Psychology

This course provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of cognitive neuroscience and major theoretical and methodological issues relevant to the field. Topics include neuroanatomy, development, perception, attention, language, memory, emotion, and social cognition.

This course focuses on the complete employee lifecycle, with a particular emphasis on personnel selection and development. The competencies of work and organizational psychologists are relevant at all stages of the employee lifecycle in the field of Human Resources. The course covers  attracting, selecting, and developing the right individuals, as well as exemplary recent developments and current issues in HR such as hybrid work and work-life policies, knowledge sharing, and artificial intelligence in HR. The course is graded on a P/NP basis only. 

This course examines the concept of psychological health and diverse biopsychosocial factors that may be indicative of psychological distress. It looks at the integration of internal (e.g., personality) and interpersonal (e.g., conflict) factors that may contribute to our psychological and physical health. Topics include body and emotion, self-identity, family and interpersonal relationships, and academic and professional performance.

This course discusses social and affective psychology, with a heavy focus on brain mechanisms. It provides a look at emerging areas of study including social neuroscience, affective neuroscience, and neuroeconomics. More specifically, it covers social and emotional aspects of the human mind and behavior (e.g., social intelligence, helping behavior, social influence, anger and aggression). 

The main objective of this course is twofold: to provide a wide perspective of Intercultural dialogue through the Human Rights lens, and to bridge the gap between the theoretical framework and the design, implementation, and evaluation of concrete interventions. The course contributes to building intercultural competences (knowledge and practical skills) respectful of human rights and facilitates the work of psychologists with both individuals and the community in a multicultural setting. The course reviews definitions and general principles including what are human rights, what is intercultural dialogue, what is their relationship; from moral claims to international human rights law; intercultural dialogue – pre-conditions: democracy, rule of law, and equal enjoyment of rights; conditions conducive to intercultural dialogue: respect for human dignity, non-discrimination, promotion of equal opportunities, and adoption of positive measures; and human rights related to intercultural dialogue: freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and right to respect for private life. The course discusses managing intercultural dialogue and diversity through topics including intercultural dialogue actors: the state, local authorities, civil society, minority groups, cultural institutions, the education and health sectors, private sector, media, etc. The course explores balancing diversity and unity trough intercultural dialogue including avoiding assimilation; avoiding cultural relativism; addressing discrimination and countering hate speech; protecting vulnerable groups; and psychological assistance to victims of discrimination, harassment, hate, and violence (hate speech and hate crime, including violence against women and domestic violence). The course examines case studies and best practices including the wearing of religious symbols in public areas; immigrants and the hosting society: intercultural integration as a two-sided process; freedom of expression vs prohibition of hate speech; domestic violence and violence against women: the so-called honor crimes; parental wishes in matters concerning the raising and education of their children vs the child best interest; and the notion of gender vs the notion of sex.

This class explores the meaning and necessity of interpersonal relationships, major psychological variables that affect human interpersonal relationships; and the meaning and characteristics of human relationships between family members, peers, and colleagues.

This course is designed to survey the basic content and methodology of contemporary psychology. While psychology as a scientific and humanistic enterprise is the underlying theme of the course, the field of psychology is approached so that is serves as the solution to many problems facing society at large.

The course addresses the following topics:

• Psychology as a discipline 
• Knowing the world: Sensation and perception 1 (Morishima)
• Learning - classical conditioning, operant conditioning (Morishima)
• Making sense of the world: Basic cognitive processes - memory (Morishima)
• Making sense of the world: Higher-level cognitive processes concept formation, categorization, knowledge representation, decision making, reasoning, creativity, etc. (Chan)
•  Biological bases of behavior: Basic structure and function of the human nervous system, mind/body problem, etc. (Chan)
• Motivation & Emotion (Smith)
• Development (Smith)
• Social Psychology (Smith)
• Health & Clinical psychology (Chan)

This course explores the topic of individual differences and why individuals are so different. Topics include: mental aptitudes; personality traits; biological and genetic foundations of individuality; the role of society, culture, and environment in shaping who we are.

This course focuses on the philosophy and core concepts of experimental design, and provides an introduction to analyzing experiments. It discusses (in)famous experiments in science, psychology, and neuroscience and analyzes their impact on today’s worldview – including theoretical, practical, and ethical implications.