72601 - Workshops Internships.

Learning outcomes

Practical activities and exercises carried out during the laboratory will be under the responsibility of the teachers involved in the Course. At the end of these activities, the student will be able to assess the psychological profile of an individual with particular reference to the cognitive and emotional functioning and to identify tools and types of interventions can be developed in most areas: school and education, law, communication, health. The laboratory will also be aimed at the preparation of the thesis: make use of electronic resources and research of scientific literature necessary to the elaboration of his thesis work, set up a research design, selecting the right tools to search for the presentation of the data related to the thesis; apply the main techniques of research and data analysis in the field of applied cognitive psychology.

Course contents

Module 1 – Clinical Intervention Planning (Dr. Giulia Casu): the course will deal with the development of a psychological intervention project, concerning its features, operational steps, methodologies and regulatory framework.

Module 2 – Personality Assessment (Dr. Luca Bensi): the course will deal with the definition of personality and the description of the most used personality questionnaires (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), Object Relations Tecnique (ORT), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQ/R), Role Construct Repertory Test).

Module 3 – Intelligence Assessment (Dr. Giulia Casu): the course will be focused on the definition of intelligence, IQ and intellectual disabilities and the description of intelligence tests, with a particular attention to WAIS-IV and its scoring procedures.

Module 4 – Emotion Assessment (Dr. Paolo Melani): the course will be focused on some of the main inventories concerning emotional awareness, emotional regulation and emotional expression. The main methods of administration, scoring and psychometric characteristics will be analyzed. Finally, various examples of contexts in which these instruments can be used will be proposed and augmented.

Module 5 – Prejudice Management and Reduction Techniques (Dr. Francesca Prati): the course will deal with the influence of stereotypes and social prejudice on others’ and self-perception and social behavior. Moreover, strategies for prejudice reduction and their applications will be described.

Module 6 – Digital Technologies in Cognitive Assessment (Dr. Lorenzo Desideri): the course will focus on brain-computer interfaces, eye-movements control systems in intellectual functioning assessment, vocal recognition systems in language assessment, robotics in cognitive functioning assessment and eHealth/mHealth technologies in health and cognitive impairment assessment.

Module 7 – Clinical Assessment (Prof. Raffaella Nori): The course will focused on: a) parenting skills: how and why to evaluate it; b) dysfunctional relationships; c) investigation of the fundamental characteristics and performance of practical trial in relation to the following tests: Family Relation Test (FRT), Parental Stress Survey (PASS), Graphic Tests, Parent / Child interaction (Double moon test, Lausanne Trilogue Play).

Module 8 - Techniques of Intercultural Counseling (Dr. Federica Stortoni). The course will explain the main ethnopsychology approaches and will define some methodologies and techniques of intercultural counseling through the exposition of some clinical cases related to immigrate families.

Module 9 – Research Methodology (Prof. Andrea De Cesarei): the course will deal with some critical issue in the preparation of a thesis dissertation: recognition of a research problem, bibliographical research, literature critical analysis, the definition of dependent and independent variables, the choice of an experimental procedure, the use of statistics, discussion of results and research limitations.

Readings/Bibliography

Concerning all modules, lesson notes will be required for final exam. The following books are supplementary.

 

Module 1 (Clinical Intervention Planning): 

• Gremigni, P. (2015). Il progetto in Psicologia. E-book. https://www.lulu.com/shop/paola-gremigni/il-progetto-in-psicologia/ebook/product-22086525.html
• Moderato, P., Rovetto, F. (2005). Progetti di intervento psicologico: Idee, suggestioni e suggerimenti per la pratica professionale. Milano: McGraw-Hill.

Module 2 (Personality Assessment):

• Butcher, J. N., & Williams, C. L. (2008). Fondamenti per l'interpretazione del MMPI-2 e del MMPI-A. Seconda edizione. Firenze: Giunti Organizzazioni Speciali.
• Del Corno, F., & Lang, M. (2006). La diagnosi delle relazioni oggettuali con l'Object Relations Technique (ORT). Griglia di valutazione clinica con i dati di un campione italiano. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
• Marra, G. (2013). Introduzione alle tecniche di valutazione della personalità. Milano: Franco Angeli.
• Armezzani, M., Grimaldi, F., & Pezzullo, L. (2003). Tecniche costruttiviste per la diagnosi di personalità. Milano: McGraw-Hill.

Module 3 (Intelligence Assessment):

• Lang, M., Michelotti, C., & Bardelli E. (2015). Wais-IV. Wechsler adult intelligence-Scale-IV: lettura dei risultati e interpretazione clinica. Raffaello Cortina Editore.
• Weiss, L. G., Saklofske, D. H., Coalson, D., & Raiford, S. E. (Eds.). (2010). WAIS-IV clinical use and interpretation: Scientist-practitioner perspectives. Academic Press.
• Lichtenberger, E. O., & Kaufman, A. S. (2009). Essentials of WAIS-IV assessment(Vol. 50). John Wiley & Sons.

Module 5 (Prejudice Management and Reduction Techniques):

• Crisp, R. J., & Hewstone, M. (2007). Multiple social categorization. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 163-254.
• Crisp, R. J., & Turner, R. N. (2011). Cognitive adaptation to the experience of social and cultural diversity. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 242-266.
• Hayward, L. E., Tropp, L. R., Hornsey, M. J., & Barlow, F. K. (2017). Toward a Comprehensive Understanding of Intergroup Contact: Descriptions and Mediators of Positive and Negative Contact Among Majority and Minority Groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 347-364.
• Prati, F., & Rubini, M. (2015). Categorizzazioni, appartenenze sociali multiple e riduzione del pregiudizio intergruppi. Psicologia Sociale, 1, 13-34.
• Schmid, K., Hewstone, M., & Ramiah, A. A. (2013). Neighborhood diversity and social identity complexity: Implications for intergroup relations. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 135-142.

Module 7 (Clinical Assessment):

• Linee-guida NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence; http://www.nice.org.uk/).

Module 8 (Techniques of Intercultural Counselling)

• Nathan Tobie (1996) Principi di etnopsicanalisi, Bollati Boringhieri. Torino.
• Moro Marie Rose, Raphael Riano, Valerie Plaid, Eds. (2010): "Manuel de psychopatologie du bebe' et de sa famille", La Pensee Sauvage, Grenoble.

Module 9 (Research Methodology):

• Shaughnessy, JJ, Zechmeister, EB, Zechmeister, JS (2012). Metodologia della ricerca in psicologia . Milano: McGraw-Hill.

Teaching methods

Lessons will be in Italian. Lessons will consist of lectures and practice exercises with examples, PC exercises, use of tests and digital technologies, discussions and working groups. Module 1 will include lectures and a working group in which students will develop an intervention project. At the end, students will discuss together their works.

The attendance to each module is required. If students won’t have their certificate of attendance they will have to attend the module during the following year.

Modules 2 to 8 will be organised in a single 4 hours lesson for each schedule. Each lesson will be repeated in 5 session in order to allow all students to participate in small groups. Module 1 and 9 will consist of different lessons (module 1: 3 lessons, for a total amount of 10 hours; module 9: 5 lessons, for a total amount of 20 hours).

Assessment methods

The final exam will assess the achievement of the educational goals of the course. The exam will consist of 3 tests, concerning module 1, module 9 and modules 2 to 8. The tests concerning module 1 and 8 will take place during the last lesson and can be repeated during each exam session.

The exam concerning module 1 will consist in planning a clinical intervention (pair work), on a theme which will be selected by the teacher. The exam concerning modules 2 to 8 will consist of a multiple choice test relative to each module’s topics. During the test on module 9, students will be asked to discuss a brief article or a section of an article. Students will be tested on the acquisition of skills required for dissertation’s preparation.

For the validation of the acquisition of competences required, students will have to pass all tests. The threshold for passing each evaluation is at least 70% correct responses.

Teaching tools

projector, computer, overhead projector.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea De Cesarei

See the website of Giulia Casu

See the website of Luca Bensi

See the website of Giulia Casu

See the website of Paolo Melani

See the website of Francesca Prati

See the website of Lorenzo Desideri

See the website of Raffaella Nori

See the website of Federica Stortoni