Psychologie en het Brein

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• Introduction Psychology

  The course provides an overview of the field of psychology. What are the genetic and biological fundamentals of behavior? What is consciousness? How do we sense and perceive the (visual) world? How do we learn, remember, and think? Why do we behave as we do? Apart from these very fundamental questions, the course will also cover, among others, the following topics: intelligence, social psychology, developmental psychology, personality, psychopathology, and the treatment of psychopathology.

• Evolutionary Psychology

  The course will introduce students to the main concepts, theories and studies in the growing discipline of Evolutionary Psychology. The goal is to give students insight into topics central in Psychology from an Evolutionary point of view. Central in this course is whether certain behaviors could be the results of an evolved adaptation to solve problems that our ancestors faced. Possible costs and benefits of these suspected adaptations will then be discussed. During the course we will provide some insights into the following questions:

  • Why do we have such big brains?
  • Why do men want to have sex sooner than women?
  •  Why do we help others?
  • Why do we make war?

• Biological Psychology

  Concepts from biology relevant to the processes studied in psychology. The structure and organization of the central and peripheral nervous system, neurotransmission, psychotropic drugs and the biological mechanisms underlying perception, motor skills, emotions and the higher cognitive functions (memory, speech, consciousness) are discussed. The lectures also deal with neurological disorders (Parkinson's, Broca's aphasia, Alzheimer's, etc.) and the biology of behavioral disorders (sleep disorders, psychoses, anxiety, depression, addiction).

• Behaviour Genetics in Psychology (UM)

  Behaviour genetics is the field that uses genetic methods to investigate why certain traits run within families. Family members may be alike in personality, behaviour, cognition, psychological health and lifestyle because they share their home environment but also because they are genetically related to each other. This course will focus on the influence of genes and the environment, and their interplay, on individual differences between people. Various research methods applied in behaviour genetics will be discussed, including animal studies, twin and family studies and genome-wide association studies.

• Neuropsychology

  Using our knowledge of the working of the brain we discuss the prinicples of neuropscychology. Neurological and psychiatric disorders as agnosis, aphasia, and dementia. On the basis of patient examples that correspond as closely as possible to the literature, the neuropsychological diagostics, among others, are illustrated.