A Renaissance of Social Relevance: Maximizing Insights and the Impact of Psychological Research

Within each generation of academics, perennial, soul-searching questions emerge regarding whether and how psychological research can have meaningful impact, and calls for the broader applicability and significance of our work have only grown in recent years. Yet, oftentimes, the social relevance of our research is construed as being at odds with the scientific enterprise, as if we must choose between conducting rigorous tests of psychological theory and caring about the issues and populations we study, and about how psychological processes operate in the real-world. This address serves as a reminder that pursuing socially relevant research and maintaining scientific rigor need not be framed as being in opposition to each other. Instead, I propose quite the opposite: there are many ways in which a focus on social relevance can make our science better.