Netherlands

This course addresses the global/local nexus in the production, consumption, and use of landscapes in the world today. The aim of the course is two-fold. On the one hand, it examines the ways in which different legacies of planning and design produce different types of what we call global or globalizing landscapes. On the other hand, it studies the ways in which the valuation, production, and consumption of these global landscapes as a form of economic, social, and political capital can play a role in planning and design practices. While discussing recent theories adopted in cultural geography, sociology, and (development) economics, the course focuses on the understanding of practices and processes in which planning and design can be played out differently with varied impacts. Case studies of global/globalizing landscapes drawn from all over the world play a central role in this course. Some themes explored in this course include the relationships between landscapes and evolving notions of global cities, heritage, international trade and policy, identity formation, refugee geographies, global health, human-animal relations, and conservation. The implications of each of these themes for the tasks of landscape architecture and spatial planning are explicitly made throughout the course.

This interdisciplinary course practices a critical way of examining contemporary cultural practices. In these practices of production, dissemination, and reception, masculinity and femininity are permanently (re)constructed, just as are concepts of class, race, ethnicity, and geopolitical location. Students study cultural practices manifest through popular culture as well as examine the cultural logic underlying art practice and visual ethnographic research. In all, old and new identities are contested and reconstructed; the interaction between text and image is the main focus.

This course investigates the cognitive correlates (information processing) and neurobiological mechanisms of declarative, or explicit memory. It discusses several cognitive models, including Baddeley's Working Memory model, the Modal model, and the interference theory in forgetting. In addition, the role of long-term potentiation (LTP) in memory is discussed, as well as how different brain areas contribute to memory. Throughout the course, relevant methodological issues regarding memory research are covered. Importantly, brain anatomy and function are an important part of this course; an interest in and understanding of these fields at the level of Introduction to Psychology or higher is highly recommended. In addition to the tutorial meetings, students complete a practical and paper assignment in which the memory performance of real subjects is assessed. Prerequisites for this course are an Introduction to Psychology course; a course on Brain and Action is highly recommended.

This course is situated on the interplay between social, clinical, and forensic psychology. Next to the major models on the existence and maintenance of aggression, and both nature and nurture-related causes, the course focuses on the main expression forms, cultural influences, and pathological disorders related to aggression. The course addresses how aggression can be measured adequately and what the treatment options are. The course examines topics including reactive and proactive aggression; anger and hostility; pathological disorders related to aggression; the main models on aggression such as GAM and I-cubed model; nature and nurture related origins of aggression; treatment models available for aggression including like cognitive therapy, stop-think-do approaches, schema therapy, and EMDR; and assessment methods used to measure aggression.