Social psychology: sense-making in crises

Introduction

The aim of this free course is to help you understand the fast-changing world around you through the lens of a new form of social psychology: second order sense-making.

By sense-making, we mean literally the transformation of our relations to things into human sense. It is, as this free course will show, at the heart of a social psychology that is responsive to the specific concerns of the twenty-first century – the fast shift in perspectives; the innovations changing our very ways of life; the permanent crisis involving political and social dimensions.

In response to this, you will be introduced to a version of social psychology whose main aim is to make sense of how people themselves in various settings make sense of their world. And what is more, as you will see throughout the course, sense-making is intimately linked to crises. Often this is invisible as we go about our daily business, buried in the hurly-burly of everyday life. Times of crises, however, can rupture our sense-making and open us to uncertainties and anxieties, as well as excitements and opportunities. Aspects of our lives, whether private, cultural or political, can literally cease to make sense. To restore sense requires conscious effort.

In this free course, you will first be introduced to the fundamental idea of sense-making, as well as the concept of framing. You will then apply this perspective to some everyday events. Finally, you will consider a classic social psychological study from the perspective of sense-making.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course D360 Social psychology for the 21st century [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . You can find out more about Open University courses and qualifications, tuition fees and funding options by visiting our online prospectus.