39133 - General Psychology (of Behavior)

Academic Year 2024/2025

  • Moduli: Paolo Maria Russo (Modulo 1) Michela Mazzetti (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Dietistic (cod. 8470)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired knowledge in the following areas: functions and cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes and their influence on behavior; assessment techniques of behavior, with particular reference to eating behaviors; communicative skills and the ability to use informative techniques aimed at modifying eating behaviors and lifestyles that affect health conditions. The student will be able to present content, information, and ideas related to their field of study, using appropriate communication methods depending on the audience. They will also be familiar with and able to use appropriate language based on the patient's characteristics while providing adequate psychological support.

Course contents

OBJECTS AND METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL: Paradigms and experimental study of cognitive, behavioral, psychophysiological (EEG and ERPs, neuroimaging techniques) measures. LEARNING AND MEMORY: classical conditioning and operant conditioning . Sensory registers, short-term memory, long-term memory. The organization of information in memory. Episodic and semantic memory, declarative and procedural memories. Strategies for storage. Neuropsychological bases of memory and amnesia. EMOTION AND MOTIVATION: Physiological basis of emotion. Subcomponents of emotional responses. Primary emotions (basic) and secondary. Characteristics of basic emotions. Expression and emotion recognition. Primary and secondary motives (affiliation, achievement, etc..), With particular attention to the motivation to work. INTELLIGENCE AND PERSONALITY ': Different approaches to the study of personality. Taxonomic models of basic personality traits. The personality inventories. The assessment of cognitive abilities. Contemporary theories of intelligence. IQ and specific abilities. The intelligence tests.

STRESS AND COPING: Stressors: definition and characteristics. Acute and chronic stress. Physiological reactions to stress. Psychological reactions to stress. Coping strategies. Burn-out syndrome. Stress and work motivation. Stress and conflict in the workplace.


Readings/Bibliography

Textbook: Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner (2017) Chapters to be studied: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 (from page 320 to 339), 10, 12, 13.

Additionally, all students must delve deeper into the content using the materials provided by the instructor (which correspond to the lecture slides). These materials, in addition to summarizing the information present in the textbook, offer some additional insights that may be subject to evaluation.

 

Teaching methods

Lectures and illustration of psychological testing materials.


Assessment methods

Achievement Test with 30 forced choice and oral examination.


Teaching tools

See the website of Paolo Maria Russo [https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/p.russo/en]

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Maria Russo

See the website of Michela Mazzetti