Abstract

LOPEZ GOMEZ, María del Pilar  and  MARIN BAENA, Ricardo Antonio. Theoretical and empiracal review from the psychology of Social Representations of Aging and Old Age in Latin America and Spain (2009-2013). Rev. Cient. Gen. José María Córdova [online]. 2016, vol.14, n.17, pp.155-202. ISSN 1900-6586.

In recent years the presence of people over 60 is growing rapidly in Latin American countries, with a tendency to triple in the next twenty years, due to the high life expectancy in some countries, and low mortality rates. Considering the implications that aging of the population generates, the society through the academy is interested to understand and comprehend this complex reality. From the psychology there is particular interest in investigating what is the thinking about aging and old age as social objects, considering that what is thinking about an object, whether real or imaginary, configures a reality regarding of itself. As such, this paper report the scientific production realized in Latin America and Spain, around social representations of aging and old age by psychology professionals; It was considered a period of five years between 2009 and 2013. For this compilation are considered papers published in scientific journals, dissertations, master's theses, dissertations, papers, book chapters, books and abstracts, whose search was done physically and virtually in specialized journals with the help of the search engine Google Scholar; for this, it was necessary to define categories of social thought as: attitude, belief, stereotypes, prejudice, ideology, image, social imaginary, myth, perception, social perception and social representation. After analyzing a total of 45 documents it was identified, mostly produced by female researchers. Most production is in countries like Colombia and Spain, followed by Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. The most used category of social thought is social representations; furthermore, the low participation of professionals in psychology who attend undergraduate level evidenced and described other aspects that complement the issues raised, to which recommendations are made regarding the present and future of aging and old age.

Keywords : vieillissement; vieillesse; cycle de vie; durée de vie; parcours de vie; les représentations sociales; les attitudes; les stéréotypes.

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