O'Connor, Cliodhna (2017) Embodiment and the Construction of Social Knowledge: Towards an Integration of Embodiment and Social Representations Theory. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 47 (1). pp. 2-24. ISSN 0021-8308

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Abstract

Recent developments in the psychological and social sciences have seen a surge of attention to concepts of embodiment. The burgeoning field of embodied cognition, as well as the long‐standing tradition of phenomenological philosophy, offer valuable insights for theorising how people come to understand the world around them. However, the implications of human embodiment have been largely neglected by one of the key frameworks for conceptualising the development of social knowledge: Social Representations Theory. This article seeks to spark a dialogue between Social Representations Theory and embodiment research. It outlines the position the body occupies in the existing theoretical and empirical social representations literature, and argues that incorporating concepts gleaned from embodiment research may facilitate a more comprehensive account of the aetiology of social representations. The value of analytic attention to embodiment is illustrated with reference to a recent study of social representations of neuroscience, which suggested that embodied experience can shape the extent to which people engage with certain topics, the conditions under which they do so, and the conceptual and affective content of the ensuing representations. The article argues that expanding Social Representations Theory's methodological and conceptual toolkit, in order to illuminate the interplay between embodied experience and social communication in the development of common‐sense knowledge, promises productive directions for empirical and theoretical advancement.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Social representations; embodiment; body; phenomenology;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
Item ID:	11720
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12110
Depositing User:	Cliodhna O'Connor
Date Deposited:	18 Nov 2019 11:41
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour
Publisher:	Wiley
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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