Prospectus

nl en

Dynamics in Groups and Decision Making

Minor

Duration of minor

This minor is worth 30 EC, spread over two semesters. Its duration is therefore a full academic year.

Application

You can apply for this minor via uSis between 1 May and 1 August 2019. The code is 6000MDYGBN. You will be notified about enrolment or placement for the courses included in the minor.

Objectives

This minor focuses on how our thoughts, emotions and behaviour are influenced by other people, and how we influence other people.

  • How do people reach decisions, individually and in groups?

  • What determines the extent to which employees are prepared to make an effort for their organisation?

  • How do consumers decide whether or not to buy a product?

  • How do people influence each other’s ideas about and behaviour towards members of other cultural groups?

In this minor, students acquire knowledge about theories and research methods in the field of social psychology, and gain practice with applying these insights to issues in everyday life.

See under the ‘More info’ tab for an additional description.

Contact

For questions about registration, please contact the Student Services Centre
For questions about the content of the courses, please contact the Psychology study advisor

Minor

The courses Culture and Diversity at Work, Emotion and Cognition and Psychology of Advertising can only be followed upon completion of the courses Introduction to Psychology and Group Dynamics.

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2
Introduction to Psychology 5
Group Dynamics 5
Social and Organisational Psychology 5
Emotion and Cognition 5
Culture and Diversity at Work 5
Psychology of Advertising 5

More info

Learning outcomes

After completing this minor, students will have knowledge and understanding of:

  • the broad discipline of Psychology, including evolutionary psychology, biopsychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, personality psychology and clinical psychology (all at an introductory level);

  • the wide range of research methods that have been developed throughout history, which enable us to make a distinction between scientific psychology and intuitive understanding of human nature;

  • recent insights regarding social perception (e.g. of people, groups, products and advertising), emotions (e.g. are decisions taken rationally or on the basis of emotions?) and social and economic decisions (e.g. how are individual vs group decisions made? what determines whether employees make an effort for their company? do you save or invest?);

  • the social functioning of individuals in organisations, for instance in the area of recruitment and selection of employees (e.g. the role of stereotyping), processes of group dynamics (e.g. cooperation and competition within and between groups), motivation and leadership (e.g. the role of managers in facilitating job satisfaction) and team performance (e.g. how can you help to make a team performance better than the sum total of the individual performances?);

  • social interaction processes between people (neighbourhood residents, employees in organisations) with different cultural backgrounds.

On the basis of exercises in understanding and applying this knowledge, students will learn to take a critical and analytical approach to issues in the area of social and organisational psychology drawn from everyday life, to collect information independently, to evaluate the validity of this information and to formulate proposals for further research with a more fundamental or more applied (solution-oriented) character. Students will be able to present these insights and analyses in written and/or oral form.

Maximum number of participants: 25 students

Due to the limited number of participants, students who apply for the full minor of 30 EC will be prioritised over students who apply for the 15 EC minor. Students who opt for the 15 EC minor will study the following courses:

  • Introduction to Psychology

  • Group Dynamics

  • Social and Organisational Psychology