Cognitive Polyphasia Research Articles

Nasty wars and needy veterans? How cognitive polyphasia may explain conceptualizations of the U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as victims and heroes.

Representative opinion polls indicate that members of the U.S. public may hold dichotomous perceptions of their veterans. While the majority of the U.S. public appreciates and honors their veterans, they are also considered to suffer from war-induced trauma and physical disabilities. Victimizing attitudes toward the veteran population may result in stigmatization and a more difficult transition into civilian society. This may be particularly problematic for U.S. veterans who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as this younger veteran population needs to reintegrate not only into civilian society but also into civilian workplace settings. The present study aims to uncover and unravel underlying rationalities that justify heroizing and victimizing sentiments in relation to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. In order to delve beyond socially desirable reporting and cultural norms, in-depth semi-structured interviews with 29 individuals (20 non-veterans and 9 veterans) were conducted. Three themes were identified by thematic analysis: Theme 1 "Individual Understandings of the Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan" represents an underlying framework that tainted perceptions of Theme 2 "Conceptualizations of war, deployment, and violence" and Theme 3 "Evaluations of the veteran's personality." If the deployments were considered justified, then veterans were heroized, characterized with supreme altruistic traits when compared with civilians. Negative effects on health that were arbitrarily related to deployment experience were classified as short-lived. If the deployments were scrutinized, then veterans were considered as naïve victims of a deceitful government, suffering from long-term health problems. Importantly, as discussions surrounding the legitimacy of the deployments were context-dependent, the participants were able to hold perceptions of veterans as victims and as heroes side by side. In conclusion, the heroization and victimization of veterans may be the result of considering different viewpoints, elucidating diversity and access to equivocal information in an increasingly complex social world. Although the present findings may require further validation, they suggest that changing negative, stereotyping perceptions of veterans may require a coherent rationale for deployments and uniform mission objectives.

Variety and variation in lived worlds: Defining and exploring a new marketing research agenda based on an ethnography of complementary and alternative medicine consumption

The ontological turn in anthropology renews the questioning of otherness by being attentive to the diversity of conceptions of the world and phenomenological relations to the world. Descola’s model has become an essential part of this theoretical movement. It distinguishes three ontologies other than the one currently dominant in the West. While he admits the possibility of their expression in the ordinary lives of Westerners, it is only in a fleeting mode. Drawing on the model of cognitive polyphasia, extended here to ontologies, and using alternative and complementary medicine as its ethnographic terrain, this research shows that these other ontologies can profoundly organize experiences. Consumers can inhabit worlds other than the dominant one. They may inhabit several worlds (e.g. animist and naturalist) hybridizing them or not. They may draw highly variable boundaries between humans and nonhumans (both interpersonal and intrapersonal). Various theoretical and operational implications for marketing are outlined.

'Where do we come from and where are we going?' A study about the transformation of knowledge related to long-term care.

The care crisis manifests the tensions and profound changes which are taking place in contemporary long-term care systems, leading to new care views and modalities in society. Through 26 interviews conducted with caregivers, family members and elderly people with care needs, this study aims to make visible the transformation in the conceptions of care in the Basque Country. First, the results show the displacement of familiarist ideas and values. Second, we describe the daily management of the social and moral tensions associated with outsourcing and the meaning of care work. Third, the findings indicate the emergence of new perspectives on the modalities of care. The contribution of cognitive polyphasia towards analysing the management and integration of new knowledge associated with care in a specific socio-cultural context is discussed. Finally, we consider the applicability of our findings in terms of relevant solutions for care management and innovation in this field.

Cognitive polyphasia in the representation of mental illness in groups with different religious mentalities

This study examines the phenomenon of cognitive polyphasia in the representation of mentally ill people by religious groups of society. The aim of the study was the manifestation of cognitive polyphasia in the structure of social representations (SP) about mental illness in groups of Orthodox Christians and Muslims. The sample consisted of Muslims – N = 111 (men – 53, women – 58 people) and Orthodox Christians – N = 114 (men – 49 people, women – 65 people) living in Moscow. The following methods were used: the author's questionnaire, which included 29 statements, the modified scale of D. Feldes' “Psychological distanceˮ, the modified method “Incomplete sentencesˮ, the method “Bubblesˮ. The inconsistency of the SP regarding mental illness is revealed when analyzing the responses of the author's questionnaire aimed at identifying the content of the JV: the core of the representations in both groups of respondents contained sympathetic statements, but the results of the projective techniques “Incomplete Sentencesˮ, “Bubblesˮ demonstrate the predominance of negatively colored elements (fear of infection, aggressive actions of suicide of patients, unpredictability and inadequacy of behavior). Thus, there is reason to assert that the SP about mentally ill people is distinguished by cognitive polyphasia, i. e., the coexistence of modern knowledge about mental illness with archaic images of the disease.

Выявление феномена когнитивной полифазии о психическом нездоровье посредством проективной методики «Бабблз»

The article discusses the results of the application of the projective technique "Bubbles" in the study of social representations of mental illness. The purpose of the study: to identify multidirectional social perceptions of mental illness. Research hypothesis: respondents' social perceptions of mental illness are characterized by duality. The sample consisted of Muslims – N = 111 (men – 53, women – 58 people) and Orthodox Christians – N = 114 (men – 49 people, women – 65 people), non–believers – N=113 (men – 76 people, women - 37 people), aged 18-23, 40-45, 60-65 years old, living in Moscow. Used: the author's questionnaire, which included 29 statements, the "Bubbles" technique. It was found that in both groups of respondents, the core of the JV about the mentally ill contains elements that demonstrate a positive orientation. The use of the "Bubbles" projective technique revealed the predominant negative nature of the perception of mentally ill people in three groups of respondents (the least negative perception in the group of respondents of Muslims (p<0.07). Respondents of the studied groups aged 18-23 years demonstrate the most positive representation of a mentally ill person than respondents aged 60-65 years (p<0.08). Thus, the results obtained with the help of a quantitative survey are in contradiction with the results of the qualitative method, thereby revealing the coexistence of SPS of different content, and therefore, allowing us to assert the phenomenon of cognitive polyphasia.

When the Right Thing to Do Is Also the Wrong Thing: Moral Sensemaking of Responsible Business Behavior During the COVID-19 Crisis

This study examines how individual members of the public make moral sense of the potentially conflicting “economic problem” or “public health problem” representations of the COVID-19 crisis when judging responsible business behavior. The data are based on a qualitative survey involving a thought experiment with 119 participants in the United States conducted at the initial stage of the pandemic. This article proposes a typology matrix using the theories of cognitive polyphasia and cognitive dissonance to understand better individual moral sensemaking of responsible business behavior in the context of a societal paradox in which there are contradictory and interdependent demands between important social objectives. The typology, referred to as the 4R Model of Moral Sensemaking of Competing Social Problems, provides insights for how companies may be perceived when responding to competing social problems, expanding the micro-CSR (corporate social responsibility) and paradox literatures.

A Novel Strategy for Communication to Drive Voluntary Compliance with Social Distancing in COVID-19 across Religious-Cultures in Mumbai India – The Case of ‘Cognitive Polyphasia’

A Novel Strategy for Communication to Drive Voluntary Compliance with Social Distancing in COVID-19 across Religious-Cultures in Mumbai India – The Case of ‘Cognitive Polyphasia’

A pandemic of hate: Social representations of COVID‐19 in the media

AbstractSince the COVID‐19 pandemic started, Asians, particularly those in Chinese communities, have faced increased discrimination and overt racism in addition to the virus itself. In this study, the authors examined social representations of COVID‐19 in mainstream newspapers. We evaluated 451 articles from three major publications representing three countries: China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. A qualitative thematic analysis, conducted through the lens of social representations theory (SRT) and its concept of cognitive polyphasia, revealed four major themes: (a) the virus’ portrayal as a threat; (b) the racialization of COVID‐19 as a multi‐faceted threat; (c) calls for collectivization to curb the racialization of the virus; and (d) speculative solutions to end discrimination against Asians. Our results suggest that print media emphasize the idea that global efforts must be made to change how people think about, talk about, and understand the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Drawing as a method of researching social representations

This paper explores the possibilities of drawing as a method of researching social representations. The theory of social representations focuses on studying the forms, contents, and functions of socially shared common knowledge. In this paper, we (1) present the central premises of social representations theory, (2) elaborate drawing as a visual research method, and (3) synthesize how the drawing method may promote and diversify our understanding of social representations. We suggest that the drawing method is especially fruitful in the analysis of objectification process (how something abstract is made tangible); cognitive polyphasia (the idea of the simultaneous existence of diverse and contradicting social representations); and the different levels of analysis in which social representations become observable: ontogenesis (individual level), microgenesis (social interaction level), and sociogenesis (societal level). Through these insights, this paper advances the current understanding of the drawing method in qualitative social representations research.

Cognitive polyphasia as a strategy for pre-adaptation to social changes

The article analyzes the mechanism of cognitive polyphasia, considered in the context of S. Mosсoviсi’s theory of social representations. In social thinking coexist often incompatible with each other cognitive attitudes that enter into dynamic relationships with each other. The work of cognitive polyphasia can be traced on the example of doublethink in the history of Soviet everyday life. Doublethink is considered a characteristic of not only individual, but also social, mass consciousness (G. Orwell), which makes it possible to distinguish between the concepts of ambivalence (S. Freud), double messages (G. Bateson), and cognitive dissonance (L. Festinger). Using examples from Soviet history and culture, the following proposition is proved: doublethink is the practice of constructing a subject of social cognition and behavior under conditions of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. The diaries of the writer Yu. M. Nagibin. But doublethink is also being reproduced in post-Soviet Russia, as can be clearly seen from the sociological discussion about the “Soviet Man” (Homo Soveticus). If the supporters of the scientific school of Yu. A. Levada and L. D. Gudkov believe that the implicit model of a person, constructed in Soviet everyday life, is quite stable and reproducible from Stalin’s time up to the present day, new studies of “millennials” conducted at the Higher School of Economics under V. V. Radaev reveal differences between the generational groups of Russians in a number of value characteristics related to both the way of life and the perception of the surrounding world. Competing interpretations of the problem of “Soviet Man” are combined, according to the author of the article, with the help of the psychological concept of cognitive polyphasia. Doublethink as a specific historical form of cognitive polyphasia has, first of all, a prognostic function: the spontaneous generation of vivid images in culture and art, which has an “unofficial” and even marginal status, as in the avantgarde of the 1920s and postmodernism of the 1990s, has a preadaptive potential to future social changes and crises.

The Phenomenon of Cognitive Polyphasia in Social Representations on the Mentally

The present study is focused on the phenomenon of cognitive polyphasia in the context of representations of mentally ill people by different groups of society. The authors put at the forefront the problem of finding the conditions for the actualization of cognitive polyphasia. The study was aimed at identifying manifestations of cognitive polyphasia in the structure of social representations (SRs) of the mentally ill in the groups of Orthodox respondents and non-believers. The sample consisted of Orthodox Christians: N = 114 (49 males and 65 females) and non-believers: N = 113 (76 males and 37 females) in the age ranges 18-23, 40-45 and 60-65 years, permanently residing in Moscow. The survey of the respondents at the main stage of the research was carried out using: (1) the authors questionnaire developed on the basis of the results of the search stage and including 29 statements; (2) a scale of self-assessed degree of religiosity; (3) a modified D. Feldes Psychological Distance Scale; (4) a modified sentence completion method; (5) the Bubbles technique and (6) a question pool for obtaining socio-demographic information. The results showed that the emotional component of SRs of the mentally ill changed their modality depending on the survey methods used. When the respondents evaluated the statements of the questionnaire, the core of SRs in both groups contained elements that were extremely sympathetic towards the mentally ill, and the statements revealing negative emotions (the possibility of contracting a mental illness or the need to isolate these people from society) were on the periphery of their representations. At the same time, the data of the projective methods showed that the negative representation background (as compared to the positive one) in relation to mentally ill people significantly predominated among both believers and non-believers. The negative representation of the mentally ill is most pronounced in the group of non-believers and reaches the highest rates in the group of 60-65-year-old respondents. We regard such ambivalence as a manifestation of cognitive polyphasia and, in particular, its variety, i.e., selective prevalence.

Social representations of the undernourished child and health‐seeking behaviour in Nepal: From othering to different types of otherness

AbstractDevelopment programmes tackling severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children tend to try to replace traditional beliefs with biomedical knowledge. However, stigmatization associated with undernutrition may be an additional impediment to seeking assistance. Drawing on the concepts of cognitive polyphasia and of othering, this study explored how different types of knowledge are used simultaneously in order to maintain a sense of otherness from the undernourished child in Nepal. A lexicometric analysis of answers to open‐ended questions in a survey of villagers (N = 376) conducted in two Nepalese districts indicated three patterns of representations of children with SAM. The analysis revealed that cognitive polyphasia can take various forms (hybridization, selective prevalence or displacement), which both shape and are shaped by different ways of establishing otherness from the undernourished child. Taken together, these results allow a better understanding of the meaning of villagers' health advice regarding undernutrition and provide new avenues for implementing nutrition‐related programmes. On a theoretical level, these results go beyond a simple statement of the plurality of knowledge, considering cognitive polyphasia as a relational outcome.

Nights at the museum: integrated arts and microbiology public engagement events enhance understanding of science whilst increasing community diversity and inclusion.

This study uses integrated art and science events to explore a blended approach in improving public understanding of current scientific topics and widening participation within the local community. The events were a Halloween-inspired microbiology-themed series of interactive exhibitions hosted within a national museum as part of an existing series of adult education evenings. A representative sample of 102 mixed methods exit questionnaires, based on determining (i) audience diversity and (ii) understanding of scientific topics, were analysed by qualitative and quantitative approaches, and a post-attendance focus group was carried out to determine longer term impact of the event. Participants were grouped as 'Science', 'Arts', 'Both' or 'Neither', according to their past experience and engagement. These events welcomed more participants from the Arts and Neither subsections hence engaging a group of people who would not usually visit science public engagement events or comparative events hosted in traditional academic settings, highlighting the importance of venue choice in reaching new audiences and widening participation. An increase in perceived understanding of science was observed by all groups of participants with reported enjoyment focused around the science talks, presentations and blended art-science activities. A putative impact in science capital is observed with participants reporting an increased likelihood of attending science events in the future. Furthermore, increased discussion and awareness of science in society is evidenced by participants. Blended art and microbiology exhibitions enhance the accessibly of science public engagement events and is likely to increase science capital; the impact of this on cognitive polyphasia is also discussed.

Vaccination and the Prevention of Communicable Diseases in Healthcare Settings: Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

With the number of Covid cases and Covid-related deaths continuing unabated, achieving a high vaccination coverage is essential to ensure the safety of staff and patients and resume normal hospital care admissions and operations. This article questions current strategies around vaccination in healthcare settings and proposes ways to understand and address vaccination hesitancy among staff. It offers insights on how to develop a multifaceted vaccination strategy, which takes into consideration vaccination hesitancy among healthcare professionals and community-specific factors. Drawing from social psychological theories, we suggest that the root of vaccination hesitancy lies in conflicting representations or cognitive polyphasia. In addition, we argue that current communication strategies mostly rely on rational arguments and ignores the importance of a more emotion-based approach.

From one new law to (many) new practices? Multidisciplinary teams re-constructing the meaning of a new disability law.

This paper explores how a new French law incorporating a new conceptualization of disability formulated at the international level by the WHO is appropriated at the local level by multidisciplinary teams of professionals in charge of the assessment of disability. Drawing on social representations theory, its concept of cognitive polyphasia and its conceptualization of legal innovation, the paper specifically examines how the teams deal with the tensions between the old and the new models of disability and how the group dynamic is associated with how they do this: by hybridization of old and new models, by selective prevalence according to context, or by displacement of one model. Focus groups with the teams (n=65 from 10 groups), analysed with indicators of interaction, bring evidence of the three forms. They show how different groups, by drawing differently, depending on their relational dynamics, from a variety of meaning systems circulating at the cultural level, reach different decisions that may lead to different practices in the local implementation of the same laws. We finish by discussing how social representations theory, linking the cultural/global and the interactional/local levels, can enhance our understanding of how socio-psychological processes intervening in the appropriation of legal innovations may produce different practical implementations of the same new laws.

Social Representations of Insects as Food: An Explorative-Comparative Study among Millennials and X-Generation Consumers.

Simple SummaryIn recent years, a remarkable number of studies have investigated entomophagy from different perspectives. Nevertheless, the theoretical framework of social representations (SRs) has never been used. SRs are organized sets of opinions, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about a social object—such as novel foods—co-constructed and shared by a social group. The present research is the first attempt to study entomophagy in the theoretical and methodological framework of SRs. We followed a double trajectory corresponding to two different ways to imagine the contribution of SRs to entomophagy studies. The first one focuses on the role of SRs in the social construction of meanings attached to entomophagy and on their introduction in individuals’ and groups’ thinking frameworks. The second proposes SRs as predictors, even if non-deterministic, of consumers’ behaviors. The results stimulate consideration of social knowledge and cultural variables in food studies using the theoretical framework of SRs.The aim of the research here presented is to describe and compare the social representations of entomophagy co-constructed and circulating among different groups of consumers. Social representations theory (SRT) allows us to understand a social reality that the individual builds based on his own experience in everyday life symbolic exchanges, whose primary function is to adapt concepts and abstract ideas using objectification and anchoring processes. We carried out this research within the structural approach methodological framework. We explored the structure (central core and peripheral schemes) and the content (information, opinions, attitudes, and beliefs) of the social representations of entomophagy by using mixed methodological strategies (hierarchized evocations, validated scales, check-list, projective tool, open-ended questions). Data were processed employing different R packages. The main results show an essential role played by generative processes (objectification and anchoring) as well as cognitive polyphasia and thémata in the co-construction of the social representations of entomophagy. Data could help in understanding the sensory characteristics of “insects as food” that should be used or avoided, for example, in communication aimed to promote entomophagy.

Perspectivas de estudo da inteligência e criatividade a partir do pensamento múltiplo

Este trabalho debate as possibilidades de estudo da temática da inteligência e criatividade. Partindo de uma breve revisão das pesquisas desenvolvidas na área, percebe-se que há pouca concordância até mesmo sobre os conceitos envolvidos. Desta forma, com o objetivo de lançar um outro olhar sobre o assunto, é inserida a proposta da psicologia social, que procura entender os temas referidos no ambiente sócio-histórico-cultural em que aparecem e se desenvolvem. Da teoria das representações sociais de Moscovici são trazidos conceitos como de pensamento natural, polifasia cognitiva, objetivação, ancoragem e influência social a fim de compreender a formação de representações sociais e do pensar. O pensamento múltiplo se manifesta através de lógicas diferenciadas adequadas à diversidade de situações que são experienciadas, não rejeita o pensamento mágico, usado nas questões do dia-a-dia, ou o pensamento científico, necessário em ambientes acadêmicos, bem como abraça a inteligência e criatividade aplicadas ao fazer e saber plurais.

A cognitive mess: Mixed feelings about wind farms on the Danish coast and the emotions of energy infrastructure opposition

The majority of local respondents in a large-scale survey were in favour of planned local wind farms on the Danish coast, despite these wind farm plans being the source of wider public and political contestation and opposition. Here we discuss results from the open-ended questions in the survey, specifically focusing on comments expressing how some respondents felt split in their views of these wind farms, accepting the need for renewable energy while at the same time being concerned about the potential local impact of the wind farms. Building on previous theoretical propositions relating to energy infrastructure opposition, here we apply the concept of cognitive polyphasia in some depth, providing a socio-cognitive account of the internal contradiction of being positively disposed to renewable energy in principle, but concerned about or opposed to specific developments in localities. We distinguish a cognitive polyphasic account of such mixed feelings from cognitive dissonance accounts, and we identify several types of polyphasic representations, providing a basis for further work in other cases.

Dissonance and Polyphasia as Strategies for Resolving the Potential Conflict Between Science and Religion Among South Africans

A majority of South Africans agrees that when science and religion conflict, religion is always right. Is this an indication the public is anti-science or does the question wording hide a more complex relationship? We examined the relationship between science and religion in South Africa using quantitative data from the World Values Survey and qualitative data from face-to-face interviews. As research on the potential conflict between science and religion is predominantly focused on Western countries, the present study focuses on Africa and compares results with those of two Western countries. Findings show that almost 76% South Africans agree that religion is always right and religious belief, social trust and education were significant predictors of this perception. Comparing findings with data from Zimbabwe, the United States and Germany, we found that while the influence of religiosity is significant across countries, comparatively, trust seems to be more of an African issue. The qualitative interviews, however, provided an elaboration of the relationship between science and religion in South Africa, indicating that choosing either science or religion is not always an outright rejection of the other. The relationships were classified as those informed by cognitive dissonance, often expressed in hierarchical associations, and those influenced by cognitive polyphasia, a complementary and transformative coexistence.

Cognitive Polyphasia, Social Representations and Political Participation in Adolescents.

Studies conducted in the last few decades show that young people have a negative evaluation of politics since they relate it to conventional forms of participation. In addition, they engage in unconventional forms of political participation, though they do not think of them as political practices. In this context, a qualitative study was carried out in order to describe the social representations of politics through the narratives provided by adolescents during an interview based on Piaget's clinical method. The results obtained reveal the coexistence of two representations of politics: a conventional and an unconventional one. The representation in which politics is mainly understood as conventional forms of participation appears to be hegemonic, although a polemic unconventional representation was identified. Moreover, in many of the subjects both representations coexist in state of cognitive polyphasia that express a relation of selective prevalence between them, depending on the discursive context they are elicited.