Psychology, Social, PhD

Graduate Study in Social Psychology

This program integrates social and cultural perspectives to link basic psychological processes with central issues in social and political life - locally, nationally, and internationally. At Clark, the social psychological perspective includes the study of inter-group relations, societal peace and conflict, and the role of individual differences and social structures in political attitudes and behavior. The cultural psychological perspective examines how human experience—thought, behavior, feelings, etc.—is culturally organized—through semiotic mediation, symbolic action, and/or accumulation of inter-subjectively shared representations of the life-space. Students and faculty in the program use a wide variety of quantitative methods and qualitative methods—experimental, survey, field, phenomenological, and semiotic—to investigate and address: (1) general social, cultural, and environmental/ecological processes and interactions as well as (2) specific pressing social issues, such as ethnopolitical conflict, peace, and commitment to social change. The program encourages contextualized and interdisciplinary research, novel theoretical projects, and methodological integration. For further information, contact Dr. Johanna Ray Vollhardt, head of the Social Psychology program.