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Sociale Omgeving & Gedrag
Applied Social Psychology
Chapter 1. Introduction to Applied Social Psychology……………………………….……………………..2
Chapter 2. The Use of Theory in Applied Social Psychology………………………………………………3
Chapter 3. Applications of Social Psychology to increase the impact of
behaviour-focused intervention………………………………………………………………..5
Chapter 4. The Dilemmatics Approach to Applied Research Design: a case
study of violent video game effects and aggression……………………………….….6
Chapter 5. The Social Psychology of Consumer Behaviour…………………………………………….….7
Chapter 6. Social Psychology and Development Aid………………………………………………..………..8
Chapter 7. Social Psychology and Economic Behaviour: Heuristics and
Biases in Decision-Making and Judgement…………………………………………………9
Chapter 8. Applying Social Psychology to the Classroom………………………………………………….10
Chapter 9. Social Psychology and Environmental Problems……………………………………………..11
Chapter 10. Social Psychology of Health and Illness…………………………………………………………14
Chapter 11. Social Psychology and Immigration: Relations between
Immigrants and Host Societies………………………………………………………………….17
Chapter 12. Social Psychology and Mental Health…………………………………………………………..19
Chapter 13. Explaining Crime over the Life Course………………………………………………………….21
Chapter 14. The Social Psychology of Organizations………………………………………………………..23
Chapter 15. Social Psychology and political behaviour…………………………………………………….24
Chapter 16. Social Sport and Exercise Psychology……………………………………………………………27
Chapter 17. Social Psychology and Driving Behaviour……………………………………………………..29
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Chapter 1. Introduction to Applied Social Psychology
Social psychology is the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of
human behaviour and thought in social situations, and the motivations, cognitions, and
emotions related to such behaviors. This includes behavior and thoughts related to helping,
attraction, conflict, prejudice, self-esteem, group processes, and social exclusion. Applied
scientists should focus their efforts on aspects of a social problem where they would have
the most impact in improving the relevant problems.
Applied social psychology is the systematic application of social psychological constructs,
principles, theories, intervention techniques, research methods, and research findings to
understand or ameliorate social problems. Constructs are the building blocks of
psychological principles and theories. A construct refers to a clearly defined individual
characteristic that is generally latent and thus not directly observable, although it can be
assessed through interviews of questionnaires. A principle is a statement of how
psychological process works:
Foot-in-the-door technique: involves making a small request, followed by a larger
related request withing a short period. Those who agreed to the small request are
much more likely to comply with the larger request.
Cognitive dissonance: the uncomfortable tension that can result from having two
conflicting thoughts at the same time.
Availability heuristic: the tendency to judge the likelihood or frequency of an event
by the ease with which relevant instances come to mind.
A theory is an integrated set of principles that describes, explains, and predicts observed
events. Theories provide explanations for our observations, and enable us to predict future
events.
Basic and applied social psychology differ in two important aspects
Basic social psychology:
- Interested in developing and testing theories
- Deductive approach: they start with a particular theory, and examine to what extent
the theory may be helpful in understanding various types of social behaviour.
Applied social psychology:
- Focus on understanding and resolving practical problems
- Inductive approach: they start from a specific social problem, and examine to what
extent various theories may help to understand this specific problem and which
theory provides the best explanation of the particular behaviour causing the
problems.
Theories are very useful in understanding causes of social problems, and may suggest
techniques by which such problems can be solved.
Both basic and applied social psychology are sciences. The term science refers to: reliance of
scientific methods and guidance by the core values of science. Scientific methods are those
methods that depend on empirical tests, that is, the use of systematic observations to
evaluate propositions and ideas. A core set of values should be adopted to qualify a study as
scientific nature. Four of these values are most important: accuracy, objectivity, scepticism
and open-mindedness.
There are four main goals of science: description, prediction, causality, and explanation.
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Social psychologists are primarily interested in understanding the many factors and
conditions that affect the behaviour and thoughts of individuals. Behaviour and thoughts are
shaped by many different factors.
- Individual factors: refer to intrapersonal characteristics and processes. They may
exist in cognitive processes, emotions, and in the extent to which people engage in
behaviour.
- Social factors: pertain to the effect of the opinions and actions of other people on
our behaviour, thoughts and feelings.
- Situational factors: reflect contextual factors that may affect our behaviour and
thoughts. The physical world may strongly affect our behaviour, thoughts, and
feelings.
- Cultural factors: refer to cultural values or norms that affect cognitions, feelings and
behaviour.
- Biological factors: pertain to the effect of biological processes and genetic factors on
our behaviour, feelings, and thoughts.
Features of applied social psychology: the role of personal values, the use of multiple
theories, intervention techniques, and research methods, interdisciplinary research, field
settings and social utility. There are three major roles for applied social psycholgists:
researcher, consultant, and policy advisor.
Chapter 2. The Use of Theory in Applied Social Psychology
There are three primary functions of theory in applied social psychology: understanding (U),
solution (S), and evaluation (E).
- They help make sense of social behaviour (understand)
- They guide and inform the development of interventions intended to address a social
problem (solve)
- They can be tested for practicality and usefulness in the real world (evaluate)
A theory is an organized set of principles that describes, explains and predicts observed
events.
- Principles describe a specific process, and they are often integrated into theories.
- A hypothesis is a testable prediction derived from a theory.
- A model is a framework that integrates theories and principles.
- A construct refers to the inferred affective, cognitive, or motivational aspects of
human behaviour.
The rational choice theory maintains that individuals are motivated to promote their self-
interests. The constructs are costs and rewards.
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We will review the major theoretical areas of social psychology, focusing on thinking,
influence, and relationships.
Social thinking Social Influence Social relationships
Focus of To describe how To describe how the To describe what makes
theories people appraise social environment people relate to each
themselves and their changes an individual’s other positively and
social world thoughts, feelings negatively
and/or behaviours
Types of Attributions, cogntivie Obedience, Ingroup/outgroup
theories dissonance theory, compliance, biases, stereotypes,
attitudes, theory of elaboration likelihood prejudice,
planned behaviour model discrimination, contact
theory, prosocial
behaviour
Application To design tools or To design interventions To design interventions
of theories interventions that that promote specific that improve social
describe, predict, or behaviour relationships.
change social
appraisals
Social thinking theories:
Attribution theory: the tendency to give causal explanations for the behaviour of
ourselves and others.
o Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to overestimate the influence of
personality variables and underestimate the influence of the situational
variables when explaining other people’s behaviours (and vice versa)
Knowledge-deficit model: a theoretical model of behaviour change which posits that
social programmes are underutilized because individuals lack knowledge about the
programme or the behaviour.
Cognitive dissonance theory: theory that emphasizes the importance of consistency
in a person’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours.
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB): explains behaviour engagement resulting from
intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control.
Social influence:
Imitation
Conformity
Compliance
Obedience
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM): a framework that distinguishes between the
central and peripheral routes to persuasion.
Social relations:
Contact hypothesis: the theory that bringing members of conflicting groups together
will reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations.
Dual concern model: a strategic choice model that predicts when a person will yield,
choose inaction, contend, or problem-solve in response to a conflict of interest.
