Psychology

During the course the main topics in Health Psychology will be considered including health definition; health-risk and protective behaviors; reducing risk of disease at individual and population levels; symptoms perception, interpretation, and response from the psychological perspective; the consultation in health psychology; stress health and illness; the impact of illness on quality of life; pain perception and response; and the improving the quality of life in illness. The course addresses topics in health promotion including health risk and protective behaviors, health and illness definition and conceptualization, promoting health-protective behaviors and reducing risk behaviors, and promoting and developing intervention programs in health psychology. The course discusses health psychology in clinical contexts such as assessing psychosomatic issues including causal, maintaining, and exacerbating factors; definition of stress, stress effects on health, and stress management; effects of the illness on patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life; the psychological effect of pain on patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life; main illness model and illness perception; and understanding interventions in psychosomatic patients and caregivers. The course requires students to have basic clinical psychology knowledge and basic epidemiological knowledge as a prerequisite.

The course provides a study of theories of human development and social functioning at the individual, family, small group, community, organizational, and societal levels, with application in explaining complex interactions between individuals and the social environment. The course covers human development in infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, with respect to the developmental scientific knowledge base regarding opportunities and vulnerabilities present during the different stages of the life cycle and the biopsychosocial and cultural factors that can influence individual development—values, beliefs, worldviews, and identities. 

The course is divided into four parts. In the first part of the course students gain an overview of the most important theories, techniques, and methods used by psychologists in the context of personality and intelligence research. What are common conceptualizations of personality and intelligence? Secondly, students learn about antecedents or explanations of individual differences. Why are there differences between humans? How does evolution come into play? What role does heredity play? In the third part, students focus on outcomes of personality in terms of life experiences. What is the role of personality and intelligence in the prediction of life events? How important is intelligence for your career? Do personality traits predict the duration of a marriage? In the fourth part, students focus on applications of personality theory and findings in practice. How is knowledge on personality and intelligence applied in clinical and organizational settings? What kind of practical implications can be derived from personality research?

Students pursue an area of study in their major which is not available in the normal framework of the Undergraduate Study Abroad Program. Applicants for such study are expected to develop a sound rationale for their individual research project which requires faculty guidance and must reflect an intensive research project. This course is supervised one hour weekly for the duration of the 11 week semester.

This course explores the ways in which psychology allows us to understand the mechanisms behind the choices we make – including situations such as addiction, where people seem to have a reduced ability to choose. Across a series of lectures and seminars, students see how varied the approaches to this topic area can be, taking in attempts to measure the degree to which an action is freely willed, analysis of choices in terms of expected outcomes, the influence of environments (physical, informational and social) on your choices, habitual choices where we may not be aware of making them, and addiction to both substances and gambling, where people’s short-term choices may directly conflict with their longer-term aims. Students learn how information from a range of approaches can be integrated to develop our understanding of the topic. In addition, through a series of practical sessions students design, implement, and report a novel piece of research on choice behavior. 

This course focuses on the development of the individual and their interaction with their environment and considers what the consequences are, both when this interaction proceeds smoothly and when it does not proceed smoothly. It explores questions concerning human development; gives attention to cognitive and social-emotional aspects; covers some basic issues in human development; and examines the nature and development of personality and human interaction in social groups and cultural settings. Students are introduced to the tools used in psychology to find answers to these questions.

This course examines experimental findings and theory documenting the plasticity of the brain and its relationship to behavior. It covers gene regulation, neurogenesis, and cell morphology changes in relation to learning and experience.