ИСТИНА

The interaction between a person and social environment is mediated by visual information usually placed in electronic gadgets. Thereby, a photograph is a unique source of information we can apply to social phenomena research. In response to the question: "what is happiness?" a person refers to the knowledge of common sense: its’ content, functions and reproduction of this knowledge are socially determined. Therefore it would be appropriate to consider the notion of happiness within the concept of social representations. In this study the visual analysis of social representations of happiness was conducted. It revealed the research potential of the method and allowed us to get closer to the understanding of what people call "happiness". The methodological purpose of the present study was to reveal the research potential of visual analysis in the investigation of social representations of happiness. The empirical aim of the study was to describe the content of social representations of happiness. We used visual analysis (P. Sztompka). The sample (n=7) consisted of young people from a variety of fields. The analysis of photo reports on the theme "happiness" was realized. The interpretation of an image consisted of four stages: hermeneutic, semiotic, structural and discursive. The emotional component of representations can be traced by warm and bright colors. The visual data interpretation reflected meaningful interrelations of the phenomenon and revealed the structure of social representations of happiness: 1. The core of the social concept of happiness is significant others: family, friends, romantic partner, children, pets. 2. The periphery of representation is traveling, spiritual development, creative selfrealization, success in favourite work. The present analysis of the photographs allowed us to identify the component which ties together the contents of social representations of happiness. This element is the material well-being of the person. The methodological conclusion is that it is necessary to use the visual method of research when we study deep and complex sociopsychological phenomena. It is possible when the combination of discourse and non-verbalized information is realized. The second conclusion is that the social representation of happiness is a phenomenon with certain emotional variations and complex structure.