ARTIGOS

 

Psychosocial Research and Practice: a Re-view

 

Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais: uma Re-vista

 

Investigaciones y Prácticas Psicosociales: una Re-vista

 

 

Maria Stella Brandão Goulart^I; Leísa Ferreira Amaral Gomes^II; Listhiane Pereira Ribeiro^III

^IProfessora Doutora na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). Graduada em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). Especialista em Saúde Pública pela Escola de Saúde Pública do Estado de Minas Gerais (ESP-MG). Mestre e Doutora em Sociologia pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia da UFMG
^IIGraduada em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). Especialista em Teoria Psicanalítica (UFMG). Mestre em Psicologia Social pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia da UFMG
^IIIGraduada em Psicologia e Mestre em Ciências Sociais pela PUC Minas. Pós-graduada em Psicodrama (IMPSI) e em Ciências da Religião (PUC Minas)

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Social Psychology is a rapidly developing area and it is fundamental to analyze how and through which paths its scientific production is taking shape. The objective of this article is to share conclusions of the research "Estado da Arte em Psicologia Social em Minas Gerais" ("The State of the Art in Social Psychology"), whose general objective was to map the production on Social Psychology in this Brazilian state at present, through the analysis of some discursive corpora, such as annals of events and specialized journals. The methodology consists in content analysis associated with a phenomenological reading, considering the subjectivity and comprehension capacity of the interpreter team. The review results of the semiannual journal "Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais" ("Psychosocial Research and Practices") from the Federal University of São João del-Rei 2007/2008 will be presented. The results set a parameter for reflection on the construction of the Social Psychology field, denoting its multiplicity.

Key words: Social Psychology; Content Analysis; Researches; Practices.

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RESUMO

A Psicologia Social é área em franco desenvolvimento e é fundamental analisar como e por quais caminhos a sua produção científica vai se configurando. O objetivo deste artigo é compartilhar algumas conclusões da pesquisa: "Estado da Arte em Psicologia Social em Minas Gerais", cujo objetivo geral foi mapear a produção em Psicologia Social (PS) no estado de Minas Gerais na atualidade, por meio de estudos de análise de alguns corpora discursivos específicos, como anais de eventos e revistas especializadas. A metodologia utilizada foi, basicamente, a análise de conteúdo, associada a uma leitura fenomenológica, considerando a subjetividade e a capacidade compreensiva da equipe de intérpretes. Serão apresentados os resultados da análise da revista semestral "Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais", da Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei (UFSJ), referentes às edições de 2007/2008. Os resultados obtidos proporcionam um parâmetro para a reflexão acerca da construção do campo da Psicologia Social, denotando sua multiplicidade.

Palavras-chave: Psicologia Social; Análise de Conteúdo; Pesquisas; Práticas.

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RESUMEN

La Psicología Social es área en franco desarrollo y es fundamental analizar cómo y por cuales caminos su producción científica va configurándose. El objetivo de este artículo es compartir conclusiones de la investigación: "Estado del Arte en Psicología Social en Minas Gerais", cuyo objetivo general fue mapear la producción actual en Psicología Social en el estado, por medio del análisis de corpora discursivos específicos, como anales de eventos y revistas especializadas. La metodología fue el análisis de contenido asociado a una lectura fenomenológica, considerando la subjetividad y capacidad comprensiva del equipo de intérpretes. Se presentarán los resultados del análisis de la revista semestral "Investigaciones y Prácticas Psicosociales" de la Universidad Federal de São João del Rey, referentes a las ediciones de 2007/2008. En cuanto a los resultados obtenidos, se plantea como un parámetro para la reflexión acerca de la construcción del campo de la Psicología Social, denotando su multiplicidad.

Palabras clave: Psicología Social; Análisis de Contenido; Investigaciones; Prácticas.

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Introduction

Recently, a significant number of "state-of-the-art" bibliographic researches have been produced in Brazil and in other countries. They seem to have in common the challenge of mapping and discussing a certain academic production in different fields of knowledge (Ferreira, 2002). Social Psychology has been presenting itself as a developing field of research in Brazil, which is why it is important to investigate the state of the art of the subject at a national and regional level, establishing parameters for the analysis of this field, which is in permanent construction.

The objective of this article is to present the conclusions of one of the stages of the study "Estado da Arte em Psicologia Social em Minas Gerais" ("The State of the Art in Social Psychology in Minas Gerais"), financed by the Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG, in cooperation with FAPEMIG (the Minas Gerais State Agency for Research and Development). The general objective was to map the production on Social Psychology (SP) in Minas Gerais, through case studies of specific discursive corpora, such as annals of events and specialized journals.

The methodology used was descriptive and it was fundamentally based on Content Analysis, associated with readings from a phenomenological perspective, which sought to consider the subjectivity and comprehension capacity of the interpreter team. Such effort resulted in the delineation of some scenarios that contribute to the understanding of the specificity and dynamics of the Brazilian Social Psychology construction (Ferreira, 2002).

The results obtained will be presented through the analysis of the semiannual journal "Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais" ("Psychosocial Research and Practices"), from the Federal University of São João del Rei (UFSJ), referring to the editions between 2007 and 2008. At that time, the journal was still in its infancy (it had been founded in 2006), but it was starting to become an important vehicle for information and stimulation of critical thinking. Its subsequent development was not an isolated phenomenon, since Social Psychology became one of the areas that have most attracted researchers in the first decade of the 2000s (Yamamoto, 2010). Thus, a simple portrait was drawn of the birth of a journal that is relevant to the regional and national scenario.

 

Methodology

The analysis of the delimited corpus was translated into four minimum operations: 1) delimitation of the objectives and definition of a theoretical reference frame guiding the research; 2) constitution of a corpus; 3) definition of categories; and 4) definition of analysis units, classifying as "undeclared" when it was not possible to identify the appropriate terms, within each one of the categories (Bardin, 1988; Bauer, 2002; Rocha & Deusdará, 2006). Thirty-eight (38) abstracts of articles published between 2007 and 2008 were read and analyzed, and the reading of the full text occurred whenever there was a need for further elucidation. There was also the analysis of keywords created by the authors. Furthermore, there was the exclusion of all words from the set that referred us to the categories of "Methodological Strategies" and "Theoretical References". After the exclusion of the before mentioned categories, a list was created detailing the terms that were treated separately and referring to empirical objects that generally took the form of topics of interest, which became a parameter of comparison for the category "Empirical Objects".

The "Empirical Objects" identified in the abstracts of the articles were treated as indicatives of the authors' interest subjects, referring to the field of practice, insertion or observation.

It was decided that there was a need to create a broad category called "Methodological Strategies", which encompassed all terms that referred to the broader methodology categories, such as action research, theoretical research, case study, among others, and research techniques (stricto sensu), such as observation, document analysis, questionnaire application, interviews, content analysis, etc.

We worked with the analysis of occurrences, which aimed to determine the interest of each source in different objects or contents. The implicit hypothesis is that the greater the interest of the issuer (people interested in Social Psychology) for a given object, the greater will be its frequency of occurrence in the discourses of the indicators related to that object. It is a quantitative effort, with qualitative contributions, which was evidenced throughout the interpretative process of categorization and analysis.

In addition to developing an objective description of the textual content, our impressions about the contact with the texts were explored based on the phenomenological perspective (Gianordoli-Nascimento, Menandro & Trindade, 2007).

As for the construction of categories, especially those related to theoretical references, some analyses of historical and contemporary perspective of Social Psychology were considered, above all, Mary Jane Spink & Peter Kevin Spink (2005) and José Luis Álvaro & Alicia Garrido (2007), who tended to project themselves into the tensions between representationalist and critical perspectives (constructivist and post-constructivist), "psychological" and "sociological" perspectives, individualist and collectivist perspectives, with less or more emphasis on the historical and contradictory character of the psychosocial phenomena.

The so-called critical perspectives have projected us into a sign of commitment to social transformation and the need for building a more egalitarian society - which gives political character to scientific practices and focuses on the ethical aspects of professional practices - as well as a better alignment with the challenges of public and social policies.

Spink & Spink (2005) also highlighted two axes of articulation in the field of Social Psychology. The first axis encompasses "the ways we give meanings to the events of everyday life", such as attitudes, information processing in the cognitive aspect, social representations, ideology, and processes of awareness and discursive daily practices. The second axis encompasses "the multiple forms of sociability" of micro-reach (affective relationships, emotions), of medium reach (the processes of socialization, family, and institutional relations) or of macro-reach (our insertion in a political life, social movements and community relations) (Spink & Spink, 2005).

Another key reference, in tune with the era and spirit of the Brazilian Social Psychology, was the formulations linked to Silvia Tatiana Maurer Lane (1985), in the well-known article "A Psicologia Social e uma nova concepção de homem para a Psicologia" ("Social Psychology and a new conception of man for Psychology"), in which the concept "all Psychology is social" was consecrated (Lane, 1985, page 19). That means assuming the historical-social nature of the human condition, that is, affirming the need to "know the individual (sic) in the whole of his social relations, both in what is specific to him and when he is considered a social and a group manifestation" (Lane, 1985, page 19).

 

Analyzed Corpora

The journal "Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais" ("Psychosocial Research and Practices") from São João del-Rei, also known as "PPP" (in Portuguese), is the result of projects carried out by the Psychosocial Research and Intervention Laboratory (known as LAPIP, in Portuguese). It is an interdisciplinary laboratory associated with the Department of Psychology of the Federal University of São João del-Rei (UFSJ), created in June 2000.

The first works developed by LAPIP are registered in the "LAPIP Bulletin", which was transformed into an online journal called PPP in 2006, whose purpose is to disseminate the work of the laboratory members, as well as to expand the knowledge in Social Psychology and related areas. The journal, published every six months, started to be edited in February and August of the same year, accepting articles in Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English.

At the time of the analysis, PPP Journal was organized through sections: "research report", which is based on scientific studies; "theoretical essay", based on theoretical contributions; "report of professional experiences", from studies, highlighting the relevance of their theoretical and methodological contribution and/or their results; "critical literature review", which is the analytical and critical review with relevant contribution to the area of Social Psychology; "communication", which may deal with theoretical, methodological and/or technical issues; "letters", which are comments and answers to papers already published; "review", which is the critical review of recently published works; "news", about facts and events related to Social Psychology; "debate and forum", a sequence of two or three articles by different authors on the same issue, exploring their understanding and/or controversial aspects; "interviews" on relevant subjects with people who are relevant to social Psychology; and "work translations" (Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais / Psychosocial Research and Practice, 2007). The author himself/herself, when sending the article to be submitted to the evaluation of the referees, indicates the category of contribution in which his/her work best fits.

The journal is currently in its 25th edition and is supported by the Psychosocial Research and Intervention Laboratory (LAPIP), as well as by the Master's Program in Psychology (PPGPSI) from UFSJ, increasingly becoming an important tool for disseminating researches conducted by this program and its partners.

From the beginning of the journal (2006) to 2017, it followed semiannually, but an exception happened in 2016, when it had three editions published. Moreover, in that period, it suffered a reformulation. Several sections that were previously separated were grouped in the category "articles": "research report", "theoretical essay", "report of professional experiences", and "critical literature review". All the other categories ("translations", "reviews", "news", "interviews", "letters", "communication", and "discussion and forum") remained the same.

 

Results

The content analysis of the 2007/2008 edition covered articles that were presented in two volumes, which have two numbers each. In the first volume, published in 2007, there are 23 articles, while in the second volume, published in 2008 and in 2009, there are 15 articles. Among them, it was verified that, together, the volumes have a total of 23 research reports, 10 theoretical essays, and 5 reports of professional experience. It is observed, therefore, the absence of the other categories - theoretical essay, reports of professional experiences, critical review of literature, letters, review, debate and forum, interviews, work translations- in the examined editions.

 

The Authors' Origin Institutions

As for the institutions of origin of the authors, it is possible to verify that 16 texts were productions of researchers from private institutions and 22 from public institutions (there was a partnership between private and public education: an institution from Mexico and one from Paraíba, Brazil). As a total, 5 articles were originated from partnerships between professionals from different institutions.

From the 38 articles that constitute the journal, only 12 came from institutions in Minas Gerais: 2 from the Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG; 4 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais - PUC MINAS (1 in partnership with UNA - University Center); 2 from the Federal University of São João del-Rei - UFSJ; 1 from the President Antonio Carlos Foundation - UNIPAC; 1 from the University of Vale do Rio Doce - UNIVALE; 1 from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU, and 1 from Novos Horizontes College.

Among the 26 articles whose authors are not from Minas Gerais institutions, there are: 2 from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN (1 in partnership with the State University of Rio Grande do Norte - UERN); 1 from de Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás - UCG; 1 from the Health Science College of Garça (Cultural and Educational Society of Garça,São Paulo); 3 from the Federal University of Espírito Santo - UFES (one of them in partnership with the Federal University of São Paulo - USP); 1 from the State University of Rio de Janeiro - UERJ; 5 from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ; 2 from São Paulo State University - UNESP; 1 from the State University of Maringá - UEM; 1 from Paulista University - UNIP; 1 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, one of them a collaboration between the research group Cultural Studies and Modes of Subjectivation of PUC and the Health Service of the hospital Conceição Group, Rio Grande do Sul; 2 from the Catholic University of Pernambuco - UNICAP; 1 from Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo A.C. (Mexico) in partnership with the Federal University of Paraíba - UFPB; 2 from the National University of Cordoba - UNC (Argentina); 1 from Miami University - UM, in collaboration with a professional from Germany (USA and Germany); 1 from USP and 1 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas - PUC Campinas.

That is, there were 27 articles from the southeastern region of Brazil; 4 articles from the northeast region; 4 international articles (1 in partnership with the northeast of Brazil); 2 articles from the southern region of Brazil, and 1 article from the central-western region. Despite the predominance of articles in the southeastern region of Brazil, it is worth mentioning the diversity of origins and the international harmony.

 

Empirical Objects

Considering the empirical objects, they refer to topics of interest of the present study or research. It has been considered that each article could have several empirical objects, which varied the form: at times, it was a single word, while in others, it was an expression.

These terms have been grouped into the following subcategories:

 

1. Relations between State and society, an intersection with political scenarios and processes of integration and rehabilitation

a. Social Assistance ("Projeto Remanescente" - "Remaining Project")

b. Health ("pain treatment clinic", "Programa Saúde da Família" (Family Health Program), "Unidades Básicas de Saúde" (Public Health Units), "data from the community health service of a hospital group concerning post-miscarriage curettage", "concepts and practices of community health care agents", "beliefs that make it difficult to treat Hansen's disease", "education, information and communication strategies [on health]", "conceptions of the Family Health Program teams", "educational practices for parents whose children suffer from plumbism", "representations related to Hansen's disease", "Programa de Humanização do Pré-natal e Nascimento - PHPN" (Prenatal and Birth Humanization Program), "World Health Organization -WHO").

c. Mental Health ("drug addiction", "educational and prophylactic measures [health related]").

d. Education ("relationship between teachers and students", "students' interest and disinterest", "teacher identity formation", "debate on everyday school life during a 'Professional Orientation Workshop' ").

e. Work ("work environment", "experience of a spontaneous theater workshop with Family Health Program workers").

 

2. Specific attention to the subject/social actors

a. Family - ("Parental and family stress").

b. Childhood and Adolescence ("Sheltered children", "Pauperized adolescents", "Sheltered adolescents", "historical-social context in which the death of children and young people under 18 occur", "Relationship between the practice of electronic games and violent behaviors in young people", "The divergence between the policies of protection to children facing psychosocial risk and the actions carried out by the official resources").

c. Gender ("Women", "menopause", "women facing gender violence")

d. Elderly ("Elderly", "coexistence groups").

e. People with Special Needs ("social attitudes of professionals working with people with disabilities in specialized institutions").

 

3. Conceptual Concerns about Culture and the Development of Connections

a. Culture ("Ways of coping with problems in two Latin American contexts", "Sharing knowledge in traditional indigenous cultures").

b. Religion ("the relation between mediums/psychics and supernatural entities").

c. Representations - No terms found and/or inferred.

d. Identity, Subjectivity and Relationships ("subjectivity", "identity narrative construction", "lack of limits", "feeling of closeness to death", "relationship of the individual with the world", "relationship between the tv and the production of subjectivity", "The way subjects experiment with spaces", "contemporaneity", "Social motives for the use of SMS text messages", "Discourse on social equity and inequality in works involving fictitious societies", " imaginary social significations").

 

4. Education/Training and Practice in Psychology

a. Studies regarding the Psychology course in higher education institutions ("Representations concerning the evaluation of the teaching-learning processes in the Psychology course", "clinic of Psychopedagogy in a higher education institution").

b. Psychologists practice ("The practice in Community Psychology", "insertion in the community and its effects", "interference of the interaction between the researcher and the researched subject").

 

Graph 1

 

The most recurrent empirical objects are related to: "health", "identity, subjectivity, and relationships", "childhood and adolescence", "education", and "gender".

The emphasis of most of the works is on the theme whose research and/or intervention focuses on relations between State and society, in an intersection with political scenarios and processes of integration and rehabilitation. Next, attention is also drawn to the conceptual concerns regarding culture and the development of connections.

An important point that must be emphasized is the use of the term "women facing gender violence" in the "gender" category rather than in the "violence" category, since we consider it part of the former, believing this term would be better represented there. As Kastrup (2010, page 169) explains: "(...) research practice is a researcher's production process". When we proposed ourselves to research about the State of the Art in Social Psychology in the State of Minas Gerais from the study of abstracts of journals and annals, we were faced with the need to establish categories and create synthesis and analysis groupings. Such a task has not been easy to perform, nor can it be considered "unfinished", since time and again there are impasses and demands for new formulations.

 

Theoretical References

On the adopted theoretical references in each article, it was noticed that most authors have not clarified, in the summaries consulted, what the referential adopted was. Many of them were inferred from concepts or authors that were cited throughout the articles. Those whose studies rely on broad theoretical scope could also be seen. We have tried, however, to focus on what the most considered theoretical foundation for the presentations, analyses and discussions of the presented data in each article would be. Therefore, regardless of 38 articles, only 39 occurrences were accounted for. By this, we understand that one of the authors based the articles with the same intensity on the following possibilities: Symbolic Interactionism and Narrative Theory.

The references grouped into subcategories were:

1. Post-structuralism - Actor-network theory (Bruno Latour) / Schizoanalysis / Discourse Analysis (Maingueneau and Machado): 3 articles of each.

2. Psychoanalysis: 3 inferred articles.

3. Psychoanalytic and sociological assumptions and philosophical praxis: 1 article.

4. Theory of Social Representation: 3 articles (1 inferred because of its reference to Spink, Medrado, Moscovici).

5. Psychosociology - Psychosociology /Psychosocial Approach (Abade, Sarriera, Bastos) / Science of Interpersonal Relationship (Hinde) / Social Interactionist Approach (Berger & Luckmann, Bonin, Braghirolli, Pereira & Rizzon, Cornick & Savoia) / Psychosocial Practices (Perrenoud, Nóvoa, Tardif, Chevallard & Fazenda): total of 6 articles.

6. Narrative theory: 2 articles (1 inferred article because of the quotations from Bruner, Riessman, Mishler, Ricoeur).

7. Theories of inspiration in Historical Materialism - Social-Historical Domain (Castoriadis): 1 article.

8. Existential Phenomenology - Existential Phenomenology Theory: 1 article.

9. Group Psychodrama theory: 1 article.

10. Socio-constructivism - Vygotsky's Socio-Historical Theory: 2 articles.

11. The practice of everyday life (De Certeau): 1 article.

12. Symbolic Interactionism: 1 inferred article because of its references to Polkinghorne, Sarbin.

13. Not declared and/or not inferred: 14 articles.

 

Graph 2

 

Within those texts that explicitly declared their referential, Psychosociology has presented prominence, as it would be expected, followed by Post-Structuralism, Theory of Social Representation, and Psychoanalysis.

 

Methodological Strategies

With regard to the methodological strategies used by the authors, a clear predominance of the use of interviews can be identified, followed by quantitative methods (such as samples, inventories and tests). Qualitative field research, with narrative, and content and speech analysis were also highlighted. Most of the questionnaires were cited as qualitative methods, and in only two papers they were used for quantitative purposes.

In some texts, the methodology was not explicitly stated (5) and we inferred a literature review.

The methodological strategies were organized in the following subcategories:

1. Interviews / Open interviews / In-depth interviews / Semi-guided interviews / Semi-structured interviews / Simplified anamnesis / Questionnaire / Self-applicable questionnaire / Semi-structured questionnaire / Life History (LH) / Oral History (OH): 16 texts derived from interviews, 1 anamnesis, 5 modalities of questionnaire, 1 Life History, and 1 Oral History, totalizing the use of 24 techniques.

2. Participant observation / Case Study / Ethnographic research: 1 participant observation, 2 case studies and 2 ethnographic researches, totalizing 5 methods.

3. Focal Group 1 / Group Techniques / Collective analyses 1 / Audiovisual record 1 / Audio recording 1, totalizing 5.

4. Quantitative analysis / Descriptive quantitative analysis (bivariate analysis) / Simple random sampling technique / non-probability sampling of accidental type/ Probability sample of intentional type / Statistical analysis (Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon W test / Adapted version of the Children's Action Tendency Scale (CATS) / Seven-point Likert scale inventory / Likert scale of social attitudes toward inclusion (ELASI) / Parenting Styles Inventory (PSI) / SPSS/PC Software / validation by construct / Word Association Test. The quantitative analysis was indicated in 2 articles and the total number revealed 15 quantitative techniques.

5. Qualitative field surveys - Cartographic research / Qualitative methodology by González Rey / Discourse Analysis Technique / Content analysis technique / Dialectic method / Narrative analysis. The technique of discourse analysis was used in 3 projects. Narrative analysis was used in 2 and the other strategies were seen once, totalizing 9 strategies.

6. Intervention research - Schizodrama ("Klinica" intense dramatic proliferation technique) / Intervention research / Action methodology with Action Theater. Each of these methods was cited once, totalizing 3 occurrences.

7. Document Analysis / Consultation of medical records / Meeting records / Consultation of psychological reports / Survey of sociological data / Procedures based on Pêcheux and Foucault (Discursive formation). Total of 6 strategies, one of each.

8. Literature review: total of 4 (1 inferred).

9. Articles in which the methods were not formally stated: 5.

The groups formed here were organized by possible affinity among various techniques. It should be noted that the "audiovisual records" and "audio records" appeared as a complement to an interview, case study and/or observation used in order to record information. In order to be cited in researches that emphasized group strategies, we chose to analyze them within the scope of the "focal group" and "group techniques". The literature review was highlighted only when used as the main or exclusive strategy. Regarding the "Survey of sociographic data", present in the category of "Document analysis", we considered both qualitative and quantitative surveys as one strategy.

 

Graph 3

 

Keywords

The keywords were also object of attention because they were made by the author himself, used as a discriminating element. 127 terms were identified and analyzed, and they resulted in the following categorization:

 

1. Relations between State and society, an intersection with political scenarios and processes of integration and rehabilitation:

a. Social Assistance - Social Exclusion / Social Inclusion / Support Programs/ citizenship / society / social role.

b. Health - Public health / Family Health Program / Community health agent / Humanization / Delivery assistance / PHPN(Prenatal and Birth Humanization Program) / crisis & hospital/ Illness / Hospitalization / Hansen's Disease / Representations of the illness / Plumbism.

c. Mental Health - mental health/ Psychiatric reform / drug use / Damage reduction / drug addiction.

d. Politics - public politics/shelter/ abandon/ public health policies.

e. Education - school routine / professional orientation/ High School / Interest /disinterest to learn/ teaching bond / alumnus / school transfer / teacher authority / positioning / school/ teachers' training / Teacher identity / autonomy.

f. Work - work / workers / justice officers / judiciary / emotion / worker's health/ professional culpability.

g. Violence - violence / homicide / crisis and youth / Trivialization of violence.

 

2. Specific attention to social actors

a. Family - socialization in family / parenting styles / education for family life / family stress / parenting stress / family relationships / friendship.

b. Childhood and Adolescence - childhood / child / child health / teenagers / adolescence / youth / underprivileged teenagers / boundaries / Otherness.

c. Gender - gender / women / body / abortion / menopause / gender violence.

d. Elderly - elderly.

e. People with Special Needs (PWSN) - people with disabilities/ interpersonal relationship / Interpersonal conflict resolution / modalities of interaction.

 

3. Conceptual concerns about culture and bond developing:

a. Culture - oral culture / transmission of collective memory / transnational migrants / virtual communication / technology / communication / Indigenous education / electronic games / migrants / immigrants / Cross-cultural comparison / Paraíba-Sonora / Urban environment / television / Confronting problems.

b. Religion - medium / Pomba Gira Esmeralda, Gipsy entity / entity possession / tactics of transgression.

c. Representations - Pathos / images / Discourse on Social Equality and Inequality / contemporaneity / Human morality / Cognition / Swift / Gulliver's Travels / stigmatization / Hero cult.

d. Identity, Subjectivity and Relationships - Identity.

 

4. Practice and training in Psychology:

a. Studies on Psychology courses [Higher-level professional accrediting institutions] - scientific work / higher education / knowledge fragmentation / researcher and interviewee interaction / Psychology professors / school assessment.

b. Psychologist practice - practices in Psychology / Clinical Psychology / professional attitude / psychologist performance / psychosocial practices / interdisciplinarity / Psychology in educational and community contexts.

Those key words were organized according to the subcategory that best depicted the content of each article. Some words could have been present in more than one category, which demanded choices. Such situation was represented by the word "public health policies", which was in the "Politics" category, since we understand that in this category it will be better represented than in the category "Health".

Another example of such situation happened with the word "crisis", which was present both in an article that portrayed the hospital context and in another article whose focus was the issue of violence among teenagers. We put the word in both categories: Health and Violence, with the denominations "crisis and hospital" and "crisis and youth", respectively, to contemplate both proposals, which in this case were really different and it seemed to us that it would be a mistake to favor only one of them. In general, it is noted that the key words were preserved as the authors intended them so that we were even able to keep the source language of the article.

However, some key words were excluded from this category, since they were referring to theoretical or methodological theories or concepts, whose content was already expressed in the analysis of theoretical references or methodological strategies, such as: narrative, Social Psychology, Psychodrama, Action Theory, Actor-Network Theory, Intervention Research, Schizodrama, Psychosociology, Community Psychology, Discourse Analysis, Discourse, Oral History, Life History, Validación por constructo, Social Representations (and Social Representation), Subjectivity, Social imagery, Bruno Latour, Woolgar.

 

Graph 4

 

From the graph, it can be noticed that the most contemplated categories are: "Culture"; "Health"; "Education"/ "Representations" and "Childhood and Adolescence". Thus, the most outstanding works were those whose themes are focused on relationships between State and society, the intersection with political scenarios and integration and rehabilitation processes (44%). Succeeding, attention is drawn to the conceptual concerns related to culture and connection development, which represented 25%, and those focused on specific attention to social actors, at 23%. This reinforces previous information from the study of empirical objects.

 

Final Considerations

The reviewed journal allowed a description of a scenario that referred to the southeast region (with 27 articles), with important collaboration of UFRJ, PUC Minas and UFES. Among the group related to the region, 12 were productions from Minas Gerais. However, PPP journal includes a set of contributions that signaled a considerable diversity, forming a selection that allows a projection of the national production with punctual international contributions. Thus, the newly created journal signaled its openness and non-endogenous character.

When analyzing the methodological strategies, we noticed a greater occurrence of methodologies of qualitative character, highlighting the use of interviews. That information may also reflect editorial decisions. However, it is worth hypothesizing such tendency that invites reflection on the specificities of the field and its intersections with clinical perspectives, as well as signaling the possibility of an excess that is capable of indicating weaknesses concerning the investigative attitude. If we compare the interview as a method with the other participatory approaches (discourse analysis and narrative analysis), an interesting shift that distances itself from the focus on behavioral studies, which were so hegemonic until the 1980s, can be seen.

The declared theoretical references emphasize this qualitative and discursive direction, even though we cannot lose sight that it is a journal that emphasizes the psycho-sociological paradigm. The emphasis on post-structuralism and psychoanalysis already denotes a scenario of innovation and an intense dialogue with European production, to the detriment of the American one.

The innovation, which is even more striking, concerns the outstanding attention given to the relationships between the State and society, especially with regard to the discussion on health public policies, mental health, and education. It is also important to highlight the relevance of the study of what we call "Conceptual Concerns about Culture and Connection Development", such as identity, subjectivity and relationships, culture, religion. These representations signal a clear collectivist perspective, which are also associated with the concern regarding social and political actors, such as children, teenagers and women (including studies of gender differences). Note the absence of LGBT policy issues.

It was also noticed an attitude of self-monitoring expressed in the self-critical interest by the practice and training in Psychology, since the studies were carried out with focus on the reflection of the teaching-learning process in Psychology courses, or yet on the practice in Community Psychology; on a Psychopedagogy clinic in an institution of higher education; or on the practice in Community Psychology; or interference of the researcher-researched interaction.

Groups of "topics of interest" have opened up a broad spectrum that tunes social Psychology to the thematic environment of human rights and citizenship construction: social care, health, mental health, education, work, politics, violence; family, gender, elderly, children and adolescents, people with special needs; studies about education/training in Psychology, psychologists practice; culture, religion, representations, identity/subjectivity and relationships.

It is possible to say that the study carried out regarding Social Psychology in Minas Gerais in 2007 and 2008 suggests a pattern that performs a critical exercise and it is in concordance with the political agenda of democracy construction in the Brazilian society. An example of that is the outstanding attention concerning the health field, where SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde, the Brazilian public health care system) stands out, and, in particular, the discussion focused on the sustainability of the public policy agenda. It also shows a great thematic and methodological diversity, demonstrating an interdisciplinary character that is attentive to the word "social" and to the political protagonism of minorities.

Our descriptive analysis effort of the journal "Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais" ("Psychosocial Research and Practice") offers elements for a reflection on the field of Social Psychology, which seeks to elucidate the institutional actors, where they say something, and what they say. It points out the emerging issues of the studied period, as well as the theoretical and methodological corpora chosen by professionals in face of the demands presented. Thus, new studies in this journal will certainly offer more elements for analysis. For instance, it is possible to mention the theme of connected life on the internet, subject that was not present in 2007/2008, but that appears in more recent editions.

As Ferreira (2002) explains, mapping the academic production of a knowledge field through the reading of abstracts might be ambiguous. It may give researchers some comfort by offering objective, compact data, accessible in short texts. On the other hand, some summaries may be proven to be insufficient, too synthetic to comprehend the whole picture. That is why, in some moments of this research, it was necessary to resort to reading the full articles. Even if this limitation is imposed, it is worth considering the set of characteristics that have been outlined as a reference point and stimulus to reflection.

The texts provided dialogues not even foreseen by the authors. We must not forget that there is a gap between what one writes and what one reads, and the gaps are also opportunities for further readings. In this point, data was presented from the perspective of a possible reading.

It is possible to suggest the classic question, which may guide future studies: what and to whom is Social Psychology addressed? The studies that will follow may provide elements of comparison and conflict for the deepening of the initial impressions generated by this research. Certainly, it is not intended to exhaust the interpretive possibilities of the field, but to set them in harmony with the researches that we have worked for and that pointed to the critical self-monitoring of the field itself.

 

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