beliefs. This approach has come to be known as the central nucleus theory. Saadi Lahlou explores the relations between social representations and behavior, focusing on eating representations and consumer behaviour. Other important developments have been made by Caroline Howarth in linking Social identity theory with the theory of social representations, by Gerard Duveen in elaborating developmental aspects in relation to the micro-genesis of social representations of gender, by Janos Laszlo and Michael Murray in linking narrative psychology with social representation theory and by Wolfgang Wagner in fathoming the relationship between discursive processes, collective behaviour patterns and the construction of social representations. Status and prevalence Despite its long history, social representation theory is popular mainly among European social psychologists. Two of the classic works in the realm of this theory include Moscovici's own seminal work on representations of psychoanalysis in France, and Denise Jodelet's exemplary study of the social representation of madness. However, the theory is far from being a settled doctrine as it attracts ongoing debate and controversy from both social representationists and other theorists. The theory is less known in the United States, partly because much of Moscovici's original work has been published in French. See also Cognitive polyphasia Social construction of reality Citations Bibliography Gillespie, A. (2008) Social representations, alternative representations and semantic barriers . Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 38, 4, 376–391. Moscovici, Serge (2000) Social representations: Explorations in Social Psychology, Wiley. Wagner, W., Duveen, G., Farr, R., Jovchelovitch, S., et al. (1999) Theory and Method of Social Representations. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2, 95–125. Wagner, W. & Hayes, N. (2005) Everyday Discourse and Common Sense-The Theory of Social Representations. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. External links Journal: Papers on Social Representations Consensus reality Group processes