Representações sociais, relações intergrupos e identidades profissionais dos psicólogos

Abstract

The present work aims to analyse the relationship between the activities of psychologists, according to their respective professional fields, ad their representations of Psychology. Fifty psychologists were studied, equally distributed by five professional fields: clinical, therapeutical, organizational, educational and social psychology. Kelly’s Grid Technique was used in order to gather five hundred constructs characterizing representations of one’s professional activity and the representations of the praxis of the above mentioned professional groups. The five hundred constructs were subjected to content analysis aiming their clustering in closed categories. Those which were produced by at least 20% of the subjects were selected for further comparison and analysis. The author computed several individual and group indicators concerning the professional praxis and representations of the psychologists. The resulting matrices were subsequently subjected to Correspondence Analysis, looking for the structures of the real and the ideal practices of the several professional groups and members of each group as well. Results pertaining to the professional satisfaction and frustration, and also to the cohesion and identity of each group, are discussed. The final conclusions discuss what seems to be the major gap factor which dominates the representations and praxis of psychologists. The individual-centered versus the social phenomena and processes-centered standpoints in Psychology.