1. Cristina Grabovschi
Doctorante en Sciences humaines appliquées
Milton N. Campos
Professeur, Département de communication

2.  - which representations of food and nutrition
could be understood as social
representations;
 - if children’s age and cultural background
interfere in the construction of those
representations.

4. Individual, social and cultural factors
Food’s cost and availability
Media
National and regional policies on nutrition
The eating behaviors

7.  understanding food and nutrition and their
symbolism in all their dimensions (cognitive,
emotional, social)
 taking into account their collective
construction
The representation – individual
- social

8. The socialized
representation :
 individual mental
representation
 socially produced
 concerning a social
object
The social
representation :
 the dynamic (and
shared by social
groups) sets of ideas,
communications,
values, etc
 helping the reality
interpretation
 applying to specific
reality areas and
activities
 (Moscovici,
1961/1976)

9. The core:
 a stable and coherent
structure made of
unifying and stabilizing
elements;
 has an organizing
function.
The peripheral zone:
 includes more
diversified and flexible
elements;
 «protects» the core of
conflicting information;
 allows the subject to
adapt to everyday
situations.

10.  If the individual representations of
food in children are initially socialized
representations, then these
representations transform into social
representations as the child
progresses in age.

11.  theory that deals with the operations of
thought expressed through "natural
language";
 takes into account not only the forms of
thinking, but also its content;
 starts from the premise that ‘every action,
every behaviour, and, in particular, each
discourse, is based on the mental model of a
specific reality’ (Grize, 1996,p. 3).

12. This mental model is expressed in the
communication process by a number of
operations called:
 ‘logical’ (because they are thinking
operations) and
 ‘discursive’ (because the thought is
expressed through discourse).

13.  « the primitive notions » = complex
representations of physico-cultural
traits
 « object’s sheaf* » = the
constellation of all the objects
surrounding the primitive notion and
the relations between them.
*«faisceau» in French

14. Alex (12 y.o.) "A child who does not eat well is very
fat, even obese, because he consumes a lot of junk
food, that is: chemical food, fats and genetically
modified foods (...)."
 The operation α (alpha) on the objects:
α (X) → O 1 {child} (extracts a primitive notion)
α (X) → O2 {junk food}
 The operation θ (theta) «restates» the object:
θ0(O) → θ0
1{he}

15. Alex (12 y.o.) "A child who does not eat well is very
fat, even obese, because he consumes a lot of junk
food, that is: chemical food, fats and genetically
modified foods (...)."
 The operation η (eta) (on the predicates):
η(X) → P1{± to eat well}→± to eat well (X,●)
(meaning that the text expresses only one
possibility: " not eating well"
η (X) → P2 (±) → ± to consume (●, X) (the text
expresses only one possibility: "consumes")

16. Alex (12 y.o.) "A child who does not eat well is very fat, even
obese, because he consumes a lot of junk food, that is:
chemical food, fats and genetically modified foods (...)."
 The operation δ (gamma) on the «sheaves» (the
objects that surround the primitve notion) - There are
4 operations gamma:
γ1 (O2) → γ 1
1 {junk food; chemical food, fats,
genetically modified foods) (introduces parts of the
object)
γ2 (O 1)
2 → γ1
2{child; fat, obese } (marks the object’s
internal process)
γ3 (O 1)
3 → γ1
3 {child; very fat, even obese) (marks a
state of the object)
γ4 (O2) → γ1
4 {junk food; lots of junk) (marks a
dimension, a plurality of the object)

17.  Canadian, Romanian and Romanian-
born Canadian children of three age
groups (7-8 years, 9-10 years and
11-12 years)
 individual interviews conducted in a
semi directive manner, inspired by the
clinical interview of Piaget (1932).

18.  The children spontaneously
associate "eating well" with
healthy eating, and "not eating
well" with junk food;
 There is evidence of social
representations even at the
youngest ages;

19. The social
representation of
healthy eating
(the core)
The social
representation of junk
food
(the core)
Canada -«balanced diet»
-«diversified foods»
-«sweets»
-«fatty foods»
(obesity)
- «soft drinks»
Romania -«vitamins»
-«natural foods»
-«meals cooked at
home»
-«food too fatty,
too sweet or too
salty»
-«eating at fast-
food»
- The «Es»*

20. The children from the same
cultural background
generally share the same
core of the social
representation, regardless
of their age.

21.  Differences are observed in the peripheral
zone:
The elements of the peripheral zone of the
representations belonging to older children
are more numerous and richer in vocabulary,
argumentation and natural logic operations
involved.