Dynamics in Groups and Decision Making

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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  

Minor

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