Estereotipos sociales y uso de modelos mentales semánticos. Implicaciones didácticas para la formación ciudadana

Abstract

This work is intended to analyse, on the one hand, the underlying semantic mental models that are present to a greater extent in the discourses about some vulnerable groups in the Chilean context provided by university students, and, on the other hand, to detect how such models have an influence on the construction of social stereotypes. At the same time, I review the possible didactic consequences of the identification of semantic mental models with regard to the development of the social, civic, and intercultural competences, as well as their practical inputs for Citizenship Education from the approach of the Didactics of Social Sciences. The methodological approach is qualitative and based on the case study in education with epistemological commitment to constructivism. The techniques used for data collection were versions of “Linda Problem”, open-ended questionnaries, in-depth interviews, participant observation, and focus group discussions. The analytical techniques applied were that of the conventional content analysis provided by Hsieh & Shannon (2005), and that of the approach to qualitative content analysis given by Cho & Lee (2014). In addition, to detect the semantic models, studies such as those of Johnson- Laird (1983, 2006, 2010; Orenes y Johnson-Laird, 2012; Khemlani, Barbey y Johnson-Laird, 2014) were considered. The results suggest that it is possible to detect semantic models in the discourse of young people, and that most of their responses are linked to stereotypes based on gender, age, ethnicity and employment. From the above analysis one can conclude that the stereotypes correspond to only one possibility or semantic mental model related to information that is present in beliefs that the students already implicitly and explicitly hold. Besides, it can be thought that the detection of semantic mental models in analysis referred to social world and their incorporation into proposals for the topics of Citizenship Education and Didactics on Social Sciences are possible.