Psychology

This course aims to develop a new perspective to increase students’ ability of dealing with complex matters from life and work. We introduce a system thinking derived from ancient Dao philosophy and modern quantum physics, which yields a methodology to be applied to such daily topics as keeping positivity, raising the ability of focusing the attention and of persistence, facing a difficulty, etc. These topics are discussed from a rational and system perspective, which involves a design of a series of methods to work out a solution. The scope is then shifted from personal topics to those of society, with the same system thinking methodology. We intend to create a platform for students to learn how to understand complex systems from both theory and practical sides.

This course analyzes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health in society. There have been consequences of the pandemic for mental health in the human population. Considering the potential scale of this problem, there is growing need for medicine to integrate knowledge from related subjects, such as psychology, criminology, psychotherapy, and neuroscience, to precisely understand the mechanisms of ill health. This course brings together the discoveries of science with the life stories behind diagnoses to clarify the mechanisms that drive mental health symptoms. In the book, The Myth of Normal, Dr Gabor Maté makes the claim that society is built on a hidden assumption of generational trauma. Trauma disrupts the connection between mind and body. This psychophysiological problem can be diagnosed by doctors as physical and mental health conditions. While diagnostic labels help individuals understand mental health problems to an extent, the individual remains a member of society and its many challenges. Therefore, this course draws upon research taking place at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health to understand resilience in the context of different challenges, such as adolescence, socioeconomic deprivation and war. The course illustrates the mechanisms by which life experiences impact the mind, including the impact of the pandemic on the disconnect between mind and body.

This course provides an introduction to sport and exercise psychology and associated psychological theories and methods. Theories relate to various contexts, including elite sport, sport and exercise at the broader community level, and sport and healthy lifestyle.

Based on the theory of gender research, this course introduces the physiological basis and causes of differences between the sexes, analyzes the social pressures faced by men and women in real society and the disharmony caused by differences in life, and helps us understand the history of the development of gender status, the differences between the sexes in physiology, psychology, behavior, etc., and the theories and skills of getting along between the sexes.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. The course content includes:

1) From health-related quality of life to dimensions of psychological well-being: the conceptual framework and their process of assessment in clinical psychology.

2) The unifying concept of euthymia and its psychological evaluation.

3) The science of clinimetrics and clinimetric criteria for Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).

4) Clinimetric approach to the definition and clinical assessment of psychological distress.

5) The experience of psychological suffering: the concept of mental pain and its clinimetric evaluation.

6) The concept of demoralization and its detection based on clinimetric criteria.

7) The Hamilton Rating Scales and the clinical assessment of depression.

8) Somatization, illness denial and the clinimetric domain of psychosomatics.

9) The clinimetric domain of clinical pharmacopsychology.

By the end of the course, students know the theoretical paradigms of mental health as a multidimensional construct and are able to use the appropriate rating scales for a comprehensive assessment of mental health according to clinimetric criteria.

This course covers the main dementia subtypes and language change associated with each. In lab sessions, students work with language samples to understand the linguistic profiles of dementia first-hand.

This course offers an introduction to the field of psychology including concepts of human behavior as well as scientific research methods. It explores basic psychological processes including: attention, perception, motivation, emotion, negative and positive emotions, learning, memory, consciousness and its alterations, personality, etc. Additionally, this course discusses how scientific knowledge about human behavior and basic processes is applied to various specific fields of intervention in criminology: the study of lying, deception and simulation, ways to improve the memory of witnesses and victims, or the effect of traumatic events on the victims.

This course examines sensation and perception, with an emphasis on the psychology of seeing. Specific topics include the following: examination of the functional properties of sensory systems (e.g., auditory system, color vision, vestibular system, touch and kinaesthesia); phenomenology of sensation and perception; psychophysical limits of perceptual systems; goals of sensory coding; structure and evolution of sensory systems; theories of perception. 

This course examines psychology as a biological science. The emphasis is on understanding the links between the neurobiology of the brain, sensory organs and nervous system and human behavior. It covers diverse perspectives on psychology from various experimental traditions and levels of analysis – behavioral, cognitive and neurophysiological. Topics include memory and cognition, animal learning, psychobiology, perception, and abnormal psychology.

This course examines research and theory on memory. The focus is primarily on animal research but the application of this work to the understanding of memory in humans will be made explicit. For example, the implications of this work for our understanding of memory disorders in humans, and the origin and treatment of clinical disorders will be discussed. The laboratory component of the course will provide “hands on” experience in observing various aspects of rodent behavior that are frequently used in studies on the psychobiology of memory and an opportunity for small group discussion/debate on various issues relevant to the material described in the lecture component of the course.