THE APPLIED DIMENSION OF SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOG Y

The Applied Social Psychology appeared as a branch of Social Psycholog y in the 1970's. However, as this article examines, its origins go bac k to those of Social Psychology. Although, it is sustained here that A pplied Social Psychology must be conceptualized as an applied branch o f Social Psychology in opposition to the idea of viewing it as a group pf various knowledge differenciated from the original discipline. Acc ording to this approach, it is exposed here the need to determine the frames of reference as well as the specific theories to be used in the study of the Social Problems by applied social psychologists. Specifi cally, the following frames of reference are pointed out: social patho logy, social disorganization, value conflict, debiant behavior, labeli ng, and bureaucracy. Lastely, a review is made of subject areas that w il define an Applied Social Psychology focused on Social Problems. In addition, the characteristics that a proper methodology should include for the scopes of research of Applied Social Psychology are discussed .