GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
cod. 03075

Academic year 2014/15
1° year of course - Second semester
Professor
Academic discipline
Psicologia generale (M-PSI/01)
Field
"discipline generali per la formazione dell'odontoiatra"
Type of training activity
Basic
14 hours
of face-to-face activities
2 credits
hub: -
course unit
in - - -

Integrated course unit module: BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY

Learning objectives

1. Knowledge and understanding. Functioning of cognitive and motivational processes as base of the dentistry patients behavior; verbal and non-verbal communication, structure and functioning of groups, the processes of social influence.
2. Students will be able to apply the knowledge, understanding and skills acquired in dealing with issues clinical/rehabilitative in interdisciplinary contexts. They must understand the legal and ethical aspects of the practice of dentistry and function within ethical standards of the dentistry profession. Students will be able to interact with patients, their families, and health care personnel in a professional and respectful manner. They must be able to tolerate workloads to function effectively under stress, and to display flexibility and adaptability.
3. Independence of judgment. Students will develop critical thinking skills and independent judgment with respect to the formulation of rehabilitation protocols that include reflecting on social and ethical responsibilities.
4. Communication skills. Students will be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with patients, their families, and members of the health care team. They will be able to obtain a medical history in a culturally competent manner, interpret non-verbal aspects of communication, establish therapeutic relationships and to recognize and regulate cognitive and emotional processes associated with reactions to stress and pain.
5. Learning ability. Students will be able to contribute to collaborative learning environments, accepting constructive feedback from others and taking personal responsibility for making appropriate positive changes. Students will be able to upgrade from reliable sources and to continue their professional development on their own.

Prerequisites

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Course unit content

From scientific psychology to cognitive psychology; Main research methods; The awareness and attention; Learning: paradigms and conditioning responses. Memory: memory systems, the processes of information retrieval; Language: main models of language processing; Making decisions: The principles that guide human decisions. Stress and burnout. Models and applications in health care. The professional ethics and its relationship with ethics.

Full programme

Scientific psychology: Methods of investigation.
Differences and interactions between the cerebral hemispheres
Sensation and perception, measure of performance, adaptation, perceptual units
The representation of the body
Knowledge of pain
Cortical representation of pain
Anticipation and empathy in the perception of pain
Stress and pain modulation
Pain syndromes
Self-assessment tools of pain
Attentional function and self-awareness
Sleep and psychological processes
Learning, memory and language. The paradigms of respondent conditioning and operant conditioning. Conditioning of responses in humans.
Systematic desensitization.
The cognitive psychology. Forms of everyday memory. Strategic and automatic processes.
Development of language and communication. Non-verbal communication: facial expressions, eye contact, posture. Prosodic and paralinguistic signals.
Understanding and communication of emotions.
The emotions in the context of medical and health
Psychological impact of the disease the medical professional.
Mechanisms and stress responses.
The burn-out, explanatory models. Individual variables. Institutional context. Prevention and intervention

Bibliography

Cacciari - Papagno, Psicologia generale e neuroscienze cognitive. Manuale per le professioni medico-sanitarie. Il Mulino

Teaching methods

The course takes place mainly by means of lectures that will cover the main contents with many references to theories and theoretical models and applied aspects of the discipline. Video tutorial may accompany the lessons. In order to actively involve students, lectures will be supported from practice individual and/or group.

Assessment methods and criteria

The oral examination will ascertain the attainment of all the objectives of the course. Any questions regarding the contents tend to check whether the student has attained a solid foundation of knowledge and a deep understanding of what was discussed. The final evaluation will be derived from the accuracy levels achieved for each training goal corresponding to 6 classes of evaluation (A to F).

Other information

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