Completed PhDs
Eleni Demetriou (2023): The Unplanned Journey: Parents' Meaning on Their Chlidren's Developmental Disability
This research examines the subjective meaning of parents experiencing their children’s developmental disability. Parents’ experience was approached as unique life stories, trying at the same time to focus on the common processes different parents who raise children with developmental disability go through. In this research, disability is considered a rupture for parents, a disruption in the regular flow of their life, producing uncertainty and imbalance. Qualitative methodology was used for this research, as the most suitable to understand the process of meaning-making and explore how parents experience their children’s developmental disability. Participants were recruited among parents of preschool and school age children with moderate and severe intellectual disability and autism. Individual interviews and focus discussion groups were conducted to collect data, investigating their meaning on disability, the resources they use and their identity and action changes. After coding, data were analysed using thematic analysis. This research programme aims at contributing to the literature on parents’ transition concerning their children’s developmental disability as a process of psychological development through meaning-making. Additionally, this research intends to offer valuable ideas on the development of effective interventions programmes for parents. Finally, this research aims to suggest useful ideas in order to raise awareness on what developmental disabilities mean, contributing to stigma reduction but also familiarizing population with disability issues.
Maria Orphanidou (2021): Making Sense of Depression: A study of the representations and experience of depression in the Greek-Cypriot context.
Beyond its diagnostic nature, depression is also a term that appears in daily discourse (Rogers & Pilgrim, 2014). Even though it is a familiar and frequently employed term, research suggests that depression generates ambivalence in patient, lay and media discourses (e.g., Brijnath & Antoniades, 2018b; Acosta et al., 2013; Hogg, 2011; Kokanović et al., 2013; Secker et al., 1999; Rowe et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2016). Specifically, individuals fluctuate between its representation as a pathological (i.e., mental illness) and a nonpathological experience. The meanings ascribed to depression are actively and dynamically shaped by contextual influences (e.g., Flick, 2000a; Hsiao et al., 2006; De Mol et al., 2018). Yet, thus far, the relevant literature has relied mainly on quantitative methods and decontextualised approaches. Meanwhile, there is a lack of research examining the meanings of depression and the processes involved in their construction within different levels of a society. This thesis aimed to explore how is depression understood and experienced in the Greek-Cypriot context. To do so, it used the socioconstructionist lens of Social Representations Theory (Moscovici, 2008 [1961]) and a multi-level approach to examine the meanings ascribed to depression by the press, public and patients, as well as the genetic processes involved in the construction (Duveen & Lloyd, 1990). Study 1 explored the social representations of depression in the Greek-Cypriot press by thematically analysing 203 articles published in seven widely circulating newspapers. Two antithetical themes of representations were identified. One represented depression as a biological illness in need of medical treatment. The other represented depression as an ordinary, nonpathological experience linked to psychosocial causes and treated using self-management. Albeit their antithetical nature (i.e., medicalised Vs normalised), both representations fostered the individualisation of depression. Study 2 explored the social representations of depression in 43 members of the Greek-Cypriot public between the ages of 16 to 80 years old. Data were collected through eight focus groups and subjected to thematic analysis. Three themes were identified. Analysis revealed that depression was linked to modernity, placed amidst pathology and nonpathology and represented as dynamically shifting between the two, and finally, constructed as a largely individualistic condition. Study 3 explored how eight Greek-Cypriot patients between the ages of 16 to 80 experience and make sense of depression. Thematic analysis uncovered three themes. These themes illuminated the embodied nature and social grounding of patients’ experiences, and suggest that depression is experienced as a struggle between the Self and the entity of depression. Taken together, findings from Studies 1 to 3 reveal the benefits of the multi-level approach used, illuminate the polyphasic nature of meanings ascribed to depression and its links to the theoretical construct of cognitive polyphasia (Jovchelovitch & Priego-Hernández, 2015; Moscovici, 2008 [1961]), and lastly, bring the individualisation of depression encountered in the Greek-Cypriot context to the fore. Methodological, theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
Rebecca Mouyi (2021): A dialogical case study in a Cypriot mental rehabilitation center: residents’ and professionals’ representations of mental illness causes, daily life and working experiences.
This thesis examines the experiences of people diagnosed with mental illness and living in a Cypriot community mental center and the professionals working with them. It answers to: a) how residents and professionals represent and attribute the causes of mental problems, b) how they represent life and working experiences inside the center, c) how do they manage the meanings associated with mental illness causes and experiences in the center and d) how does this management of meanings affect residents’ identity and the way they interact each other. A dialogical case study design was utilized in a Cypriot community mental center where 40 patients reside, and 15 staff members work continuously. A qualitative approach was adopted, involving in-depth interviewing and participant observation at the center. 10 residents who had been given schizophrenia diagnosis with co-morbid conditions (e.g., personality disorder) and 8 professionals who had different specialties (i.e., nurses, psychologists) participated in this project. Thematic analysis was performed to analyze participants’ interview data. Findings show that residents attribute the causes of their mental problems to a) several different external and uncontrollable conditions and to b) internal developmental causes. Analysis showed that they actively distance themselves from the belief of being held responsible for their mental problems by attributing the onset responsibility to the ‘others’ (i.e., family), representing themselves positively, and adopting the position of empowered agents. Professionals, although they acknowledge the role of genetic/biological causes they emphasize external and uncontrollable causes, which were mainly related to the family context, traumatic childhood, and historical and current social conditions. They comprehend mental illness as a condition of “sameness” and "otherness" simultaneously getting emotionally closer or distant respectively from the mentally ill. Regarding their relationship, an interesting contradiction exists among residents: some of them represent the center as a “refuge” from the outside world, while others as a “prison”, due to professionals’ strict rules and behavioral restrictions towards them and thus, envision their “free” lives beyond the center. Finally, residents’ and professionals’ representations about their relationships at the center exemplified their asymmetrical and power hierarchical relations and showed how this affects residents’ feelings, treatment, and life satisfaction and professionals’ experiences of burn out in the center. Findings add to the scholarly field by offering details on patients’ subjective understanding of their causal beliefs and how the social others (e.g., parents) influenced their causal explanations and by providing knowledge to the limited studies that explore professionals’ mental illness causal understanding. Also, the findings illuminate that residents’ and professionals’ causal attributions converge, which could influence patients’ therapeutic progress and professionals’ therapeutic role. Findings on how residents’ meaning management of mental illness causes affect their identities, underscore their active efforts to manage stigma going beyond a limited understanding of loss of self-esteem and self-esteem damage that existing literature emphasizes. Finally, the findings that examine the relationship between patients and professionals are vital since they emphasize their divergent perspectives and power asymmetries, which could influence residents' therapeutic outcomes, self-efficacy, and feelings of hope. Suggestions will be made regarding clinical interventions and future research in the scholarly field.
Charalampidou, Pavlina M. (2020): Investigating children's attitudes toward the Syrian refugee children prior to their enrolment in Greek schools: inventing new road paths for the contact theory through contact with a puppet
The thesis addresses the attitudes of children attending primary schools in Athens towards the incoming Syrian refugee children (prior to their actual enrolment in the schools under study). A number of variables are investigated as potential predictors of prejudice, these being dimensions of the school climate, children’s age (grade), gender, and parents’ ethnic background. The type of school is also examined in terms of the opportunities provided for intergroup contact. Schools with high percentages of immigrant students, thus with higher possibility for intergroup contact within the school context are compared to schools with high percentages of Greek students which therefore offer fewer chances for intergroup contact. Accordingly, the potential mediating role of empathy, of perceptions of intergroup threats and of the degree of inclusion of the other in the self (IOS) is examined. In particular, the present research work consists of two parts (study 1 & study 2). Study 1 is a cross sectional study, a questionnaire study, that aims at revealing the attitudes of primary school children toward Syrian refugee children, while measuring perceptions about the school climate, feelings of perceived intergroup threats, empathy, and perceptions regarding potential contact with Syrian refugee children. Study 2 was designed to offer a closer examination of the findings of study 1. In this sense, study 2 aims to offer an experimental confirmation of the findings of study 1, i.e. the importance of intergroup contact in prejudice reduction. Study 2 is a pre-intervention-post quasi experimental design with a control group (test – retest – late response test) involving an intervention study that aims at creating contact conditions between the children of a classroom and a puppet “classmate” that holds the identity of a Syrian refugee child. Contact with a puppet is an innovative form of contact that aims to add on as a way to achieve the positive outcomes already established by a long line of research on different forms of contact (for a review see Pettigrew and Tropp’s meta-analysis, 2006; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011, Davies et al., 2011), within the context of primary schools. In addition, study 2 aims not only at changing attitudes, but also at identifying actual positive behaviours for the outgroup. For this reason, study 2 includes a behavioural measure. The sample of study 1 consists of children coming from two age groups (3rd grade and 5th grade children, N=660), attending primary schools in the city of Athens (central & suburban mainstream schools). In study 1 the sample is drawn from two different types of schools, i.e. a number of schools in which a large proportion of the student population is of migrant ethnic background (>%60), all situated in the city center, and a number of ethnically homogeneous schools where the great majority of the student population is of a Greek background (>80%), all situated in the north suburbs of Athens. Ultimately, roughly equal numbers of students from each type of school participated in the study. In study 2 the sample comprises of 3rd grade and 5th grade students (N=73) drawn from a relatively ethnically homogeneous school (65-70% Greek students) situated in one of the suburbs of Attica. By the time the research work took place (study 1 & study 2), no Syrian refugee children attended the participating schools. Results are discussed in relation to the important role the school possesses in dealing with prejudice among children, as well as the opportunities provided to implement easily applied interventions that would create ideal intergroup contact conditions which enhance empathy and reduce feelings of threat coming from the co - existence with members of the outgroup. The importance of doing so rests on the growing numbers of immigrant and refugee populations and the associated need to successfully integrate these people into the receiving societies. Results are of most interest for European countries like Cyprus and Greece which are at the frontline of host countries. In addition, implications for reducing prejudice towards diverse groups of stigmatized people are also highly important, as nationalism, bringing along racism and discrimination, seems to rise again in Europe.
https://gnosis.library.ucy.ac.cy/handle/7/65346
Kyriakidis, Marios Ch. (2020): Formation of prejudice and national identity : the role of cognitive development and in-group and intergroup relations in children and adolescents
The main objective of the research is to explore how the social phenomena of prejudice and ethnic identity are influenced by the cognitive development of Greek-Cypriot children and adolescents from the age of 7 to 17. Another objective is to investigate the extent to which the quality of intra group social relationships (relations of constraint/relations of cooperation (Jean Piaget), that children and adolescents maintain with parents, teachers and classmates as well as intergroup relations with members of the Turkish Cypriot community relate to levels of prejudice towards various outgroups. Of special interest is the role of in-group social norms in relation to the feelings of prejudice in different age groups. As far as methodology was concerned, a mixed methods design was applied. For the quantitative part a two wave longitudinal study was designed with the use of a questionnaire (assessment of psychosocial variables and a cognitive ability test). Qualitative data from both children and adolescents were collected (focus groups discussions) and were analyzed by thematic analysis. Eight hundred forty three students of primary, junior high school and senior high school representing four different age groups according to Piaget’s developmental stages (1st age group: 7-8 years old: early period of concrete operational thinking, 2nd age group: 10-11 years: late period of concrete operational thinking, 13-14 years: early period of formal operational thinking, 16-17 years: late period of formal operational thinking), after informed parental consent was taken by parents, participated to the first wave of questionnaires administration. Moreover, 690 participants were selected, because of their Greek Cypriot origin for multivariate statistical analysis. Subsequently, in the second phase, 501 participants participated. In addition, regarding qualitative methodology, 15 participants participated in focus group discussions. They composed four focus groups, representing, as in the quantitative methodology, the four age groups, based on development stages of Piaget. Results indicated that feelings of prejudice are influenced by age and general cognitive ability, social norms and relations of constraint and cooperation. Concomitantly, identification with the subgroup appeared to be related with in-group bias, namely maintaining more positive perceptions about the in-group compared to out-groups, no contact with the outgroup, absence of social relations of cooperation and specific secondary cognitive abilities. Additionally, it appeared that the influence of cognitive development concerning the emergence of prejudice and ethnic/communal identity varies according to children’s and adolescents age. In parallel, it has been shown, that the influence of no-contact with the outgroup regarding the emergence of feelings of prejudice varies by age. In particular, it appeared that its effects were reduced in early childhood and late adolescence in comparison to the middle age group, albeit for different reasons in the two age groups. Cognitive ability seems to contribute to an even greater role in differentiating prejudiced from non-prejudiced individuals in early and late adolescence. At the same time, it has been found that the effect of social norms in the formation of prejudice is stronger in later childhood as well as in early / middle adolescence compared to middle childhood (ages 7-8).
https://gnosis.library.ucy.ac.cy/handle/7/64803
Tsolia, Vasiliki I. (2019): Inter ethnic bullying between adolescents: a longitudinal examination of the role of social psychological processes
The thesis concerns the attitudes of Greek Cypriot adolescent students toward immigrant students and vice versa, in relation to the phenomenon of interethnic bullying. The aim of the current thesis was the investigation of social psychological processes involved in inter ethnic bullying – bullying linked to discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin. Specifically, national identity of the group, the role of social norms (family and school) and intergroup contact were investigated in relation to Inter Ethnic Bullying. Additionally, the mediating role of threat (realistic, symbolic) intergroup anxiety and stereotypes on prejudice (negative attitudes) were studied. The role of other social psychological and contextual factors, beyond prejudice that relate to inter-ethnic bullying were studied over and above well-established predictors of bullying like individual traits; callous unemotional traits, narcissism and impulsivity. For example school characteristics (e.g. inter-ethnic climate), demographic characteristics of Greek Cypriots (e.g. gender and financial status) and immigrants (e.g. ethnicity, place of birth) and the degree of acculturation (e.g. language knowledge, intergroup friendships) were explored as to how they relate with the phenomenon. The present thesis reports a cross-lagged analysis of a two-wave longitudinal study. Participants completed two identical self-report questionnaires six months apart. The final sample consisted of 855 students matched across both times of measurement (679 Greek Cypriots -males (N=292), females (N=387), mean age 14.5 years- and 176 Immigrant students, males (N=81), females (N=95), mean age 15 years). Results revealed the existence of inter ethnic bullying in Greek Cypriot schools and the victimization of immigrant students to a greater extent. Results also revealed the targeting of victims with specific characteristics from specific groups. In general, the findings disclosed the positive impacts of contact on intergroup relations and inter ethnic bullying. The development of friendships in interaction with positive family and school norms can reduce threat and anxiety feelings even among the most prejudiced and ethnocentric Greek Cypriot adolescents and consequently hamper inter ethnic bullying. On the other hand immigrants acculturation degree to Greek Cypriot culture (Greek Language Knowledge and Friendships with Greek Cypriots) functioned as a protective factor for inter ethnic victimization and bullying. Based on our results two models are suggested in relation to ethnic bullying and victimization, combining social psychological factors, demographics and personality traits. The findings are discussed in relation to the particular socio-cultural context of Cyprus. The contribution of this thesis lies on the intergroup investigation of the phenomenon of school bullying between groups, a phenomenon that traditionally is related to individual characteristics. The study moves from individual’s characteristics to social psychological mechanisms, relative to intergroup relations. The present study is of great importance as it focuses on the growing need for targeted educational, preventive and remedial action in the Greek Cypriot educational system.
https://gnosis.library.ucy.ac.cy/handle/7/64800
Filippou, Georgios F. (2016): Investigating the mechanisms of the Secondary Transfer Effect on intergroup contact: the moderating role of intergroup distance
The purpose of this thesis is to explore and expand the understanding of the so called Secondary Transfer Effect (STE) of contact, referring to the phenomenon where the positive effect of intergroup contact with a one group (primary outgroup) extends beyond direct interaction to other groups (secondary outgroups) not directly involved in the encounter situation. The first chapter presents the socio-political and historical context of Cyprus and the Cyprus issue to provide the framework on which the empirical section of the thesis is based. The unique role of Social Psychology and its contribution to the better understanding of the complex intergroup relations in Cyprus and the advancement of the Cyprus issue is presented. The second chapter provides a detailed literature review of the intergroup contact theory, following its evolutionary path from the conceptualisation of the original contact hypothesis up to date. The practise and investigation of the contact hypothesis in the context of Cyprus and the contribution it provided at improving our understanding of the Cyprus issue is discussed. Chapter three introduces the concept of the STE phenomenon and presents the first study of the thesis that examines it empirically in the context of contact of Greek Cypriot students with Turkish Cypriots, Greeks and Immigrants. Results validated the contact hypothesis and provided partial evidence towards confirming the STE phenomenon over and above direct contact. Chapter four introduces the concept of mediation and examines if the STE is mediated by attitudes toward the primary outgroup. To test this, the second study is presented, which was based on an experimental design, in the context of the effect of contact between Greek Cypriots and a Turkish Cypriot confederate on attitudes toward Greeks, Turkish Cypriots, Turks and Immigrants. Results provided strong support for the STE phenomenon and attitude generalisation as the key mediating mechanism. Chapter five builds on the findings in the previous chapters where some pairs of primary and secondary out-groups regularly showed STE and some did not, to explore if perceived similarity between outgroups moderates the mediation effect of attitude generalisation. Intergroup similarity was operationalised as intergroup distance, a novel indirect measure based on difference scores. A cross-sectional study based on a representative sample of the Greek Cypriot community was utilised testing for STEs of contact with Turkish Cypriots, Greeks, Turks, Western Europeans and Eastern Europeans. Results showed systematically that perceived similarity between outgroups (operationalised as intergroup distance), controlled the generalisation gradient effect of the STE and improved significantly the capacity of the models to explain the outcomes. Chapter six aimed to validate the novel operationalisation of intergroup distance as a moderator to the mediation of the STE and replicate the findings of the previous chapter. To achieve this, both direct and indirect measures of intergroup similarity were used in a new study using the same settings and models as in the previous study. Results confirmed again systematically the significant effect of perceived similarity between outgroups on the generalisation of the STE and showed that indirect measures were more successful at moderating the STE. Chapter seven is dedicated to the discussion of the novel findings from the entire thesis, highlighting its theoretical scholarship but also its contribution to conflict transformation practices and applications in the field.
https://gnosis.library.ucy.ac.cy/handle/7/39526
2008-2012: Anna Zapiti: Asymmetries and argumentation in social interaction and cognitive development (Supervised by Charis Psaltis, Awarded 2012)
This PhD thesis explored the role of gender and expertise as asymmetries in the interactions of children. Children from two different age groups participated in the study (6-7 and 10-11 years old) in order to explore the role played by gender identity dynamics in the interactions of children of these two age groups. This work draws theoretically from the three generations of studies on peer interaction and cognitive development that initiated in Geneva more than thirty years ago.
The study followed the pre-test, interaction, immediate and delayed post-test design. Children have to solve a spatial task individually, then they work in pairs with a partner who was more or less advance in his/her knowledge over the task (so that pairs include children of different levels of expertise) and finally they try again to solve the task individually the same day the interaction takes place (immediate post-test) and two weeks later (delayed post-test). The younger children also were administered with two tests assessing their understanding of the gender marking of toys and conceptual understanding of an interrelationship between sex-group membership and gender marking of material culture. The children of the fifth grade had to complete a questionnaire which examined the way they cope with interaction with members of the opposite gender, attitudes and stereotypes for the members of the other gender group and strength of gender identity. These gender measures were included in order to investigate the relation between varieties of gender identity and behaviour in the interaction as well as the relation between different positioning on gender identity and outcome measures.
The results revealed that for younger children, gender clearly relates to their behavioural patterns and strategies in the interaction. Children may share the same goal but their behaviour is shaped by the social representations of gender that they bring in the interaction. In the interactions of older children (10-11 years old), gender was not found to relate directly to children's behaviour. In fact, gender effect was found to diminish with age even though some children remain highly stereotyped. For these children, gender knowledge and identity was related to their outcomes indicating that when gender has an effect this is on the level of mental action. The findings are discussed in the light of existing theories and previous studies.
2009-2013: Foteini- Kranou Kyriakides: Psychosocial and Cognitive Development of Undergraduate University Students in Greek Cypriot Universities (Supervised by Charis Psaltis, Awarded 2013)
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the current state of affairs and changes taking place in the higher education years of an individual in relation to both aspects of psychosocial and intellectual development in Greek Cypriot Universities. Theoretically, the thesis explores the interplay between psychosocial and intellectual development at four levels of analysis through a triadic epistemology of the subject-object-other.
Taking Perry's theory of ethical and intellectual development as a point of departure the thesis discusses the way Perry was influenced by both Piaget and Kohlberg, in the formulation of his stage theory. The way Perry's work influenced more recent post Post-formal theories of cognitive development is also discussed. It is argued that all stage theories depended on a particular structuralist reading of Piagetian theory that suppressed the references to the social psychological work of Piaget and in particular the role of social interaction in cognitive development. This thesis then discusses how critical voices internal to this literature like Riegel's attempted to depart from what they considered the individualistic paradigm through the introduction of a dialectical framework but then also point to the problems and shortcomings of these initial efforts. This problem is redressed through a discussion of the ways that major socio-cultural theorists understood human development in their more recent theories. Furthermore, the social in Piagetian theory and its development through successive generations of research on social interaction and cognitive development is revisited. An integrative framework of human development as a social psychological process is then proposed that welds together a role for social relations on crucial cognitive and psycho-social developmental outcomes like that of formal operational thinking, deep learning, tolerance, commitment to future plans and self-determination. The results of the thesis, beyond providing for the first time in the Cypriot context a description of the profile of university students' state of development also clarify the role of gender and socio-economic status of the students in their development. Additionally, the thesis attempts the articulation of Doise (1986) four levels of analysis by integrating a role for social ethnic identity and ideological variables in a socio-cultural model of university student's development.
A questionnaire with reliable scales was designed after various cycles of pilot testing. The measures are based on the theoretical framework of Perry's Scheme (1998), Piaget's social psychological theory (Piaget 1932; Piaget 1977/1995) and Chickering and Reisser's vectors of identity (1993). Questions were created based on the theories used in this thesis on the relevant subjects of the two areas of development to be examined. Its final version was administered at two different semesters.
The findings suggest that minor changes are observed during the university years of a student. Still light is shed on the role of gender, socio-economic status and the major followed in relation to the cognitive and psycho-social development of students. With the help of hierarchical regressions, cross-lagged correlations and the construction of a SEM model a more holistic and clear picture of the role of social relations in cognitive and psycho-social development of students is offered.
