78856 - General Psychology (LZ)

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the General Psychology course, students will acquire theoretical and methodological knowledge regarding cognitive processes (perception, attention, learning, memory, decision-making), as well as motivational and emotional mechanisms underlying individual and group behaviors in both health and illness contexts.
Students will also gain knowledge of the mechanisms involved in typical responses to stress and pain, the recognition and regulation of one’s own and others’ emotions, and the role of interindividual differences and personality in healthcare settings.
By the end of the course, students will understand the relationships between cognitive, emotional, and relational processes in medical practice.

Course contents

This module is part of the Integrated Course in General Psychology and Medical Anthropology. Upon completion of the Integrated Course, students will have acquired fundamental concepts to understand the processes underlying individual and group behaviors.

Specific Course Content

• Historical and Methodological Introduction: Major paradigms in General Psychology; the scientific method; the relationship with Neuroscience.

• Attention, Vigilance States, and Levels of Consciousness: Mechanisms of information selection; subcomponents of attention and their biological bases; automatic vs. voluntary attention; executive control functions; neuropsychological models and attention deficits following brain injury. Introduction to circadian rhythms and the sleep–wake cycle.

• Learning: Classical and operant conditioning; non-associative learning; individual and cultural factors influencing learning processes.

• Memory: Biological bases of memory; stages of information processing; memory models; construction of memories; forgetting and interference; the interplay between memory and emotion; short-term memory disorders; amnesias.

• Language: Levels of language (phonetics and phonology, lexicon and morphology, semantics, syntax); language acquisition and development; language as a species-specific human ability; psycholinguistic models: the mental lexicon, access pathways, recognition and selection of information; aphasias and specific learning disorders.

• Emotions and Motivation: Biological bases of emotions and motivation; components of emotional responses; functions of emotions; interaction between emotion and cognition; emotional expression and health implications; neuropsychology of emotion, including ventromedial frontal syndrome.

• Stress: The individual response to stressful events; acute and chronic stress syndromes; biological, subjective, and social mediators of stress responses; personality factors and coping mechanisms; emotional modulation of stress and pain.

Readings/Bibliography

Reference Materials

• Turatto M. (Ed.). Psicologia Generale. Mondadori, 2018 (Chapters 4, 5, 7, 8, 10).

• Feldman R. S. (2017, 3rd ed.). Psicologia Generale. McGraw-Hill, 2017 (Chapter 13).

• Ladavas E., Berti A. Neuropsicologia. Il Mulino, Bologna, 2020 (only the chapters indicated during lectures).

Teaching methods

Topics in the syllabus will be developed through lectures, with enrichment via simulated experiments, audiovisual presentations, and guided exercises.
Some topics will also be revisited in the General Psychology Laboratory, which complements the Integrated Course.
Examination questions will cover all indicated reference materials as well as in-class additions. For each topic, the corresponding bibliographic references will be explicitly specified.

Assessment methods

The General Psychology course is part of the Integrated Course (General Psychology and Medical Anthropology), together with Foundations of Communication in the Medical Profession and Medical Anthropology.

The final grade for the Integrated Course will correspond to the weighted average of the grades obtained in General Psychology and Medical Anthropology. The Foundations of Communication in the Medical Profession module provides a pass/fail certification necessary for final registration of the Integrated Course (see the respective web guides for details).

The General Psychology exam consists of a written test lasting 45 minutes and composed of three open-ended questions. These will assess whether students have:

1. Core knowledge regarding the development and normal adult functioning (in the absence of pathology) of major cognitive functions (attention, learning, memory, language), affective processes (emotions, motivation), and responses to stress and illness.

2. Knowledge of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes resulting from traumatic or degenerative neurological conditions (e.g., amnesias, aphasias, cognitive decline, attentional syndromes).

Each answer must be concise and precise, scored on a scale from 1 to 10. The test is considered passed with a minimum total score of 18/30. Honors (cum laude) may be awarded based on linguistic accuracy, original synthesis, and critical reasoning skills.

Support for Students with Disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or temporary/permanent SLD are encouraged to contact the University’s dedicated office (link [https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it] ) in advance. Any required accommodations must be submitted to the course instructor at least 15 days prior to the scheduled activities for approval, ensuring alignment with the learning objectives of the course.

Teaching tools

Classroom simulations of classical psychology experiments and video presentations of typical patient cases.
Slides and videos shown during lectures, as well as specific supplementary materials and exercises, will be uploaded to the online learning platform.

Office hours

See the website of Michela Mazzetti