Dr Luiz Silva Souza
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Faculty of Business and Social Sciences
- Department of Psychology
- School of Law, Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Penrhyn Road
Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology
About
I trained as a social psychologist in Brazil with a PhD internship at Aix-Marseille University, in France. My teaching, research and knowledge exchange activities have centred on social psychology, health psychology, and group dynamics. I investigated the social representations and practices toward alcoholism in Primary Health Care. In collaboration with a Primary Health Care Centre, I implemented health promotion groups focused on alcoholism and masculinity. My current research focuses on social movements and political action. I am also conducting a study on attitudes toward animal research. I am interested in social representations, social identities, social practices, participant observation, psychosocial interventions, action research, the social psychology of human-animal relations, and veganism. I am enthusiastic about the application of social psychology to real-world problems and the contribution of critical social psychology to the analysis of ideology in daily life.
Qualifications
- PhD in Psychology, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil
- MSc in Psychology, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil
- BSc in Psychology, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil
Domains
Souza, L. G. S., & O'Dwyer, E. (2022). Social Distance and Social Connection: A Psychosocial Approach to the Community Responses to Covid-19. In E. O'Dwyer, & L. G. S. Souza (Eds.). Psychosocial Perspectives on Community Responses to Covid-19. Networks of Trust and Social Change (pp. 1-12). Routledge.
O'Dwyer, E., & Souza, L. G. S. (2022). Psychological, social, and political implications of UK Covid-19 mutual aid groups. In E. O'Dwyer & L. G. S. Souza (Eds.). Psychosocial perspectives on community responses to Covid-19: Networks of trust and social change (pp. 133-144). Routledge.
E. O'Dwyer & L. G. S. Souza (Eds.). (2022). Psychosocial perspectives on community responses to Covid-19: Networks of Trust and Social Change. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003301905
Souza, L. G. S., & O'Dwyer, E. (2022). Animal rights, environment, or health? Effects of argument type and dissonance on the attitudes toward the consumption of animals. Appetite, 176, 106129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106129
O'Dwyer, E., Souza, L. G. S., & Beascoechea-Seguí, N. (2022). Rehearsing post-Covid-19 citizenship: Social representations of UK Covid-19 mutual aid. British Journal of Social Psychology, 61(4), 1245-1262. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12535
Souza, L. G. S., O'Dwyer, E., Coutinho, S. M. S., Chaudhuri, S., Rocha, L. L., & Souza, L. P. (2021). Social representations and ideology: Theories of common sense about COVID-19 among middle-class Brazilians and their ideological implications. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 9(1), 105-122. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.6069
O'Dwyer, E., Beascoechea-Seguí, N., & Souza, L. G. S. (2021). The amplifying effect of perceived group politicization: Effects of group perceptions and identification on anxiety and coping self-efficacy among members of UK COVID-19 mutual aid groups. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 32(3), 423-437. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2582
Hanson, K., O'Dwyer, E., Chaudhuri, S., Souza, L. G. S., & Vandrevala, T. (2021). Mitigating the identity and health threat of COVID-19: Perspectives of middle-class South Asians living in the UK. Journal of Health Psychology, 27(9), 2147-2160. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053211027626
Souza, L. G. S., Atkinson, A., & Montague, B. (2020). Perceptions about veganism. (Peer-Reviewed Technical Report) Birmingham, UK: The Vegan Society. 50p. https://www.vegansociety.com/get-involved/research/research-projects/perceptions-about-veganism
Souza, L. G. S. (2020). Places from which we speak: The concepts of consensual and reified universes and the interpretation of the outcomes obtained with ALCESTE and IRAMUTEQ. Papers on Social Representations, 29(2), 11.1-11.25. https://psr.iscte-iul.pt/index.php/PSR/article/view/504/466
Specialisms
- Social Psychology
- Health Psychology
Societal impact
From 2010 to 2013, I developed a program of research and psychosocial intervention in partnership with a Brazilian primary health care Centre. This program included the investigation of social representations and social practices toward alcoholism, masculinity, and male patients, as well as action research. In partnership with health care professionals, I set up a series of interventions to approach the working-class male population covered by the mentioned health Centre, especially alcoholic men (action research published as a peer-reviewed article: https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-3703001562013). This research program included quantitative and qualitative studies and contributed to the construction of new spaces of care for the male population living in the nearby underserved communities and played an important role in challenging the gender (masculinity) stereotypes constructed by the health professionals themselves.
From 2013 to 2018, I coordinated the practices of psychology students in educational and social welfare services in collaboration with their professional teams, in the city of Campos, Brazil. The psychosocial interventions included professional guidance workshops with students in secondary education and operative groups with mothers of people with learning disabilities and with adolescents at risk.
Academic impact
- Associate Editor of the journal Papers on Social Representations, published by the ISCTE-IUL (Portugal), LSE (UK), and Johannes Kepler Universität (Austria).
- Consulting Editor of the journal Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations, published by the PHAIR Society.
- Member of the Vegan Society (UK) Researcher Network.
- Researcher invited by The Vegan Society (UK) to coordinate the study Perceptions about Veganism (2019, technical report).
- From 2012 to 2016, at the Postgraduate Program in Psychology of the Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil, supervision of one concluded PhD thesis and five concluded Masters dissertations.
Head of Department at Fluminense Federal University, Brazil (2017-2018)
Coordinator of Practices in Psychology (students' internships) at Fluminense Federal University, Brazil (2020-2022)
Publications
Psychosocial perspectives on community responses to Covid-19 : networks of trust and social change
O'Dwyer, Emma and Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo (2022). London, U.K.: (Routledge)
O alcoolismo, suas causas e tratemento nas representacoes sociais de profissionais de Saude da Familia = Alcoholism, its causes and treatment in the social representations constructed by Brazilian Family Health professionals
Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo, Menandro, Maria Cristina Smith and Menandro, Paulo Rogerio Meira, 2015, Physis : Revista de Saude Coletiva (25), 4, pp 1335-1360
Intervencoes Psicossociais para Promocao da Saude do Homen em Unidade de Saude da Familia = Psychosocial interventions to promote Men's Health in Family Health Centers = Intervenciones Psicosociales para la Promocion de la Salud del Hombre en Centros de Salud de la Familia
Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo, Meireles, Analice Alcantara, Tavares, Kaylla Maria Castro and Menandro, Maria Cristina Smith, 2015, Psicologia: Ciencia e Profissao (35), 3, pp 932-945
Polifasia cognitiva nas representacoes sociais do alcoolismo = Cognitive polyphasia in the social representations of alcoholism
Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo, Menandro, Maria Cristina Smith and Menandro, Paulo Rogerio Meira, 2015, Psicologia e Saber Social (4), 2, pp 224-245
Saude mental na estrategia saude da familia : revisao da literatura brasileira = Mental health in the Family Health Strategy : a review of Brazilian literature
Souza, Luiz Gustavo Silva, Menandro, Maria Cristina Smith, Couto, Leandra Lucia Moraes, Schimith, Polyana Barbosa and de Lima, Rebeca Panceri, 2012, Saude e Sociedade (21), 4, pp 1022-1034
Social distance and social connection : a psychosocial approach to the community responses to Covid-19
Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo and O'Dwyer, Emma (2022). In: O'Dwyer, Emma, (eds.) and Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo, (eds.), Psychosocial perspectives on community responses to Covid-19 : networks of trust and social change. London, U.K.: Routledge
Perceptions about veganism
Silva Souza, Luiz Gustavo, Atkinson, Arabella and Montague, Brendan (2020). Birmingham, U.K.: (The Vegan Society)