Given that Social Psychology has always been studying humans in contexts of pressing societal problems, we believe that our field can make a substantial contribution to current societal problems. The symposium, will therefore feature four talks by distinguished speakers that provide deeper understanding of human behavior and its change in the context of pressing current societal problems. Moreover, it will be discussed who our discipline can contribute to the solution of these problems.

The symposium, held on Friday, March 8th at 2 pm at the International Congress of Psychology (ICPS2019), will feature contributions applying social psychology to environmental, media, and health related problems:

• Social Psychology contributions to global environmental challenges: From energy efficiency to marine environments
  Sabine Pahl, University of Plymouth (UK)
• Hate speech epidemics: how online hatred spreads in the society?
  Michał Bilewicz, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• When goal striving gets stuck: Consequences of action crises for health and well-being and performance
  Veronika Brandstätter, Marcel Herrmann, Mirjam Ghassemi, Benjamin Wolf, & Martin Bettschart (University of Zurich)
• Good and bad advice from Dr. Google: Understanding health information seeking on the Internet
  Kai Sassenberg, Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien & University of Tübingen (Germany)