Applying Social Psychology: From Problems to Solutions (SAGE Social Psychology Program)

How would you tackle problems related to prejudice at schools? How do you get the public to engage in health and pro-environmental activities? There are many students today who are interested in applying social psychological theory to such areas as law and order, health and environment, work and organizations, yet there is no easy path from theory to practice.

This comprehensive book introduces a new methodological approach, the PATH model, which offers a simple, systematic, step-by-step, easy-to-use methodology for applying social psychological theories to tackle a diversity of social issues. It helps and guides students to define a problem, conduct a theory-based analysis, develop an explanatory model, and then set up and follow through a research project. Applying Social Psychology: From Problem to Solution can be used by introductory level students upwards who want to understand how questions are formulated by social psychologists, and how these are followed through to explanation.

Key Features

• Offers a new methodological model put forward by the authors (PATH model)
• Presents real world case studies
• Includes end of chapter exercises
• Provides interviews with leading social psychologists
• Gives recommended further reading

This wide-ranging text is useful for any course in applied psychology at both the undergraduate and graduate level in such areas as health, forensic, environmental, industrial, and organizational psychology.

Abraham (Bram) P. Buunk has been an Academy Professor in Evolutionary Social Psychology at the University of Groningen, on behalf of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), since 2005. His main current interest is the application of evolutionary theorizing to human social behaviour. He has published over 6500 articles and chapters on a large variety of topics, on applied topics, including professional burnout, jealousy, absenteeism, AIDS-prevention, loneliness, depression, marital satisfaction, well-being among the elderly, interpersonal violence, psychological effects of oral contraception, and coping with cancer. He wais co-editor of Health, coping and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997), and Applied Social Psychology (Cambridge University Press, 201708). He has served, among others, on scientific boards for the Dutch Cancer Foundation (NKB-KWF) and the Dutch AIDS Foundation. He was a member of the Programme Committee on Evolution and Behaviour of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Currently AbrahamBram Buunk is conducting research particularly in Latin America on various applied psychology themes, including domestic violence, and mate choice, from an evolutionary perspective. He is Visiting Professor at the Universidad Católica in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Associate Researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute. He received in 2012 the distinction of Honorary Professor at the Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria (Arequipa, Peru).

Mark van Vugt is Professor of Evolutionary, Work and Organizational Psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and director of the Amsterdam Leadership Lab. He holds an honorary position at the University of Oxford. Mark started his academic studies in Psychology in the Netherlands and worked at various universities in the UK, before returning to his birth country to take on a professorship in Psychology. He has published over 200 articles in major outlets such as Nature, Psychological Science, Psychological Bulletin, American Psychologist and The Leadership Quarterly on various fundamental and applied themes in evolutionary, social, and organizational psychology, including leadership and organizational behavior, altruism and cooperation, social identity and intergroup conflict, sex differences, environmental sustainability, water conservation and transportation. He is former Associate Editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and current Senior Editor of The Leadership Quarterly. He is author and co-author of several popular science books such as “Naturally Selected,” “Mismatch,” and his latest “Lucy, Darwin and Lady Gaga.” Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Academy for Arts and Commerce (UK) and Fellow of the Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW). He writes columns and blogs for various national and international media outlets about applied psychology.