Social Representations in Psychological Discourse

Social representations theory explores how collective knowledge is constructed, communicated and transformed within social groups. Originating in the mid-twentieth century, it emphasises the processes of anchoring and objectification whereby unfamiliar phenomena are assimilated into established cognitive schemas and rendered through concrete images, metaphors or narratives. This framework illuminates how common-sense understandings shape and are shaped by media, political discourse and cultural practices. Interdisciplinary applications range from studies of collective memory and national identity to analyses of health beliefs and intergroup relations, demonstrating the theory’s capacity to bridge individual cognition and societal dynamics. Recent scholarship highlights the global relevance of social representations, showing how diverse cultural contexts influence the formation, circulation and contestation of shared meanings. Methodological pluralism—combining qualitative, quantitative, visual and multimodal approaches—has deepened insights into the dynamic interplay between representation, power and identity, offering practical tools for addressing social cohesion, stigma and collective action in an increasingly interconnected world.

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Social Representations in Psychological Discourse publication trend

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Technical terms

Social representation: A shared framework of ideas and practices through which communities interpret and communicate social phenomena.

Anchoring: The process of relating unfamiliar ideas to familiar categories to render new concepts intelligible within existing knowledge structures.

Objectification: The transformation of abstract concepts into concrete images or metaphors that enable collective comprehension and communication.

Cognitive polyphasia: The simultaneous coexistence of diverse and sometimes contradictory representations within a single individual or group.

Positioning: The discursive strategies individuals use to align with or dissociate themselves from prevailing social representations to negotiate identity.

References

1. The Naturalized Nation: Anchoring, Objectification and Naturalized Social Representations of History. Journal of Social and Political Psychology (2016).
2. Social Representations Theory: A Progressive Research Programme for Social Psychology. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (2008).
3. Drawing as a method of researching social representations. Qualitative Research (2022).
4. Distancing from the worst or facing the inescapable? Social representations and positioning of people in marginalised groups. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology (2022).
5. Sensory experiences and social representation – Embodied multimodality of common‐sense thinking. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (2023).