Social Representations as Cognitive-Emotional Processes: Examining Individual Tensions
Résumé
We tested key predictions of a recent theoretical model positing social representations (SRs) as cognitive-emotional processes. The model aims to examine the impact of emotions on the dynamics of SRs. The present research investigates the first two phases of the model from the central core theory (CCT). The study of the impact of emotional experience on the dynamics of SRs could be a way to provide some support to the original assumption in Social Representations Theory (SRT) that SRs are dynamic objects of social change. This attempt seems crucial as SRs are essential to the construction of social knowledge. One hundred and thirty management students had to recall highly positive and negative emotions immediately after participating in a three-day teamwork situation. Having previously identified students' (gendered) SRs of teamwork, the study examines individual tensions following emotional experience, that is, the cognitive impact of the nature (positive or negative) of emotion on the internal dynamics of the SR object.
Highlighting the fundamental role of the meaning-generative function of SRs, the results showed variations of SR components of teamwork depending on the valence of emotion, the status of SR components, and gender as a sociocultural variable. We interpret gender differences on the variations of SR components of teamwork following emotional experience as reflecting social positioning vis-à-vis the meaning
Domaines
Sciences de l'Homme et SociétéOrigine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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