The “Applied Psychology” curriculum focuses on the psychological processes that characterize the different aspects of individual, relational, and collective life, proposing theories, methods, and applications useful to carry on evidence-based psychological research and interventions.

The proposed research topics concern the following main areas and fields.
The Social area
The research topics in the field of Social Psychology are the following:

• Intergroup relations, with specific attention to: prejudice reduction through different strategies, including intergroup contact; processes of dehumanization of others and self; interpersonal and intergroup relationships in healthcare contexts.
• Violence and security, involving topics such as: interpersonal and collective violence; environmental crisis and violence; security and safety in individuals, groups, and organizations.
• Contemplative psychology, in relation to mindfulness, self-perceptions and individual differences, well-being and prosociality.
• Co-construction of social realities, with specific focus on: meaning-making processes; counter-narratives to dominant discourses and enhancement of generative practices for social change.
• Attitudes and behaviors, involving in particular: the psychosocial determinants of attitudes and behaviors; leadership style, individual and organizational attitudes and behaviors.

Some topics are related to social themes, but intersect different fields and areas, such as Developmental Psychology and History of Psychology:

• Diversity, pluralism, and inclusiveness in the promotion of equity and social justice.
• Career and life development and planning, from childhood to retirement.
• History of experimental and applied psychology.

The Work and organizational area

The research topics in the field of work and organizational psychology regard:

• Personnel selection, its methods and their scientific validity.
• Career calling, its origins, development, and positive outcomes.
• Work-related stress, organizational well-being and disease, workaholism and heavy work investment.

The Clinical and Dynamic area
The research topics in the area of Psychodynamics are the following:

• Psychotherapy and clinical interventions: effectiveness of therapeutic treatments; models of therapeutic change focusing on process and microprocess; empathy and attunement; cognitive, affective and relational embodiment; integration between psychodynamic approach and neuroscience.
• Psychopathology and disease, including: eating disorders (e.g., anorexia and food addiction); stigma and self-stigma towards clinical populations.
• Family psychology, in relation to: parentification experiences, couple adjustment and parenting; domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
• Attachment, investigating its relations with: couple relationship and psychological well-being; internalized homonegativity and adjustment in LGBT+ people.
• Psychoanalysis as a culturally reflective methodology, investigating: the intersection of psyche and society from the perspective of cultural psychology; symbolic-thought and dream-thought.

The Clinical Psychology area has a particular focus on:

• Identity change in psychotherapy and social contexts; personal and relational disease, corporality and identity implications; language or negotiation of meanings in social contexts and in psychotherapy.

The Psychometric and Methodological area

The topics related to Psychometrics and Research Methodology are the following:

• Measurement of psychological variables (abilities, attitudes, and personality traits), using methods and procedures of classical test theory, item response theory, and knowledge space theory.
• Formal models in psychology for: the evaluation of psychological variables and the design of personalized interventions; the analysis of the components underlying automatic association measures.
• Quantitative and qualitative methods for the analysis of psychological processes and variables.