Psychology

This research techniques course focuses on understanding the general principles of the scientific method and understanding and applying concepts of descriptive statistics and probability models.

This course will introduce you to an evidence-based roadmap and practical tools for gaining control, living a life you aspire to, and functioning effectively. Students will gain insight into their well-being and how it may impact their and others’ lives and work. This course offers an in-depth exploration of the intersection between social psychology and individual well-being. Field trips to historical sites, museums, and community organizations offer experiential learning and cultural immersion opportunities. Lectures delve into how social factors influence human behavior, cognition, and emotion, ultimately shaping our choices and overall health. Well-being is not about being happy. The pursuit of happiness falls short, while real contentment comes from living a fulfilling and meaningful life. Students will examine fundamental concepts in social psychology, such as social influence, conformity, obedience, group dynamics, attribution, and attitudes. They will gain insights into how these concepts manifest in real-life contexts and impact individual decision-making processes through theoretical frameworks and empirical research. The course emphasizes the role of social relationships, cultural norms, and societal structures in shaping perceptions of well-being and the pursuit of happiness. Students will critically evaluate theories and research findings regarding subjective well-being, life satisfaction, and the factors contributing to happiness.

This course provides a basic understanding of research design and statistics that provide the foundations for independent empirical research and critical analysis. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of analysis skills. Topics include core aspects such as basic statistics, technical writing, and the use of statistical packages.

This course focuses on how psychological theories are applied to learning, teaching, and facilitation of human growth. It covers major developmental theories and their application to learning and instruction, learning theories from both behavioral and cognitive traditions, effective teaching methods and practices, learners' individual and group differences, achievement motivation, and assessment. Students participate in learning activities that require self-reflection and integration of daily life experience. 

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

1) Introduction to the use of clinical interviewing for well-being interventions.

2) Attending and listening skills for clinical interviewing.

3) The use of questions during clinical interviewing.

4) Well-being interventions based on person-centered approaches: theoretical principles and methodological recommendations.

5) Conceptual and methodological principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).

6) Conceptual and methodological principles of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT).

7) The Well-Being Therapy (WBT): the conceptual background, the methodological framework, and its main clinical applications.

8) An introduction to the Schema Therapy.

9) The clinician and the soul: an introduction to Logotherapy.

10) The inferiority feeling and striving for superiority: an introduction to Individual Psychology and Adlerian Psychotherapy.

By the end of the course, students: know evidence-based interventions aimed at improving well-being, their mechanisms of action, potential beneficial and adverse effects; are able to evaluate the efficacy of well-being interventions and plan research and intervention projects to reduce risk in populations with unhealthy lifestyle and promote adaptation and self-management in patients with chronic and progressive diseases.

This is the first course, in a two-semester course series, designed primarily for undergraduate psychology majors or minors who anticipate future applications of statistical methods. Topics covered in this course include an overview of descriptive statistics, foundational concepts in inferential statistics (probability, population, sample, sampling methods, sampling distributions, estimation of population parameters, binomial, normal, t, and F distributions), hypothesis significance testing (Type I and II errors, statistical power), and comparisons of means (t-tests, oneway analysis of variance, multiple comparisons of means, and effect sizes). 

Course prerequisite: Mastery of algebra and analytical geometry at the high-school level. 

This course will take you on a journey from the microscopic to the macroscopic, showing you how social and natural scientists answer basic questions about human nature. The course is an introduction to the sciences of mind, including foundational concepts from neuroscience, evolution, genetics, philosophy, and experimental methods, and specific topics such as perception, memory, reasoning and decisionmaking,consciousness, child development, psychopathology, personality, language,emotion, motivation,sexuality, survival in the world, and social relations.

This course introduces the basic theories of developmental psychology and existing empirical research results, then focuses on the integration of various development themes in adolescence and the correlation between them. 

This course introduces some basic logical methods used in symbolic artificial intelligence and their philosophical foundations. It looks at some of the techniques that have been used to represent and reason about knowledge, belief, time, and agency.  The course also analyzes some of the ways logical tools can be used to study games, strategies, and planning, as well as the basics of formalizing concepts and commonsense reasoning.