The project examines whether in a context of a shared identity, (a) threat to the national group status increases narcissistic rather than genuine ingroup love, (b) particularly when perceived indispensability to the common European identity is low, and investigates (c)the mechanisms that underlie the negative effects of collective narcissism on intergroup hostility. Specifically, when groups perceive themselves as dispensable, a defensive, narcissistic ingroup positivity will trigger retaliatory hostility when the ingroup's identity is threatened. On the other hand, perceiving the ingroup as indispensable to a given common identity promotes a secure and non-narcissistic ingroup positivity, thus precluding collective narcissism and its negative effects. The project uses cross-sectional surveys and experiments to test these ideas in the context of the Europe's crisis, specifically focusing on countries of low (Portugal and Greece) and high economic status (UK and Germany) within the European Union (EU).      The project is one of the few attempts to explore not only the intergroup factors that trigger narcissism, and cognitive and emotional processes that underlie its effects on intergroup hostility, but also the moderating role of group indispensability. It is expected to contribute to the development of practical guidelines to promote secure and non-narcissistic forms of national identification especially in the midst of current crisis in Europe along with the increase of extreme right and anti-European parties represented in the EU Parliament.

The goal of Plagroups is to design a new policy measure of ECEC in Portugal, and collect indisputable causal evidence of the effectiveness of this measure on the empowering of disadvantaged children, their families and caregivers, and the members of their communities to fully participate in society.

O presente projeto pretende contribuir para o conhecimento sobre a integração, sucesso escolar e bem-estar dos alunos imigrantes (i.e., nacionais de países terceiros) nas escolas públicas do 1º e 2º Ciclos de Ensino Básico (CEB), em Portugal. Pretende-se concretizar este objetivo testando, especificamente, o papel das dinâmicas de aculturação e dos seus fatores psicossociais antecedentes na integração social e educativa destas crianças e jovens imigrantes. Uma vez que se pretende obter uma visão comparada e das várias perspetivas que informam o fenómeno em estudo, para além dos inquéritos a alunos imigrantes, serão ainda inquiridos alunos descendentes de imigrantes (perspetiva de um grupo comparável) e alunos de origem portuguesa (perspetive de um grupo de acolhimento). Estes dados serão contextualizados com recurso à análise dos documentos estruturantes da escola (e.g., Projeto Educativo) e com entrevistas à Direção, a elementos das coordenações pedagógicas do 1º e 2º Ciclos do CEB e inquéritos aos Diretores de Turma dos alunos imigrantes inquiridos.