MSc in Applied Social Psychology

Core courses and electives are offered in the following areas:

Year 1 – HSE University Moscow

• Social Psychology
• Cross-Cultural Psychology

Year 2 – Tilburg University (for double-degree students) or HSE University Moscow

• Economic Psychology
• Work and Organizational Psychology

Students select the courses within these areas that best align with their interests and career goals. Courses offered by other faculties at HSE can also be taken for credit. Classes are a mix of lectures, seminars, and practice sessions.

Students of the program "Applied social psychology" have an opportunity to gain knowledge in the following fields:

• The social psychology field provides a depth review of social attitudes, their predictive power for behaviors and outcomes in cognitive processing of social information and emotional responses; interpersonal and intergroup processes (leadership, group-effects), interpersonal communication, psychology of attraction and prosocial behavior, etc.;
• The cross-cultural psychology field provides students with knowledge of culture and cognition, culture and personality; instructs on the usage of cultures’ measuring and mapping, cultural values, and social axioms; provides practice-oriented workshops on intercultural relations, a psychological adaptation of migrants, prevention of ethnic and religious extremism; raises issues of multiculturalism as an ideology and practice of intercultural communication;
• The economic psychology field provides training in consumer behavior, investment and financial behavior, planning and assessment of social programs, advertisement evaluation and expertise;
• The organizational psychology field reviews organizational behavior, leadership in organizations, HR-consulting for organizations, personnel assessment, in-depth training in cross-cultural organizational behavior, assessment and adaptation of personnel in international companies.

Experience in the use of the latest innovations from research and practice provides our graduates great advantage in the labor market. Graduates of the program are trained in predicting and interpreting people's behavior, their response to socio-economic and political changes. They are skilled in the psychological facilitation of international negotiations and support in the process of acculturation for expatriates. Our graduates also gain the skills of media monitoring and analysis when it comes to the issues of how the media and virtual reality influence people's attitudes and behavior.

Which companies are looking for our graduates?

Graduates of our program are currently employed in international companies and large Russian corporations (e.g. Gazprom, Severstal, etc). They are also highly valued in recruitment agencies and consulting centers. Fluent and skilled professional communication in English and the skills of statistical data analysis contribute to our graduates' competitiveness in both Russian and international labor markets. According to surveys, 100% of the graduates were hired within the first year after graduation, and most of them use skills and knowledge obtained at the program in their everyday professional lives. Moreover, many students start working before graduation. Among those who choose the double degree option, around 40% stay employed in the Netherlands after a successful internship in Dutch companies. A large number of the graduates work as researchers and continue their path in academia by enrolling in Ph.D. programs in Russia and abroad.

There are several career directions for MSc "Applied social psychology" graduates:

• Career in academia: enrollment for the Ph.D. program at graduate schools around the world, work for research centers (ILSCR, LCSR, VTsIOM, FOM)
• Career in teaching: internship and teaching for colleges and universities (including HSE);
• Career in civil service: state administrative professionals (departments and offices dealing with social and migration issues);
• Work for Russian and International corporations (MTS, MARS, Unilever, ROMIR, GfK-Rus). Double degree graduates have an opportunity to gain employment in European companies after internship for Tilburg University;
• Career in consulting: consultant at various social and welfare centers (Centers of monitoring and prevention of ethnic conflicts, the Museum of tolerance, etc.);
• Work for a non-government and non-profit organization, charity funds (CAF, UNICEF, WWF)