SWPS University Receives PLN 4.5M in Research Grants from NCN

Nowadays, relationships between various cultural, ethnic or ideological groups provide fertile ground for animozity and a potential feeling of rejection, on the part of one group, regardless of the intentions of the group, which is being perceived as the culprit. Some people interpret this rejection as a threat to the reputation of their own group and may react agressivley. These people often establish or join radical organizations that do not hesitate to engage in violoent actions (e.g. terrorist attacks). Research shows that members of these organizations display many traits of collective narcissism. They believe that their group is extremely important and deserves a privileged treatment, but others do not appreciate the goup sufficiently enough.

Thanks to the grant from the National Science Centre (NCN), dr hab. Agnieszka Golec de Zavala from the Poznań Faculty of Psychology will study whether aggresive behaviors of collective narcissists stem from their inability to cope with emotions. Additionally, the goal of the project is to determine if (and how) mindful gratitude can reduce retaliatory aggression.

Psychologists claim that being happy is easier for some people. Those, who are sociable, emotionally stable, not overly sensitive, active and strong tend to be happier. Actually, the set of character traits needed to achieve happiness is alrady known. However, it does not mean that learned behaviors and one's values do not influence well-being. Thus the question arises - can certain values facilitate happiness?

People intuitively know what happiness is, however, in psychology this term is defined in various ways. The project will take into consideration two definitions of happiness: hedonistic approach - happiness understood as having a pleasant life and eudaimonistic approach - happiness defined as living a good life, spent on achiving one's full potential.

Thanks to the grant from the NCN, dr Agnieszka Bojanowska from the Poznań Faculty of Psychology will conduct three studies involving close to 1000 participants. The project will take three years to complete.

The aim of the GEMTRA (GEnerations of Mothers in TRAnsition) project is to examine experiences related to becoming a mother in Poland, over the past fifty years, from a socio-historical perspective. Generally, it has been demonstrated that the so called transition to motherhood – which means becoming a mother for the first time – constitutes a turning point in a woman’s life. Parenthood not only marks the stage of real adulthood, but it also impacts other life decisions, such as employment or migration. At the same time, research describing how this transition process actually occurs in Poland is scarce. Particularly little is known about the role of the social context. In other words, little attention has been paid to the fact that motherhood ‘takes place’ in a specific biographic and historical moment, which, in turn, determines the expectations and challenges associated with becoming a mother. More broadly, in this project researchers seek to indicate similarities and differences in the biographies, decisions, and characteristics of three generations of Polish women.

Thanks to the grant from the NCN, dr Paulina Pustułka from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences will conduct 100 interviews with Polish women from different age groups. The research will help to determine whether young Polish mothers repeat motherhood models of previous generations (and if yes, then to what degree), or whether they create new ways of mothering, aligned with the life in the 21st century.