Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: BRUNO CORREIA DA MOTA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : BRUNO CORREIA DA MOTA
DATE: 25/06/2026
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Plataforma Google Meet da UFRRJ
TITLE:

Becoming an Image: Avatar, Racism, and Psychology Training – A Jungian Investigation with The Sims 4

KEY WORDS:

Gamification; The Sims 4; Avatar; Ethnic-racial relations; Analytical Psychology; Psychology education; Racialized self-image.

PAGES: 123
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUBÁREA: Psicologia Experimental
SPECIALTY: Estados Subjetivos e Emoção
SUMMARY:

This doctoral research project is guided by the following research problem: how can gamification, through the creation of avatars in the digital game The Sims 4, foster processes of reflection and elaboration of racialized self-image within undergraduate Psychology education? The general objective is to analyze avatar creation in The Sims 4 as a gamified and imagetic resource for formative mediation, aimed at supporting a proposal for anti-racist Psychology education articulated with subjectivation, self-image, and ethnic-racial relations. The research understands racism as a producer of subjectivity, psychological suffering, and persistent narcissistic wounds, dialoguing with Carl Gustav Jung’s Analytical Psychology — especially the concepts of persona, shadow, cultural complex, symbol, and transcendent function — and with contributions from Black Brazilian and diasporic thought, including Frantz Fanon, Grada Kilomba, Neusa Santos Souza, Sueli Carneiro, and Fanny Brewster. It also incorporates critiques of digital colonialism and of the historical limitations of racial representation in electronic games.Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach guided by a symbolic-archetypal perspective, with a gamified workshop conducted with undergraduate Psychology students. The workshop will be organized into three stages: (a) the creation of two avatars in The Sims 4’s Create-A-Sim mode, one related to how the participant perceives themselves in the present and another linked to an idealized, alternative, or possible version of themselves; (b) the production of written narratives and participation in individual interviews; and (c) the conduction of reflective focus groups. The material produced — images, narratives, and verbal accounts — will be analyzed through thematic analysis, image interpretation, symbolic amplification, and articulation with the Jungian concepts mobilized in the research. The thesis is expected to contribute to the systematization of theoretical and methodological guidelines for anti-racist Psychology education, demonstrating the distinctive potential of gamification with avatars in The Sims 4 as a formative resource capable of shifting the racial debate from an exclusively conceptual level to an experience mediated by image, affect, narrative, choice, and critical reflection.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1226849 - NILTON SOUSA DA SILVA
Externo ao Programa - 6362662 - NILTON JOSE RIZZO - UFRRJExterno à Instituição - SOL PINHEIRO KLAPZTEIN
Externo à Instituição - Jeffersom Oliveira Da Silva
Externo à Instituição - José Jorge de Morais Zacharias