Social Representations of Body: A Comparison in The Two Generations of Russian Women (Results of an Exploratory Study)

Body is a complex and polymorphic object that lies at the intersection of a number of dimensions: naturalsocial-cultural; individual-social; body-soul; flesh-spirit; private-public; visible-invisible; decent-indecent; real-virtual; health-illness. If the body is in the heart of psychological research, lay thinking analysis rests somewhat in the shadow of this research line. Following the ideas of the social representations theory, the aim of study was to reveal how the body was represented in groups of young and older Russian women. A total sample consisted of 314 Russian females (N=258 females formed the group of young females from 18 to 25 years old, Mage=19.73, SDage =1.56; N=56 females formed the group of older females aged from 39 to 55 years old, Mage=45.63, SDage =4.68). The snowball technique was used in order to recruit the participants, they were invited to fulfil the online questionnaire. A free-association technique was used. The data were analysed by using prototypical analysis. The obtained results shed light on the articulation of the two normative elements health-beauty in the social representations of body in the two generations of Russian women. The comparison of the hypothetical structure of social representations (my body, ideal body, female body) in the two age groups of Russian women reveals several points concerning the lay mentality as a matter of age. A further study to verify the hypothetical structure of the social representations of body in young and older Russian women is needed.