Social Psychology, Personality and Interpersonal Processes Study Section – SPIP
The Social Psychology, Personality and Interpersonal Processes (SPIP) Study Section reviews applications examining the socio-personal, interpersonal, and psychological aspects of health and well-being across the lifespan. Emphasis is on conceptual frameworks that highlight the role of biopsychosocial processes, personality characteristics, and/or social mechanisms on individuals’ health behavior, risk prevention, treatment adherence, and health outcomes. These include studies that explore the micro-level social and interpersonal determinants of health and health behavior, psychosocial pathways in development, and risks and outcomes in the context of social, family, and close relationships across the lifespan. Applications that involve non-human studies are reviewed elsewhere.
Review Dates
Topics
- Studies that explore the determinants and consequences of social stigma, stereotyping, acculturation, and discrimination on health behaviors at the individual level.
- Studies that test interventions to improve subjective well-being, stress resilience, psychosocial functioning, and quality of life in individuals at-risk for health disparities (including racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities).
- Studies that examine the influence of family, peers and/or health providers on health-related decision-making at the individual level. These include studies on family shared decision-making with health providers, interactions with health providers, health-related messages, attitudes and beliefs of health-related behavior and decisions.
- Studies that investigate the social and emotional aspects of health conditions, including those of caregivers.
- Studies that incorporate interpersonal aspects of health, including interventions that focus on family functioning, parental and marital functioning, peer influences, and intimate partner or sexual violence.
- Studies that explore social behavior and psychological experiences and changes related to cognitive functioning, approaches to improve intellectual functioning, interventions to reduce social isolation, and approaches to improve quality of life.
- Studies that explore the role of personality characteristics, personality disorders, and emotion regulation on subjective well-being, resilience to stressors, and stress-related coping behaviors and strategies.
Shared Interests and Overlaps
There are shared interests between SPIP and Psychosocial Development, Risk, and Prevention (PDRP) in applications that emphasize social development. Applications that emphasize the social and contextual aspects of family environments and interpersonal dynamics that influence health behavior and decision-making are reviewed in SPIP. Applications that focus on parent and caregiver characteristics and interactions with the child as an influence on their individual and social development are reviewed in PDRP.
There are shared interests between SPIP and Community Influences on Health Behavior (CIHB) in the effects of social networks on health. Applications that emphasize individual level risk factors, outcomes and perceptions of social networks are reviewed in SPIP. Applications focused on community level risk factors, outcomes and social networks as macro-level influences on health are reviewed in CIHB.
There are shared interests between SPIP and Mechanisms of Emotion, Stress and Health (MESH) in the study of emotion and stress. Applications that involve the social sources of stress and social factors that influence emotion and self-regulation are reviewed in SPIP. Applications focused on the biological and mechanistic aspects of emotion regulation, such as allostatic load and the response to stress, are reviewed in MESH.
There are shared interests between SPIP and Human Complex Mental Function (HCMF) in studies of affective neuroscience. Applications that involve questions related to the interaction and dynamics between an individual’s social environments, personality psychology, and affective neuroscience processes are reviewed in SPIP. Applications that focus on questions involving social cognitive neuroscience and intra-individual affective processes are reviewed in HCMF.
There are shared interests between SPIP and Healthcare and Health Disparities (HHD) in the study of determinants of health disparities. Applications that emphasize social-psychological processes that mediate the relationship between stigma and individual-level health outcomes are reviewed in SPIP. Applications that emphasize the relationship between stigma, health service utilization, and treatment-seeking as system-level contributors to health disparities are reviewed in HHD.
There are shared interests between SPIP and Lifestyle Change and Behavioral Health (LCBH) in studies of health promotion and well-being. Applications that focus on social processes and contextual factors to promote health-related behavior are reviewed in SPIP. Applications that emphasize person-centered psychosocial and behavioral factors to promote a healthy lifestyle and behavioral changes are reviewed in LCBH.
There are shared interests between SPIP and Biobehavioral Medicine and Health Outcomes (BMHO) in studies of stress and health-related decision-making. Applications that emphasize social aspects of stress, stress resilience, and personality characteristics are reviewed in SPIP. Applications that emphasize stress and health-related pain and decisions on slowing the progression of diseases and mitigating medical complications are reviewed in BMHO.
There are shared interests between SPIP and Social Sciences and Population Studies (SSPA/SSPB) in studies of social determinants of health and behavior. Applications that emphasize social determinants in terms of population-level structures, family systems, household, or economic/policies are reviewed in SSPA/SSPB. Applications that focus on social determinants in terms of interpersonal process, social stigma, family and peer relationships, and social interactions and communication are reviewed in SPIP.
