Applying Social Psychology: From Problems to Solutions

Are you hoping to apply what you’ve learnt in your studies to real world problems? Are you wondering how your work might make a difference?

This book offers a model to ensure that your application of theoretical social psychology stands the best chance of success. Follow the PATHS model help you develop your intervention, test it, action it, and evaluate it.

Each chapter focuses on a step in the model and is built around a real world example. Full of practical advice, each chapter also has an assignment to help you think through your plans and check you’ve covered all bases.

Essential reading for anyone applying social psychology to real world practices and events.

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).

Pieternel Dijkstra is an applied social psychologists who works for and with numerous organizations in education, health care and science. In 2001 Pieternel received her PhD in the Social Sciences from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Since then she has scientifically studied several social psychological topics, in diverse contexts such as the classroom, intimate relationships, and organizations. In addition to scientifically publishing these studies’ results in dozens of international scientific papers, she actively engages in the valorization of the results obtained through these studies. Pieternel strongly believes that scientific knowledge should benefit all. In order to achieve this, she has translated findings from social psychological theorizing and research to accessible outlets for students, the lay public and professionals in the field of education and health care. She has, for instance, created evidence-based self-help books, therapeutic protocols, games to improve self-knowledge, student text books, psychological tests, and articles in popular and professional magazines. In addition, she teaches health care and educational professionals as well as therapists how to best apply knowledge from social psychology in their work to improve their own and others’ functioning. Read more at: www.pieterneldijkstra.nl

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.