Psychology

This course provides a comprehensive overview of drug use and the problem of addiction. It provides a framework for further independent study of the key issues and current research. The course helps students to understand the process of addiction from initiation of drug use through to treatment of addiction and relapse. It addresses psychological, biological, and social factors that influence this process and explore how and why individuals differ in their propensity to take drugs and develop addiction. The course introduces current theories of addiction and approaches to treatment, including current research and theory on behavior change. The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of different classes of drugs of abuse are considered in order to understand how and why patterns of drug use differ and why drugs have different abuse liabilities and associated harms. The course also presents and discusses several critical issues in drug use and addiction, including drug-related policy (such as drug legalization and harms classification) and social stigma. Students develop a deeper understanding of the complexity of drug use and addiction from both a biological and social perspective, and the challenges of developing effective treatment strategies.

This course covers the basic theories and research methods of abnormal psychology. It examines the causes, course, coping strategies, and intervention methods of the main types of mental illnesses, as well as analyzes the diagnoses of major psychological diseases, the establishment of treatment guidelines, and intervention techniques.

This course discusses topics including a general framework and short historical overview of affective neuroscience; features and functions of some fundamental brain areas/structures involved in emotional processing; research methods in affective neuroscience: strengths and limitations of animal models and neuroimaging techniques; the neural basis of fear, reward, and aggression; and the neural networks implicated in anxiety disorders, depression, and psychopathy. This course requires knowledge of the structure and functions of central and peripheral nervous system, and on general psychopathology, as a prerequisite.

In this course, students investigate how music influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Students study foundational methods, concepts, and theories of music psychology and critically debate empirical studies. Students get an overview of the wide range of topics in the subject, and they carry out independent literature research on a music psychological issue, to create experimental designs and to be able to assess experiments.

This is an introductory course to the study of mental health and distress. It covers historical and contemporary perspectives on classification and treatment of mental (ill) health and examine the interplay between social, psychological, and biological factors in the genesis and maintenance of mental distress.

The focus of this course is on gaining a better understanding of theories and research on adolescent risk behaviors that may develop into substance (e.g. smoking, drinking, cannabis use, use of illicit drugs) or behavioral addictions (e.g. internet-related problems, gambling disorder, eating disorder). Attention is given to the prevention and treatment of these problems. The effects of substance abuse, other appetitive behaviors, and addiction to these substances or behaviors is covered. Students apply the acquired theoretical and empirical knowledge when analyzing social youth issues and they reflect on possible policy or intervention practices that may help to prevent social youth issues.