Psychology and the Scientific Methods. Serendipity.
Mind, Brain and Behavior
Conditioning and Learning
Memory and Forgetting
Alertness, Consciousness and Attention. Sleep and dreaming
Emotion and Motivation
Intelligence: how many ? Nature and Nurture, which role ?
Problem Solving: logical reasoning and insight
Language
Decision Making and Moral Dilemmas
There are no textbooks adopted. That said, the use of a recent handbook is strongly recommended. Among the others, the following can be suggested:
- Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behaviour by Holt et al. McGraw-Hill publisher
- Psychology by Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner. Worth publisher
- Introduction to Psychology by Coon & Mitterer 12th edition. Cencage publisher
Learning Objectives
KNOWLEDGE: The course provides students with a general overview of the field of General Psychology. A particular emphasis is put on the convergence of neuropsychological (e.g. patient case studies) and
behavioral evidence as a crucial aspect of the study of higher mental functions.
SKILLS: The function of the course is to develop critical understanding, as well as to prepare the student to evaluate his/her later reading in the
field of psychology
Prerequisites
Not required
Teaching Methods
Lectures
Type of Assessment
Written (students will be asked to answer 3-4 open questions) and oral examination
Course program
The goals of Psychology
Scientific principles in Psychology
Methods of Research: qualitative and quantitative research. Serendipity
Analyzing and interpreting data
The brain and behaviour
The relationship between brain and mind
Hemispheric specialization
Level of Consciousness
Sleep and dreaming
Attention and arousal
Focused attention and divided attention
Learning and Conditioning
Classic conditioning
Operant conditioning
Memory: insight from H.M.'s case
The three stages model of Memory
Remembering and Forgetting
Motivation: theories of motivation
Emotion: theories of emotion
Intelligence: how many ?
The measurement of Intelligence
Genes, environment and intelligence
Cognitive development
Language and Thinking
Neural basis of Language: the role of the two hemispheres
Development of language
Problem Solving: logical reasoning and Insight
Einstellung
Decision making: satisficers vs maximizers
Moral Dilemmas