The research of the unit is aimed at the development of models to explain and describe the influences in social systems. Social influences are studied in three ways: from the perspective of group dynamics, from an individual-cognitive perspective, and from an economic and consumer psychological perspective.

Social influence is studied from three perspectives: 

1. Group Dynamics

Behavior, judgments, opinions and decisions will be studied as a function of interpersonal relations between people.

2. Individual-Cognitive perspective

Behavior, judgments, opinions and decisions will be studied as a function of subjective perception, interpretation and representation of information.

3. Economic and Consumer Psychology

In the Master specializatrion Economic and Consumer Psychology psycholgical mechanisms are studies that influence our decisions with regard to economic and consumer behavior.

Themes

From these three perspectives research focuses on:

• The relation between attitudes and behavior
• Stress problems and performance within organisations
• The distribution of scarce goods in groups and organisations
• Economic decisions, such as saving, investing, and donating, both rationally and irrationally.
• Consumer behavior, such as product placement, buying behavior, bran attitudes and the role of emotions.