Abstract

GUTIERREZ VIDRIO, Silvia. The affective component of social representations. Cultura representaciones soc [online]. 2020, vol.15, n.29, pp.123-151.  Epub Mar 07, 2022. ISSN 2007-8110.

The purpose of this text is to present some theoretical and methodological considerations related to the study of the affective dimension of social representations. This dimension has been, until now, little studied, although Moscovici pointed out its importance many years ago. I am particularly interested in highlighting the need to consider the emotional dimension in the research carried out in the field of social representations, because its study can provide some keys for understanding its organization and functioning. First, I include some backgrounds on how emotions have been studied from different perspectives, in order to provide an account of some of the existing approaches, as well as some hints of where and how to address them. Next, I show the relationship between emotions/affections and social representations in order to highlight the importance of the affective resonance in the process of construction of social representations. Then, I provide an account of some of the empirical work that has been carried out from both the structural and the process perspectives with the purpose of showing some methodological clues that can contribute to its study. Finally, I outline some lines on future research.

Keywords : affectivity; emotions; social representations; emotional component.