The article proposes a technique to describe social representations structure from free evocation data, the INCEV, an index which evaluates representational element centralities taking into account their frequencies, unconditionality and importance. An empiric study was carried out concerning the social representation on aging, comparing INCEV results to those of Vergès' prototypical analysis and questioning (MEC) techniques. The main data collection took place with a sample of 218 undergraduate students, who answered to an evocation questionnaire about the word aging and evaluated each response concerning importance and the possibility of the object keeping his/her identity without the provided word. INCEV results were closer to MEC's than those derived from prototypical analysis. It is concluded that the INCEV presents evidences of validity and pertinence, having as an advantage the inclusion of central core theory principles on the first representation description.
Structural approach; social representations; evocations; aging
