Psychological Sciences and Techniques

The course is divided in three parts: 1. The first part deals with the issues of emotions and their self-regulation, and addresses in particular: a) The definitions of emotions; b) The main theories on emotions and their empirical findings; c) Mechanisms of emotion-regulation; d) Relations between emotions and cognitive functioning (memory, decision-making, attention, etc.) 2. The second part addresses the issue of the description and explanation in personality psychology, and in particular, the importance of the study of personality individual differences for psychological research and practice. This part is articulated in three thematic cores: a) Origins and development of personality psychology; b) the study of personality individual differences (personality traits and temperament); c) The interactionism and the cognitive perspective in the study of personality; d) Continuity and discontinuity of personality development. During this second part of the course, students will be introduced to some of the main instruments for the evaluation of personality and temperament traits, how to use the instruments, and how to interpret scores. 3. The third part of the course describes: a) The main motivational theories; b) Self-regulatory and self-directional processes. During the third part of the course, students will participate in some practical exercises aimed at: a) acquiring knowledge concerning some instruments for the evaluation of motivational functioning, their use, and their score interpretations. The program includes synchronous teaching with direct interaction with instructors, asynchronous teaching for independent study, and interactive and collaborative activities that stimulate active learning and cooperation among students TEXT Giampietro, Iannello, Carver e Scheier (2023). Psicologia della personalità: Prospettive teoriche, strumenti contesti applicativi, Pearson editor (CHAPTER 6 EXCLUDED) Further readings that will be available on moodle platform: Chapter 5: Lo sviluppo della personalità nel corso di vita; Chapter 10-L'esperienza affettiva : Emozioni e umore- del volume Caprara Cervone , Personalità , dinamiche e determinanti, Raffaello Cortina Caprara G.V. (2013). Motivare è riuscire. Il Mulino Bologna Further readings (articles or chapters; included those that will be used for the final exams) will be made available after the beginning of the course.

to otbtain learnign goals, it is imprtant for students their knowledge of the main psychological theories (psychoanalisys, behaviourism, cognitivism), of some basic cognitive processes (memory, perception, learning),and have some basic knoeldge of biology, psychophisiology and developmental psychology.

The following texts will be used during the course: Caprara, G.V., Cervone, D. (2003). Personalità. Determinanti, Dinamiche e Potenzialità, Milano Raffaello Cortina; For the second part of the program studnets have to study: Cervone D., Pervin L.,La scienza della personalità, Raffaello Cortina, Milano ( cap. 1 fino a p.38; e cap. 7, 11) For the third part of the program: Caprara G.V. (2013). Motivare è riuscire. Bologna Il Mulino.

The course is delivered at distance and is divided in 15 modules. Each module includes 3-4 video lessons of 15 minutes, slides and further reading materials will be made available later . Each module includes a questionnaire of learning self-evaluation, and a short summary lesson aimed to make a brief overview of the addressed contents and to provide answers to students’ questions. Interactive students and interactive students-teacher activities will be delivered, in particular: a) 2 forum on methodological issues; b) 3 forum on psychology of emotions, of personality and of motivation; c) one collaborative learning activity concerning the comprehension and interpretation of an articulated personality profiles (including personality traits, indicators of emotional and motivational functioning) and one collaborative learnign activity concerning psychology of emotions; d) 2 webinars: one will provide feedback on the 3 forum concerning psychology of emotions, personality and motivation; one will provide feedback on the collaborative learning activity

As this is a distance learning course, viewing the video lessons and attending the scheduled synchronous sessions is recommended.

Evaluation includes written exams aimed at examining students’ knowledge of the main contents of the course (theoretical perspectives and addressed issues), students’ capacity to describe clearly and exhaustively some of the main themes presented during the course, and to apply acquired knowledge in a critical way to a) the reading of a scientific article on personality psychology, psychology of emotions or of motivation; b) to the description and comprehensione of an individual’s profile of psychological functioning. Furthermore, for the final evaluation, participation to interactive learning activities will be taken into account. Students’critical reasoning on methodological issues in the study of emotions, personality and motivation and students’ capability to apply theoretical knowledge to single cases will be considered. Organization and schedule of the evaluation Evaluation will include a single final exam concerning all the contents of the course Evaluation will be conducted through written exams as following: Unique final exam a. Twentythree multiple choice questions and one open questions on the entire program (45 minutes); b) students may choose two multiple choice questions concerning the interpretation of a profile obtained through different instruments of psychological evaluation , or two multiple choice questions on on a scientific article/chapter (15 minutes). Grading To pass the exam the final grade must be equal or higher than 18/30. Students need to hae learned a sufficient knowledge of the main themes of psychology of emotions, personality and motivation, and to be able to apply at a basic level theoretical knowledge to the description of a profile of psychological functioning or to the reading of an article/chapter concerning psychology of emotions, personality or motivation. To obtain a score of 30/30 cum laude, students need to have acquired a excellent knowledge of all the issues addressed in the course, to be capable to connect those issues meaningfully and to apply those knowledge to the interpretation of a psychological profile or to the critical reasoning on a scientific text, concerning psychology of emotions, personality and motivation The final grading will be obtained as following. Final exam with single evaluation The written exam is composed as following: Twentythree multiple choice questions will contribute up to 23/30 to the final grade; b) one open question (scored form 0 =insufficient to 4=excellent) will contribute to 4/30 to the final score; c) Two multiple choice questions concerning the comprehension of a psychological profile or critical reasoning of a scientific text (scored 0=wrong, 2= correct) will contribute to 4/30 the final grade. Participation at learning interactive activities will contribute up to 4/30 on the final grade, as described above. For all the modalities of evaluation, multiple choice questions have four alternatives and only one is correct. Each correct answer will be 1 score for the first part of the exam and two for the multiple choice question of part c). Each wrong answer will be scored 0.The final grade will be the sum of the scores obtained at the different parts of the exam and of the scores obtained for the participation at interactive learning activities. When results of th exam are not completely clear, teachers may ask students to make a brief oral exam . Participation to the interactive learning activities will contribute up to 4/30 to the final grade, as following: a) Participation at 2 Forum: .50 point; b) Participation at collaborative learning activities: scored from 1 to 2 points depending on the quality of the final report.

The course is delivered through three main modalities: Synchronous delivery teaching, which includes live lessons, webinars, and online meetings that allow for immediate interaction between instructors and students. Asynchronous delivery teaching, which includes video lessons, audiovisual materials, and documents that can be accessed at any time, to promote flexible and independent study. Interactive teaching with individual and group practical activities." The course divided in 15 modules. Each module includes a questionnaire of learning self-evaluation, and a short summary lesson aimed to make a brief overview of the addressed contents and to provide answers to students’ questions. Interactive students and interactive students-teacher activities will be delivered, in particular: a) 2 forum on methodological issues; b) 3 forum on psychology of emotions, of personality and of motivation; c) one collaborative learning activity concerning the comprehension and interpretation of an articulated personality profiles (including personality traits, indicators of emotional and motivational functioning) and one collaborative learnign activity concerning psychology of emotions; d) 2 webinars: one will provide feedback on the 3 forum concerning psychology of emotions, personality and motivation; one will provide feedback on the collaborative learning activity