SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS: CHARACTERISTICS, THEORY AND EXAMPLES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

Social representations can be defined as systems that concentrate meanings and that function as a frame of reference so that people can interpret the things that happen, giving them meaning. Through social representations people can guide their day to day.

At the same time, it is possible to make sense of circumstances, phenomena and other people within the social world in which individuals are immersed. That is to say, that social representations are made collectively within communication between individuals.

Serge Moscovici proposed the theory of social representations

Social representations are formed spontaneously through personal experiences, knowledge of the world and information obtained through culture, education and communication (including new technologies), among other sources.

The theory of social representations is studied within the field of social psychology and was originally proposed by Serge Moscovici.

Theory of social representations

This theory was proposed by Moscovici in his 1961 work, based on concepts by Durkheim and Lévi-Bruhl.

Slopes

Later, this theory was divided into two aspects: the procedural aspect and the structural aspect.

Moscovici's procedural aspect is also known as qualitative and emphasizes the space of interaction in which a reinterpretation is continually being carried out to collectively elaborate the representations.

From this perspective, it is considered that the study of social representations should be carried out from a hermeneutical approach, putting first the understanding of people as generators of meaning and language.

On the other hand, the structural aspect is represented by Jean Claude Abric. In this aspect, emphasis is placed on the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of some aspects of the representations.

characteristics

Moscovici proposed that not just any topic or phenomenon can generate a social representation within a group.

For an object to generate a social representation, it must significantly determine the relationships between the object and the group.

Therefore, the object must be important in some way to the people in the group. This can happen because the object:

- Generates a revolutionary change in the way of seeing the world and people.

- It involves dramatic and shocking events that affect the group as such.

- It involves processes that are basic in the social life and interaction of the group.

On the other hand, for a group to generate social representations, it must be characterized by the fact that its own members are aware of their belonging to the group and can clearly know who does or does not belong to it.

In addition to this, knowledge of social representations, even if implicit, must circulate within the group and be integrated into the daily life of the members.

Processes

Social representations have two basic processes on which their emergence and organization depend: objectification and anchoring.

Objectification is the transformation of the elements of social representation into concrete experiences. This process is made up of the phases of selective construction, structuring schematization and naturalization.

Anchoring is the integration of the novel object in the group's previous frame of reference, modifying the group's reality and being used on a daily basis.

The anchoring process has a series of modalities: assignment of meaning, instrumentalization of knowledge, integration of anchoring and objectification and rooting in the thought system.

Organization

The representations are organized around a central node and a peripheral system. First, the central node is the system that gives meaning and relates to events in the group (in its history, sociological and ideological).

This node is stable and continuous, and that is why the representation has permanence within the group.

Second, the peripheral system corresponds to the individual part and is based on the experiences of each person in their specific contexts and new experiences and information.

For this reason, the peripheral system is made up of elements that are more malleable and unstable.

Concept according to Moscovici

Moscovici exposed the concept of social representations from the study of the representation of psychoanalysis in different groups in France.

Through this study, he was able to analyze how these representations are socially constructed and configure a meaning in the daily reality of these groups.

According to Moscovici, social representations are dynamic sets that range from theories of collective sciences to the interpretation of reality.

These social representations determine the communications, values ​​or ideas shared by the group, and the desired or accepted behaviors.

Concept according to Denise Jodelet

Denise Jodelet is a student and collaborator of Moscovici who has been in charge of taking the theory of social representations outside of France and has been in charge of shaping, deepening and popularizing Moscovici's work.

Jodelet has especially studied the social representations related to the field of health and physical and mental illness.

According to her, social representations are a type of specific social thought that is practically directed towards the fields of communication, understanding and mastery of the environment, not only social but also material and ideal.

One of Jodelet's greatest contributions was how he highlighted the role of culture as a space where social representations take place. In addition, she advocates the study of social representations in their entirety and not in a fragmented way.

Example of social representations in a community

An investigation carried out in Mexico during the 20th century in thousands of adolescents and young people showed how there was a discrepancy between the existing information on HIV / AIDS and the behaviors of young people to protect themselves from said infection (Valencia, 1998).

On the one hand, they had information on condom use, on HIV / AIDS and the routes of transmission; however, they carried out risky behaviors.

In the research it was observed how this population had carried out a process that allowed them to respond to the HIV / AIDS epidemic.

In this way, they associated the disease with certain specific groups that they considered alien to them and that were stigmatized: homosexuals, drug addicts and prostitutes.

In this way, this "knowledge" in the group became naturalized, until it became a reality that allowed them to make decisions in their day-to-day life.

For example, since young people were not considered to be in the risk group, they thought they were not likely to get HIV / AIDS.

Therefore, 85% said they would not use condoms if the sexual partner was a loved one, appeared to be in good health, or was a known person.

References

1. Castorina, JA, Barreiro, A. and Clement F. (2005). The imprint of Piagetian thought on the theory of social representations. In JA Castorina (Ed.), Conceptual construction and social representations (pp. 149-176). Madrid: Miño and Dávila.
2. Esparza, SLL (2003). Interview with Denise Jodelet: conducted on October 24, 2002 by Óscar Rodríguez Cerda. Relations, 24 (93), pp. 115-134.
3. Jodelet, D. (1991). Madness and Social Representations. London: Harvester / Wheatsheaf.
4. Muñoz, GFJ (2005). Basic elements of group psychology. Editorial University of Huelva.
5. Quintero Vergara, M. (2008). The nature of social representations. Latin American Journal of Social Sciences, Children and Youth, 6 (1), pp. 55-80.
6. Rodríguez Salazar, T. and García Curiel, M. (2007). Social representations: theory and research. Guadalajara: Editorial CUCSH-UDG.
7. Valencia, S. (1998). Why don't young people prevent themselves from AIDS? A psychosocial perspective. In F. Mercado Martínez and L. Robles Silva (Eds.), Qualitative research in health. Perspectives from the West of Mexico. Guadalajara: University of Guadalajara.