PSY4111 ¨C Applied Social Psychology

Course content

The course focuses on individual, social, and societal challenges that social psychology can help to address through interventions. Examples of such challenges are promoting behavior change, improving well-being, managing diversity, and increasing justice and cooperation. The concrete topics in a specific semester will vary.

Social psychological research has discovered basic human tendencies, like the tendency to conform to social norms. It has also produced a vast array of applied studies that help address urgent topics from a social-psychological perspective. The present course helps students apply basic principles from social psychology to their field of interest, and to find, understand, interpret and use more specialized, applied research findings.

The course will consist of 2 modules amounting to 5 ECTS each. Each semester two modules consisting of lectures and seminars are offered from a variety of topics, as described below. One of these lectures/seminar modules can be exchanged for doing a Research Assistant Module instead, where the student participates in an ongoing research project.?Availability of the research assistant module is not guaranteed in each semester. The research assistant module is not available in the autumn 2025 semester.?

Examples of modules are:

• Sustainable Consumption and Climate Change (taught in Fall 2025)
• The Power of Norms: From Intragroup to Cultural Processes (taught in Fall 2025)
• Intergroup relations
• Assessing and changing social norms and collective behavior
• Diversity in interpersonal relations
• Culture and social cognition
• Social psychology of food and eating
• Judgement and decision making
• Research Project: An elective research immersion module closely supervised by a member of the research group on a specific topic related to the course.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

After completing this course, you will know

• how basic and applied research in social psychology are connected
• fundamental principles and empirical evidence from the applied topics covered in the modules that semester
• how basic social psychological findings can be used to bring about desired changes
• how to compare different explanations for a social psychological phenomenon
• how to understand the differences between testing theories and testing interventions
• how to describe the available evidence for selected practical problems

Skills:

After completing this course, you can

• derive predictions for a specific situation from more general social psychological theories
• apply your knowledge from various courses to new problems
• write short scientific texts about applied problems
• present the results of your own deliberation about a topic
• analyze a practical problem and recognize the contributions of social psychological phenomena, such as intergroup conflict, cognitive biases, social emotions and norms
• search scientific information concerning a topic and judge the quality of the arguments and evidence

General competence:

After completing this course, you can

• critically reflect in your role as a social psychologist in society
• take the perspectives of different actors in a conflict
• appreciate the complex interactions of biological, individual, social and societal factors in shaping human behaviour.

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course provided this is cleared by their own study programme and there is still capacity in the course.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

This course is mandatory for students admitted to the psychology programme option Helse, utvikling og samfunn (Health, Development and Community) with a chosen specialisation in Social Psychology and is an elective course for students in the other spesialisations.

Erasmus students can also apply to the course.?

Formal prerequisite knowledge

You must have completed PSY1000 ¨C Innf?ring i generell psykologi (discontinued), PSY1010 ¨C Innf?ring i metode and PSY1101 ¨C Innf?ring i sosial - og personlighetspsykologi (discontinued) or equivalent.

Overlapping courses

• 5 credits overlap with PSY4109 ¨C Motivational processes and self-regulation (discontinued).
• 5 credits overlap with PSY4108 ¨C Social Psychology of Food (discontinued).

Teaching

Teaching is given through lectures and seminars.

There is an 80% seminar participation requirement.?

There are two mandatory oral presentations in the seminars.

For the module "research project", supervisors offer research projects, and students apply with the supervisor. If a student has no supervision agreement in the beginning of the semester, he or she will be re-assigned to a different module. Note: the research assistant module is not offered in 2025.?

The mandatory presentations are valid for the three next semesters the course is offered.

Access to teaching

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

Examination

The course consists of two modules with the following mandatory activities and examinations:

Module 1: oral presentation 1 (mandatory) + essay 1 (home assignment in Inspera)

Module 2: oral presentation 2 (mandatory) + essay 2 (home assignment in Inspera)

Each module has its own examination (essay). Successful completion of the course depends on passing both modules in the same semester. Both essays will be submitted in Inspera after the respective module.

For the 5-ECTS module (Module 3) "research assistant", individual students have to work 120 hours according to a written contract (one page; templates are available) that defines the work to be done. After having completed their work, students write a short report (maximum 3 pages) about their project. The report is graded by the supervisor (see grading scale). Students receive a short written feedback about their work from their supervisor.

Module 3, "research assistant", is a replacement of one of the modules. Students who choose Module 3 must therefore choose between Module 1 or Module 2. They submit their RA-report together with Essay 1 or Essay 2 at the end of the semester.

The research assistant module is not available in the autumn 2025 semester.?

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English. You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Written exams can be written in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Oral exams must be presented in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.

If you are an exchange student, please note that you will receive a pass or fail for this course and this cannot be converted into an A-F grading scale.

Resit an examination

If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.

See also our information about resitting an exam.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• How to use AI as a student
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.