Em busca da identidade nacional brasileira

Abstract

This study has two objetives: a) to investigate the relationship between national identity, nationalism, patriotism, and essentialism, and b) to verify whether these factors are part of the self-concept of Brazilians. The study included 229 college students from the state of Paraiba, mean age 20 years, SD = 3.6; It is 66 male and 163 female. The results showed that participants had a higher level of identification with the Paraiba region of origin of most participants, compared to Brazil as a nation. The results also suggested that nationalism, patriotism and essentialism are good predictors of national identity, the patriotism is the best of these. The results also showed that brazilians use mainly terms related to physical and psychological aspects to describe themselves, making little use of social categories like self descriptors. Referring to how the participants characterized the Brazil and brazilians, it was observed that the main features that represented Brazil were the natural beauty of the country and social problems, especially corruption. Already referring to the brazilians, they were characterized as mixed race, affectionate and less diligent. This characterization reflects, in part, essentialist character of beliefs, since such descriptors are justified from arguments based on genetic and cultural heritage of Brazil. Future studies may deepen these results can, for example, address the phenomenon of national identity from theories that articulate both intergroup as societal levels.