Goals

The focus of the expertise group Social Psychology is on cognitive and emotional foundations of social behavior in interpersonal and intergroup interactions, with an emphasis on conflict, diversity, well-being, communication, and collective action.The group aims to understand interactions among individuals and groups, as well as the influence and emergence of culture and cultural dynamics.

The research unit emphasizes the integration of basic and applied research. This implies an emphasis on experimental paradigms with considerable ecological validity, and on applied research that has the potential to contribute to theory development. The philosophy is that basic research needs to have relevance for phenomena in society, and that applied research needs to be directly theoretically relevant. Moreover, although the applied research within the present program is conducted with respect to a variety of issues, such as health, integration and immigration, it is guided by common theoretical frameworks.