Masters Degrees in Social Psychology, Netherlands

Project-X parties organised via Facebook. Unhealthy eating habits. Workplace bullying. Although a wide range of issues, the same rule applies to all of them: it comes down to the way in which people affect each other's behaviour. In this Master’s programme, you study human behaviour and behaviour change in a social, health, or organisational context.

Tracks

During this Master’s programme, you will choose between the following three tracks:

• Social Influence: about the social influence of behaviour and attitude change
• Health Promotion: about improving health-related behaviour
• Work and Organisation: about the functioning and wellbeing of individuals and teams in organisations

By choosing a track and elective courses you can explore your personal field of interest.

Research driven

This Master’s programme connects closely to our research programmes Social-cognitive and Interpersonal Determinants of Behaviour, Health Psychology: Self-regulation, and Work and Organisational Psychology. Connecting theory and practice is essential in our Master's. You will develop theory-driven interventions by means of the PATH model (Problem-Analysis-Test-Help).

Do you want to know more about our research? Watch the videos of Professor Belle Derks about Work and Organisational Psychology (in Dutch) or about Social Psychology by Professor Kees van den Bos. A video of Professor Denise de Ridder about Health Psychology: Self-regulation will follow soon.

International orientation

The courses in this Master's programme are rooted in international scientific literature and are focused on the internatonal context. You can do your internship and/or thesis abroad or in (internatonal) organisations in the Netherlands, such as Trendsactive, Coca Cola, Hays, Sogeti (in Dutch), Philips and Nutrica. 

As our student, you are primarily responsible for finding your own internship organisation. The department of Social, Health and Organisational Psychology has a database of internship organisations and has an internatonal network you can use.

Programme objectives

You will gain specialised knowledge, skills and insights in the fields of Social Psychology, Health Psychology and/or Work and Organisational Psychology. Your development as an academic professional is of central concern.

As a Master's graduate, you will be able to analyse and propose interventions for social, health or organisational issues, such as:

• integration and participation issues
• consumer behaviour
• employability of employees
• innovation and performance in organisations
• radicalisation
• gender inequality
• self-regulation issues
• health-related behaviour

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The track Work and Organizational Psychology concentrates on sciencebased solutions to human problems in work and organizational settings. It aims to understand how to achieve each of the following objectives: optimizing performance, improving processes and relationships, enhancing fairness and equity, and increasing subjective well-being.

The European Network of Work and Organizational Psychology (ENOP) developed a reference model and standards for a curriculum in Work & Organizational Psychology. According to the ENOP model, the main areas to be considered are Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology. The track Work and Organizational Psychology adheres to these standards as far as possible, and offers a study program that deals with the most important topics in Work & Organizational Psychology at the individual, task, group and organizational level.

The program

Work and Organizational Psychology is a field with both a strong scientific base and an applied orientation. Thus, the program connects psychological theory and application whereby theoretical concepts are shown to lead to useful interventions. In each of the areas of Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology, the program seeks to develop two types of knowledge and skills: explanatory and intervention.

Explanatory refers to theory devoted to the explanation of (the context of) human behavior and to diagnostic skills in work, organization, and personnel fields. This will prepare you to assess, diagnose, explain, and interpret phenomena and processes in the areas of work, organizations and personnel.

Intervention refers to change theory and intervention skills in work, organizational and personnel settings. This will prepare you to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate changes and interventions to improve behaviors, situations, and social processes in the fields of work, organizations, and personnel. This type of knowledge also prepares you to design new models, methods, and tools. The two types of knowledge and skills will be integrated as much as possible within the various courses.

Career Perspective Social Psychology

With an MSc in Social Psychology, you can work in positions at an academic level in research, communication, policy, consulting, human development and organization development in private, semi-private or governmental organizations. With this MSc, you are able to conduct theoretical and applied research to advance scientific knowledge in the areas of social, economic and work and organizational psychology. You are also able to contribute to many applied fields, because you will be able to develop tools and interventions to solve practical problems in the areas of social, economic and work and organizational psychology and to research the effectiveness thereof.

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Investigate the social and health-related aspects of behavioural regulation.

How do we resist impulses (such as greed and appetite) to promote human cooperation and maintain a healthy lifestyle? How do we cope with social and health-related threats in order to prevent or recover from stress and anxiety? How does money affect our social and work life?

The Master’s programme in Social and Health Psychology will equip you with the tools and knowledge to analyse topics related to the control of human behaviour for the benefit of social interaction and health. During your studies, you will explore leading theories and concepts and their interconnections with various fields of study. You will also learn to use and develop cutting-edge research methods through participation in ongoing projects, where you will gain research experience in the study of behavioural regulation.

Multiple perspectives

The two-year curriculum involves multiple perspectives ranging from concrete (neuroscientific and social cognitive perspectives) to global perspectives (relationships, welfare, and health). Considerable attention is paid to misregulation and underregulation (dysregulation) of behaviour in the context of social and health-related issues.

International orientation

The Master’s programme has an international character that offers you multiple benefits:

• International networks and connections: Our staff includes lecturers who are from abroad or have international positions. We also collaborate with researchers abroad, enabling you to arrange research or teaching visits outside of the Netherlands and improving your research and career opportunities.
• Global perspectives on course topics: Numerous international students bring regional and global perspectives to discussions on the course content and related topics. From these interactions, you’ll gain a diverse outlook on social and health psychology issues.
• Advanced English-language skills: The programme is entirely taught in English, and we encourage our students to visit symposia, seminars, and conferences in the Netherlands (in English) to further develop their subject-specific vocabulary and expand their global network.

Education built on research

The Social and Health Psychology programme is supported by two fields of research:

• Department of Clinical Psychology (stress and self-regulation, and trauma, grief, and anxiety-related disorders)
• Department of Social, Health & Organizational Psychology (social-cognitive and interpersonal determinants of behaviour and occupational health psychology)

PROGRAMME GOALS

Through this Master’s programme, you will develop into a qualified psychological scientist who is ready for a PhD position or a research career outside academia. You will have the training and tools to use multiple research methods to investigate social and health-related issues related to behavioural regulation.  

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The Master’s program in Social Psychology focuses on both individual and group behavior in formal and informal social contexts. It studies how people behave in their social surroundings and what influences this behavior. Particularly problems related to consumer behavior, work and organizational behavior and decision making in social, economic and organizational contexts are important themes in this Master’s program. Related to these themes, two separate tracks have been formed, both with its own focus and study program:

•Track Economic Psychology
•Track Work and Organizational Psychology

Career Perspective Social Psychology

With an MSc in Social Psychology, you can work in positions at an academic level in research, communication, policy, consulting, human development and organization development in private, semi-private or governmental organizations. With this MSc, you are able to conduct theoretical and applied research to advance scientific knowledge in the areas of social, economic and work and organizational psychology. You are also able to contribute to many applied fields, because you will be able to develop tools and interventions to solve practical problems in the areas of social, economic and work and organizational psychology and to research the effectiveness thereof.

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How can psychology contribute to solving conflicts between groups, to a better environment, or health?

The programme Applied Social Psychology concerns the relationship between the everyday behaviour of 'normal' individuals and its large-scale influence of that behaviour on society and organisations. You can choose one of the specializations or compose your own programme within ASP.

The social psychologist studies, explains and influences behaviours 'in the street' and in groups, in companies and organisations, on the internet and in large crowds.

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IMPROVING LEARNING, EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Better education and training for all are of the utmost importance when it comes to developing our society. In this Master’s programme, you will learn to develop, evaluate and improve learning processes and learning environments from a variety of theoretical perspectives. You will do so by means of state-of-the-art methods and approaches in several different contexts; from a classroom setting to the non-profit and commercial sectors, and with a focus on people in all phases of life. This means that the person doing the learning may be a pupil, student or employee, but also a lecturer, educator or trainer, depending on the context. During the study programme, you will learn to optimise learning environments so that they meet the needs of the learners themselves and of society as a whole.

During the programme you will master an academic educational scientific and systematic approach. You will acquire and further develop theoretical knowledge of:

• instruction design, including
• e-learning
• educational psychology
• assessment and evaluation
• change management in organisations
• professtional development and Human Resource Development (HRD)
• research methods and skills

What can you expect?

1. Focus on learning and learning environments
2. Training on how to conduct research
3. Strong link between theory and practice
4. Multidisciplinary, international orientation
5. Ties to social issues and involvement from professional practice
6. Specialisation through electives

Read more about these characteristics under ‘Why in Utrecht?’

Variants

This Master’s programme is offered in a full-time variant (average of 40 hours of study per week) or a part-time variant (average of 20 hours of study per week).

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All of these are questions that those who study and work in Clinical and Psychological Epidemiology seek to explore. If you find yourself interested in the answers to these questions, and more broadly in the relationship between the psychological condition of people and their physical health, then Clinical and Psychosocial Epidemiology may be the right choice for you!

“There is no health without mental health”, Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban-Ki Moon famously stated. Psychological and social factors have a major influence on healthy and active ageing ( 'Healthy Ageing'). Mental problems are responsible for 13 per cent of the total disease burden worldwide. Considering our own experiences, most of us will know someone struggling with their mental health, and the number of people with mental health problems continues to rise. This puts enormous pressure on the individuals and families affected as well as on the wider socio- economic system.

Why in Groningen?

The focus on psychosocial factors in addition to biomedical factors is unique. The result is students being able to view problems from different perspectives, and having a broader overview of the field.

Job perspectives

If desired, our programme guarentees a smooth transition between the Master and a PhD, at any univeristy worldwide, but also prepares for key positions in any organisation, public or private, concerned with research or its applications.

Graduates of the Research Master programme are given priority in the allocation of PhD programmes at the University of Groningen.

Job examples

- Municipal Health Services
- Public Health Institutes
- Health Insurance Companies
- Ministries of Health

Due to the interactive nature of the programme, students have many opportunities to get involved in ongoing research and studies, and to advance their full array of research skills.

Linked to the course is the Research Institute SHARE, part of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of the University Medical Center Groningen and of the University of Groningen. SHARE's mission is to elucidate factors related to health, notably healthy ageing. This is achieved by research on determinants and consequences of ageing, incident disease, quality of life, care and cure, as well as by training researchers in the area of health research.

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Our aim is to increase the quality of upbringing, care and education by improving policies and interventions for young people and their social and learning contexts.

Do you want to...
- Explore how interventions can improve the wellbeing of young people, their families, schools, and communities?
- Learn how to successfully implement interventions in child and youth care and education?
- Discuss the role of scientific research in improving interventions and youth policy?

Then this Master's program might be just ideal for you! Completing this program equips you with
- State-of-the-art knowledge of youth research, practices, and policy, how they are linked and how can improve eachother
- The skills to design, carry out, and evaluate youth policy and interventions using interdisciplinary and international insights
- A reflexive, critical attitude towards youth policies, practices and innovations

Our teaching approach means that students actively shape their learning and benefit from the vast expertise on youth in society and policy in our department. In addition to lectures, seminars, and in collaborative learning communities, you will gain valuable work experience during an internship and tackle a research problem in your thesis. The expertise in qualitative and quantitative methods and spectrum of research topics in our department are unique in the Netherlands and enable you to follow a program that fits your interests and prepares you for a variety of professional roles.

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