Social Psychology

The course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the principles and fundamental theories of social psychology, with a specific focus on the application of this knowledge in the context of work groups and public and private organizations. Students will gain a good understanding of how social dynamics influence individual and collective behaviors.

Knowledge and Understanding: The course will enable students to acquire basic knowledge of the theories, approaches, and dynamics related to social psychology. Specifically, students will be able to understand the triadic and reciprocal interactions between individuals, social behavior, and the social environment. They will comprehend the construction of social self and social identity, the impact of social representations, stereotypes, and prejudices in relation to social groups, social influence phenomena, conformity, authority and obedience, as well as the genesis of prosocial and/or antisocial behavior. Students will also grasp the mechanisms of moral disengagement and deindividuation.
Application of Knowledge and Understanding: Through exercises, simulations, and case analyses, students will be able to identify and recognize interactive and distorting phenomena typical of work groups. They will develop self-awareness of their own modes of action and reaction in such contexts and situations.
Autonomy of Judgment: Students will develop critical thinking skills and judgment that will enable them to discern the types of social processes that occur in different contexts and at various levels (individual, group, societal).
Communication Skills: Students will be able to communicate information, ideas, problems, and solutions using appropriate disciplinary language specific to different situations and interlocutors.
Learning Skills: The course represents an experience for learning the fundamental principles and basic tools related to the psychosocial processes that characterize people's lives and group dynamics. Interactive activities, including group discussions, will stimulate students to dynamically define their learning objectives, engage in continuous self-learning processes, and utilize ongoing information collection activities related to studies in the field of social psychology. Periodically, activities will be organized to allow students to independently identify their acquired learning, additional study objectives, and potential future integrated learning experiences. In this way, they will be able to define and integrate additional horizontal learning activities (even outside the university context) with vertical activities (the three-year degree program and/or other postgraduate training experiences).