Abstract

CENCI, Claudia Mara Bosetto. Social representation of psychology in a suburban area of a town in the north of Rio Grande do Sul. Aletheia [online]. 2006, n.23, pp. 43-53. ISSN 1413-0394.

This research investigated the social representation of both psychologists and psychology held by people living in a low income suburban area in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul. For that purpose, twenty-three semi-structured interviews were carried out during home visits to families who live in the suburbs. The results have shown that most participants do not hold representation of what a psychologist is. Psychologists and psychology are regarded as being very distant from that population and, for that reason, hard to be represented. The reports refer to social representation as related to “something mental” when referring to the professional who carries out work involving school children with adaptation problems or adults with problems.

Keywords : Social representation; Psychology; Low income population.

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