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In this work, the main definitions of the « representation » notion are presented, in different fields of psychology : general psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology. Similarities and specificities are drawn and prospects for research in developmental psychology are suggested.

For a Cognitive Sociology of Political Competence
Alfredo Joignant
The concept of "political competence" has for a long time remained forgotten by political scientists. Wrongfully so. As a matter of fact, this notion has been rediscovered by the sociology of labor, in France. In the United States, it has been revisited by the cognitive schools of social psychology (schema theory, social cognition) in order to make sense of the complex relationships that ordinary citizens establish with politics in this field and with its agents. This article deals with the advantages and limits of the concept of political competence, the uses and commitments it authorizes in sociology, social psychology and political science, as well as the controversy it has recently stired.

A socio-psychological approach to intercultural relationships
We will examine the contribution of social psychology to analysis and to the interventions related to psychological and social problems implying a relationship between different cultures. First of all, we examined the term «social psychology». It can be defined as the necessary articulation between the specific operation systems of autonomous organizations on one hand and the social field on the other. Self-representation constitutes a good example of such an articulation. In actual fact, it meets an individual demand in the canonical from «who am I ?» and a set of possible answers which belong to the social field such as : membership of an organization, comparison to others, social standards etc. A number of dysfunctions related to inter-cultural relationships such as delinquency, religious fundamentalism or political extremism, could be described through this pattern.

What relations do the "psy" world & society develop with one another? The authors address this question by looking at mutual transformations between settings which have been emblematic of French "psy" world until the 1980s -- namely asylum, psychoanalysis, & the French "secteur," & bodies of discourses on the social. Three major discourses are considered: discourse on social forces; discourse on, & from, victims; discourse on social precariousness. Drawing upon the articles of this special issue, the authors' contention is that these discourses have been the locus for criticism against the "psy" world, & have been, simultaneously, instrumental in putting "psy" tools into people's hands. As an outcome of this dynamic, we are now witnessing the emergence of new "psy" settings such as psychic suffering, psychic trauma, & "evidence-based psychiatry.". Adapted from the source document.

Continuing Education and Moralization : The Social Function of the Social Psychology of Business.
The aim of the present study is to grasp the relationship between the introduction of techniques inspired by social psychology and the change -or at least the beginning of a change- in the ways of exercizing power in business. The author's observations derive from Personal participation in a program of continuing education or so-called "permanent training". The various stages of this type of training have multiplied since the adoption of the law of 1971, which, it seems, has benefited chiefly managerial and lower-level staff. The study is based on the hypothesis that these stages would be utilized, in a number of cases, as instruments of moralization, designed not so much to provide technical knowledge as to impose a new System of values, itself tied to a new style of command ("non-directiveness", "openess", "creativity", "participation", etc.).
The study focuses, in particular, on a group of lower-level staff who have in common the characteristic of being ill-suited to the posts they hold. The group includes the daughter of a military officer, judged to be too "authoritarian" in her position as head of the typing service, and a programmer of working-class origins who is uncomfortable in his dealings with both his superiors and his subordinates. The author's analysis shows that the social psychology of business probably does not have the power to transform the habitus of the people involved, and thereby to "reform" their behavior in a permanent fashion. All the same, it does possess, at the least, the power of altering their scale of values. As a result, it leads them to recognize the excellence of the new values that "modern" managers of "modern" business concerns have arrogated to themselves. This, perhaps, is the subject's main function.

This article focuses on the famous work of Festinger, Riecken and Schachter When Procecy Fails from three different points of view: first it considers the book as a narrative device (it is an account); secondly, the book is understood from the social psychology environment of the 1950's and its importance in Festinger's work; finally, the article concentrates on the impact of the book in the UFO communities of that time, and particularly on the life of the three prediction enunciators after the researcher's survey. Adapted from the source document.

The territory and intercultural mediation geographical propositions
The geographer considers the material, immaterial and symbolical construction of the relationship with the world on different scales. Stemming from collective knowledge and actions, the social relationship with space is defined as common territory as it results from the acquisition of social practices. In this sense, the territory expresses human representations, attitudes, identities and values, introduces us into the field of social psychology and clarifies the study of the interactions between individuals and groups of different cultures.