Psychology

This seminar functions as a collaborative lab meeting in which weekly progress updates and group brainstorming sessions shape the core activities. Sessions consist entirely of peer-led presentations rather than formal lectures. Approximately half of the presentations address topics in forensics, while the remainder explore diverse areas of cognitive neuroscience such as auditory perception, visual illusions, and memory. Presentation topics are selected by individual presenters, so the content varies widely and may extend beyond the scope of forensic neuroscience.

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 aim of the course is to develop semiotic skills for understanding the perceptual, affective, and cognitive dimensions of psychopathologies, as well as the discourses built to describe and understand them. The course provides a dual focus: first, it offers an overview of psychopathological literature from a philosophical perspective, reinterpreted through semiotic theories. Second, it equips students with tools to analyze the relationship between patients' expressive forms (including narratives, poetry, speech, and artistic productions), their lived experiences, and the surrounding sociocultural context. 

The course of this year (Fall 2025) begins with a general overview of the role of semiotics in understanding psychopathology, emphasizing how psychiatric and psychological knowledge is embedded within a broader cultural network. This network selects and organizes notions such as normality and abnormality, reason and madness, sense and nonsense, through biopolitical mechanisms and discursive practices. Special attention is devoted to the cultural dimension in the construction of concepts related to mental illness and in the emergence of specific psychopathological conditions. The theoretical frameworks introduced in the first part of the course are applied to a range of diagnostic constructs, including Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, psychopathy, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. These cases serve to test the analytical potential of semiotic theory and its relevance for contemporary mental health discourse.

In the second part of the course, the focus shifts to schizophrenia, one of the most enigmatic and debated psychiatric conditions. This topic is explored through a range of interdisciplinary perspectives that contribute to a richer understanding of psychopathology. Cognitive and phenomenological approaches are examined for their capacity to illuminate the lived experience of mental illness, and are critically integrated with semiotic analysis, as well as with insights from anthropology and the philosophy of mind. The aim is to develop comprehensive and context-sensitive frameworks for interpreting the symbolic, narrative, and experiential dimensions of schizophrenia.

Key topics in this section include:

a) the cultural dimension of schizophrenia and its representations across different media;
b) the historical process of constructing and categorizing the disorder;
c) communicative and linguistic features associated with the condition;
d) narrative structures shaping patients’ experiences and the role of psychotherapy;
e) the disruption of experiential meaning and a semiotic account of delusion formation.

This course aims to provide students with a foundational understanding of common brain disorders-such as depression, brain tumors, and Alzheimer’s disease-covering their current status, epidemiology, and underlying pathogenesis. Students will also become familiar with mainstream diagnostic and treatment approaches, while enhancing their awareness of preventive strategies, thereby fostering a more resilient and proactive mindset in facing life.

This course examines psychological theory, research, and skills training related to sport performance, exercise motivation, and adherence.

This course provides an introductory look at the study of psychopathology. It emphasizes the description, theory, and intervention of maladaptive behavior patterns and relates multicultural and diversity aspects to the major concepts of psychopathology and psychological treatments.

This course is intended for undergraduate students in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences who have some background knowledge in Neurobiology and Behavioral science. This class covers the basics of cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive Neuroscience is a subfield of neuroscience that examines behavioral and neurobiological foundations underlying cognitive functions including perception, movement, attention, learning and memory, emotion, language, decision-making, and social cognition.  

Students will explore the methodology of cognitive neuroscience and its applications to investigation of human behavior and decision. The course focuses on 8 major functions of the brain: Perception, Movement, Attention, Emotion, Memory, Executive functions, Decision-making, Social cognition. Students are expected to actively participate in questions and answers, debates, and discussions during class. 

This course examines the role of human psychology, human thought and behavior, in the climate and biodiversity crises. It explores how we got where we are, what it is about human thought and behavior and the structures and systems created that produced these crises and inactions. The course covers how the Climate Crisis is affecting human health, behavior, and well-being as well as the ways these effects are unevenly distributed across the world and the implications of this inequity. Finally, this course covers what psychology has to offer in terms of solutions and how to leverage our understanding of human thought and behavior to enact climate justice.

This course introduces students to the classic and current personality theories and theorists in an in-depth manner, and encourages critical evaluation and reflection. The major theories include: psychoanalytic theory, evolutionary theory, humanistic and existentialist theories, social cognitive theory, behaviorist perspectives, and biological and trait theories. Additionally, the course reviews taxonomies such as the DSM-V.

This course provides an overview of the psychology of love in the Egypt context. It explores psychological theories of love, attraction, attachment, and others. Topics include the relationship life cycle in Egypt, including courtship and marriage. A psychological lens is used to examine conflict and divorce within the Egyptian context, as well as interventions aimed at promoting healthy relationships.

This course consults readings drawn from the social sciences, humanities, and the law; specifically, foundational texts in cultural and moral psychology, philosophical texts on value pluralism, and legal cases from psychological, anthropological, and sociological perspectives. These readings serve as an entry point into class discussions related to provocative cultural practices (polygamy, education quotas, circumcision, minarets, inequalities, honor killings). Each week, different students present assigned readings and have in-depth discussions based on the material. The course involves group work, debates, as well as final presentations, based on students emerging viewpoints.