הפקולטה למדעי הרוח והחברה

פרופ' איסמעיל אבו סעד

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Abu-Saad, I. (2016). “Access to Higher education and its Socio-economic Impact among Bedouin Arabs in Southern Israel." International Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 76, pp. 96-103.

This paper explores minority access to higher education in Israel in general, and among the Negev Bedouin Arabs, in particular. The Negev Bedouin community has undergone major changes during the past 60 years, and has the lowest socio-economic level of any population group in Israel. Higher education plays a prominent role in determining a community's competitiveness in the world marketplace. In most societies, it is also recognized as a major avenue to greater economic rewards and social mobility, making it of vital importance to those groups on the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder of society.

The provision of public educational services to the Negev Bedouin, admissions procedures and standardized testing, financial assistance policies, and the socio-economic and political impact of higher education in Israel are examined in-depth. The paper concludes that the following structural and policy changes are needed to improve the access of the Negev Bedouin community to higher education: better quality elementary and secondary education, financial aid, removal of minimum age requirements, and culturally unbiased measures for admissions screening.

2. Abu-Saad, I. (2016). Educational System and Indigenous Identity Formation: The Case of the Palestinian Arab in Israel. Al-Majalla, Vol 7, pp. 7-38 (in Arabic).

Palestinian Arabs in Israel recounts the difficulties of maintaining identity and culture within a mainstream school system that emphasizes values and education of the national community to the exclusion of the perspectives, worldviews and identity formation of the indigenous community. For example, the state-sponsored education system for Palestinian Arabs in Israel has never been treated as an independent or complete structure; and neither is it viewed as forming a legitimate component of the national education system. Indigenous Palestinians do not have autonomous control over their school system, and do not hold any of the key decision and policy-making positions in the national educational infrastructure, which is reflective of their position in Israeli society in general.

3. Abu-Saad, I. (2017). Teacher Education Policy and Practice in Israel from the

Perspective of Those Outside the 'Common Good'. Al- Majalla, Vol 8, pp. 7-53 (in Arabic).

This paper presents an historical perspective on teacher education policy and practices in the indigenous Palestinian and settler Zionist communities prior to the establishment of Israel, and their subsequent development under the Israeli state. It includes an in-depth analysis of the implications of teacher education policy and practice for the construction of the selective “common good" in Israeli society, with special emphasis on the community most explicitly excluded from this construction, the Palestinian Arab minority.

In many societies the 'common good' is defined in terms of its dominant group and is used to protect and expand its dominance. This is the case in Israel, which is officially defined as 'the State of the Jewish people,' despite the presence of an indigenous Palestinian Arab minority that comprises 20 per cent of the total population. Ideally, the educational system should reflect the society's heterogeneous demographics through multi-cultural aims and goals, and culture-specific curricula. Yet an examination of Israel's public education system reveals a definite bias toward Western, European (Ashkenazi) culture to the disadvantage and marginalization of Jews from non-Western cultures, and the Palestinian Arab minority.

I argue that under the hegemonic, monocultural discourse that has determined education policy in Israel for the past 68 years, teacher education and practice have served the state's mechanisms for controlling subordinate groups, rather than providing teachers with adequate and appropriate tools for addressing the complex cultural and political reality, and questions of national identity, social justice, inclusion/exclusion, and equity.

פרקים בספרים

Abu-Saad, I. Horowitz, T. Abu-Saad, K. (2016). Indigenous Bedouin-Arab Women Engaging in Mainstream Higher Education. In Charles A. Shoniregun and Galyna A. Akmayeva (eds). Proceedings Book – International Conference on Education, Ireland, pp. 165-167.

The Negev Bedouin Arabs are a part of the indigenous Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, who historically derived their livelihood from herding and seasonal agriculture. Subsequently they underwent a rapid urbanization process, which entailed the loss of their traditional economy. These changes required a re-making of the Bedouin woman's social, educational and economic role in the life of the community. We explored Bedouin women's experiences in mainstream higher. The study findings indicated that Bedouin Arab women in higher education demonstrated resilience and agency as participants in modernizing Bedouin traditions, and indigenizing 'Western-style' modernity. Despite the myriad of challenges, it presented, they experienced mainstream higher education as an essential avenue for their personal and communal development.

דר' דנה ודר וייס

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Vedder-Weiss, D. (2017). Serendipitous science engagement: A family self-ethnography. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 54(3), 350-378.

While opportunities for spontaneous, undesigned, serendipitous science engagement (SSE) are abundant and evidence regarding its affordances is accumulating, little is known about its nature. In this paper, I present a model defining and identifying SSE, which consists of a personal and a contextual continuum. To explore the nature of family SSE, I analyzed a 66-minute case, obtained through self-ethnography, of three children and a mother engaging with bugs they discovered in their backyard. Employing the “language games" approach, the analysis elucidates how the absence of designated goals enabled legitimate multiple language-games over relatively long periods of time, with one game supporting the other. It also reveals delayed uptake, in which children appear to ignore scientific practice or content, while they are actually picking up ideas that they later use to engage with science. Examining processes of guided participation reveals that it entailed authentic modeling and gradual participation in the sense-making game, without abandoning other games. I discuss implications for science learning and for learning theory more broadly, including parents' role in SSE, issues of time for and in SSE, and guided participation in academic activities lacking designated goals.

2. Vedder-Weiss, D. (2017). Teaching higher and lower in mastery goals structure: The perspective of students. Elementary School Journal, 117(4), 566-592.

Taking a student's perspective, this study aims to characterize students' descriptions of teaching higher and lower in mastery goal emphasis, in elementary, middle, traditional, and democratic schools. Data were collected by student surveys and interviews from fifth- through eighth-grade Israeli students. Nineteen interviews, describing five science teachers perceived by their students as higher or lower in mastery goal emphasis, were chosen for further analyses, which employed the TARGETS framework. Results provided concrete illustrations of higher and lower mastery emphasizing teaching, in different types of schools. Task, time, and autonomy emerged as salient dimensions differentiating between higher and lower perceived mastery goal structure as well as preparation for tests, recognition equality, and teachers' attentiveness.

3. Vedder-Weiss, D., & Fortus, D. (2017). Teachers' goals emphasis: Using a self-report survey to study the relations between teaching practices and students' motivation for science learning. Research in Science Education.

Employing achievement goal theory (Ames Journal of Educational psychology, 84(3), 261–271, 1992), we explored science teachers' instruction and its relation to students' motivation for science learning and school culture. Based on the TARGETS framework (Patrick et al. The Elementary School Journal, 102(1), 35–58, 2001) and using data from 95 teachers, we developed a self-report survey assessing science teachers' usage of practices that emphasize mastery goals. We then used this survey and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses to study the relations between 35 science teachers' mastery goals in each of the TARGETS dimensions, the decline in their grade-level 5–8 students' (N = 1.356) classroom and continuing motivation for science learning, and their schools' mastery goal structure. The findings suggest that adolescents' declining motivation for science learning results in part from a decreasing emphasis on mastery goals by schools and science teachers. Practices that relate to the nature of tasks and to student autonomy emerged as most strongly associated with adolescents' motivation and its decline with age.

ספרים

1. Vedder-Weiss, D., Segal, A., & Lefstein, A. (2016). Managing threats to teacher face in discussions of video-recorded lessons. Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Science (ICLS). Singapore.

Scholars and educators are increasingly enthusiastic about the potential benefits of video-based teacher learning. However, collaborative analysis of video is a complex social endeavor entailing numerous obstacles to learning, central among them face threats. In this study, we use linguistic ethnographic methods to investigate the implications for teacher face of using video in professional development, and the implications of teacher facework for their learning. We analyze 15 case studies of video-based discussions in school-based teacher teams, identifying and classifying face-threatening acts and the facework involved in responding to them. We then identify and analyze exemplary cases involving key facework strategies (face threat avoidance, face defending, and face correction), focusing on the ways these strategies opened up or closed down opportunities for learning. This study will contribute to our understanding of the interaction of social and cognitive dimensions of professional learning in general, and of teacher facework in video-based professional development.

דר' מייקל וינשטוק

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Weinstock, M., Kienhues, D., Feucht, F. C., & Ryan, M. (2017). Informed reflexivity: Enacting epistemic virtue. Educational Psychologist. 52(4), 284-298.

To discuss reflexive practice in relation to epistemic cognition, we posit informed reflexivity as an epistemic virtue that is informed by its particular context and purposes of knowing and action and promotes use of reliable processes to achieve epistemic aims. It involves reasoning about social relationships in which a person is embedded when acting in a specific kind of context—whether academic or real-world—that requires construction, evaluation, and application of knowledge. Informed reflexivity is the learned disposition to reason about one's knowledge-related actions, entailing context-specific epistemic characteristics. It involves an intentional stance about the need to reason about oneself and the context. Discussions of two disciplinary competencies (science and history) and two cross-disciplinary competencies (critical thinking and writing) illustrate how epistemically competent practices instantiate informed reflexivity. Promoting informed reflexivity as an epistemic virtue might dispose students toward reliable processes of knowing and making epistemically informed resolved action appropriate to the context.

2. Madjar, N., Weinstock, M., & Kaplan, A. (2017). Epistemic beliefs and achievement goal orientations: Relations between constructs versus personal profiles. Journal of Educational Research, 110, 32-89.

Research has found students' epistemic beliefs to predict their achievement goal orientations. Much of this research emerged from the dimensional approach of epistemic beliefs, which hypothesized a relationship between particular independent dimensions of epistemic beliefs with different achievement goals. Research in this approach has primarily applied a variable-centered approach to investigating these relations. The authors adopt an alternative conceptualization of epistemic beliefs, which considers epistemic beliefs and achievement goals as orthogonal to each other, and which favors a profile-centered approach to researching their relations. They hypothesized that while a variable-centered analysis would identify relations between epistemic beliefs and achievement goal orientations, a profile-centered analysis would demonstrate the independence of these psychological constructs. In three studies with high school students (ns = 256, 149, 250) the authors demonstrate that epistemic beliefs and achievement goals form different personal profiles that are differentially related to learning strategies.

פרקים בספרים

1. Weinstock, M. (2016). Epistemic cognition in legal reasoning. In J. A. Greene, W. A. Sandoval, & I. Bråten, Handbook of epistemic cognition (pp. 215-229). New York: Routledge.

To satisfy legal requirements and considerations of justice, courtroom legal reasoning is prescribed for use by novices and experts alike. Following case law that also guides professional legal reasoners, judges instruct juries about what may be considered evidence and the bases for deciding a case based on evidence. The focus on the nature of evidence, use of evidence in making a decision, and standards of decision-making such as reasonable doubt, that are of practical concern in the courtroom are also concerns of philosophical epistemology and the study of everyday epistemic cognition. However, definitions and practices provided to lay legal reasoners are not informed by research in epistemic cognition or everyday argument skills. Although epistemic parameters defined in the courtroom are meant for laypeople, formal and everyday reasoning might diverge, as illustrated by research discussed in this chapter. The legal domain allows for a particular consideration of aspects of epistemic cognition. Although germane to thinking about epistemic cognition, issues regarding the socially constructed nature of knowledge domains remain largely in the background in the literature. An examination of prescribed and actual reasoning in the legal domain brings to the fore the interplay between social epistemology, philosophical epistemology, and everyday epistemic cognition.

דר' מאור זאב וולף

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Zeev-Wolf, M., Goldstein, A., Bonne, O., and Abramowitz, E. (2016). Hypnotically Induced Somatosensory Alterations: Toward a Neurophysiological Understanding of Hypnotic Anaesthesia. NeuroPsychologia, 87, 182-191.

Whereas numerous studies have investigated hypnotic analgesia, few have investigated hypnotic anaesthesia. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) we investigated and localized brain responses (event-related fields and oscillatory activity) during sensory processing under hypnotic anaesthesia. Nineteen right handed neurotypical individuals with moderate-to-high hypnotizability received 100 vibrotactile stimuli to right and left index fingers in a random sequence. Thereafter a hypnotic state was induced, in which anaesthetic suggestion was applied to the left hand only. Once anaesthetic suggestion was achieved, a second, identical, session of vibrotactile stimuli was commenced. We found greater brain activity in response to the stimuli delivered to the left (attenuated) hand before hypnotic anaesthesia, than under hypnotic anaesthesia, in both the beta and alpha bands. In the beta band, the reduction of activity under hypnotic anaesthesia was found around 214–413 ms post-stimuli and was located mainly in the right insula. In the alpha band, it was found around 253–500 ms post-stimuli and was located mainly in the left inferior frontal gyrus. In a second experiment, attention modulation per se was ruled out as the underlying cause of the effects found. These findings may suggest that the brain mechanism underlying hypnotic anaesthesia involves top-down somatosensory inhibition and, therefore, a reduction of somatosensory awareness. The result of this mechanism is a mental state in which individuals lose bodily sensation.

2. Shapira Lots, I., Zeev-Wolf, M., Harpaz, Y., Abeles, M. (2016). Source Localization Scale Correction for Beamformer Analysis. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 273, 10-19.

Background: Magnetoencephalography measurements are often processed by using imaging algorithms such as beamforming. The estimated source magnitude tends to suffer from unbalanced scaling across different brain locations. Hence, when examining current estimates for source activity it is vital to rescale the estimated source magnitude, in order to obtain a uniformly scaled image. New method: We present a generalized scale correction method (Nempty) that uses empty room MEG measurements to evaluate the noise level. Results: The location bias and spatial resolution of the estimated signal indicated that some scaling correction needs to be applied. Of all the scale correction methods that were tested, the best correction was achieved when using Nempty. Comparison with existing methods: We show that a diagonal matrix does not reflect the true nature of the noise covariance matrix. Hence, diagonal matrix based methods are sub-optimal. Conclusion: We recommend adding empty room MEG measurements to each experimental recording session, for purposes of both scale correction and beamformer performance verification.

3. Zeev-Wolf, M., Dor-Zaiderman, Y., Goldstein, A., Bonne, O., and Abramowitz, E. (2017). Oscillatory Brain Mechanisms of the Hypnotically-Induced Out-of-Body Experience. Cortex, 96, 19-30.

One of the most challenging questions regarding the nature and neural basis of consciousness is the embodied dimension of the phenomenon, that is, feeling located within the body and viewing the world from that spatial perspective. Current theories in neurophysiology highlight the active role of multisensory and sensorimotor integration in supporting self-location and self-perspective, and propose the right temporal-parietal-junction (rTPJ) as a key area for such function. These theories are based mainly on findings from two experimental paradigms: manipulation of bottom-up multisensory information integration regarding one's body location (full-body illusion), or direct and invasive manipulation disrupting brain activity at the rTPJ. In this study we take a different approach by using hypnotic suggestion – a non-invasive top-down technique – to manipulate the subjective experience of self-location. The brain activity of 18 right-handed participants was recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG) while their subjective experience of self-location was hypnotically manipulated. Spectral analyses were conducted on the spontaneous MEG data before and during an induction of an out-of-body experience (OBE) by a trained psychiatrist. The results indicate high correlations between power at alpha and high-gamma frequency-bands and the degree of perceived change in self-location. Regions exhibiting such correlations include temporal-occipital regions, the rTPJ, as well as frontal and midline regions. These findings are in line with an oscillatory-based predictive coding framework.

4. Sauer, A., Zeev-Wolf, M., Wacongne, C., Wibral, M., Helbling, S., Peled, A., Wolf, S., Goldstein, A., and Uhlhaas, P. (2017). Impairment in Predictive Processes during Auditory Mismatch Negativity in Schizophrenia: Evidence from Event-Related Fields. Human Brain Mapping, 38, 5082-5093.

Patients with schizophrenia (ScZ) show pronounced dysfunctions in auditory perception but the underlying mechanisms as well as the localization of the deficit remain unclear. To examine these questions, the current study examined whether alterations in the neuromagnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) in ScZ-patients could involve an impairment in sensory predictions in local sensory and higher auditory areas. Using a whole-head MEG-approach, we investigated the MMNm as well as P300m and N100m amplitudes during a hierarchical auditory novelty paradigm in 16 medicated ScZ-patients and 16 controls. In addition, responses to omitted sounds were investigated, allowing for a critical test of the predictive coding hypothesis. Source-localization was performed to identify the generators of the MMNm, omission responses as well as the P300m. Clinical symptoms were examined with the positive and negative syndrome scale. Event-related fields (ERFs) to standard sounds were intact in ScZ-patients. However, the ScZ-group showed a reduction in the amplitude of the MMNm during both local (within trials) and global (across trials) conditions as well as an absent P300m at the global level. Importantly, responses to sound omissions were reduced in ScZ-patients which overlapped both in latency and generators with the MMNm sources. Thus, our data suggest that auditory dysfunctions in ScZ involve impaired predictive processes that involve deficits in both automatic and conscious detection of auditory regularities.

5. Jahshan, C., Wolf, M., Karbi, Y., Shamir E., and Rassovsky, Y. (2017). Probing the Magnocellular and Parvocellular Visual Pathways in Facial Emotion Perception in Schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 253, 38-42.

Schizophrenia patients have well-established deficits in facial emotion perception, which contribute to their poor social functioning. A number of studies have related these deficits to a differential dysfunction in the magnocellular (M) versus parvocellular (P) visual pathway. We assessed 35 schizophrenia patients and 35 healthy individuals on an emotion identification task, in which facial stimuli were either unaltered (broad spatial frequency, BSF) or manipulated to contain only high (HSF) or low (LSF) spatial frequencies, thereby respectively biasing the visual system toward the P- or M- pathways. As expected, patients were less accurate and slower in recognizing emotions across all conditions, relative to controls. Performance was best in the BSF condition followed by the HSF and finally the LSF condition, in both groups. A significant group by spatial frequency interaction reflected a smaller magnitude of impairment in the HSF condition, compared to the other two conditions that preferentially engage the M-system. These findings are consistent with studies showing a differential M-pathway abnormality in schizophrenia with a less pronounced impairment in P-function. The current study suggests that patients have less difficulty extracting emotional content from faces when LSFs are attenuated and supports the need to remediate basic visual processing deficits in schizophrenia.

6. Globerson, E., Granot, R., Tal, I., Harpaz, Y., Zeev-Wolf, M., and Goldstein, A. (2017). Brain Responses to Regular and Octave-Scrambled Melodies: A Case of Predictive Coding? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43, 487-498.

Melody recognition is an online process of evaluating incoming information and comparing this information to an existing internal corpus, thereby reducing prediction error. The predictive-coding model postulates top-down control on sensory processing accompanying reduction in prediction error. To investigate the relevancy of this model to melody processing, the current study examined early magnetoencephalogram (MEG) auditory responses to familiar and unfamiliar melodies in 25 participants. The familiar melodies followed and primed an octave-scrambled version of the same melody. The retrograde version of theses melodies served as the unfamiliar control condition. Octave-transposed melodies were included to examine the influence of pitch representation (pitch-height/pitch-chroma representation) on brain responses to melody recognition. Results demonstrate a reduction of the M100 auditory response to familiar, as compared with unfamiliar, melodies regardless of their form of presentation (condensed vs. octave-scrambled). This trend appeared to begin after the third tone of the melody. An additional behavioral study with the same melody corpus showed a similar trend—namely, a significant difference between familiarity rating for familiar and unfamiliar melodies, beginning with the third tone of the melody. These results may indicate a top-down inhibition of early auditory responses to melodies that is influenced by pitch representation.

דר' איריס טבק

פרקים בספרים

1. Tabak, I. (2016). Functional scientific literacy: Seeing the science within the words and across the web. In L. Corno & E. M. Anderman (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology: 3rd edition APA Division 15 (pp. 269-280). London: Routledge.

Does the public have functional scientific literacy? Can the public make decisions based on a critical examination of information? People report feeling overwhelmed by conflicting information, despite a desire to make evidence-based decisions. The chapter identifies the demands of critically integrating information, as well as the strengths and weaknesses that laypeople exhibit in this process. It illuminates how science news facilitates or impedes evidence-based decisions. Accomplished readers move between documents based on comparing and evaluating sources and content. Epistemic cognition and beliefs about science play a role in these processes. Strong skills are rare, indicating a need for dedicated instruction that connects well to enculturation into scientific practices. Implications also call for emphasis on science-specific practices, and convergent conceptualizations of epistemic cognition.

2. Brami, U. Z., & Tabak, I. (2017). Self-organizing collaborations as blueprints for CSCL design. In B. K. Smith, M. Borge, K. Y. Lim, & E. Mercier (Eds.), p. 553-556. 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. Philadelphia, PA.

We propose that ethnographic studies that precede, but inform, design, can be a productive addition to the repertoire of CSCL design. We anchor our claims in a case example of a cognitive ethnography of an introductory undergraduate history course. We describe how the ways in which learners self-organized and created practices for producing, sharing and reproducing knowledge in the course inform our design of CSCL tools for cultivating historical reasoning practices. This approach identifies points of contact between pre-existing practices and collaborative structures and pedagogical considerations. This enables designers to infuse pedagogical innovations into the activities that local participants already value and perform, achieving benefits akin to participatory design approaches. This can be productive for building on local practices that may be difficult to elicit through design discussions, especially if these local practices are part of learners' counterculture.

דר' עידית כץ

מאמרים בכתבי עת

Katz, I. (2016). In the Eye of the Beholder: Motivational Effects of Gender Differences in Perceptions of Teachers. Journal of Experimental Education, 1-18.

This study suggests a mechanism to explain gender-related differences in motivation. One hundred and twenty-nine ninth-grade students (67 males and 62 females) participated in the study. The results indicate that girls tend to perceive their teacher as more supportive than do boys and that this perception mediates gender-related differences in motivation and emotional experience. This finding highlights the importance of investigating those characteristics that can affect student perception of the teacher as supportive. Beyond the known contribution of the need for a supportive environment, knowledge of such characteristics can help promote adaptive motivation.

פרופ' דורית לביא טובין

מאמרים בכתבי עת

Tubin, D. (2017). Leadership identity construction practices: the case of successful Israeli school principals. Educational Management, Administration, and Leadership, 45(3).

Principals' ability to lead their school towards its goals depends to a large extent on their leadership identity that influences the clarity of their mission, the way they see themselves as educational leaders and acceptance of their authority by their followers. Based on the concepts of leadership identity and role embeddedness, the present study seeks to better understand leadership identity through leadership-claiming practices employed by school principals and the forces of fit, links and sacrifice they operate to enhance their role embeddedness. The study is based on secondary analysis of data from four successful Israeli school principals. The techniques of interviews, observations and document analysis were employed in the collection of the data. The findings reveal that all the principals studied used a variety of leadership-claiming practices which, alongside their role embeddedness, help explain how their leadership identity is constructed in their everyday practice. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

פרופ' אדם לפסטיין

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Snell, J. & Lefstein, A. (2017). “Low Ability", participation and identity in dialogic pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal.

Teachers are increasingly called on to use dialogic teaching practices to engage active pupil participation in academically challenging classroom discourse. Such practices are in tension with commonly held beliefs about pupil ability as fixed and/or context independent. Moreover, teaching practices that seek to make pupil thinking visible can also make perceived pupil ''inarticulateness'' and/or ''low ability'' visible, with important implications for pupil identities. This article explores how teachers in a dialogic teaching intervention managed the participation and identities of ''low ability'' pupils. We use linguistic ethnographic methods to analyze three different case studies in which teachers seek to include underachieving pupils' voices in the discussion and discuss implications for dialogic pedagogy and the study of classroom social identification processes.

2. Pollak, I. Segal, A., Meshulam, A. & Lefstein, A., (2017) Teaching Controversial Issues in a Fragile Democracy: Defusing Deliberation in Israeli Primary Classrooms. Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Teaching through controversial, politically charged issues is promoted in Anglo-American democracies as a key means for cultivating active citizenry and democratic values. However, the challenges of discussing controversial issues in the classroom may differ in younger, deeply divided democracies that lack common ground and institutional stability. In this study we ask, what approaches to the teaching of controversial issues do Israeli teachers adopt while enacting a curricular unit concerning Israel's founding fathers? The data were collected in an ethnographic study in two primary schools during the 2012–2013 school year. We use linguistic ethnographic methods to analyse the curricular materials and their enactment in four video-recorded lessons in three classrooms. We argue that while the curriculum addresses deeply controversial content, it is designed to inculcate a shared national ethos and therefore avoids controversy. In practice, teachers and students engaged with controversial issues, but in ways that defused their volatility. We highlight two heretofore undocumented approaches to controversial issues: (1) sidestepping controversy by stripping it of real world complexities, and (2) scholasticizing the discussion by focusing on literacy practices. Finally, we discuss the rationales for using these two approaches to defuse controversy in the classroom, and their limitations.

3. Lefstein, A., Vedder-Weiss, D., Tabak, I. & Segal, A. (2017) Learner Agency in Scaffolding: The Case of Coaching Teacher Leadership. International Journal of Educational Research.

This case study investigates the agency exercised by a teacher team coordinator in shaping the scaffolding she received from her coach while jointly leading teacher team meetings. We used linguistic ethnographic methods to examine 14 teacher meetings. Detailed analysis of four episodes is used to probe the ways in which the coordinator requested, resisted or negotiated the type and timing of her coach's scaffolding support. We analyze the conditions that enabled the coordinator's agency, among them that the coaching interactions were situated in the joint engagement in professional work. Playing multiple roles created opportunities and obligations for the coordinator to be agentive in accomplishing her work and therefore in co-constructing the scaffolding interactions.

4. Segal, A. & Lefstein, A. (2016). Exuberant, voiceless participation: an unintended consequence of dialogic sensibilities? Contribution to a special issue on International Perspectives on Dialogic Theory and Practice, edited by Sue Brindley, Mary Juzwik, and Alison Whitehurst. L1: Educational Studies in Languages and Literature 16, 1-19.

One approach to dialogic pedagogy focuses on the interplay of voices: Whose voices are expressed and attended to in classroom discourse? And how do these voices play off of one another in creating new ideas and meanings? In particular, to what extent are students empowered to express their own voices, rather than reproducing the teacher or textbook's authoritative discourse? Building on Bakhtin, Hymes and Blommaert, we argue that realizing voice involves (a) opportunity to speak, (b) expressing one's own ideas, (c) on one's own terms, and (d) being heeded by others. Employing this framework in an analysis of Hebrew language lessons in two Israeli primary schools, we identify patterns of exuberant, voiceless participation: students enthusiastically contribute to lively classroom discussion, often framing their contributions as dialogically responding to and building on one another's ideas, but at the level of voice the discussion is for the most part univocal since most student contributions are aligned with the official voice of the teacher and curriculum, and the rare independent student voices fall out of the conversation.

5. Netz, H. & Lefstein, A. (2016). A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Disagreements in Classroom Discourse: Comparative Case Studies from England, USA, and Israel. Intercultural Pragmatics 13(2): 211-255.

How do cultural and institutional factors interact in shaping preference structures? This paper presents a cross-cultural analysis of disagreements in three different classroom settings: (1) a year 6 (ages 11 – 12) mainstream class in England, (2) a fifth-grade class of gifted students in the United States, and (3) a fourth-grade mainstream class in Israel. The aim of the study is to investigate how disagreements are enacted in these settings, exploring the influence of cultural communicative norms on the one hand and pedagogical goals and norms on the other. The study highlights culture-specific discursive patterns that emerge as the teacher and students manage a delicate balance between often clashing cultural and educational motives.

6. Pulvermacher, Y., & Lefstein, A. (2016). Narrative representations of practice: What and how can student teachers learn from them? Teaching and Teacher Education, 55, 255-266.

Representing practice as an object for joint scrutiny is critical for student teacher learning and the development of professional vision. This article examines narrative representations of practice in teaching methods workshops and their affordances and constraints for prospective teacher learning. Three workshops in an Israeli teacher education program were video-recorded and analyzed. Embedded narratives were the most prevalent form of representation, often serving to advance claims and counter-claims. An examination of 112 narrative episodes revealed three forms of mediation: non-exploration, explication and discussion. We conclude that designing for intentional mediation of embedded narratives might increase their utility for teacher education.

7. Segal, A., Snell, J. & Lefstein, A. (2017). Dialogic teaching to the high-stakes standardised test? Research Papers in Education, 32:5, 596-610.

Within current educational discourse, dialogic pedagogy is diametrically opposed to teaching to the test, especially the high-stakes standardised test. While dialogic pedagogy is about critical thinking, authenticity and freedom, test preparation evokes all that is narrow, instrumental and cynical in education. In this paper, we argue that such positioning of dialogic pedagogy as antithetical to testing is detrimental to attempts both to foster dialogue in classrooms and to constructively manage the high-stakes standardised tests that are compulsory in so many schools. Drawing on an extended case study of dialogic teaching in one London primary school, we argue that while standardised testing is indeed an impediment to dialogic pedagogy, it does not follow that dialogue is impossible or undesirable within the testing context. By adopting an ironic stance towards the test, teachers can fulfil test preparation mandates while maintaining dialogic ideals and practices.

8. Segal, A., Pollak, I. & Lefstein, A. (2017). Democracy, voice and dialogic pedagogy: the struggle to be heard and heeded. Language and education, 31 (1), 6-25.

Dialogic pedagogy is widely viewed as an excellent means of educating students for civic participation in deliberative democracy. While many intervention-based studies have researched dialogic teaching and learning, we know very little about the enactment of dialogic and related ideas ' in the wild, ' in regular classrooms. This paper contributes to the naturalistic study of dialogic pedagogy through close examination of an episode of sustained student engagement with, and argumentation about, a controversial social issue in an Israeli primary school classroom. In particular, we focus on the emergence and interaction of voices, deﬁned as (1) opportunity to speak, (2) expressing one ' s own ideas, (3) on one's own terms and (4) being heeded by others. While the norm in Israeli classrooms is exuberant, voiceless participation, in the rare classroom episode examined here, we ﬁnd students – and their teacher – engaged in heated, multivocal deliberation. We follow the struggles of marginalized students to be heard and heeded, exploring the conditions which ultimately allow for the actualization of student voice, and the accompanying pedagogical challenges and dilemmas.

9. Lefstein, A., Trachtenberg-Maslaton, R., & Pollak, I. (2017). Breaking out of the grips of dichotomous discourse in teacher post-observation debrief conversations. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 418-428.

Educational discourse is dominated by problematic dichotomies, for example, between teacher- and learner-centred pedagogies, and between teacher control and pupil autonomy. Such dichotomies impede attempts to understand and address complex educational problems, and thwart productive discussion among practitioners and the public. This article examines how teachers in one Israeli school addressed dichotomous discourse around classroom management in video-based post-observation debrief conversations. Three ways of coping with dichotomies are conceptualized: either/or, synthesis and both/and. Factors contributing to the emergence of non-dichotomous discourse are discussed, including ambivalent leadership, the use of video representations, ﬂattened hierarchies, and a focus on issues and dilemmas.

ספרים

Vedder-Weiss, D., Segal, A., & Lefstein, A. (2016). Managing threats to teacher face in discussions of video-recorded lessons. Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Science (ICLS). Singapore.

דר' אורטל סלובודין

מאמרים בכתבי עת

Berger, I., Slobodin, O.,& Cassuto, H. (2017). Usefulness and Validity of CPT in the Diagnosis of ADHD Children. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology,32,81-93.

Objective: Despite the popularity of continuous performance task (CPT) tests in the supporting the diagnostic procedure of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), they are not apt to be standalone diagnostic tools due to limited sensitivity, specificity, and ecological validity. Thus, there continues to be a need for further validation of these objective measures of attention. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the usefulness of CPT, which includes environmental distracting stimuli, in supporting the diagnosis of ADHD in children.

Method: Participants were 798 children aged 7 to 12 years (493 boys and 305 girls). The ADHD group included 339 children, while the control group included 459 children without ADHD. The study employed the MOXO-CPT, which incorporates visual and auditory stimuli serving as environmental distractors.

Results: Compared to their unaffected peers, children with ADHD received significantly lower scores in all four CPT indices: attention, timing, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Specifically, ADHD children were less attended to the stimuli and performed fewer reactions on accurate timing. Furthermore, children with ADHD performed significantly more impulsive and hyperactive responses than controls. ROC analysis revealed fair to excellent diagnostic ability of all CPT indices except impulsivity, which showed poor ability to distinguish ADHD children from controls. The test's total score yielded excellent diagnostic performance.

Conclusions: MOXO-CPT consistently distinguished between children with ADHD and their unaffected peers, so that children with ADHD performed worse than controls in all study indices. Integration of CPT indices improves the diagnostic capacity of ADHD and may better reflect the complexity and heterogeneity of ADHD.

פרקים בספרים

Slobodin, O. (2017). The voice of trailing women in the decision to migrate: is it really a choice? In I. Muenstermann (Ed.), People's movements in the 21st century - risks, challenges and benefits. Rijeka: InTech.

The reasons for migration among highly skilled couples are economic as well as noneconomic. However, our understanding of the motivations of trailing wives remains somewhat limited, especially given their loss of personal, professional, and social resources during the relocation. This chapter explores the motivations of women to relocate for their husband's work. It examines how gender ideologies weave with the decision to relocate, and how women's considerations and preferences are taken into account during this process. This study included depth interviews with 12 trailing mothers in the Netherlands and in the United States during 2015–2016. Interviews were performed face-to-face or by video chat. The study used an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Narratives analyses revealed that most trailing wives exerted very limited agency during the decision process and felt that they do not have any realistic alternatives to relocation. This powerlessness was imposed by gender-role ideologies that portray women as the primary care provider and men as the primary breadwinner. Thus, women's motivations to go overseas were primarily centered on family benefits, such as improving the family's financial status or supporting their husband's career. These findings suggest that societal factors, mainly gender, significantly diminish the actual choice options available to trailing wives.

דר' גליה עמרמי פלוטקין

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Plotkin Amrami, Galia (2017) "How a new category is "born"? On mechanisms of formation, cycles of recognition and the looping effect of "national trauma". Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine.

This article explores the mechanisms underlying the formation of a new category in the Israeli therapeutic field—“national trauma." By comparing the two different paths of emergence of this category, the research reexamines the meaning of Hacking's concept “looping effect" and, in particular, the issue of awareness of the categorized individuals and the categorizing knowledge-producers to the effects of a categorization. This study demonstrates that the formation of “national trauma" is both an intentional product of the efforts and ideology of practitioners and an unintentional outcome of their scientific and interventional activities. The comparative analysis allows us to elaborate the distinctions between the different social circles of recognition of new professional categories and different forms of affinity between the new category and an established social group. Understanding these distinctions is particularly valuable in relation to those problematic cases in which the new professional category is a highly contested object.

2. Plotkin Amrami, Galia and Brunner, Jose (2017) "Constructing the Resilient Subject in Israeli Class Rooms: Professional Interventions, Culture and Politics in a Protracted Conflict". Pedagogy, Culture & Society. 25 (3): 417-430.

While the concept of resilience has attracted a great deal of academic interest, less attention has been paid to the particular traits of the resilient subject. This article extracts the prototype of the resilient student as performed through professional interventions that build resilience in Israeli schools in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Drawing on sociological scholarship that interweaves the domains of therapeutic discourse and cultural context, we describe the resilient subject not only as a psychological but also as cultural prototype and a national subject. We demonstrate that professional practices foster the ability to process feelings, think rationally and control instinctive emotional and bodily reactions to avoid violent behaviour. This ethics of non-violence draws on the western cultural ideal of a normative personality rather than on a particular political context. However the impact of professional interventions on the design of students' civil beliefs regarding the conflict might warrant consideration.

פרופ' אבי עשור

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Roth, G., Kanat‐Maymon, Y., & Assor, A. (2016). The Role of Unconditional Parental Regard in Autonomy‐Supportive Parenting. Journal of personality, 84(6), 716-725.‏

Two studies explored the role of parents' unconditional positive regard (UCPR) as perceived by adolescents and young adults in promoting the effectiveness of specific parenting practices that may support offspring's academic autonomous motivation. Study 1 tested the hypothesis that UCPR predicts rationale-giving and choice-provision practices and, at the same time, moderates their relations with adolescents' autonomous motivation. Study 2 replicated the association between UCPR and the parental practices, and further explored the role of parents' authenticity as an antecedent of UCPR and parental autonomy support. Study 1 included 125 adolescents and Study 2 considered 128 college-students and their mothers. The offspring reported on their perceptions of their mothers and on their autonomous motivation, and the mothers reported on their sense of authenticity. Both studies found consistent associations between UCPR and parenting practices that may support autonomous motivation. Moreover, Study 1 demonstrated that the rationale giving and choice provision were more strongly related to adolescents' autonomous motivation when adolescents perceived mothers as high on UCPR. Finally, Study 2 demonstrated that mothers' authenticity predicted UCPR, which in turn was related to autonomy-supportive parenting. Findings support the assumption that parents' autonomy-supportive practices are more effective when accompanied by UCPR.

2. Kanat‐Maymon, Yaniv, Guy Roth, Avi Assor, and Abira Raizer. "Controlled by love: The harmful relational consequences of perceived conditional positive regard." Journal of personality84, no. 4 (2016): 446-460.

Research on conditional positive regard (CPR) has shown that this seemingly benign practice has maladaptive correlates when used by parents. However, there is no research on the correlates of this practice in romantic relationships or on the processes mediating its effects. Building on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), three studies tested the hypothesis that perceived CPR impairs relationship quality, partly because it undermines the fulfillment of the basic psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness. Study 1 (N = 125) examined perceived CPR and relationship quality across four relationship targets: mother, father, romantic partner, and best friend. Study 2, involving romantic partners (N = 142), examined whether needs fulfillment mediated the association between perceived CPR and relationship quality. Study 3, involving romantic dyads (N = 85), also included partner reports on CPR. Across the three studies, CPR was linked with poor relationship quality between relationships, between people, and between dyadic partners. Moreover, results of Study 2 and Study 3 revealed that the inverse association between perceived CPR and relationship quality was mediated by dissatisfaction of autonomy but not relatedness. Despite its seemingly benign nature, CPR is detrimental to relationship quality, partly because it thwarts the basic need for autonomy.

3. Assor, A., Feinberg, O., Kanat-Maymon, Y., & Kaplan, H. (2017). Reducing Violence in Non-controlling Ways: A Change Program Based on Self Determination Theory. The Journal of Experimental Education, 1-19.‏ Published online: 01 Mar 2017

This paper presents and examines the first school change program focusing on violence and caring based on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2012Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Overview of self-determination theory. In The Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 85–107). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]). The program aimed at promoting teachers' capacity to cope with violence and enhance caring without becoming more controlling. Comparisons of the effects of a 22-month-long program in three intervention schools and three control schools indicated that the program (a) reduced violent student behavior and controlling teacher behavior and (b) enhanced caring student behavior and active teacher response to violence. The results suggest that exposure to self-determination theory (SDT) concepts may promote a firm, yet non-controlling, teacher response to violence. More generally, the results highlight the potential for incorporating SDT ideas in violence reduction programs.

פרקים בספרים

Assor, A. (2017). The Striving to Develop an Authentic Inner-Compass as a Key Component of Adolescents' Need for Autonomy: Parental Antecedents and Effects on Identity, well-Being, and Resilience. In Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., & Van Petegem, S. (Eds.). (2017). Autonomy in Adolescent Development: Towards Conceptual Clarity. Psychology Press.‏

The chapter presents an important, yet under-explored, aspect of the need for autonomy and autonomous-functioning: The desire to know what we truly value within the affordances and constraints of our reality. To know what we value we need to develop an authentic Inner-Compass (IC): A Deeply-anchored self-guiding schema of interests and values that helps us decide and select optimally-satisfying actions. Rudiments of this schema emerge in early childhood. Then, in adolescence, they enable identification and communication of one's values and interests, as well as reflection on and selection of long-term goals, commitments, and group-affiliation. Two recently-conceptualized autonomy-supportive socializing practices were found to be unique predictors of authentic IC, which then guides satisfying identity-choices, and protects against deviant peer-affiliation: Reflective IC facilitation and inherent value-demonstration (IVD). IVD is of special interest because it suggests that in order to foster autonomy and growth in children parents should develop and demonstrate their own IC.

דר' יריב פניגר

מאמרים בכתבי עת

Feniger, Yariv, Mirit Israeli and Smadar Yehuda. (2016). "The Power of Numbers: The Adoption and Consequences of National Low-Stakes Standardised Tests in Israel." Globalisation, Societies and Education 14(2): 183-202.

The use of standardised tests as a central tool in education policy has in recent decades become a common feature of many national education systems. In 2002 the Israeli Ministry of Education introduced new mandatory state tests for primary and middle schools. The article describes the adoption of these low-stakes tests and assesses their impact on schools using quantitative and qualitative data. It shows that the tests have unintended negative consequences similar to those reported in studies on high-stakes tests in other countries. An explanation for these findings, based on the notion of 'power of numbers,' is proposed and discussed.

פניגר יריב, עודד מקדוסי וחנה איילון, 2016. אי-שוויון בהשלמת התואר ראשון: רקע חברתי, הישגים לימודיים קודמים ומאפיינים מוסדיים. סוציולוגיה ישראלית י"ח(1): 82-104.

מאמר זה מבקש להפנות את תשומת הלב לשאלת הפערים החברתיים בהשלמת התואר הראשון לאור התרחבות מערכת ההשכלה הגבוהה והגיוון הפנימי שנוצר בה. המחקר מבוסס על קובץ נתונים שהוכן בלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה ומשלב מידע ממספר מקורות אדמיניסטרטיביים. הממצאים מלמדים שהסיכוי של נשים לסיים את התואר בזמן תקני גדול יותר מזה של גברים והסיכוי של יהודים גדול משמעותית מזה של ערבים. למצבה הכלכלי של המשפחה ולהישגים לימודיים קודמים השפעה חשובה על סיכויי השלמת התואר. המכללות הציבוריות, ובתוכן המכללות להוראה, אשר מילאו בשני העשורים האחרונים חלק מרכזי בהתרחבות המערכת סובלות משיעורי נשירה גבוהים יותר מאלו שנמצאו באוניברסיטאות ובמכללות הפרטיות, גם לאחר פיקוח על ההרכב החברתי של תלמידיהן ועל הישגיהם הקודמים.

ספרים

1. ארביב-אלישיב, רינת, יריב פניגר ויוסי שביט. 2017. יש סיכוי לשינוי: תאוריה ומחקר עדכני על שוויון הזדמנויות בחינוך. תל אביב: הוצאת מכון מופ"ת.

שאלת שוויון ההזדמנויות במערכות חינוך מעסיקה סוציולוגים וחוקרים נוספים במדעי החברה מזה עשרות שנים. אולם נדמה שבשנים האחרונות תחום זה זוכה לחשיפה הולכת וגוברת בתקשורת ובשיח הציבורי והפוליטי. ההבנה שהעשורים האחרונים שאופיינו ברפורמות ניאו-ליברליות ובדעיכתה של מדינת הרווחה הביאו עמם גידול מהיר באי-השוויון הכלכלי והחברתי יצרה עניין מחודש בשאלות ותיקות על השכלה ו(אי-)שוויון. אחת התובנות המרכזיות אותן פיתחו סוציולוגיים של החינוך במשך עשרות שנות מחקר היא שמערכות חינוך נוטות לשמר ולשעתק אי-שוויון חברתי יותר משהן מאפשרות את צמצומו. דפוס זה, החוזר על עצמו במדינות שונות ובתקופות שונות, מחייב הסתכלות מפוכחת על הציפיות הנאיביות לעיתים לפיהן המפתח ליצירת חברה שוויונית יותר נמצא בתחום החינוך וההשכלה. יחד עם זאת, מימרתו המפורסמת של קהלת "מַה שֶּׁהָיָה הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה וּמַה שֶּׁנַּעֲשָׂה הוּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה וְאֵין כָּל חָדָשׁ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ" (קהלת פרק א' פסוק ט') אינה עומדת במבחן הממצאים האמפיריים של המחקר הסוציולוג-חינוכי. ראשית, השוואות בין מדינות שונות, ולעיתים גם בין מערכות חינוך שונות בתוך אותה המדינה (למשל בין חינוך כללי וחינוך דתי), מלמדות שלאופן שבו פועלים בתי הספר יכולה להיות השפעה ניכרת על מבנה ההזדמנויות ההשכלתיות. משמעות הדבר היא שאין להמעיט בחשיבותה של מדיניות חינוכית ככלי של המדינה להתמודדות עם פערים חברתיים. שנית, בניגוד למחקר המדעי מעולם הפיסיקה, למשל, המנסה לקבוע חוקים קבועים להבנת העולם שמסביבנו, מדעני חברה מצביעים דווקא על הדינאמיות של ההכללות הנמצאות בבסיס עבודתם. לדוגמה, המחקר הסוציולוגי מראה כי בעשורים האחרונים חל מהפך דרמטי באי-השוויון המגדרי בתחום ההשכלה. אם במחצית המאה העשרים גברים נהנו מיתרון ניכר על פני נשים בשנות השכלה ותארים אקדמיים הרי שבסוף המאה העשרים ניתן היה למצוא יתרון נשי בתחום זה נמצא ברוב המדינות המפותחות. קובץ מאמרים זה מבקש להציג בפני קוראי העברית תמונה רחבה ועדכנית של המחקר בנושא שוויון ההזדמנויות בחינוך. המחקרים אשר נאספו לספר זה שואלים שאלות מגוונות על פערים מעמדיים, אתניים, דתיים ומגדריים בשלבי לימוד שונים ובמערכות חינוך שונות. חלקם מציגים סקירות ספרות עדכניות וחלקם ממצאים מתוך מחקרים שנערכו בשנים האחרונות. מאמרים אלו מאפשרים לערוך היכרות עם הנושאים המרכזיים המעסיקים סוציולוגים ומדעני חברה נוספים אשר מתעניינים באי-שוויון השכלתי וכן עם מגוון של שיטות מחקר כמותיות אשר מהוות בסיס חשוב לתחום מחקרי זה. בין הכותבים בספר ניתן למצוא חוקרים מובילים בתחומם בעולם לצד חוקרים ישראלים צעירים.

פרקים בספרים

1. פניגר, יריב. 2017. יחסם לבית הספר, שאיפותיהם העתידיות והישגיהם של תלמידים מקבוצות מיעוט בישראל. בתוך: ר. ארביב-אלישיב, י. פניגר וי. שביט יש סיכוי לשינוי: תאוריה ומחקר עדכני על שוויון הזדמנויות בחינוך. תל אביב: הוצאת מכון מופ"ת.

הבחנה בין מיעוטים מרצון ושלא מרצון משמשת במאמר זה כנקודת מוצא לדיון בקשר שבין עמדות, שאיפות והישגים בקרב קבוצות מיעוט במערכת החינוך בישראל. על פי הבחנה זו תלמידים המשתייכים לקבוצות חברתיות שהפכו למיעוט בניגוד לרצונן נוטים לפתח התנגדות כלפי בתי הספר וכתוצאה מכך נפגעים הלמידה והישגיהם שלהם. לעומתם, תלמידים ממשפחות של מהגרים (מיעוט מרצון) נוטים להיות אופטימיים ביחס לסיכויי הצלחה שלהם בחברה הקולטת ולפיכך עמדותיהם כלפי מערבת החינוך חיוביות ושאיפותיהם והישגיהם גבוהים יחסית. על בסיס נתונים ממחקר פיז"ה (PISA) הבינלאומי משנת 2006 נערכה השוואה בין תלמידים יהודים ילידי הארץ, עולים חדשים מברה"מ לשעבר ותלמידים ערבים ביחס לעמדותיהם כלפי בית הספר, שאיפותיהם לעסוק בתחום מדעי בעתיד והישגיהם במבחן במדעים. ממצאי המחקר מראים כי בניגוד לטענה התיאורטית העמדות של התלמידים הערבים היו החיוביות ביותר ביחס לבית הספר ושאיפותיהם הגבוהות ביותר, אולם, הישגיהם נמוכים בהרבה מאלו של התלמידים היהודים (ותיקים ועולים). בקרב תלמידים מקבוצה זו לא נמצא קשר בין שאיפות להישגים בעוד שבקרב שתי הקבוצות האחרות קשר זה התקיים כמצופה. ביחס לעולים מברה"מ לשעבר נמצא כי שאיפותיהם והישגיהם גבוהים יותר מאלו של תלמידים יהודים שנולדו בארץ גם לאחר פיקוח על משתני רקע משפחתי.

2. מקדוסי, עודד ויריב פניגר. 2017. פערים דתיים ועדתיים בהשכלה הגבוהה בישראל: הממד האנכי והממד האופקי. בתוך: ר. ארביב-אלישיב, י. פניגר וי. שביט יש סיכוי לשינוי: תאוריה ומחקר עדכני על שוויון הזדמנויות בחינוך. תל אביב: הוצאת מכון מופ"ת.

מחקר זה בוחן פערים דתיים ועדתיים בהשכלה הגבוהה בישראל תוך הבחנה בין המימד האנכי (נגישות) לבין המימד האופקי (מוסדות, תחומי לימוד) של אי-השוויון ומתמקד בקשר שבין ההשכלה הגבוהה לשוק העבודה. המחקר התבסס על קובץ נתונים שהוכן בלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה ומשלב מידע ממפקד האוכלוסין של שנת 1995, קבצי מבחני הבגרות של משרד החינוך, נתוני המרכז הארצי למדידה והערכה על הבחינה הפסיכומטרית ונתונים מהמוסדות להשכלה גבוהה על תחילת הלימודים לתואר ראשון. ניתוח הנתונים כולל הצגה תיאורית של פערים בין הקבוצות החברתיות השונות וניתוח רב-משתני המבוסס על מודלים של רגרסיה אורדינאלית. ממצאי הניתוח מלמדים שלמרות ההתרחבות הדרמטית של מערכת ההשכלה הגבוהה בשני העשורים האחרונים היא עדיין מאופיינת בפערים דתיים ועדתיים ניכרים הבאים לידי ביטוי הן במימד האנכי והן במימד האופקי של אי-השוויון. ביחס לאי-השוויון האנכי, ממצאי המחקר מלמדים שלאשכנזים יתרון על כל הקבוצות האחרות בשיעורי הכניסה להשכלה הגבוהה. לאחר פיקוח על הרקע הסוציו-אקונומי של הנחקרים פערים אלו מצטמצמים אך אינם נעלמים. עם זאת, את הפער בין אשכנזים למזרחים ולצעירים ממוצא מעורב מזרחי-אשכנזי ניתן להסביר באמצעות הבדלים במסלול הלימודים בבית הספר התיכון ובהישגים בבחינות הבגרות והבחינה הפסיכומטרית. הפער בין אשכנזים לבין עולים מבריה"מ לשעבר ובין אשכנזים לצעירים מהאוכלוסייה הערבית (מוסלמים, דרוזים ונוצרים) נותרו גדולים יחסית גם לאחר פיקוח על הרקע הסוציו-אקונומי, משתני בית הספר התיכון והמבחן הפסיכומטרי. יוצאי בריה"מ לשעבר הם בעלי הסיכויים הגבוהים ביותר ללמוד בתוכניות אקדמיות המובילות להכנסה הגבוהה ביותר בשוק העבודה, אחריהם נמצאים האשכנזים, צעירים ממוצא מעורב מזרחי-אשכנזי, מזרחים, יוצאי אתיופיה, ערבים נוצרים ומוסלמים ודרוזים. הפער בין מזרחים לאשכנזים בסיכוי ללמוד בתוכניות אלה נעלם עם הפיקוח על הרקע הסוציו-אקונומי ומתהפך לאחר הוספת פיקוח על משתני הלימודים בבית הספר התיכון ועל הבחינה הפסיכומטרית. הפער בין יהודים וערבים, לעומת זאת, אינו מוסבר באמצעות הישגי בית הספר התיכון והבחינה הפסיכומטרית. ההסבר העיקרי שאנו מציעים לממצא זה הוא אפליה בשוק העבודה אשר יוצרת תמריץ שלילי לרכישת תארים אקדמיים בתחומי לימוד המובילים להכנסה גבוהה.

פרופ' תהילה קוגוט

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Amir, A., Kogut, T., & Bereby-Meyer, Y. (2016). Careful cheating: People cheat groups rather than individuals. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 371.

Cheating for material gain is a destructive phenomenon in any society. We examine the extent to which people care about the victims of their unethical behavior—be they a group of people or an individual—and whether they are sensitive to the degree of harm or cost that they cause to these victims. The results of three studies suggest that when a group (rather than a single individual) is the victim of one's behavior, the incidence of cheating increases only if the harm to the group is presented in global terms—such that the cheating might be justiﬁed by the relatively minor harm caused to each individual in the group (Studies #1 and #3). However, when the harm or cost to each individual in the group is made explicit, the tendency to cheat the group is no longer apparent and the tendency to cheat increases when the harm caused is minor—regardless of whether the victim is an individual or a group of people (Study #2). Individual differences in rational and intuitive thinking appear to play different roles in the decision to cheat different type of opponents: individual opponents seem to trigger the subject's intuitive thinking which restrains the urge to cheat, whereas groups of opponents seem to trigger the subject's rational mode of thinking which encourage cheating.

2. Kogut, T., & Slovic, P. (2016). The development of scope insensitivity in sharing behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(12), 1972-1981.

The singularity effect of identifiable victims is described as the greater willingness to help a single, identified victim than to help a group of victims with the same need (whether victims are identified or not), which occurs even when the single victim is 1 of the group's members. The current research examines the development of this phenomenon in early childhood examining children's actual sharing behavior from the ages of 3.8 to 8.2. Our results show that although younger children are overall less willing to share with others, they give more of their endowment to a group of recipients than to a single recipient. However, this tendency reverses for older children and children with higher level of Theory of Mind, who exhibit the singularity effect by giving more of their endowment to a single, identified target. We discuss possible mechanisms behind this developmental pattern.

3.Lewinsohn-Zamir, D., Ritov, I., & Kogut, T. (2016). Law and Identifiability. Indiana Law Journal (Ind). LJ, 92, 505.‏

Psychological studies have shown that people react either more generously or more punitively toward identified individuals, than toward unidentified ones. This phenomenon, named the identifiability effect, has received little attention in the legal literature, despite its importance for the law. As a prime example, while legislators typically craft rules that would apply to unidentified people, judges ordinarily deal with identified individuals. The identifiability effect suggests that the outcomes of these two forms of lawmaking may differ, even when they pertain to similar facts and situations. This Article is a preliminary investigation into the relevance of the identifiability effect for law in general, and for lawmaking in particular. Based on theoretical discussion and the findings of two original experiments, the Article argues that this cognitive effect should be taken into account by policymakers and decision-makers. While measures should be adopted to reduce the impact of the effect in certain circumstances, in others it may be harnessed to achieve favorable social goals. The analysis has normative implications for major legal debates, such as the choice between rules and standards, and between different redistributive methods.

4. Halali, E., Kogut, T., & Ritov, I. (2017). Reciprocating (more) specifically to you: The role of benefactor's identifiability on direct and upstream reciprocity. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 30(2), 473-483

Research suggests that beneﬁting from someone's voluntary, intentional, costly effort encourages reciprocal prosocial behavior, as well as promoting upstream reciprocity, that is, increases reciprocal actions by the recipient for the beneﬁt of an unrelated third party. The current study examines the role of the identiﬁability of the benefactor in determining the extent to which people engage in direct and upstream reciprocity. Results of three studies reveal that while an identiﬁed benefactor tends to engender greater direct reciprocal reactions than an unidentiﬁed one, this strong reaction toward the identiﬁed benefactor does not hold to the same extent when upstream reciprocity is considered (regardless of identiﬁcation of the third party). On the other hand, when the benefactor is unidentiﬁed, levels of direct and upstream reciprocity remain similar. Moderated-mediation analysis suggests that ethical commitment associated with the universal norm of reciprocity explains the decrease in prosociality between reactions toward the benefactor himself or herself and toward a third party under the identiﬁed condition.

5. Kogut, T., Eyal, T. & Sharon, I. (2017). Seeing into the future: Future time orientation as a moderator of temporal distance effects on educators' decisions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 30, 889–898.

Research suggests that the temporal distance from decision outcomes leads to divergent decisions for the near and the distal future. As such, high-level idealistic concerns and values dominate decisions for the distant future, whereas low-level pragmatic concerns play a greater role in decisions for the near future. We examined how individual differences in future time orientation are related to decisions vis-à-vis the near versus the distal future. The results of three studies, with participants with varying levels of expertise—students (Studies 2 and 3), teachers (Study 1), and school principals (Study 2)—show that principals tend to be overall more idealistic in their choices. Yet discrepancies between decisions for the near versus the distal future exist among all three levels of expertise. However, this dominance of idealistic over pragmatic concerns for more distant future decisions effect was smaller the higher the future time orientation was (whether measured or manipulated). Implications for educational and managerial decision making and training are discussed.

6. Harel, I., Kogut, T., Pinchas, M., & Slovic, P. (2017). Effect of media presentations on willingness to commit to organ donation. PNAS, 114, 5159–5164.

We examine how presentations of organ donation cases in the media may affect people's willingness to sign organ donation commitment cards, donate the organs of a deceased relative, support the transition to an “opt-out" policy, or donate a kidney while alive. We found that providing identifying information about the prospective recipient (whose life was saved by the donation) increased the participants' willingness to commit to organ donation themselves, donate the organs of a deceased relative, or support a transition to an “opt-out" policy. Conversely, identifying the deceased donor tended to induce thoughts of death rather than about saving lives, resulting in fewer participants willing to donate organs or support measures that facilitated organ donation. A study of online news revealed that identification of the donor is significantly more common than identification of the recipient in the coverage of organ donation cases—with possibly adverse effects on the incidence of organ donations.

פרקים בספרים

1. Kogut, T. & Ritov, I. (2017). Psychological determinants of charitable giving. In R. Ranyard (Ed.), Economic Psychology: The Science of Economic Mental Life and Behavior. Wiley-Blackwell.

Behavioral economists and economic psychologists have paid much attention to altruism and pro-social behaviors in the past few decades, in part due to the growing body of experimental evidence that people are strongly motivated by other-regarding preferences—such as fairness and social norms—in their decisions concerning resource allocation (e.g. Fehr & Schmidt, 1999). These findings contradict traditional models, that portray human behavior as being purely self-interested. Cooperation, the provision of public goods, charitable giving, and informal helping behaviors are all difficult to explain purely on grounds of self-interest. In this chapter, we discuss the motivations behind such behaviors, and demonstrate the main biases in donation decisions. We present causes and victims that are likely to encourage donations, and discuss individual differences in the motivation to help. We present the main research methods used to study charitable giving, and conclude with some directions for future research.

2. Kogut, T. & Ritov, I. (2017). Helping an outgroup member—or the outgroup: the identifiability effect in an intergroup context. In van Leeuwen, E., & Zagefka, H. Intergroup Helping. Springer.

In today's world of open communications, we regularly encounter appeals to help people in need in different places, and of different nations, cultures, religions and ethnicities. The prospective recipient in these cases may be an identified individual, a group of people, or an abstract entity. How might these differences affect our decision to help? Research on the identifiable victim effect suggests that respondents' altruism is more likely when the victim is an identified individual. However, as we shall see, identifiability is not always in the interest of the prospective recipient, and may be context-dependent. In this chapter, we review experimental and theoretical research on the complex role that identifiability may play in an intergroup context. We suggest that increased assistance due to the victim's identifiability depends on the respondent's social standing (group belonging) in relation to the victim, the type of social categories involved, and the respondent's perceptions of the out-group as a whole. While identifying a specific out-group victim may increase donations in some contexts (e.g. when the groupings are based on ideology, or groups in conflict, or highly cohesive groups), but not in others (e.g. groups based on nationality, groups that are perceived to be of low warmth, or randomly-generated groups based on the minimal group paradigm). We discuss possible explanations of these patterns, as well as ways of increasing help to out-groups.

פרופ' גיא רוט

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Roth, G., Kanat‐Maymon, Y., & Assor, A. (2016). The Role of Unconditional Parental Regard in Autonomy‐Supportive Parenting. Journal of personality, 84(6), 716-725.‏

3. Kanat-Maymon, Y., Argaman, Y., & Roth, G. (2017).The association between conditional regard and relationship quality: A daily dairy study. Personal Relationships, 24, 27-35.

Research on Conditional Positive Regard (CPR) and Conditional Negative Regard (CNR) has shown that these practices are associated with some maladaptive qualities of romantic relationships. The current study investigated the associations between CPR and CNR and romantic relationship satisfaction using a daily diary methodology. A multilevel analysis of a sample of 80 individuals revealed that both CPR and CNR were negatively linked to relationship satisfaction at the between-person level. However, at the within-level, CPR was positively linked to relationship satisfaction whereas CNR showed a negative association. The findings are discussed within Self- Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and highlights how motivating one's partner by providing positive regard may be satisfying in the short term but controlling in the long run.

4. Benita, M., Shane, N. Elgali, O, Roth, G. (2017). The important role of the context in which achivement goals are adopted: An experimental test. Motivation and Emotion, 41, 180-195.

Two experimental studies using Elliot, Murayama, and Pekrun's (Journal of Educational Psychology 103(3):632–648, 2011) differentiation between self-goals and task-goals, were conducted to examine the relative influence of achievement goals and motivational contexts on behavioral and emotional engagement. In Study 1, 133 college students were prompted to adopt self-goals (intrapersonal standards) or other-goals (performance standards) in one of two motivational contexts (autonomy-supportive or autonomy-suppressive) while playing a computer game. In Study 2, 129 college students performed the same assignment, this time adopting either other-goals or task goals (absolute standards). Study 1 indicated that autonomy- support facilitated behavioral and emotional engagement in autonomy suppressive contexts, but self-goals merely promoted emotional engagement relative to othergoals. Study 2 replicated Study 1's findings by showing that autonomy support promoted self-reported behavioural engagement and task-goals promoted emotional engagement but further revealed that only when task-goals were adopted in an autonomy-supportive context did they promote. better behavioral engagement than other-goals. Thus, Study 2 highlighted the importance of the context in which the achievement goals were adopted (i.e., autonomy-supportive versus suppressive) as an important determinant of the outcome.

5. Benita, M., Levkovitz, T., & Roth, G. (2017). Integrative emotion regulation
predicts prosocial behavior through the mediation of empathy. Learning and Instruction, 50, 14-20.

The ability to regulate emotion plays a key role in the development of prosocial behavior. This study uses the self-determination theory conceptualization of emotion regulation to explore whether children's emotion regulation styles differentially predict their prosocial behavior in class. For the study, 240 sixth and seventh grade Israeli students and their teachers responded to self-report measures. The results ofstructural equation modeling showed integrative emotion regulation predicts student prosocial behavior, both directly and through the mediation of empathy towards classmates. These findings suggest integrative emotion regulation can play an important role in promoting children's psychosocial adjustment in class.

6. Roth, G., Shane, N., & Kanat-Maymon, Y. (2017). Empathizing with the Enemy: Emotion Regulation and Support for Humanitarian Aid in Violent Conflicts. Cognition & Emotion, 8, 1511-1542.

Considering that negative intergroup emotions can hinder conflict resolution, we proposed integrative emotion regulation (IER) as possibly predicting conciliatory policies toward outgroups in violent conflict. Two studies examined Jewish Israelis' self-reported IER, empathy, liberal attitudes, and support for humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Study 1 (N = 298) found that unlike reappraisal Jewish Israelis' ability to explore emotions (e.g., IER) promoted concern for others' emotions (empathy), which in turn predicted support for humanitarian aid (while controlling for education level, and religiosity). Study 2 (N = 291) replicated this mediation model, additionally confirming that liberal attitudes (upholding equal, fair treatment for minorities) moderated the relation between IER and support for humanitarian aid. Thus, IER linked more strongly with humanitarian support when the commitment for liberal egalitarian beliefs was high. Preliminary results hold important theoretical and practical implications regarding the potential to empathize with outgroup members in intractable conflicts.

פרופ' שפרא שגיא

מאמרים בכתבי עת

1. Ben David, Y., Hameiri, B., Benheim, S., Leshem, B., Sarid, A., Sternberg, M., Nadler, A., & Sagy, S. (2017). Exploring ourselves within conflicted relations: the role of intra-group dialogue in the acknowledgment of collective narratives of self and “other" and willingness towards reconciliation. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. 23(3): 269-277.

The current article presents a new intervention model for intragroup dialogue. Twenty-four Jewish-Israeli undergraduate students underwent a yearlong process to learn about the sraeli–Palestinian conflict, encountered Palestinian narratives, and reflected on the impact of the Palestinian other on their own identity as Jewish-Israelis. In this research we propose that such a process ameliorates identity threats posed by an intergroup conflict on collective identities, encouraging participants to adopt a more complex view of themselves, which validates both narratives of self and “other." Research was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the intervention. Results showed that participants developed an increased capacity for acceptance of both Israeli and Palestinian collective narratives, and demonstrated a greater willingness toward reconciliation, manifested in more readiness to acknowledge

2. Mjally-Knani, S., Sagy, S., Mana, A., & Srour, A. (2017) Socioeconomic status, intergroup daily contact and identity strategies: The case of Palestinian Muslim and Christians citizens of Israel. World Journal of Social Science Research, 4(1), 61-81.

Our research deals with “intergroup relation" and relates to the way individuals from specific groups perceive people from the “other" group. Do they tend to separate from them, or to integrate between the two cultures, and how they build social interactions with them (Berry, 1990). Based on a theoretical and research frame of intergroup relations, the relations between two minority groups are studied: Palestinian Muslim and Christian Citizens of Israel—two Palestinian Arab religious groups, living in the state of Israel, where the dominant group is Jews. The current study examined the relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and identity and acculturation strategies in relations between groups At first, the research model examined the differences between Muslims and Christians. Then, the relations between SES (independent variable) and the adoption of the strategies (dependent variable) among the two groups. As expected, significant differences were found between Muslims and Christians in most variables. Christians reported higher levels of SES than Muslims. In addition, Christians adopted more social competition, while Muslims tended more to adopt integration. Possible explanations for the findings are presented in the discussion. Further study could examine whether the findings of the current study were changed by the events occurring in the Arab world from 2011 to 2014: the government coups, civil wars and the horrendous acts of the terrorist organization “ISIS" in various Arab countries.

3. Sagy, S. (2017). Can we empathize with the narrative of our enemy? A personal odyssey in studying peace education. Intercultural Education.28(6):1-11.

פרקים בספרים

Antonovsky, A. & Sagy, S. (2017). Aaron Antonovsky, the scholar and the man behind salutogenesis. In M. Mittlemark, S. Sagy, M. Eriksson, G.F. Bauer, J.M. Pelikan, B. Lindström, G.A. Espnes (Eds.), Handbook of Salutogenesis (pp. 15-23). Springer International.
Stephen, J. & Sagy, S. (2017). Aaron Antonovsky, the scholar and the man behind salutogenesis. In M. Mittlemark, S. Sagy, M. Eriksson, G.F. Bauer, J.M. Pelikan, B. Lindström, G.A. Espnes (Eds.), Handbook of Salutogenesis (pp.83-88). Springer International.
Sagy, S. & Mana, A. (2017). The relevance of salutogenesis to social issues besides health: The case of sense of coherence and intergroup relations. In M. Mittlemark, S. Sagy, M. Eriksson, G.F. Bauer, J.M. Pelikan, B. Lindström, G.A. Espnes (Eds.), Handbook of Salutogenesis (pp.77-81). Springer International.
Mana, A., Benheim, S., & Sagy, S. (2017). Perspectives on salutogenesis of scholars writing in Hebrew. In M. Mittlemark, S. Sagy, M. Eriksson, G.F. Bauer, J.M. Pelikan, B. Lindström, G.A. Espnes (Eds.), Handbook of Salutogenesis (pp. 391-397). Springer International.

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