scholarly journals Skepticism and defiance: Assessing credibility and representations of science

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0250823
Author(s):  
Jean Louis Tavani ◽  
Anthony Piermattéo ◽  
Grégory Lo Monaco ◽  
Sylvain Delouvée
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
French Version ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
The Social

Since the 1970s, there has been a growing interest in how individuals appropriate scientific knowledge, which has recently been reinforced by societal issues such as vaccine releases and skepticism about global warming. Faced with the health and social consequences of the mistrust of scientific knowledge, there is an urgent need for tools to measure the acceptance or rejection of scientific knowledge, while at the same time gaining a more detailed understanding of the processes involved. This is the purpose of this article. Thus, we conducted 4 empirical studies to provide a validation of the Credibility of Science Scale from the perspective of a French population, which aims to assess the credibility that individuals attribute to science and to empirically evaluate the link that may exist between the different levels of credibility attributed to science and the social representations of science. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrated good structural validity, the good fidelity (homogeneity and temporal stability), and the good criterion validity of the French version of the scale. In Study 2, we observed the same psychometric qualities of the French version of the scale. We also noted a structuring of the social representation of science based on age (Factor 1) and on the credibility attributed to science (Factor 2). Our results also raise the question of possible means of intervention to promote a better perception of science.

Connecting Narrative and Social Representation Theory in Health Research

2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 653-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Murray
Keyword(s):  
Representation Theory ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
Social Representation Theory

According to narrative theory, human beings are natural story-tellers, and investigating the character of the stories people tell can help us better understand not only the particular events described but also the character of the story-teller and of the social context within which the stories are constructed. Much of the research on the character of narratives has focussed on their internal structure and has not sufficiently considered their social nature. There has been limited attempt to connect narrative with social representation theory. This article explores further the theoretical connections between narratives and social representations in health research. It is argued that, through the telling of narratives, a community is engaged in the process of creating a social representation while at the same time drawing upon a broader collective representation. The article begins by reviewing some of the common origins of the two approaches and then moves to consider a number of empirical studies of popular views of health and illness that illustrate the interconnections between the two approaches. It concludes that narratives are intimately involved in the organization of social representations.

The Contribution of Social Representations Theory for a Social Psychology of Communication Laboratory

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-142
Author(s):  
Brigido V. Camargo ◽  
Andréa Barbará S. Bousfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Santa Catarina ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Set Up

This chapter describes the mission and research of the Social Psychology of Communication and Cognition Laboratory (Laboratório de Psicologia Social da Comunicação e Cognição) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (LACCOS–UFSC). After explaining how the lab was set up, the authors illustrate the communication systems model from the social representations perspective. This goes beyond previous communication paradigms that use metaphors like the machine, the organism, or Frankenstein and toward a contextualized conception of social communication. Studies conducted by the Lab exemplify how change and continuity might be experimentally explored. Some of them concern scientific knowledge on HIV/AIDS and show how to tackle the dialogical knowledge generated by the ternary Ego-Alter-Object view proposed by means of experimental designs in the social representation domain. The chapter closes with some considerations on the COVID-19 pandemic and the dynamics of social representations.

scholarly journals #Happy: Constructing and Sharing Everyday Understandings of Happiness on Instagram

Human Arenas ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer De Paola ◽  
Eemeli J. Hakoköngäs ◽  
Jari J. Hakanen
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
Technology Platforms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Everyday Knowledge

Abstract The United Nations’ World Happiness Report has ranked Finland as the happiest country for three consecutive years. In this research, we employed thematic analysis to analyze Instagram posts (N = 650) tagged with the hashtag “#happy” produced by Finnish-speaking users (#onnellinen in Finnish) during 2018, the first year that Finland gained the title of happiest country. We found that the representations of happiness constructed on Instagram included seven shared and distinguishable themes: Social relationships, Physical appearance, Free Time, Nature, Success, Pets and Material Things. Drawing from the social representations theory approach, the results revealed a multi-layered structure of the representations of happiness organized around three dichotomies: social–individual, relaxing–pursuing and immaterial–material, which were anchored to ideas of “gratitude” (toward something or someone) and “pride” (toward the self). The dichotomy “self-oriented/other-oriented” was interpreted to constitute the themata (underlying structure) of the emerging social representation of happiness. The paper contributes to the research of everyday knowledge by demonstrating how understandings related to happiness are shaped on Instagram, as well as by proposing a possible strategy for exploring the construction of everyday understandings of different societal issues employing new communication technology platforms containing both visual and textual elements.

Commitment to pro- versus counter-attitudinal behavior and the dynamics of social representations

2002 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Tafani ◽  
Lionel Souchet
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Dimensional Model ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Two Dimensional Model ◽  
Students Attitudes

This research uses the counter-attitudinal essay paradigm ( Janis & King, 1954 ) to test the effects of social actions on social representations. Thus, students wrote either a pro- or a counter-attitudinal essay on Higher Education. Three forms of counter-attitudinal essays were manipulated countering respectively a) students’ attitudes towards higher education; b) peripheral beliefs or c) central beliefs associated with this representation object. After writing the essay, students expressed their attitudes towards higher education and evaluated different beliefs associated with it. The structural status of these beliefs was also assessed by a “calling into question” test ( Flament, 1994a ). Results show that behavior challenging either an attitude or peripheral beliefs induces a rationalization process, giving rise to minor modifications of the representational field. These modifications are only on the social evaluative dimension of the social representation. On the other hand, when the behavior challenges central beliefs, the same rationalization process induces a cognitive restructuring of the representational field, i.e., a structural change in the representation. These results and their implications for the experimental study of representational dynamics are discussed with regard to the two-dimensional model of social representations ( Moliner, 1994 ) and rationalization theory ( Beauvois & Joule, 1996 ).

Social Representations and Commitment

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Bonetto ◽  
Fabien Girandola ◽  
Grégory Lo Monaco
Keyword(s):  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Second Line ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
First Line ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Bibliographic Search ◽  
English Articles

Abstract. This contribution consists of a critical review of the literature about the articulation of two traditionally separated theoretical fields: social representations and commitment. Besides consulting various works and communications, a bibliographic search was carried out (between February and December, 2016) on various databases using the keywords “commitment” and “social representation,” in the singular and in the plural, in French and in English. Articles published in English or in French, that explicitly made reference to both terms, were included. The relations between commitment and social representations are approached according to two approaches or complementary lines. The first line follows the role of commitment in the representational dynamics: how can commitment transform the representations? This articulation gathers most of the work on the topic. The second line envisages the social representations as determinants of commitment procedures: how can these representations influence the effects of commitment procedures? This literature review will identify unexploited tracks, as well as research perspectives for both areas of research.

Understanding professional distress through social representations: Investigating the shared experience of healthcare social workers in Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282096742
Author(s):  
Lilian Negura ◽  
Maude Lévesque
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Shared Experience ◽  
Organizational Contexts ◽  
Workplace Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Canadian Provinces

Our study sought to refine our understanding of professional distress by examining the experience of healthcare social workers in the following three Canadian provinces: Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. Thirty semi-directed interviews were conducted to explore the social workers’ social representation of professional distress and its ties to professional identity and growing organizational constraints. Attitudes, work–life imbalances, and negative workplace experiences were found to increase the subjective experience of distress. Current psychosocial and organizational contexts of front-line practitioners are contributors to their professional distress, a matter further exacerbated by the misrepresentation of social work by colleagues and service beneficiaries.

scholarly journals The representations of adolescents about gynecological consultation

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Lúcia de Oliveira Gomes ◽  
Adriana Dora da Fonseca ◽  
Denize Cristina de Oliveira ◽  
Camila Daiane Silva ◽  
Daniele Ferreira Acosta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Contextual Analysis ◽  
Central Nucleus ◽  
Treatment Results ◽  
Education Professionals ◽  
The Social ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive

Objective: To analyze the social representation of adolescents about gynecological consultation and the influence of those in searching for consultations. Method: Qualitative descriptive study based on the Social Representations Theory, conducted with 50 adolescents in their last year of middle school. The data was collected between April and May of 2010 by Evocations and a Focal Group. The software EVOC and contextual analysis were used in the data treatment. Results: The elements fear and constraint, constant in the central nucleus, can justify the low frequency of adolescents in consultations. The term embarrassment in the peripheral system reinforce current sociocultural norms, while prevention, associated with learning about sex and clarifying doubts, allows to envision an educative function. Obtained testimonies in the focal groups exemplify and reinforce those findings. Conclusion: For an effective health education, professionals, including nurses, need to clarify the youth individually and collectively about their rights to privacy, secrecy, in addition to focus the gynecological consultation as a promotion measure to sexual and reproductive health.

scholarly journals ESPACIO VIVIDO: DEL ESPACIO LOCAL AL RETICULAR. NOTAS EN TORNO A LA REPRESENTACIÓN SOCIAL DEL ESPACIO VIVIDO EN LA GLOBALIZACIÓN

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (15) ◽  
pp. 225
Author(s):  
Enriqueta Lerma Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Lived Space ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Space ◽  
Los Grupos

En este artículo argumento la necesidad de repensar el espacio vivido. Propongo complejizar el análisis, consensado teóricamente, del espacio local, integrando el enfoque del espacio reticular. Busco incluir el margen de espacialidad que los grupos sociales construyen fuera de sus lugares cotidianos para explicar las representaciones sociales del espacio vivido, producto de las posibilidades de movilidad social hacia otros lugares.   LIVED SPACED: FROM LOCAL TO RETICULAR SPACE. NOTES ON THE SOCIAL REPRESENTATION OF LIVED SPACE WITHIN GLOBALIZATIONABSTRACTIn this article, I defend the need to rethink lived space. I propose increasing the complexity of the analysis of local space, based on theoretical consensus, by integrating a reticular approach to space. I seek to include the margin of spatiality that social groups construct outside their every day places in order to thus explain the social representations of lived space resulting from the possibilities of social mobility toward other places.

scholarly journals O significado dos olhos nas representações sociais de clientes transplantados de córnea e suas implicações para o cuidado de si

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 202-205
Author(s):  
Ralrizônia Fernandes Sousa ◽  
Sílvio Éder Dias Da Silva ◽  
Esleane Vilela Vasconcelos ◽  
Lucialba Maria Silva Dos Santos ◽  
Vander Monteiro Da Conceição ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Representation Theory ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Corneal Transplantation ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Corneal Transplant ◽  
The Social ◽  
De Se ◽  
Social Representation Theory

Objetivou-se identificar o significado dos olhos nas representações sociais de clientes transplantados de córnea e suas implicações para o cuidado de si. Tratase de uma pesquisa descritiva qualitativa, adotando a Teoria das Representações Sociais na perspectiva de Moscovici. Fizeram parte deste estudo, 15 clientes submetidos a transplantes de córnea e que se encontravam em acompanhamento no Consultório de Oftalmologia do Ambulatório do Hospital Ophir Loyola, em Belém, PA. Os depoentes atribuíram significados diversos aos seus olhos, substanciados por sentimentos de tristeza e insatisfação, que contribuíram para mudanças significativas no cuidado de si. Há necessidade de se cogitar sobre o compromisso do enfermeiro com o cliente transplantado de córnea que, muitas vezes, encontra-se fragilizado, necessitando de um olhar mais atento.Descritores: Enfermagem, Transplante de Córnea, Cuidado de Si.Eye on the meaning of social representations corneal transplantation customers and it’s implications for the care of youThe aim of this study was to identify the meaning of the eyes of customers in the social representations of corneal transplant and its implications for self-care. It is a descriptive and qualitative study, adopting the Social Representation Theory in the context of Moscovici. The sample comprised 15 clients who underwent corneal transplantation and were followed up in the office of the Ophthalmology Clinic of the Ophir Loyola Hospital, in Belem, Pará. The respondents attributed different meanings to their eyes; substantiated by feelings of sadness and dissatisfaction, that contributed to significant changes in self-care. There is need to think about the commitment of the nurse with the client cornea transplant, which often is fragile, requiring a closer look.Descriptors: Nursing, Corneal Transplantation, Self-care.Los ojos sobre el significado de los clientes representataciones sociales transplante de córnea y sus conscuencias para el cuidad de ustedEl objetivo fue identificar el significado de los ojos de los clientes en las representaciones sociales de trasplante de córnea y sus implicaciones para el autocuidado. Se trata de un estudio descriptivo cualitativo, adoptando laTeoría de las Representaciones Sociales en el contexto de Moscovici. La muestra es compuesta por 15 clientes que se sometieron a trasplante de córnea que se siguió en la oficina de la Clínica de Oftalmología del Hospital Ophir Loyola, en Belem, Pará. Los encuestados atribuyen diferentes significados a sus ojos, motivada por sentimientos de tristeza e insatisfacción, que han contribuido a cambios significativos en el auto-cuidado. Hay que pensar en el compromiso de la enfermera con el trasplante de cornea del cliente, que a menudo es frágil, lo que requiere una mirada más cercana.Descriptores: Enfermería, Trasplante de Córnea, Cuidar de si.

scholarly journals Comparative study on the social representations of cancer and breast cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarida Pocinho ◽  
Fatima Matos ◽  
Ana Amaral
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Breast Cancer Treatment ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Central Core ◽  
Central Nucleus ◽  
The Social ◽  
Symbolic Universe ◽  
Theory Of Social Representations

Abstract Background The symbolic universe of cancer is associated with death, but its treatment has undergone innumerable innovations, which may lead to a new meaning for social representations. The theory of social representations seeks the new, which changes in the knowledge of common sense (Guareschi & Jovchelovitch, 1994). Thus, the objective of this work is to identify the social representations of cancer and breast cancer, identifying their changes and their meanings based on the central nucleus and the peripheral system. Methods Qualitative and descriptive study, based on the structural approach of the theory of social representations. The sample was non-probabilistic and due to accessibility. The collection instrument was a Word Evocation Test with two inducing words, ‘cancer’ and ‘breast cancer’. The subjects were asked to mention three words that came to their mind immediately and spontaneously. The SPSS and IRAMUTEQ software were used. Results 753 subjects participated and 2316 words were evoked for each inducing word. In the central core of cancer the words pain, illness, death, suffering. Central core of breast cancer: treatment, pain, feeling, woman, strength. Conclusions The social representation of cancer is still strongly death, while in breast cancer it is the treatment. Suffering and pain are part of the central core of the two words and continue to characterize the disease, but in breast cancer the word strength appears. It is concluded that the social representation of breast cancer is being reframed.

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