Social Psychology

Prof.ssa Enrichetta Giannetti: In addition to her wide-ranging teaching activities for the training and updating of operators in the educational, cultural, social and health sectors, she has been entrusted with the following courses at university: Educational Psychology, Social Psychology, Health Psychology, Social Psychology of Health and Promotion of Wellbeing and Psychology of Work and Organisations. She is currently Aggregate Professor of Social Psychology, Degree Course in Sciences and Techniques of Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Florence. She is a lecturer in the Disciplinary Scientific Sector of which she is a member in postgraduate courses and first and second level Master courses at the University of Florence.

Member of the Association of Psychologists and Psychotherapists of Tuscany since 1993.

Ordinary member of the Italian Association of Psychologists (AIP, Sections of Social Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Work and Organisational Psychology).

Ordinary member of the Italian Society of Health Psychology (SIPSa).

She collaborates with the Health Psychology section of the Department of Psychology at the University of Florence.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

• Study of socialisation processes throughout life.
• Formation of attitudes and their modification, in education and adult education, in order to develop individual and group life skills.

• Identification of protection and prevention factors and risk factors in relational contexts and organisations.
• Verification of the effectiveness of intervention strategies in groups for the promotion of psychological well-being and occupational well-being.
• Methodological aspects of psychosocial research; psychological assessment approaches and instruments.
• Relevance of psychosocial enquiry for application and health promotion purposes.

Prof. Alessio Tesi: Alessio Tesi is a PhD student and lecturer in Social Psychology. He teaches Social Psychology, Political and Community Psychology courses in the academic field and in second level Master courses.

He is the author of publications in international and national scientific journals (summary of publications). He has also participated as a contributor to numerous international and national conferences.

He carries out research in the field of Social and Organisational Psychology. His interests concern intergroup relations in terms of social dominance and the exercise of interpersonal power in various organisational contexts. He is also involved in the detection, promotion and development of psycho-social wellbeing in the workplace.

Membership of scientific associations:

• Italian Association of Psychology (AIP; Social Psychology Section).
• International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP).

Module 1 – Principles of Social Psychology

The first module covers the following topics:

• What is Social Psychology? Historical introduction.
• Mutual and dynamic interaction between personal characteristics and the social world: Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory and the Systemic perspective.
• People in groups: nature, functions and types of groups.
• Leadership: a crucial variable for the mood of our life in groups.
• Prejudices, stereotypes and intra- and intergroup relations.

Module 2 – Social Psychology applied to Bio-Psycho-Social Well-being

The second module covers the following topics:

• Attitudes, beliefs and attributions: processes of construction of social reality.
• Introduction to Positive Psychology and psychosocial aspects as resources for promoting well-being: optimism, empathy, coping strategies.
• Social psychology of health and bio-psycho-social well-being.

Module 3 – Social Psychology applied to Bio-Psycho-Social Well-being in Organisational Contexts

The third module covers the following topics:

• Work-related stress: main models, theories, measures and application implications.
• From psychosocial stress to organisational well-being in the workplace.
• The new ways of working: a psychosocial look at ‘agile working’ issues.
• A research experience: Organisational well-being in social workers in public health service.

The course of Social Psychology aims to deepen some of the themes and authors that represent the cornerstones of Social Psychology addressing relevant issues such as: the relationship between person and social context, the formation of attitudes and their relationship with behaviour, Intra-group and Intergroup relations, conflict, cooperation.

The course will try to provide a look at recent scientific and methodological developments of the discipline deepening the thematic areas related to the Social Psychology of Well-being and Health and Social Psychology applied to organizational contexts, with particular attention to methods, tools and techniques for data analysis of psychosocial research, even through the presentation of research carried out in work contexts.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES

The Social Psychology course aims to explore some of the themes and authors that represent the cornerstones of Social Psychology by addressing relevant issues such as: the relationship between the person and the social context, the formation of attitudes and their relationship with behaviour, intra-group relations and Intergroups, conflict, cooperation.

The course will also provide an insight into recent scientific and methodological developments in the discipline through seminars and applications, and will explore the thematic areas of Social Psychology of Well-being and Health and Social Psychology applied to Organisational Contexts, with particular attention to methods, tools and techniques for analysing psychosocial research data, through the presentation of research carried out in work contexts.

A. Knowledge and understanding
The student will be able to develop knowledge on the main issues related to Psychological-Social processes and intra-group and inter-group relations, including:
▪ attitudes and social norms;
▪ social models for predicting behaviour;
▪ stereotypes and prejudices;
▪ cognitive bias;
▪ social attributions and related cognitive processes;
▪ social influence and power;
▪ altruism;
▪ Social Psychology of Well-being and Health;
▪ Social psychology applied to organisational contexts;
▪ Well-being in the workplace
▪ New ways of working
Occupational stress and the organisational well-being of workers and operators in various professional categories will also be addressed.

B. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
Through study and thematic discussions the student will be able to apply the theories and constructs learnt, the methods of intervention and their implementation in real contexts, including in educational settings.

C. Autonomy of judgement
Through the study of the materials provided, the student will be able to select salient themes in the field of Social Psychology and Social Psychology of Well-being, to be used as “starting points” for autonomous research on scientific databases.

D. Communication skills
Through interactive discussions during the video platform lessons the student will be able to test communication skills by experimenting with the language of the discipline.

E. Learning ability
The student, through the use of the thematic forum on the platform, will be able to develop learning in a co-constructed way

A. Independent use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some cutting-edge topics within the subject studied.
Students will be trained to use not only traditional bibliographic resources (paper) but – through a critical analysis of online resources – also digital ones.

B. Professional approach to their work and possession of appropriate skills to devise arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making independent judgements.
Through the analysis of “case studies” and practical examples taken from everyday life, the socio-psycho-pedagogical mechanisms at the basis of our critical thinking and which underlie the ways in which we can formulate judgements and opinions will be highlighted. As well as tools for finding and evaluating data, some of the main “good practices” for the correct interpretation of the data acquired will be provided.

C. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists.
Students will be provided with useful indications and methodologies to organise a multimedia presentation and to know how to present it using vocabulary and communication methods appropriate to the target audience.

D. Ability to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy, including progressing autonomously to the retrieval of scientific bibliographic sources relevant to the subject. The students will be helped to organise their study in a fruitful way by means of tools and methods that encourage the “learning to learn”.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 6 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform.
• 3 synchronous meetings on the platform where thematic in-depth analysis and exercises will be carried out to provide applied knowledge in the field of participatory research-action.
• Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

• 1 course orientation forum.
• 3 in-depth thematic forums (1 per module).
• Possibility to carry out work in groups.
• 3 structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING

Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open-access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

Study material provided by the lecturers (slides, scientific articles, chapters).

Access to the final examination is subject to the following 3 e-activities:

• Etivity 1 – The student will have to produce three papers of about 1 folder in length (pdf format) investigating a key theme of Social Psychology (selected from the contents covered in the respective Module 1, Module 2 and Module 3) with particular attention to the applicative, educational, professional and/or occupational implications.
• Etivity 2 – In addition to the material provided by the lecturer, students can also use other material they have researched independently on various platforms (online, scientific databases, libraries). The sources must then be included in the bibliography of the paper.
• Etivity 3 – The papers must be uploaded to the e-tivity space on the platform at least one week in advance of the exam date that the student has booked. The paper will then be discussed during the oral examination.

The assessment of learning will take place through an oral interview on the contents of the course during which the structure of any final report submitted will be discussed. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian