Political Psychology

Nuevas rutas en el desarrollo de la teoría de las representaciones sociales RESUMEN: Este escrito tiene como propósito presentar algunas rutas que transitan, actualmente, los estudios de representaciones sociales, principalmente en América Latina, con base en una revisión documental del estado del arte sobre el tema. Se observan nociones tradicionales que permanecen inmutables, otras que se han transformado y conceptualizaciones novedosas. Se aprecia un auge de estos estudios debido a los procesos de cambio social que reclaman una comprensión psicosocial con orientación histórica-cultural. La lucha contra el neoliberalismo ha impuesto un modelo de hacer ciencia social positivista, individualista, sin relevancia social, que genera la búsqueda de interpretaciones críticas de los fenómenos representacionales. Se observan interesantes intentos de vinculación teórica y aplicaciones relevantes en campos del conocimiento diferentes, como la comunicación, la educación y la ciencia política. Se presentan las formas de análisis de las representaciones sociales desde las perspectivas procesual y de producto. Finalmente, se discute el devenir de la teoría iniciada por Moscovici y algunos aspectos relevantes para tomar en cuenta en el futuro. ABSTRACT: This writing has the purpose to present some routes that currently travel social representations studies, mainly in Latin America, based on a documentary review of the state of the art on the. There are traditional notions that remain unchanged, others that have been transformed, and new conceptualizations. There is a boom in these studies due to the processes of social change that demand a psychosocial understanding with a historical-cultural orientation. The fight against neoliberalism has imposed a positivist, individualistic model of social science, without social relevance, which stimulates the search for critical interpretations of representational phenomena. Interesting attempts for theoretical linking and relevant applications are observed in different fields of knowledge, such as communication, education and political science. Techniques of social analysis are presented from the procedural and product perspectives. Finally, the evolution of the theory initiated by Moscovici and some relevant aspects to take into account in the future are discussed.

Tendo como ponto de partida uma reflexão crítica quanto às relações entre a Psicologia Política e a temática dos movimentos sociais, considerando tanto os compromissos políticos do próprio campo na América Latina, como uma tradição histórica que ultrapassa seu contexto regional, o artigo retoma um dos principais modelos teóricos do saber psicopolítico latino-americano que suscita tal aproximação: o modelo da Consciência Política de Salvador Sandoval. Concomitantemente, considerando a importância e urgência de se refletir sobre instrumentos metodológicos e o próprio campo psicopolítico latino-americano para além dos aspectos circunstanciais que demarcam e muitas vezes delimitam sua agenda de pesquisa, o artigo busca contribuir com o desenvolvimento do modelo teórico por meio de um exame crítico de sua utilização em relação ao conceito de memória. Em muitos momentos menosprezado ou desconsiderado, este conceito é um componente essencial do modelo e incide diretamente sobre ele ao considerarmos suas relações com a dimensão emocional.

We examined the effects of control motivation on in-group positivity. Past research suggests that people compensate for low personal control by increasing support for social in-groups. We predicted that the effect of personal control on in-group positivity would depend on the type of in-group positivity. Low personal control should increase compensatory, narcissistic in-group positivity, whereas high personal control should increase secure, non-narcissistic in-group positivity. These hypotheses were tested in a cross-sectional survey (Study 1 N = 1,083, 54% female, Mage  = 47.68), two experiments (Study 2 N = 105, 50% female, Mage  = 32.05; Study 3 N = 154, 40% female, Mage  = 29.93), and a longitudinal survey (Study 4 N = 398, 51% female, Mage  = 32.05). In all studies, personal control was negatively associated with narcissistic in-group positivity but positively associated with non-narcissistic in-group positivity. The longitudinal survey additionally showed that the positive rel...

The current research investigates what motivates people to engage in normative versus nonnormative action. Prior research has shown that different emotions lead to different types of action. We argue that these differing emotions are determined by a more basic characteristic, namely, implicit theories about whether groups and the world in general can change. We hypothesized that incremental theories (beliefs that groups/the world can change) would predict normative action, and entity theories (beliefs that groups/the world cannot change) as well as group identification would predict nonnormative action. We conducted a pilot in the context of protests against a government plan to relocate Bedouin villages in Israel and a main study during the Israeli social protests of the middle class. Results revealed three distinct pathways to collective action. First, incremental theories about the world predicted hope, which predicted normative action. Second, incremental theories about groups and group identification predicted anger, which also predicted normative collective action. Lastly, entity theories about groups predicted nonnormative collective action through hatred, but only for participants who were highly identified with the group. In sum, people who believed in the possibility of change supported normative action, whereas those who believed change was not possible supported nonnormative action.