GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
No specific knowledge is required
The course of General Psychology is part of the integrated course: Rehabilitation, Nursing and Psychology of the Physiotherapy degree. The course is divided into four parts: (I) History of Psychology, (II) Major Personality Theories (III) Cognitive Functions (IV) Communication and Helping Relationship.
At the end of the course the student will be able to:
(I). to know the history of psychology, the main tendencies, the methods of investigation of psychological science, and how psychological science can be useful to socio-health professions;
(II). to know the main theories about personality; particular emphasis will be given to the study of defense mechanisms and coping strategies;
(III). to know the main cognitive functions that the mind uses to organize and to know reality;
(IV). acquire communicative and relational knowledge that is indispensable in a helping profession.
(I) psychology in the professional training of the physiotherapist. Psychology: definition, orientation and methods.
(II) personality: definitions, major theories such as psychodynamic and cognitivism, cognitive development according to Piaget theory, Bowlby's attachment theory and internal models, defense mechanisms, definition and coping styles and others constructs derived from cognitive theory such as the locus of control and mastery strategies, welfare applications (from notes during lessons);
(III) cognitive functions: sensation and perception (from the textbook); attention (from the textbook); learning: definition, classical and operant conditioning theory, other forms of learning, the neurobiological bases of learning (from the textbook and lesson notes); memory: memory systems such as sensory memory and short-term and long-term memory processes such as encryption and storage and retrieval of information, oblivion, neurobiological bases of memory (from the textbook and lesson’s notes); thought: definition, concepts and categorization, imagination, reasoning and problem solving (from the textbook and lesson’s notes); intelligence: definition, intelligence theories, intelligence evaluation (from the textbook); language: verbal language, structural components of language such as phonemes and morphs, language development, confronting of theories such as theory of learning and innate theory and socio-interactive theory, critical periods in the acquisition of language, neurobiological bases; motivation: instincts and impulses, the main theories on motivation, motivational hierarchies, examples and applications (from the textbook and lesson’s notes); emotions: definitions, functions, theories, components of the emotional process, emotional regulation, the neurobiological bases of emotions (from book and lesson’s notes).
(IV) communication: definition of communication, communication models, axioms of communication, verbal communication, nonverbal communication and its channels, such as kinetic and proximal and aptic (from the notes of the lesson); the helping relationship: definition, empathy, steps in the helping relationship, applications in the care field (from the notes of the lesson).
General Psychology, David G. Myers, Zanichelli, 2014