02207 - General Psychology

Learning outcomes

The course aims at offering an analytic and up-to-date survey of knowledge in the field of cognitive processes. At the end of the course participants will learn: a) to project an educational plan for the psychological aspects b) to provide information about the cognitive development to other figures involved in educational programs c) to study in deep basic psychological knowledge in subsequent academic level or in professional fields.

Course contents

The course will concern the fundamental knowledge of scientific psychology from its origins to the most recent studies on cognitive processes. The general objective of the course is to provide students the basic knowledge of the human mind functioning also in relation to neuroscience.

The contents of the course consist in:

Historical introduction to scientific psychology with particular reference to the current Psychological perspectives: Neuroscience, Evolutionary Perspective, Behaviorism, Cognitive and Socio-cultural approaches.

Methods in psychological research: experimental method, the observational method, the psychometric approach.

General concepts: biology of the mind, states of consciousness and the neurological mechanisms underlying addiction.

Evolutionary psychology: the nature/nurture controversy in the human behavior.

Cognitive processes: perception, learning, memory, thought, language.

Specificissues: intelligence, emotions and personality.

Readings/Bibliography

Micheal Passer, Nigel Holt, Andy Bremner, Ed Sutherland, Micheal Vliek, Ronald Smith
Psicologia generale - La scienza della mente e del pensiero
McGraw Hill

Teaching methods

Academic teaching (Lecture).

Students are encouraged to attend lectures in order to directly interact with the teacher about the contents of the course. Lectures aim to deepen the understanding of the main issues of the course contents.

Assessment methods

At the end of the lessons, the student have to take an exam (the assessments will be with scale 30). The exam will be a writing with three open questions in a hour. Questions will refer to specific sections of the textbooks.

Grades will depend on the quality of responses. A sufficient grade (18) will correspond to a sufficient knowledge, consisting in a list of the necessary contents, which are neither developed nor linked. A full grade (30 or 30L) will correspond to a full list of the important contents, developed and linked to each other in a meaningful and critical way.

In order to take the exam, electronic registration is required, in compliance with mandatory deadlines.

Teaching tools

Lectures will constantly use visual aids (PowerPoint).

Office hours

See the website of Andrea De Cesarei