Organization:Society for Personality and Social Psychology

Society for Personality and Social Psychology

Founded	1974
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Members	Over 7,500
Executive Director	Chad Rummel, M.Ed, CAE
Website	www.spsp.org

The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) is an academic society for personality and social psychologists focused on promoting scientific research that explores how people think, behave and interact. It is the largest organization of social psychologists and personality psychologists in the world. SPSP was founded in 1974 and it manages the activities of Division 8 of the American Psychological Association.

Objectives

1. Promote scientific research in personality and social psychology Publish relevant journals. Host annual convention/pre-conferences and regional meetings. Provide research grants to members. Recognize scientific merit with awards. Promote best practices to foster innovation, rigor, transparency, and integrity. Support forums for constructive scientific discourse.

2. Promote education, training, mentoring, and varied career opportunities in personality and social psychology Foster continuing professional education and development through conferences, workshops, and other events. Support summer institutes (e.g., SISPP) and specialized workshops. Support teaching and mentoring through grants, awards, and other activities. Develop academic and non-academic career resources.

3. Enhance diversity of people and ideas in the field and promote an inclusive and respectful climate Provide research, travel, and other support for diverse groups. Foster international collaborations and exchanges. Periodically review priorities for defining diversity. Assess, develop policies, and provide guidelines to facilitate a positive climate in the field.

4. Increase the public and scientific impact of the field to benefit society Prepare and distribute information explaining contributions of the field. Host a centralized website organized by expertise. Maintain a social media presence. Advocate for funding and policies that expand the reach of the field.

5. Maintain an effective and efficient organization to benefit the field Collect and maintain field-relevant data. Maintain an endowment to foster our mission, values, and goals. Follow transparent and prudent financial practices (e.g., align income with expenses). Align the income and expenditures of the Society with SPSP’s mission, values, and goals.

Convention

Each year, SPSP hosts a convention that attracts thousands of attendees (www.spspconvention.org). Attendees include students and new and seasoned psychologists. At the convention symposia, research is shared and members are able to engage in professional development.

Leadership

SPSP governance consists of a twelve-member Board of Directors, with four officers. Governing members and committee members/leaders can be viewed at https://my.spsp.org/About/Leadership.

Publications

SPSP publishes the journals:

• Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSPB) – monthly journal consistently ranked among the most prestigious journals in social and personality psychology, according to the Social Science Citation Index
• Personality and Social Psychology Review (PSPR) – top‐ranked journal in social and personality psychology, published quarterly and devoted to theoretical and review articles
• Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) – a new, brief reports electronic journal jointly published by the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, the Association for Research in Personality, the European Association of Social Psychology, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and other co‐sponsoring organizations

External links

• Division 8 description from the American Psychological Association