Abstract
The article is a qualitative empiric research about the decision of entering an old people’s home. A group of elderly people, recently hospitalised, and their families were interviewed. Interview results provided us with interesting data to better understand the decision making process based on what we know from cognitive sciences. Research particularly highlighted scripts of recurrent communication that parallel the making of a decision, and that mutually and typically interact and affect the choices. At the beginning, a relationship disturbance appears, due to the fact that the reduction of self-independence of the elderly modifies typical solutions to structural problems of close relationships and threatens partners’ self. The disturbance of relationships can bring to a “contractual script” or, alternatively, to a “competitive script” followed by a “collusive” one. In the second case, the decisional history is more exposed to dangers, because the decisional problem is framed in a way that rises the risk tendency, the cost of thinking is high, and the decision tends to stake the self, the need to deal with pressures, and win the enemies.

Abstract
Cross-cultural studies highlight that different cultures have different constructs of Self. These constructs can affect individual cognitive, emotional and motivational processes. The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between motivational factors, such as self-esteem and representation of intelligence (incremental/entity theory), and a number of variables, such as education level, gender, socio-economic level in Italian and Portuguese students. The sample was made of 1540 Italian and Portuguese subjects attending the last year at High School and the first year at the University, equally distributed according to their gender and their socio-economic level. Results show that Portuguese subjects are more incremental than Italians. Moreover, significant differences were found in motivational factors relating to education level, gender and socio-economic level. Research highlights the importance of macro-contextual factors such as social, economic and political background, that affect the way people develop their motivational beliefs.

Abstract
The article offers an experimental contribution to the development of knowledge both in the gerontological and technological field. In reply to the needs expressed in a previous research project by a group of 160 elderly people, the portal “www.guidanonnisereni.it” was created, with the aim of offering them the constant possibility to communicate with the world at large and to get information on social, political, cultural events… After one year, the popularity rate of the portal among elderly people was tested by means of a semi-structured questionnaire set in the portal itself, which included 20 areas of investigation. 100 elderly people (fifty women and fifty men), 50% aged 65-74, and 50% aged 75-85 (mean age: 73,77) were examined. Statistical investigation dealt with popularity rate of the portal, frequency in the use of the Internet, accessibility to the services provided by the portal, usefulness of the service, suggestions for the improvement of the portal graphics, and an informational meeting about computer and Internet potentials. For each item, correlation with gender and age range were analysed using the non-parametric Chi² test (p = 0.05). We found a very high popularity rate of the portal. The service provided was judged as useful. A lot of elderly people suggested new activities and new courses. So far, more than 1000 people have visited the portal (more than 50% of them have been elderly people). Two-hour monthly meetings about specific topics were organised on demand in the chat rooms; those meetings gave the users the possibility to discuss and examine together the topics dealt with in the portal. The newsletter service has already got about one hundred enrolled people. At last, the editorial staff is organizing on demand a service of “target-oriented research” in order to provide a list of web sites with additional information. Results of the research project highlighted elderly people’s interest and curiosity for web-surfing; moreover, “elderly-tailored” technology seems to encourage social integration and independence among third age people, thus meeting the human natural need of knowing and communicating at any age.

Abstract
This study aims to identify the attitudes and the perceptions of female contingent workers with an emphasis on motivational perspectives. In particular, this work examines the opportunities and disadvantages supplied by this modality of employment in the following domains: household, educational and leisure activities. The research was carried out by administering a questionnaire to a sample composed of 207 female workers in public and private settings. For the analysis of data Pearson chi-square Pearson and one-way ANOVA statistical models were used. The results indicated that the participants had a not very high level of motivation and satisfaction regarding their work. Anxiety and preoccupations emerged from three factors: diffuse perceptions of precariousness and mobility in their employment, lack of carrier growth and insufficient labor protection. These three factors have a more important role for female workers with a high level of education and in part-time employment. Anxiety arousing from the instability of work activity is very high among young (age 25-34) and very young (age 18-24) workers, whereas it decreases with worker age, stabilizing in workers over 45. The results of the study pointed out a complex situation emphasizing the difficulties and ambivalence experienced by female workers employed in the new labor modalities.

Abstract
The theoretical framework of this study is the north-American research (Botvin, Sutton-Smith, 1977; Bornstein, 1994, Fivush et al, 2001) based on children narration during developmental age. A number of cognitive variables were selected – structure, consistency, logic complexity, and sequence of narration – in order to obtain useful diagnostic information on children’s cognitive development. The aim of this research was twofold: on one hand, to analyse the cognitive narrative level of a group of 48-month-old children and, on the other hand, to test the applicability of “The bear family” method (Bornstein, 1994; Venuti, Cesari 1996) in an Italian pre-school sample. The “The bear family” method was administered to an Italian sample made of 66 pre-school children (coming from Padova and Caserta provinces) for cognitive investigation. This method – based on the integration between play and narration – was coded from a purely cognitive point of view. This version of the method analyzes (1) length, (2) consistency, and (3) structure of children’s narration. The length of narration was assessed based on a number of variables that measure the number of sentences (high consistency versus low consistency sentences) used during narration. The logic complexity of narration was assessed based on a 12-points scale. The structure of narration was assessed with a different measure, which was mainly focused on the richness of narration details . This method turned out to be particularly suitable for pre-school children. Indeed, data show that 48-month-old children fully understood the instructions and produced narrations that – albeit their poor consistency and structure – followed a certain chronology of events. Moreover, the study confirmed that story telling facilitates psychological diagnosis of children.

Abstract
The present work is likely to provide the first case of dynamic assessment of cognitive processes in a ten-year old child with Jacobsen’s syndrome, a rare chromosomal anomaly, whose main clinical features are: delayed growth, serious psychomotor delay, trigonocephaly and facial dysmorfism. Presently, our knowledge of the development of cognitive processes in this particular and rare syndrome is scarce, and even scarcer are the assessment reports available on cognitive modifiability, cerebral plasticity and intellectual potential in individuals affected by this syndrome. The diagnostic process conducted in this case study involved the application of standard evaluation instruments, with the objective to outline the child’s performance level and diagnostic framework according to DSM-IV-TR criteria, as well as a dynamic assessment procedure of the child’s learning process, through the application of a selection of tests from Feuerstein’s LPAD battery. LPAD provides a protocol for the dynamic assessment of cognitive processes, whereby the aim is to evaluate the examinee’s learning potential and the modifiability, rather than to simply determine current cognitive functioning and manifest performance. The theoretical bases of the battery are represented by the theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability and that of Mediated Learning Experience by Feuerstein, as well as by Vygotskij’s concept of Zone of Proximal Development. The data gathered through this single case study suggest the existence of margins of modifiability as shown by results obtained after cognitive and meta-cognitive intervention. Specifically, the following changes have been observed: improvement in the ability to use strategies related to analysis and organization of information, improvement in the use of categorization processes, enhancement of vocabulary, as well as a reduced use of trial-and- error responses.

Abstract
This study reports a review of the contributions concerning self injurious behavior and mental retardation. The different definitions of self injurious behaviors and the prevalence of these behaviors in mental retardation both in general and within its various levels, are examined. This work summarizes a series of studies concerning the origin, the development, as well as the different types, frequencies and localization of self injurious behaviors, as emerged from research conducted on mental retardation. A relevant part of the work focuses on the etiological hypotheses and on the different interpretive models derived from the main lines of research.