Psychology

This course deals with psychological phenomena, biases, and socially-oriented behavior that affect economically relevant decisions of people. The main focus is on what economists have learned from various experiments, as well as the methodology of answering questions by the means of an experiment. In order to understand better the motivation and contribution of experimental works, the course reviews the structure and predictions of standard models in Microeconomics and discusses the ways in which they are modified or extended to incorporate psychological theory and empirical findings. Students who have preparation in Calculus, Statistics, Econometrics, and Intermediate Microeconomics benefit from the course the most. Lack of background knowledge in one of these disciplines increases the amount of work that students need to do to keep up with their peers.

In this course, students are introduced to and practice three specific psychological skills, choosing two skills from a suite of optional skills, alongside a third compulsory skill (learning to carry out a literature search).  

Topics include (1) why modern psychology requires an understanding of neuroscience; (2) neuronal structure, function and information transmission; (3) the organization of the nervous system and how this reflects some principles of information processing; (4) methods used to study structure and information processing in the brain; (5) functional architectures in the brain; (6) the neural basis of learning; (7) brain evolution; and (8) the biology and psychopharmacology of reward, reinforcement, and psychological disorders.

This course provides a basic background into the current research on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its treatment, including cognitive, exposure-based, narrative, and psychodynamic treatment approaches. Students present about the current literature behind a specific treatment method as well as engage in in-class exercises and discussions on the nuances and limitations of different approaches.

This course covers concepts of rationality, the "classic" research into the cognitive psychology of reasoning, and decision-making. Topics include nature of representation, operations on representations, and levels of analysis; different types of models in psychology (i.e., descriptive, normative, verbal vs formal); epistemic rationality and its connection to Bayes' Theorem; issues of rational belief revision; deductive reasoning in syllogisms and if-then conditionals, with a specific focus on the debate between mental rules and mental models approaches to these topics; probabilistic approaches to deduction. Dual process models of reasoning; instrumental rationality and its connection to decision theory; abductive reasoning & science of explanation; subjective expected utility theory and Prospect Theory; and decision by sampling and heuristics within the bounded rationality paradigm.

This course explores the role of Psychology in explaining variation in performance levels in sports and other aspects of physical activity. The course considers how levels of performance, including elite performance, might be influenced by psychological concepts including individual differences (such as in confidence, personality or perception), amount and nature of training or practice, effects of competitive stress, and other factors. The course also describes how techniques based on psychological theories and models may be used in interventions designed to improve performance (including coaching, and techniques such as imagery, arousal regulation, and goal setting). Students are introduced to the evidence base for these interventions, as well as the practicalities and challenges of applying these psychological techniques.

This course studies the psychology of language. It focuses on how language, specifically bilingualism, is psychologically manifested in children.

This course explores classic and contemporary issues in environmental psychology. Topics include belonging, place attachment, and place identity; restorative environments, health, and well-being; perceptions of natural and urban environments; socially marked spaces and stigmatized environments; territory, boundaries, contested spaces, and environmental conflicts; pro-environmental action and environmental protection. Seminars are discussion-based and structured around weekly set readings that incorporate theoretical and empirical work, including quantitative and qualitative studies.

Prejudices and stereotypes against different groups are widespread and can lead to discrimination and exclusion. In order to break down prejudices against different groups, it is often suggested that contact and exchange be established between the groups concerned. In this seminar we will deal with the question of whether contact between two groups can actually lead to a reduction in prejudices, which framework conditions are useful for reducing prejudices through contact and what further consequences contact can have for both groups. The topics are developed on the basis of empirical studies and presented, discussed and applied to practical examples in the context of lectures and interactive group work.

The course provides a general introduction to the psychology of learning and cognitive psychology. The main emphasis of the course is placed on cognitive psychology, which covers thinking and knowledge processes, with memory as a central component. Other areas that are covered include neuropsychology, knowledge representations, decision-making, visualization, language, and problem-solving. The part concerning the psychology of learning covers how behavior is developed in the interaction between the individual and the environment, with emphasis on classical and operant conditioning. The third part of the course covers applications of cognitive psychology and psychology of learning and considers how principles and models from these two areas can be applied, both in other areas of psychology and in areas outside of psychology.