the development of children’s representations of food and nutrition
TRANSCRIPT
The development of children’s representations
of food and nutritionCristina Grabovschi
Doctorante en Sciences humaines appliquéesMilton N. Campos
Professeur, Département de communication
- 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.
To determine :
Individual, social and cultural factors
Food’s cost and availability
Media
National and regional policies on nutrition
The eating behaviors
How to improve the children’s eating habits?
The eating habits cannot be changed either by
decree or by propaganda.
understanding food and nutrition and their symbolism in all their dimensions (cognitive, emotional, social)
taking into account their collective construction
The representation – individual - social
Distinction between: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)
The social representation 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.
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.
Hypothesis :
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).
The Natural Logic (J.-B. Grize)
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).
The Natural Logic (J.-B. Grize)
« 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
The Natural Logic (J.-B. Grize)
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}
Example of application of the NL to the
analysis of discourse
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")
Example of application of the NL to the
analysis of discourse
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 11 {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 → γ13 {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)
Example of application of the NL to the analysis of discourse
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).
Sampling and data collection techniques
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;
Partial Results:
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»*
The children from the same cultural background generally share the same core of the social representation, regardless of their age.
Conclusions
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.
Conclusions
