About the Program
The Social Psychology Program offers its students research training features that distinguish it from most other training centers in social psychology.
- First, the Social Psychology Program, by design, is a small, intensely interactive, and collective training and research center.
- Second, training components equip students with the conceptual and methodological tools required to examine social psychological phenomena through interdisciplinary, multi-level analyses.
- Third, the program provides a framework for understanding the synergistic relationship between theory and methods in scientific research. This includes advanced statistical training as well as seminars on the philosophy of science.
- Fourth, the program is truly distinguished by the quality and collegiality of the students and the faculty.
At the center fo the training program are five core principles: scientific competence & integrity; scholarship as a way of life; personal and social responsibility; priority setting; and the sovereignty of each student. These principles are operationalized within the program through the structure of coursework, research activities, professional service activities, and mentoring.
The Program's Legacy
The Social Psychology Program at The University of Chicago has a rich history that has always emphasized innovative conceptual analyses of complex social issues. The first course in Social Psychology (entitled "Contemporary Social Psychology") was taught at the University of Chicago by George Herbert Mead in 1900. The lead article in Volume 1, Number 1, of the Psychological Bulletin, which appeared in January 15, 1914, was entitled "The Chicago School" by William James, in which he reviewed the work of John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, James Rowland Angell, and A. W. Moore. In 1965, the first meeting of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) was held at the University of Chicago, and SESP was hosted again by the Social Psychology Program at the University of Chicago in 2007. Over the years, the program has grown from a small university committee to an interdivisional graduate training program administered in the Department of Psychology.
For more information, visit the faculty page.
