The Social Psychology Theories Therapists Need to Know
Social psychology can illuminate everyday therapy dynamics we see in CBT, from imposter feelings to belonging. Here’s a guide to the theories worth revisiting, and what they mean for practice.
Psychotherapy, and particularly CBT, is often seen as a therapy that works with the individual, yet clients difficulties do not develop isolation. Their sense of self, identity, and distress are deeply shaped by group processes and social contexts. Social psychology provides a set of frameworks that help explain why clients think, feel, and behave as they do in relation to others.
As a specialist in social anxiety, imposter syndrome and belonging, here are my favourite theories that I integrate into my psycho-education and practice.
Many of these theories are decades old, but their clinical relevance remains striking. Understanding them can help therapists normalise client experiences, reframe shame, and design interventions that go beyond symptom reduction.
Social Rank Theory: Why Clients Feel Inferior
Social rank theory proposes that humans, like other primates, are wired to detect hierarchy and monitor their position within groups (Gilbert, 2001). When people feel lower in rank, they may experience anxiety, shame, or depression.
Clinical relevance:
Clients with social anxiety, depression and/or high self-criticism, are often feeling the visceral sensation of ‘low rank’ even if they may not have language to express this. They may reference shame and not belonging.
Imposter syndrome in high-achieving professionals may reflect the same rank-scanning system at work in modern settings.
Reframing these reactions as evolutionary survival responses can reduce shame and open space for compassion.
Important note: For clients experiencing true discrimination from the society they live in, their environment is actively creating and reinforcing feelings of inferiority. In theses situations, this theory needs to be handled with delicate care — in contrast to environments where the problem is not actively or meaningfully reinforced externally, but driven internally by the client’s own rank-sensitive nervous system.
Social Identity Theory: Belonging and the “In-Between”
Developed by Tajfel & Turner (1979), social identity theory explains how group memberships (e.g., profession, culture, gender) form a core part of self-concept. People seek positive identity through in-groups and may distance from out-groups.
Clinical relevance:
Clients who have outgrown old identities but do not feel at home in new ones often experience distress during this “identity liminal” phase. This often happens when clients leave one community (whether that’s class, religion, geographical area, sports team, secondary school — it’s whatever community is important to the client) but don’t feel at home in new ones yet
The above can happen at significant life transition e.g. school to university, university to work, home to moving out, growing up in poverty to having wealth etc.
Minority stress can be understood, amongst other things, through the constant tension of being positioned as “out-group.”
Therapy can help clients integrate multiple identities and find safety in self-belonging, not only group validation.
Self esteem work focuses heavily on identity without referencing the attachment to a group.
The Belongingness Hypothesis: Why Exclusion Hurts So Much
Baumeister and Leary’s (1995) belongingness hypothesis argues that humans have a fundamental need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal bonds. Brene Brown in particular, has brought this theory into the present day with her work on belonging and vulnerability.
Yet, we talk little about belonging in CBT, despite it being a core psychological drive, as essential as food or shelter. When this need is unmet, distress can result in many difficulties we see and we may misunderstand this as maladaptive thinking.
Clinical relevance:
Social anxiety: The intense fear of rejection is not irrational — it reflects a survival system wired to avoid exclusion.
Loneliness and depression: Chronic lack of belonging correlates with poorer mental and physical health outcomes.
Self esteem: Without a sense of belonging, one can feel excluded, leading to negative self-concept.
Therapy itself: The therapeutic alliance can serve as a “secure base” where belonging needs are temporarily met, modelling what safe connection feels like. Yet, we don’t want the client to feel that therapy is the only place they can belong, which makes them feel more excluded from day-to-day life.
Therapeutic suggestions:
Normalise the pain of exclusion: Clients often believe they are “too sensitive.” Framing belonging as a universal human need reduces shame.
Work with attachment and rank wounds together: Belongingness theory helps integrate insights from both attachment and social rank frameworks.
Reframe growth: The goal isn’t just symptom reduction, but helping clients experience authentic belonging without performance or self-erasure.
Integrating Social Psychology Into Practice
Social psychology reminds us that distress rarely arises in a vacuum. Shame, anxiety, and imposter feelings are not simply maladaptive thoughts — they are human responses to hierarchy, identity, power, and belonging needs.
For therapists, weaving these theories into practice does two things:
It normalises what clients experience as deeply human rather than uniquely broken.
It gives us frameworks for working not only with thoughts and behaviours, but with the social forces that shape them.
The therapeutic task, then, is not simply to reduce symptoms, but to help clients feel safe enough to bring their authentic self into relationships and groups — without hiding, performing, or fearing exclusion.
In that sense, social psychology doesn’t just add theory to our work. It strengthens the heart of therapy: helping people move from outsider to insider, and to reclaim a sense of belonging that starts within.
Want to learn more about this work? Do check out my website or connect with me on instagram! What do you think? Is this helpful for your practice?
Author: Sophia Spencer, Between Sessions Founder