Social Psychology
We spend much of our lives surrounded by others, and our emotions, cognitions, and behaviours are profoundly shaped by the social environments in which we operate. Such environments can be construed at various levels of analysis, such as close relationships, small groups, larger collectives, intergroup relations, and the broader cultural or societal context. As we navigate our lives, our emotions, cognitions, and behaviours are shaped by interactions with other individuals as well as through exposure to social norms and belief systems.
Four research questions
The Social Psychology Programme covers all of these sources of influence in its research in order to contribute to a thorough understanding of the human condition. Current research centres around four overarching questions that link fundamental cognitive, affective, and motivational processes to human behaviour in its social context.
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1. How do people perceive and learn about others?
Human behaviour is shaped to a large extent by how people perceive and think about each other. We seek to unravel the mechanisms of social perception and social information processing that constitute social cognition and that shape the development of stereotypes, prejudice, and social behaviour.
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2. How do emotions regulate social life?
Social life is inherently emotional. As critical linking pins between the individual and the social context, emotions provide a unique window into the human mind. Our research aims to illuminate how emotions drive social behaviour by investigating how people are influenced by their own as well as by others' emotions.
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3. How is social behaviour shaped by dynamics within and between groups?
As an ultra-social species, humans spend much of their lives in various types of groups, both in their private lives and at work. Several streams of research in our group address how individuals navigate interactions within and between groups.
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4. How do people navigate today's increasingly complex world?
In today's complex and uncertain world, we face crises such as war, rapid immigration, natural disasters, and environmental problems. Our research on behavioural and social influence is about how people react to and cope with complex societal problems, who is helping and under what conditions, and how psychological findings can be shared with organizations and governments to mitigate societal problems.
ADFES stimulus set
The ADFES stimulus set, comprising 648 dynamic emotional expressions, offers a valuable tool for research in Social Psychology. Validated in two studies with high recognition rates, ADFES is freely available for non-commercial scientific research. For more on ADFES, visit the Amsterdam Interdisciplinary Centre for Emotion (AICE) page.