The Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale (LAPPS) was founded in 2009 by two parent institutions (the Universities of Paris Nanterre and Paris 8) to create a French social psychology research centre with a global presence. LAPPS builds on the strong tradition of research in social psychology, a field that came to the fore in France with the creation of the “Universités d’appui” in the late 1960s. In 2014, an occupational and organisational psychology team joined LAPPS. Therefore, research in social and occupational psychology are brought together in the same Research Unit, which is part of the Paris Lumières Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions. The main disciplines of this Research Unit are:

• Experimental social psychology
• Occupational and organisational psychology and ergonomics
• Social psychology of health
• Social psychology of language and communication
• Environmental psychology
• Social consumer psychology
• Counselling psychology

LAPPS endeavours to understand how individuals use, either consciously or unconsciously, their cognitive, affective and motivational resources to carry out activities in a normative context.

The Research Unit offers a programme covering both core theory and applied psychology. Firstly, a core study of the architecture of socio-cognitive processes (stereotypes, intergroup relations, organisational justice, etc.), processes associated with behavioural change (habits, cognitive dissonance, etc.) and processes associated with professional transitions and life changes. Secondly, the course proceeds to an advanced and applied study of issues examined through partnerships (health sector, environment, consumerism, business, occupational psychology, etc.).

Research themes:

• Context, cognition, behaviour and language: intra-individual and societal perspectives
• Individual and social regulations in a corporate context
• Health, environment and consumerism: behaviours and social representations

The Research Unit comprises three internal teams: 

• Social psychology of behaviour and cognition
• Work, Ergonomics, Guidance and Organisation 
• Research Group on Speech and Social Thought (GRPPS-UP8)

The Research Group on Speech and Social Thought is attached to Paris 8 University and its chair is Rémi Finkelstein. Its research focuses on three additional areas:

• fundamental research on processes, such as social categorisation, discrimination, language, social influence
• models drawn from general or specialised theory applied to professional contexts
• applications in the health sector

Using a quantitative methodological approach, a variety of tools can be developed in addition to experimentation, such as the subjective camera, automatic discourse analysis and structural model analysis.

Team projects are underpinned by social psychology paradigms and methodologies from around the world, as well as specifically French approaches, such as social representation theory.