Spreading the theory in the lusophone world: contributions of Jorge Vala's Chapter to the Brazilian developments of Social Representations

  • Raquel Bertoldo Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social (CIS), ISCTE-IUL
  • Andréa Barbará Bousfield Laboratório de Psicologia Social da Comunicação e da Cognição (LACCOS), UFSC
  • Ana Maria Justo Laboratório de Psicologia Social da Comunicação e da Cognição (LACCOS), UFSC
  • João Wachelke Laboratório de Psicologia Social da Comunicação e da Cognição (LACCOS), UFSC

Abstract

The theory of social representations has seen a significant evolution and dissemination throughout Brazil. This development has not been without practical implications outside academia, and its particular effects can be observed in social and political spheres as well. It is within this context, one of introduction and expansion of the theory in Brazil, that we address the significance of Jorge Vala’s chapters. Published in two different editions of the ‘Manual de Psicologia Social’ (Vala & Monteiro, 1993/2000), the Portuguese Social Psychology handbook, Vala’s chapters present an account of social representations both rigorous and unifying, drawing parallels between the theory and other approaches. The particular chapters and their contribution to Portuguese-speaking social psychologists in Brazil will be discussed.

Author Biographies

Raquel Bertoldo, Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social (CIS), ISCTE-IUL

RAQUEL BERTOLDO is a PhD candidate in Social Psychology at the Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa (ISCTE-IUL), Portugal and holds a MSc in Social and Environmental Psychology from the Université Paris Descartes, France. During her undergraduate studies, she was an assistant researcher at the Laboratory of Communication Social Psychology and Cognition Laboratory (LACCOS), Brazil. Her current interests include the normative settings that contribute to environmentally related behavioural change, risk behaviours and social representations.

Andréa Barbará Bousfield, Laboratório de Psicologia Social da Comunicação e da Cognição (LACCOS), UFSC

Andréa Barbará S. Bousfield received her PhD from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil, where she is currently a professor of the Postgraduate Program in Psychology. She is also researcher at the the Laboratory of Communication Social Psychology and Cognition Laboratory (LACCOS). Her current interests include health social psychology and social representations.

Ana Maria Justo, Laboratório de Psicologia Social da Comunicação e da Cognição (LACCOS), UFSC

Ana Maria Justo received her Psychology and MSc in Psychology from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, where she is now a PhD candidate in the program Psychossocial Processes, Health and Psychological Development. She is a research collaborator of the Laboratory of Communication Social Psychology and Cognition Laboratory (LACCOS), where she participates in social psychology studies, applying the social representations approach to a better understanding of the body, health and ageing. Since 2010, she also teaches research methods, clinical and social psychology at the Psychology Department of the Centro Universitário para o Desenvolvimento do Alto Vale do Itajaí (UNIDAVI) in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

João Wachelke, Laboratório de Psicologia Social da Comunicação e da Cognição (LACCOS), UFSC

João Wachelke has concluded his Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology at the University of Padua, Italy. He is a research collaborator of the Laboratory of Communication Social Psychology and Cognition (LACCOS) from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. His research focuses basic theory and methodology of the structural approach on social knowledge, representations and social thinking.

Published
2011-10-17