LIBRI DI GIAN VITTORIO CAPRARA

To the roots of the political participation: the role of traits, values and effcacy’s beliefs - What are the personal determinants of political success? What capacities are needed to actively contribute to the functioning of democracy? What motives, beliefs, habits may predispose toward effective participation of citizens and successful political activity of elected officials? In accordance with Social Cognitive Theory, the following paper presents the results of a research project that places personal self-efficacy beliefs at the basis of political commitment and participation. The same efficacy beliefs have been shown to play a key mediational role between personality traits, basic values, and political participation. In addition, the practical implications of these findings with respect to the selection of political personnel is highlighted.

Key words: politics, participation, self-efficacy, values, motives, mediation

This study examines the theoretical model proposed by Caprara (2002), that attests to the role of emotional and interpersonal self-efficacy beliefs in the promotion of individual psychosocial functioning. In particular, we investigated the relations between a typical index of maladjustment, depression, a new indicator of well-being, positive thinking, and emotional and interpersonal self-efficacy beliefs. We tested the model longitudinally on a sample of 537 young adults (232 males and 305 females), with a mean age of 19,65 years (DS = 1,5) at Time 1 and 21,67 years (DS = 1,6) at Time 2. Results confirmed the role of emotional self-efficacy beliefs as determinants of positive thinking and as protective factor from depression, both directly and indirectly, through the contribution of interpersonal selfefficacy beliefs; some relevant gender differences were also found. The longitudinal relations between depression and positive thinking were different for males and females: for females, positive thinking tends to reduce the incidence of later depression, while for males depression enhances the risk to compromise positive thinking.

Il volume raccoglie i contributi di studiosi che oggi in Italia si occupano di psicologia positiva, attraverso programmi di ricerca e di intervento centrati su temi – quali il benessere, l’ottimismo, le esperienze ottimali, l’empowerment, la resilienza, l’auto-determinazione – che da qualche anno suscitano un crescente interesse sia nell’ambito accademico sia in quello professionale. Il benessere viene qui inteso non come soddisfazione di bisogni soggettivi e conseguimento di obiettivi personali, ma come condizione ottimale che scaturisce da un’integrazione armonica tra crescita individuale e sviluppo culturale. Il testo intende offrire una panoramica aggiornata sugli studi e sulle applicazioni in psicologia positiva. Antonella Delle Fave, medico, specialista in psicologia clinica, è professore di psicologia generale presso la Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università di Milano.