Netherlands

In this course students learn about various aspects of group dynamics. The course discusses the ways in which individuals' actions, thoughts, and emotions are influenced by the groups they belong to and how group processes shape performance and decision making. Also considered are the quality of relations in and between groups that can have a tremendous impact on people and society. Lectures demonstrate and deepen the understanding of group phenomena. In tutorial meetings, students facilitate exercises that promote a deeper processing of the materials and improve group-analysis and group-management skills. Finally, students work together on a paper analyzing group behavior in a realistic setting of choice as well as their own group's development throughout the course. This should improve students' ability to understand and manage groups and their dynamics.

This course draws from a range of theoretical, clinical, and methodological approaches to explore several key topics: the origin of the drive to pursue and persevere; the theory behind decision-making and the control over our choices; the prospect and challenges of change; the part psychology plays in our habits, the choice of partners, in our professional careers; the origins of power, narcissism, altruism, grit, and risk-taking. The course analyzes and discusses both the scholarly ramifications of these ideas and also how to understand them in our lives and society more broadly. This course examines the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and our choices. Through reading the text, books and articles, through lectures, discussions, class presentations, debates, case studies, multimedia, and a field trip, students study how psychology impacts most aspects of who they are and what choices they make. The prerequisite for this course is an introductory psychology course.

A basic course on veterinary epidemiology and economics. Specific diseases and their symptoms, prevention, therapy, and economic effects are used as an illustration of the following aspects: health and disease, how to diagnose, and which organizations are involved; types of disease, pathogen transmission, available preventive measures; types and design of epidemiological studies, analysis, and interpretation; basic economic principles and methods used in decision-making regarding animal health problems; and design of disease eradication and/or prevention programs.

In this course, students learn about various research tools, such as participant observation and qualitative interviewing. Students learn how to take field notes and are introduced to various forms of interviewing, such as the structured interview, the in-depth interview, focus groups, and life history interviews. Taking field notes and interviewing are practiced in and outside of the classroom. Moreover, students are guided through the process of crafting a feasible research question and the appropriate design for future studies they conduct. The research questions provide the basis for students' investigations. What is to be investigated is entirely up to the student(s). However, they are provided with guidance in the formulation of their topics. In this course, students have to conduct at least one interview, thus they need to have access to a tape recorder and/or video camera. This is a time and labor-intensive skills training, especially once the data collection has begun. Most of the required work is done outside of the class setting. Students are expected to work independently and should count on having to invest an extra two to four hours per week in interviewing, transcribing the interviews, and working on the data analysis. This course is for students with a background or sincere interest in sociology, anthropology, and/or cultural studies.

In this course, the clinical aspects of the various anxiety disorders are presented as well as knowledge of theories and models about the maintenance factors and their treatment implications. In the tasks, case histories of patients with anxiety disorders are arranged according to different focus points. The framework is built by the various anxiety disorders (specific phobia, social anxiety disorders, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder). Based on these different anxiety disorders three different theories concerning the etiology and maintenance factors of anxiety are studied 1) learning theory, 2) cognitive theory, and 3) biological models of anxiety. Treatment implications from these different theories are also studied.