Description of the EASP 2012 Workshops
Workshop 1: Groups, identity, and health
Lecturers: Alex Haslam, University of Exeter, UK & Stephen Gallagher, University of Limerick, Ireland
Social identity theorizing indicates that a large part of people's sense of identity is derived from the social groups to which they belong. For this reason, our psychological state often depends on the circumstances and condition of the groups of which we are part (i.e., ingroups). If these groups provide us with stability, meaning, purpose, and direction, then this will typically have positive implications for our physical and mental health. On the other hand, if our sense of social identity is compromised in some way (e.g. if we leave or change groups, if we are rejected by an in-group, or if the in-group changes in ways that we do not understand), then this will tend to have negative psychological consequences. Indeed, this is one reason why social isolation is a greater threat to health and well-being than most physical counter-indicators (e.g., smoking, poor diet). Such insights are the basis for a new psychology of health, which is the focus of this stream. In contrast to the individualistic models that prevail in this area, this emphasizes the central role of group life and social relationships in determining health and well-being and will explore a range of topical issues including symptom appraisal and diagnosis, social support, coping, social isolation, stress, trauma, and depression.
Workshop 2: Morality in self, emotion, and social relations
Lecturers: Colin Wayne Leach, University of Connecticut, USA & Patricia M. Rodriguez Mosquera, Wesleyan University, USA
Few things concern human beings more than morality. We work to maintain a moral self-image and we want others to see us as a person of virtue. Morality is also one of the first and the foremost things that we look for in others. For these reasons, morality is central to self, to emotion, and to social relations (between individuals, within groups, and between groups). This workshop will discuss theory and research on morality in (i) self (e.g., moral identity, honor, self-worth), (ii) emotion (e.g., shame, guilt, outrage, disgust), and (iii) social relations (e.g., norms and deviance, stereotypes, perpetrators and victims of injustice, protest). Discussion will range across multiple levels of analysis, from the intra-personal to the cultural. We will examine the general aspects of morality as well as the ways in which morality varies across culture and context.
Workshop 3: Intergroup Relations: Different identities -> Different psychologies for ethnic minorities and national majorities?
Lecturers: Karen Phalet, University of Leuven, Belgium & Anca Minescu, University of Limerick, Ireland
Social reality and group position constrain the meanings and configurations of social identities among different groups. The potential impact of social identities on intergroup relationships is therefore dependent on the larger historical and macro-political contexts, and intergroup processes develop from the specific perspective of the ingroup and in accordance with one's group goals in the larger society. This workshop investigates the social psychological processes linking social identities to societal engagement and politics. We connect recent research on acculturation and ethnic minority adaptation to the host society with research on ethnicity, national identity and majority groups' attitudes towards minorities, from a social identity perspective. We aim to develop an interactive understanding of minority and majority group perspectives, accounting for the influence of cultural and political factors that typically shape ethno-national contexts. More dynamic understandings and methodological approaches are needed in order to account for the role of individual level factors (i.e., those characterising social interaction contexts, such as contact or similarity), and collective level factors (i.e., those shaping the wider social political contexts, such as social representations, power configurations, criteria of national belonging), from a multiple group perspective. We discuss research examples from Western as well as Eastern European societies and particular methodological implications of applying social psychological theories to real ethno-national settings are addressed.
Workshop 4: 'The space between us': The role of intergroup boundaries in shaping social inclusion, integration, and well-being.
Lecturers: John Dixon, Lancaster University, UK, Kevin Durrheim, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa & Orla Muldoon, University of Limerick, Ireland
Over the past few decades, research on socio-spatial boundaries has proliferated, extending beyond its traditional focus on the geopolitical organization of nation states and drawing increasingly on a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives and methods. In this workshop, we shall explore some implications of these developments for social psychologists. On the one hand, we shall discuss how research on boundary processes enhances our understanding of core social psychological topics, including social categorization and identification, intergroup attitudes, status differentiation, intergroup contact, and social exclusion. On the other hand, we shall discuss how a social psychological level of analysis is necessary in order to account for the tenacity of intergroup boundaries under conditions of social change. It helps to explain, for example, why policies of 'deterritorialization' (e.g. racial desegregation of schools), which render boundaries more permeable and increase the opportunity for intergroup contact, are frequently off-set by practices of 're-territorialization', which re-establish the 'space between us' (e.g. re-segregation in the classroom or playground). In exploring these themes, we will emphasize the varying and complex role of boundaries in shaping social relations in historically divided societies such as Northern Ireland, Israel, Cyprus, the US and South Africa. We will also emphasize how boundary processes may operate across a range of scales of analysis, from the macro-level divisions established by international borders to the meso-level segregation of institutions of residence, occupation and education to the micro-level organisation of interactions in everyday life spaces.
Workshop 5: When is life meaningful? Social cognitive processes underlying inferences of meaninglessness and meaningfulness
Lecturers: Leonard L. Martin, University of Georgia, USA & Eric R. Igou, University of Limerick, Ireland
When is one's action meaningful? How do perceptions of one's activities as either meaningful or meaningless influence the way she or he perceives life overall? And what does it matter after all? It matters. Research findings suggest that it is a central human need to perceive one's actions and life in general as meaningful. In order to serve this central need, people usually develop regulatory capacities that protect perceptions of meaningfulness and those that enhance such perceptions if necessary. That is, people seem to be skilled and flexible in achieving and maintaining perceived meaningfulness, also in situations in which perceptions of meaningfulness are threatened.
This social cognition workshop is concerned with the perception of meaningfulness, causes of meaning inferences, underlying cognitive processes, and consequences of these inferences. The goal of this workshop is to promote an understanding of meaning inferences and their consequences. PhD students will be in the position to critically discuss the concept of 'meaning' and the limits of research in this area. Further, PhD students should develop the skill to come up with crucial research questions and research designs that test the associated hypotheses.
In order for participants to develop a deep understanding of meaning inferences and meaning regulation processes, we will discuss basic cognitive processes, principles of self-and affect-regulation, philosophical approaches, experimental existential research in social psychology, and sociological perspectives. Research designs will be developed for sub- and supra-liminal priming procedures, with implicit and explicit measures. In addition, we will consider personality variables and how they relate to contextual implications of meaningfulness versus meaninglessness.
