Conditionality and the negotiation of core elements in university social representations

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to investigate the phenomenon of the negotiation of the central core elements of a social representation under the effect of the confirmation of another, in relation to their intra core hierarchy, to understand the socio cognitive conditions in which this negotiation takes place and the role of conditionality in this. Also, in the effects it has on the perceptual and evaluative activity of the subjects. Two experimental procedures it was conducted. Based on our results: • when there was no condition, the simultaneous questioning of a primary central element, which founds the meaning of a representation (PCE) is not compensated by the confirmation of an adjunctive central element, which only specifies it (ACE) and subjects do not accept the representation, • while in the conditionality: the questioning of a primary central element (PCE) is compensated by the confirmation of an adjunctive central element (ACE) and leads instead to the acceptance of the representation. We conclude that our research findings, allow us to make it possible to understand further the internal functioning of the central system of a social representation, and the term of negotiability of a central element, which depends on the position and role of this element at the socio-cognitive level in the structure of the representation.