חינוכיים ופסיכולוגים חינוכיים, כמו גם הורים לתלמידים במערכת החינוך הממלכתי דתי. במהלך הדיון ייבחנו נושאים הקשורים למאפייני תופעת הנשירה ולדרכי ההתמודדות עמה. המחקר נערך בשיתוף עם הד"ר ריטה סבר ובניהולה האקדמי.
מאז שנת 2013 יחידת הסקרים והערכה עורכת את סקר שביעות הרצון מרמת שירותי האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים בקרב תלמידי הבוגר והמוסמך. הסקר מתבצע עבור דיקנט הסטודנטים ורקטור האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים.
Inequity aversion is a fundamental social preference. Concern for others’ welfare is yet another fundamental social preference. What do people prefer when maximizing others’ welfare creates an inequality that disadvantages them? Prior research has shown that people’s preferences depend on their level of agency, that is, their control over the allocation. Behaviorally, agentic decision makers have been shown to be more likely to prefer allocations that give another person more than them, compared to non-agentic ones. However, the cognitive processes underlying this shift of preference remain unclear. Here, we used mouse-tracking and reaction times to investigate how agency shapes social preferences in such cases. We examined decision conflict, the level of conflict experienced in arriving at a given choice, as a way to uncover whether different underlying social preferences are at play when one has versus does not have agency. We predicted an interaction effect of agency and choice on conflict, where choosing the prosocial option would be associated with less conflict in the Agency condition compared to the No-Agency condition, and that the opposite would be true for the equitable option. In our task, on each of trial, participants were presented with two allocation options: an equitable option (e.g., 50 cents for self, 50 cents for other) and an inequitable and prosocial option, favoring the other participant over oneself (e.g., 50 cents for self, 70 cents for other). Agentic participants chose one option to be implemented, whereas non-agentic participants indicated their preference, knowing that the lab manager had already made the decision. In two studies (N = 586), including a preregistered one, an interaction effect emerged in both mouse trajectory and reaction time analyses. These results suggest that agency alters social preferences during the decision-making process, and challenge traditional inequity aversion models claiming that people inherently dislike inequitable outcomes. Granting agency may be a powerful tool for maximizing social welfare in situations where equity and prosocial behavior are at odds.
In our digitally connected world, interpersonal interactions increasingly occur through online platforms offering varied information channels. This research investigates the unique contribution of visual cues to emotional communication, examining both cognitive and affective aspects. We categorize affective experiences into three domains and explore how visual feedback enhances each and promotes prosocial behavior. Across three ecological dyadic studies on Zoom (N = 710), findings show that while visual information does not significantly enhance emotion-assessment accuracy, it shapes the affective experience of communication. Visual cues increased perceptions of listening, togetherness, and empathy, primarily influencing storytellers' perceptions. Active engagement through body gestures and eye gaze proved crucial in fostering positive interactions, even in online settings. Visual feedback also enhanced prosocial behavior, suggesting that visual elements not only enhance the experience of “being seen,” but motivate altruistic actions as well. The results reveal a complex interplay between visual and auditory cues, with vocal responsiveness only partially compensating for absent visual feedback. These findings have significant implications for social relations in a digital world, as the absence or presence of visual cues can profoundly shape the outcomes of our social interactions.
