Social Psychology of Pictures

Book excerpt: We see and represent our social environment not as it is, but as we believe it to be. This is the thesis defended in this book, supported by conceptual elements and illustrated by numerous examples drawn from anthropology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology and social psychology. These examples show that people sharing different beliefs about the same object produce different images of that object (such as drawings or photos), and highlight that such people interpret the same image of this object differently. Finally, they show that, when these people communicate through images, they find it difficult to understand each other. On the basis of these observations, the book proposes a psychosocial theory of the link between beliefs and iconography. This book is mainly intended for students and researchers in the humanities and social sciences, interested in the problematic of images. However, it will also be of interest to communication practitioners and the general public.