Image based methodology in social psychology: Research through aesthetic experience in the relation of environment-image-body.

Abstract

This project follows the inquiry of images in the field of social psychology. In this field, image plays different roles: the illustration of psychological discourse; the investigation of the imaginary; the register of research field; and also it's a tool for social intervention. All of these specific roles require a hermeneutic exercise and the understanding of social meanings. The project circumscribes the iconological method, particularly, working through the social psychology field in a critical perspective. The resumption of iconology was remarkable in the last decades and it expresses implications with psychology in terms and concepts, nevertheless, the majority of studies comes from other fields as art history and sociology. The task of this project is placed on theoretical-methodological inquiry and on the empirically based research. Into a phenomenological approach, the main concept became "aesthetic experience". Aesthetic experience here doesn't concern only artistic objects, but also the vast domain of sensory meaning. In this context, the image phenomenon could be the study of social processes in which the image is not just a physical thing, but a movement between the iconic object, the body experience and the mental images of the observers. Thus, the aim is to understand the transformation of image in the social life. This social iconology tries to develop a methodology focused on the interaction between environment-image-body, through a descriptive phenomenology and a social-environmental aesthetic approach. Nowadays the research takes place at Ribeira Valley (a coastline region in the State of São Paulo, Brazil). The project follows three propositions: the scope of visual research method in social psychology; the focus on aesthetic experience; and the training of staff based on the dialogue between researchers and community. (AU)