Psychology

The course covers the basic concepts of human biology, the genetic bases of human development and behavior, the morphophysiology of the neuroendocrine system, developmental neurobiology, the psychobiology of cognitive, perceptual, and motor processes, and educational neuropsychology.

This course explores how our brain can affect our behavior. It introduces how classical and modern neuroscience research tools are used to investigate the workings of the brain. The course examines the ethical and social issues raised by recent developments in neuroscience research. In addition, this module is expected to enable students to develop critical skills in analyzing and writing about controversial issues concerning neuroscience and society.

This course introduces and critically discusses an area of special interest to applied psychologists, namely, psychology as applied to health behavior. The course covers the central models and evidence bases concerning the relationship between psychological processes and health and illness. Topics include health promotion and public health; health behavior models; illness maintenance and treatment adherence; chronic illness; and health through the lifespan.

This course provides students with advanced knowledge and current approaches in systems neuroscience that focuses on understanding brain function and behavior at the level of neural circuits and their interactions.

Previous exposure to basic neurophysiology is recommended. 

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings are influenced by others. This course covers the core themes from social psychology – such as attitudes and attitude change, conformity, and aggression – and how they can be scientifically investigated. During the course, students participate in a “Humans of Maastricht” project. In this project, students make contact with their self-perceived “out-group,” applying social psychological theories and concepts to their experiences and reducing their stereotypes and prejudice in the process.

This course develops an understanding of the basic concepts and issues related to the scientific study of human sexuality. This includes basic genital anatomy, sexual function and dysfunction, the biology and neuroscience of sexual response, social and relational aspects of human sexuality, and treatment of sexual dysfunction. Emphasis is placed on what we do and do not understand, and what future research is needed to fill the gap. The course discusses topics including: sexual anatomy, models of sexual response (e.g., Master & Johnson model, Basson’s model, the Dual Control Model, etc.), sexual function and dysfunction (with a reference to the DSM-IV and DSM-5), development of sexuality and sexual identity (with a focus on sexual orientation and gender identity), and research tools to investigate human sexual response (fMRI, EEG, photopletismography, physiological tools, etc.). The course recommends students have a basic understanding of psychological concepts and research as a prerequisite.

This course introduces students to current psychological research and theories within the field of sport and performance psychology. These can help students to understand and explain how people consistently produce high levels of performance at an elite level.

Topics include theories of stress and coping, resilience, thriving, leadership, group cohesion, and organizational sport psychology.

This crouse introduce the definition and history of abnormal psychology; Also include medical science, psychodynamic, model of behaviour and society; The expression of mintal disorder: perception, attention, memory, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, anxiety disorders; personality disorders, sexual and gender identity disorders, etc.

This course examines the past three decades' explosive surge in neuroscientific explanations of human nature, promising clear-cut biological answers to commonplace philosophical questions concerning rationality, emotion, behavior, values, and ethics. It explores to what extent such a promise is warranted, in particular concerning existential questions such as anxiety, responsibility, and religious faith.

Neuroeconomics, sometimes also known as Decision Neuroscience, is an emerging field combining insights from economics, psychology, and neuroscience to understand how (healthy) humans make decisions and how these are related to underlying cognitive and neural processes. The ultimate goal of Neuroeconomics is to integrate knowledge from the different parent disciplines to answer the fundamental question of how our brain makes us decide. This course provides an introduction to Neuroeconomics by discussing examples showing the limitations of viewing decision-making merely through the lens of the traditional fields of economics, psychology, and neuroscience. The course reviews various methods used in Neuroeconomics research for measuring and influencing brain activity. An important part of the course is devoted to learning the foundations and models of Neuroeconomics such as the basics of neuroscience. Seminal and recent studies in Neuroeconomics are read, discussed, and critically evaluated. This interdisciplinary and challenging course consists of lectures and group work. It uses formal concepts from economics and neuroscience. Prerequisites include sufficient quantitative skills and basic knowledge of microeconomics.