PSYC 4320 Chapter 1: Applying Social Psychology Chapter 1

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 4320
• Professor: Paula Barata

Document Summary

Example of the application of social psychological theories. Social psychology is a basic science which tries to build knowledge primarily through experiments and surveys. Step 1 problem: formulating a problem definition. Number of people with aids has been rising all over the world, despite increase in safe-sex practices and reduction in hiv infections. Hiv/aids is especially a problem in sub-saharan africa, asia, and eastern europe. While the treatment of the disease has steadily improved, the willingness to donate money to help and support the individuals with hiv/aids has actually decreased. A team of volunteers from a national hiv/aids charity foundation wishes to set up a campaign to raise money to provide treatment (medical and psychosocial) for people with hiv/aids in sub-saharan africa. They do not wish to show too many depressing stories/photos as they think this will adversely affect the willingness to donate. Others argue that the campaign should highlight the severe and incurable nature of the disease.