Psychology

This course examines the influence of psychoanalysis and art on each other. It primarily focuses on dream psychology, psychology of the creative process, and aesthetic experience. It explores basic conceptions of psychoanalytic psychology, including the unconscious, the formation of dreams, and conditionality of love. The psychoanalytic theory is evidenced with examples from visual art, literature, and film, some of which are explored through field trips to current exhibitions of Czech and international art, offering a first-hand experience. In addition to theoretical study of psychoanalysis and its application on art and artistic process, including the psychoanalysis of the creative process, the aesthetic experience, and psychoanalytic aesthetics and criticism (including film theory), students also employ the theories and techniques related to the creative process
to critically reflect on a work of art or to produce one of their own, accompanied by a reflection on their own creative process. The areas of art covered during the course include dreams and art, jokes and humor, surrealism, and the uncanny.

This course offers a study of ethology and evolution of behavior. It analyzes the relative importance of different ecological and social factors that shape behavior, as well as how evolution and adaptation contribute to the development of individual and social behavior. Through evolutionary reasoning, it examines the socio-spatial, sexual, and reproductive behavior in the human species and in other animal species.

This course introduces different approaches to learning and memory including behavioral, computational, and cognitive. It analyzes recent findings in neuroscience, qualitative and quantitative models of learning, real-world examples, and clinical cases.

This course provides an advanced evaluation of psychological knowledge on human reasoning that builds on the foundation provided in the PS1234 Thinking module. It familiarizes students with the core theoretical and methodological issues in the scientific study of human reasoning and decision making. The course helps students to develop a critical assessment of experiments on human social reasoning, including moral judgment, intentional reasoning, and reasoning about social dilemmas. It facilitates students in the formulation of rigorous evaluations of experimental studies of human hypothetical thought, including conditional reasoning, counterfactual thought, causal reasoning, and argumentation. It fosters a critical appreciation of experimental investigations of decision making, including planning and risky choices

This course presents the origin, development and methodology of the different approaches to the study of human social behavior. It also explores the processes of social behavior; social attitudes; patterns of interpersonal relationships, psychological structure, and the functions of various groups.