About us
The Polish Social Psychological Society was established in September 2004 by the will of its 44 founding members. This event has been considered a natural culmination of a long and essential stage in the development of social psychology in Poland.
Polish psychologists were active participants in the European community of social psychologists, particularly at the end of the 1960s, when the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology (EAESP) emerged. The EAESP records recognize the contributions of Professor Stanislaw Mika, one of the co-founders of the Association. Since then, Polish psychologists have repeatedly been members of the highest authorities of EAESP (Stanislaw Mika, Janusz Grzelak, Maria Jarymowicz, and, since 2005, Bogdan Wojciszke).
PSPS founders (Janusz Grzelak, Jerzy Trzebinski, Maria Lewicka, Bogdan Wojciszke) were also repeatedly appointed as members of the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Social Psychology (the most important European journal in the field of social psychology). For several decades, we have been considered the strongest scientific community in this part of Europe and one of the strongest in the world, as international societies have increasingly appreciated the contributions of Polish psychologists. For more than three decades, EAESP (now EASP) has been our “natural environment”. However, considering the rapid development of social psychology in Poland, we have spontaneously started looking for new ways of facilitating the integration of Polish social psychologists through locally organized meetings and conferences. These ways were meant to provide scientific and networking support for young scientists, communicating our research achievements to each other and the public, and – eventually – also through our locally-published journal. Through these efforts, the Polish Social Psychological Society emerged, and then a new journal, “Psychologia społeczna,” now titled “Social Psychological Bulletin” (since 2018), was born.
Formally, in the majesty of the law, the PSPS was registered in the Polish National Court Register of Poland on February 17, 2005.
PSPS currently consists of 186 members (9 honorary members, 129 regular members, and 48 junior members).
Our mission is briefly stated in the Statute: to create conditions for developing the science of social psychology and integrating the community of psychologists. Further articles specify that the Polish Social Psychological Society realizes its mission through:
- Publishing periodicals and books on social psychology issues,
- Organizing conferences and seminars,
- Supporting young researchers,
- Popularizing social psychology in the media,
- Working toward the improvement of teaching programs in higher education,
- Conducting research, consulting, training, giving expertise,
- Giving opinions on legislative changes and events related to science and its applications
This much is stated in the Statute. To what extent the general and specific missions of the PSPS will be realized depends on us, our creativity, commitment, and our actual scientific and organizational contribution.