Prejudice and Normative Decontextualization: methodological considerations illustrated by the representation of AIDS in Africa and African

Abstract

This article aims to discuss methodological implications of normative decontextualization technique and the control of the presentation order of inductive terms in a free association task, from the study of social representations of AIDS in Africa and the African with 60 Brazilian university students. Two researchers (one Brazilian and one African) applied a word evocation questionnaire with control of the presentation order of the inductors. The correspondence analysis of the lexical fields, by the software Tri-deux-mots, allowed to identify that the manipulated variables activated representational contents that were connected to distinct psychosocial processes: causal attribution and stereotypes production. The expression AIDS in Africa when presented in first order inducts the attribution of the external cause. The expression African inducts the attribution of internal cause. In the presence of the African researcher more positive contents were evoked when compared with the presence of the Brazilian researcher. This stereotype game brings into focus a subtle manifestation of prejudice.