Psychology

3 semester credits. This course introduces the biological mechanisms that underlie human behavior and mental processes. The brain is treated as a dynamic, plastic system. Students will investigate how neurotransmitters modulate mood, how hormones shape behavior, and how epigenetic switches turn our genetic code into an interactive dialogue with the environment. Through simulations and clinical case studies, students will learn to decode the biological signatures of memory, emotion, and psychological disorders.

3 semester credits. This course provides a critical psychological examination of intimate partner violence and domestic abuse. Students will investigate how the interplay of economic constraints, societal myths, and internal cognitive processes traps survivors in regimes of coercive control. The curriculum emphasizes a social justice lens, challenging the historical pathologization of victims and shifting the clinical focus toward perpetrator behavior and systemic failures. Key psychological concepts include the neurobiology of trauma, attachment theory in intergenerational transmission, and phenomena of public victim-blaming. By deconstructing moral tales and formula stories, students will learn to identify how cultural narratives silence lived experiences and create institutional betrayal.

3 semester credits. This course provides a cross-disciplinary examination of how gender identity and social roles are constructed, internalized, and contested from infancy through adolescence. By bridging Developmental Psychology with Critical Sociology, the course moves beyond reductive debates to investigate how institutional structures, such as the family, peer groups, media, and the state, dictate the cognitive schemas and lived experiences of developing youth. The curriculum explores the neuroplasticity of the human brain and the significant impact of socializing agents on emotional and social outcomes. Students will utilize frameworks of Intersectionality and Objectification Theory to analyze the unique developmental trajectories of youth navigating overlapping identities of race, class, and sexual orientation. Through this dual lens, the course examines how cultural scripts influence everything from early childhood play to adolescent risk-taking and career aspirations.

3 semester credits. This course provides a psychological exploration into the mechanisms that govern human social behavior from childhood through late adolescence. Moving beyond basic social observation, this course investigates the peer ecosystem through the lenses of neurobiology, cognitive science, and clinical psychology. Students will analyze the evolutionary roots of the Belongingness Hypothesis and examine how the adolescent brain’s hypersensitivity to social rewards shapes identity and risk-taking. Focus will be placed on the Social Information Processing (SIP) model, which helps students deconstruct how individual cognitive biases are formed and maintained through peer interaction. The course further examines the psychological consequences of social status, focusing on the neural processing of Ostracism and the clinical implications of Co-rumination and Peer Contagion. By integrating Attachment Theory with modern digital social cognition, students will evaluate how Internal Working Models transfer from caregivers to peers and romantic partners. This course equips future psychologists and researchers with the empirical tools to design evidence-based interventions that mitigate social maladjustment and foster emotional resilience in a diverse, digitally mediated social landscape.

3 semester credits. This course examines the co-evolution of digital technology and the developing adolescent mind. As the brain undergoes significant structural and functional remodeling, it interacts with digital environments designed to capture attention and provide intermittent social rewards. We will explore the goldilocks hypothesis of screen time, the neurobiology of digital addiction, and how social media architecture influences social, emotional, and cognitive development. Students will evaluate current controversies regarding mental health, brain drain theories, and the potential for technology to serve as a tool for positive developmental scaffolding.

3 semester credits. What is “normal”? When asking ourselves this question, we often look to what is beyond the typical to contextualize what we consider normal. From the perspective of psychology, we all exhibit behavior at times that is not considered typical; but what is the line in which the behavior goes from quirky to clinical? This course aims to look deeper into the disordered personality to better understand the topics associated with abnormal psychology, with an emphasis on the classification, assessment and etiology of disorders, as well as analysis of the historical, cultural and sociological aspects as they relate to diagnosis. Examination of mood, personality, dissociative, and psychotic disorders, as well as fear and anxiety and the effects of stress will all be addressed in this course to allow students to gain a critical understanding of the factors that contribute to their causes and clinical approaches. As this course takes place in Italy, the Italian perspective of mental health will be a fundamental aspect of cultural analysis to develop a global sensitivity towards the topics the addressed. Prerequisites: Introductory course on research methods in psychology or equivalent.

3 semester credits. Over the recent decades, globalization has brought about a phenomenon that has increasingly been recognized by both psychologists and anthropologists as a viable field of research: Culture Shock. Also referred to as "culture fatigue" or "role shock," culture shock refers to the reactions of travelers during their first few months in a foreign country. This course presents culture shock within the context of cross-cultural psychology and places a specific emphasis on the students' own experiences as they live and study in a foreign country. Topics explored will include the role of communication and communication norms, cultural variables, taboos and rituals, and cultural adjustment. Course projects and activities will contribute with the journalism activities of Blending, the magazine of AUF’s campus press Ingorda.

3 semester credits. The Tarot is a colorful set of symbols sprung from the human imagination, depicting essential human experiences and patterns of development that are archetypal in their nature. Such archetypal images provide means of accessing the unconscious like dreams, myth, art, and poetry. This course presents a piercing interpretation of the Tarot cards in terms of Jungian psychology. Lectures will provide students with an organized, focused, and academic understanding of Jungian archetypes, through analogy with the humanities, mythology, and the graphic arts. The journey portrayed by the Tarot presents the main experiences, influences and dramas in our lives, and also parallels the inner journey of individuation. In this way the cards can be used as a focus for meditation and contemplation, leading to the development of self-knowledge and spiritual growth.

3 semester credits. This course will acquaint students with the basic principles of psychology and fields of study within basic and applied psychological science. The course will cover the following topics: the biological basis of psychology, learning, memory, emotion, perception, intelligence, thought, language, sensory processes, human development, individual personalities, social influence, consciousness and altered states, stress, psychological disorders, methods of therapy, as well as gender, and sexuality. Students will become acquainted with major experiments and case studies within the field and will have the opportunity to reflect and discuss on psychological issues by applying theory to better understanding human behavior in everyday life.

3 semester credits. "We see the world as we do, not because that is the way it is, but because we have these ways of seeing" (Wittgenstein). Social psychology is a scientific discipline that explores how the individual is influenced by social contexts. Students will learn to identify how social, environmental, and cognitive factors shape our thoughts, feelings, and actions. The course covers theories regarding attraction, aggression, conformity, and pro-social behavior. As this course is taught in Italy, students will have the advantage of observing and testing theories learned in class in a foreign environment.

3 semester credits. The garden is a space traditionally associated with food cultivation and recreational activity, both are known to have an influence on wellbeing. This course explores a culture of wellness based on the fundamentals of horticulture therapy and the use plants and green spaces, as well as horticultural and culinary activities to promote wellbeing. Students will explore the traditions related to garden activities to foster cognitive, social, emotional, and physical wellbeing for individuals and specific groups (i.e. the elderly, children, individuals with special needs) in a variety of settings. Adapting horticultural therapy in diverse site conditions from sowing to cultivation and the preparation of food products from the garden harvest will be a focus of this course. Course topics will include principles of horticulture, soils and soil cultivation, plant propagation, and harvesting, and the therapeutic potential of farm to table practices. Students will experience first-hand the restorative powers of green spaces through garden management and cooking labs to examine the benefits of the natural environment as a fundamental outcome of this course. This course includes an Experiential Learning Project with CEMI.

4 semester credits. The garden is a space traditionally associated with food cultivation and recreational activity, both are known to have an influence on wellbeing. This course explores a culture of wellness based on the fundamentals of horticulture therapy and the use plants and green spaces, as well as horticultural and culinary activities to promote wellbeing. Students will explore the traditions related to garden activities to foster cognitive, social, emotional, and physical wellbeing for individuals and specific groups (i.e. the elderly, children, individuals with special needs) in a variety of settings. Adapting horticultural therapy in diverse site conditions from sowing to cultivation and the preparation of food products from the garden harvest will be a focus of this course. Course topics will include principles of horticulture, soils and soil cultivation, plant propagation, and harvesting, and the therapeutic potential of farm to table practices. Students will experience first-hand the restorative powers of green spaces through garden management and cooking labs to examine the benefits of the natural environment as a fundamental outcome of this course. This course includes an Experiential Learning Project with CEMI. This course includes service learning hours within the local community.

Cross-listed from Art Education

Cross-listed from Art Education

Cross-listed from Dietetics and Nutrition

Cross-listed from Comparative Literature

Cross-listed from Comparative Literature

Cross-listed from Health Humanities

Cross-listed from Internships