The Institute of Psychology and Sociology of Communication (IPSC) was recently established at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Lugano.
IPSC aims to consolidate research and teaching of Psychology and Sociology of Communication, developing a theoretical framework in which both disciplines are able to benefit from and are enriched by mutual exchanges and contribution.
The field of Psychology involves topics on the nature of individuals and their subjective experience. In particular:

• Ontogenesis of communication and language acquisition
• Cognitive architecture for communicative interaction
• Cognition and communication within joint activities
• Social cognition and intersubjectivity
• Interpersonal relationships and emotions
• Language as social action
• Attitudes in social contexts

The field of Sociology concerns topics about:

• Educational processes and diffusion of social representations
• Identity and role of gender within organisations in public and private life
• Cultural consuming (styles of consuming, consuming and development of identity, symbolic dimension of practices and of consuming objects etc.)
• Mechanisms of persuasion (political propaganda, advertising and marketing, strategies and effects of media persuasion, etc)
• The functioning of public life on a micro-social level (civic networks/local community support, opinion group etc.)
• Processes to develop social memories.

In addition to these issues traditionally related to either Psychology or Sociology, the scientific interests of IPSC focus on the intersection between these two disciplines.