The Role of the Iconic-Imaginary Dimensions in the Modelling Approach to Social Representations

Annamaria Silvana de Rosa

Annamaria Silvana de Rosa Sapienza University of Rome – European/International Joint Ph.D. in Social Representations and Communication Research Centre and Multimedia Lab – Rome, Italy

Keywords: social representations, modelling approach, iconic-symbolic dimension

Abstract

The article focuses on the relationship between different dimensions of social representations,
such as verbal and iconic-symbolic dimensions, looking at the functions that images could play
not only for shaping social representations, but also for investigating them. The way the images
connect groups and shape representations in the collective imaginary is a key question, which
needs to be addressed both on the theoretical and methodological level. Driven by this goal, we
will briefly present our paradigm defined “modelling approach”, based on the
integration/differentiation of multi-theoretical constructs and multi-methodological research
designs, as functions of specific hypotheses also concerning the interaction among the nature
of the technique, the choice of the data analysis strategies, and the expected results. We will
also refer to a series of innovative graphical techniques, inspired by a theory of the method,
that integrates qualitative and quantitative, structured and projective, textual and figurative
techniques and multi-step data analyses.

Author Biography

Annamaria Silvana de Rosa, Sapienza University of Rome – European/International Joint Ph.D. in Social Representations and Communication Research Centre and Multimedia Lab – Rome, Italy

ANNAMARIA SILVANA de ROSA, Professor of Psychology of Social Representations and
Communication: laboratory of New Media at Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza
University of Rome, Italy. Founder and Program Director of the European/International Joint
PhD in Social Representations and Communication (http://europhd.eu) and of the SoReCom
THEmatic NETwork (http://europhd.eu/SoReComTHEmaticNETwork ). Her publications are
inspired by the unified “modelling” approach to various SR research topics including: madness;
environment, tourism; national, supra-national, place identity; advertising; social memory,
emotions; family relationships; stock market; psychoanalysis in the era of Facebook, social
representations, social movements and social media. Her last book is Social Representations in
the Social Arena (Routledge, 2013). Other publications concern distinct forms of
internationalization of doctoral education.