Representation

In terms of politics, the term representation can refer to the ability of a particular person in influencing the political press. In arts, the term representation is used to depict the ethical concerns of the construction in the literature and in the visual arts. In the field of psychology, the term representation is used as a hypothetical cognitive symbol which would represent the external reality.  On the other hand in the field of knowledge representation is referred to the formal ways which are used to represent the formal ways that are involved in describing the knowledge. Even the lawyers and advocates provide legal representation which is also called advocacy.

In a political point of view, the topic representation particularly describes the attitude of some individuals who stand in for a group.  In particular, this term refers to the representative democracies in which the official who are elected would speak for the legislature and for their constitution. In common terms, the citizens of a country are granted the permission to vote as to represent the country.

Theories of representation:

There are various theories of representation in a country. They are the formalistic representation, the symbolic representation, the interest model representation, the descriptive representation, and the substantive representation.

The Speech to the Electors at the conclusion of the poll by Edmund Bruke, the British politician in 1774 was noted for the articulation it made in the principle of representation. He said,

“It ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own.”

Representation by population:

In the representation by population, the voters would be electing the representatives. The representative will be chosen on the basis of more or less numerical value of the equivalent blocks of voters.  But, one drawback in here is that this won’t be possible to in regions where travel is difficult.

Descriptive representation:

There is descriptive representation in which the elected representative is not only allowed to represent the expressed preferences of their constituencies but also allowed to represent the politically geographically area of occupation, gender and birth. As per this idea, the elected body is expected to resemble a representative sample with fifty percent of women, twenty percent of blacks.

Questions:

• What is descriptive representation?
• What is the meaning of the term representation in the field of psychology?