The critical communicative methodology has been developed by the Center of Research in Theories and Practices that Overcome Inequalities, CREA, as a research response to the dialogic turn of societies and sciences. It stresses that egalitarian dialogues between the scientific community and the lifeworld of the researched subjects are necessary to reach greater levels of social justice. For this dialogue to occur, the critical communicative methodology involves participants in all the stages, from the definition of the research questions until the interpretation and dissemination of results. In this article, we explain in depth the critical communicative methodology, its differences with other research approaches, the characteristics of the communicative organization of research studies, the communicative techniques for collecting empirical materials, and the communicative analysis. We also provide examples of the socio-political impact of Spanish and European research studies conducted with the critical communicative methodology to show the multiple ways through which dialogic research contributes to transform reality and improve the lives of the groups studied. The article is also a historical narrative that shows the ongoing development and impact of the critical communicative methodology over its now ten years of history.

Research in psychology has evidenced both the important prevalence of gender-based violence among youth worldwide, and the negative impacts that such violence has on the victims’ mental and physical health. Neuroscience has proven that violent intimate relationships harm the brain, while very simple social experiences can change brain architecture in positive directions. Also, interventions which have demonstrated successful in preventing and responding to gender violence in adolescence have been informed by psychology. This article reviews the social impact of psychology in the field of teen gender violence to later report the potential social impact achieved by an intervention study consisting of seven interventions framed by the research line on preventive socialization of gender violence. The program was addressed to 15 and 16-year-old adolescents and focused on supporting free reconstruction of mental and affective models of attractiveness via critical analysis of the dominant coercive discourse, which links attraction to violence. The communicative methodology involved working with an Advisory Committee since the beginning of the study, as well as continuous dialogue between the researchers and the participants, which was used to refine subsequent interventions. The results show that the program contributed to raise participants’ critical consciousness regarding the dominant coercive discourse in their life, provided the participant subjects with cognitive tools to better understand theirs and others’ sexual-affective thinking, emotions and behaviors, in favor of rejecting violence, and the interventions supported modifying the sexual preferences of female adolescents. Importantly, the findings also indicate that the interventions aided some participants’ use of the knowledge gained in the project to help their friends and communities in reflecting upon coercive patterns of sexual attraction, about the quality of their intimate relationships and their different effect on health. Some individuals reported leaving toxic relationships afterwards. This intervention research illustrates Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s metaphor employed to explain plasticity, as every person, if s/he decides it, can be architect of her or his own brain. With evidence-based cognitive tools at the reach of every adolescent, and upon individual free choice for transformation, a new sexual-affective socialization free from violence is possible.

Violence in sexual-affective relationships among teens and young people is recognized as a social, educational, and health problem that has increased worldwide in recent years. Educational institutions, as central developmental contexts in adolescence, are key in preventing and responding to gender violence through implementing successful actions. In order to scientifically support that task, the research reported in this article presents and discusses a psycho-educational intervention focused on autobiographical memory reconstruction that proved to be successful in raising young women’s critical consciousness about the force of the coercive discourse upon sexual-affective experiences and memories. We examined among a sample of young women (n = 32, age range 17–30) whether reading a scholarly text about love, the Radical Love book, modified autobiographical memories of violent sexual-affective relationships in line with preventing future victimization. This group was compared with a control group (n = 31, age range 17–30). Memory reports were collected before and after the reading and coded to analyze their content, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Memory quality features were assessed with the Memory Quality Questionnaire (MMQ). A focus group was also conducted to examine the personal impact of the intervention on participants. Compared with controls, the experimental group had stronger critical memories (of episodes involving violence), an average decrease in positive emotions induced by recall, and an average increase in negative emotions. The results show the effectiveness of the reading intervention designed in relation to gender violence prevention, as they indicate the ability of the psycho-educational action to debilitate the force of the coercive discourse in young women’s memories. The findings both advance knowledge on the reconstructive nature of autobiographical memories of violent sexual-affective relationships in female youth and indicate the potential of memory-based interventions as an instrument to prevent and reduce gender violence in school contexts. Teachers and teaching staff, and educational psychologists, among others, can benefit from these results by expanding the tools they have to address gender violence among female adolescents and youth.

Research on gender violence has identified as one main component leading to gender violence a dominant socialization process which associates attractiveness to men who show violent behaviors and attitudes, while egalitarian and non-violent men are emptied of attractiveness. This is known as coercive dominant discourse. Starting from the evidence that the peer group is a main context of socialization in adolescence, quantitative data were collected from six classes of secondary education (14–15-year-old adolescents) to explore whether the coercive dominant discourse is displayed in social interactions in the peer group and, if so, how it influences attractiveness patterns and sexual-affective behavior in adolescence. The analyses reveal that the coercive dominant discourse is often reproduced in the peer group interactions, creating group pressure, and pushing some girls to violent relationships. Alternative ways of interaction are also reported, which allow a socialization leading to more freedom, less coercion, and more healthy relationships.