Change in the core and peripheral elements of a social representation after a counter attitudinal essay task

Abstract

Social representations contain two types of elements: a core and peripheral elements. The core is the most stable element. However researchers found (a) that it is possible to modify the core and (b) that the change in the core causes the change in the representation. Our purpose was to analyse the impact of counter attitudinal essay on the central and peripheral elements of a representation. During the first phase of the study, students answered a questionnaire intended to assess the social representation of the delinquency. One month later, the sample was divided into three groups. Subjects in the control condition answered the questionnaire once again. The other subjects had to write a counter attitudinal essay about the core (group 1) and a peripheral element (group 2). Then they answered the questionnaire again. As expected, the changes in the representation were greater in group 1.