Psychology 2990A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Clinical Trial, Applied Psychology, Needs Assessment

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2990A/B
• Professor: Dr. M. Blair Evans

Document Summary

I nt erv ent i on and ev al uat ion. Applied social psychology: understanding and addressing social and practical problems. The major goal of this chapter is to consider how applied social psychologists draw on their understanding of theory, methods, and research evidence in the design and evaluation of interventions. Contributing to the development of intervention strategies that lead to improvements in the lives of people is the defining feature of the field of applied social psychology. An intervention may be defined as a strategy (or procedure) that is intended to influence the behavior of people for the purpose of improving their functioning with respect to some social or practical problem. Some interventions might not target people"s behavior directly. For example, those that are designed to increase knowledge or awareness (e. g. , of the environmental benefits of recycling), or are designed to change attitudes. The ultimate goal of most interventions is behaviour change.