The course is composed by 4 areas of understanding:

1. Theoretical foundation: the origins of the discipline are discussed. It is described the community concept, the community and social psychology’s aims, objectives and theories, together with the roots of humans «social mind». 

2. Well-being concept: raises the question on what does promote health and wellbeing for both individual and community levels. 

3. Discomfort concept: together with an analysis on what does produce discomfort for individuals and communities, it offers some operational guidelines for educators. 

4. Interventions: the prevention perspective is analyzed, together with types of actions, populations targets and methods to build up community-oriented projects.

The Community and Social Psychology is the applied study of the relationship between social systems and individual well-being in the community context, a field shaped by the crossroad between «personal fields» and «environmental fields». Its main objective is to promote health and well-being and improve quality of life of individuals within their contexts. The course is focused on the necessity to create a common understanding of the main purpose of the discipline and of the educator’s role into community projects. The theoretical foundations of the community and social psychology are discussed, in order to aware students about its basics and historical roots. Then the well-being and discomfort concepts are used as lens to understand the (ongoing and critical) relationship between individuals and their social environments. A section is also dedicated to interventions, to discuss the actual and future applications of the discipline’s methods and tools. 

The course foresees theorical lessons and individual’s and teams’ exercises, in order to promote an active participation and involvement into the learning process. 

The final evaluation is based on:

a) the level of individuals' involvement and engagement in a sub-groups research project. Its aims, objectives, target and tools will be proposed during the course. Students are asked to preset the results during the last lesson. 

b) Oral exam (in english): ability to discuss critically the experience done during the research project, knowledge of the topics, critical reasoning skills, clarity and relevance of the language. 

Reference text (mandatory): 

• Francescato, D., Tomai, M., & Ghirelli, G. (2002). Fondamenti di psicologia di comunità: principi, strumenti, ambiti di applicazione. Carocci ed. (chapters: 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11). 
• Perkins, D. D., & Zimmerman, M. A. (1995). Empowerment theory, research, and application. American journal of community psychology, 23(5), 569-579. 
• Luyten, P., & Fonagy, P. (2015). The neurobiology of mentalizing. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 6(4), 366. 

 Further texts will be presented and recommended during the course. 

In the case of attendance at least of 50% of class hours, but less than 66%, the following integration is foreseen: 

• Hogg, M. A., & Vaughan, G. M. (2017). Social psychology. Pearson (specific chapters will be recommended).