This course aims will examine the historical development of the main themes, problems and theories of behavioural sciences and neuroscience. In particular, the course aims to foster a critical understanding of the historical development of the major themes, problems, and models of scientific explanation on behavior and psychological processes, from the earliest naturalized conceptualizations to experimental psychology and contemporary neuroscience. The evolution of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience will be discussed in its relationship with the history of philosophical ideas and other human sciences such as sociology and anthropology, in its close intertwining with the natural and biological sciences. At the same time the history of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience will be situated in the context of concrete history, such as the material, economic and techological transofrmations.
Particular attention will be given to the examination of the evolution of neuroscientific models of explanation of cognitive and communication processes.
The course will also examine the history of the cultural and moral impact of developments of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience with particular regard to the applications of cognitive science, neuropsychopharmacology and neurotechnologies in the 20th century.
The course aims to achieve these learning outcomes:
1) an organic knowledge of the major research programs, concepts, and problems of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience;
2) the ability to contextualize, analyze, and critically interpret the ideas and models of explanation of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience also in relation to other research disciplines, material history, culture, ethics, and technological evolution;
3) the historical and theoretical tools for understanding the transformations of psychological and neuroscientic models of cognitive and communication processes.
4) the lexical and conceptual tools necessary to the study of the history of the behavioural sciences, neuroscience, and for acquiring good analytical and argumentative skills in written and oral form.
The monographic part of the program this year aims to critically illustrate the history of the contribution of the behavioral sciences and neuroscience to the understanding of the nature of desire and the processes of construction of habits and their control/dyscontrol, with particular focus on the case of pathological addictions (behavioral/ substance/affective addictions).
Particular attention will be given to the examination of the evolution of neuroscientific models of explanation of cognitive and communication processes.
The course will also examine the history of the cultural and moral impact of developments of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience with particular regard to the applications of cognitive science, neuropsychopharmacology and neurotechnologies in the 20th century.
The course aims to achieve these learning outcomes:
1) an organic knowledge of the major research programs, concepts, and problems of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience;
2) the ability to contextualize, analyze, and critically interpret the ideas and models of explanation of the behavioural sciences and neuroscience also in relation to other research disciplines, material history, culture, ethics, and technological evolution;
3) the historical and theoretical tools for understanding the transformations of psychological and neuroscientic models of cognitive and communication processes.
4) the lexical and conceptual tools necessary to the study of the history of the behavioural sciences, neuroscience, and for acquiring good analytical and argumentative skills in written and oral form.
The monographic part of the program this year aims to critically illustrate the history of the contribution of the behavioral sciences and neuroscience to the understanding of the nature of desire and the processes of construction of habits and their control/dyscontrol, with particular focus on the case of pathological addictions (behavioral/ substance/affective addictions).
teacher profile teaching materials
The course aims to provide a critical understanding of the historical development of the main themes, problems and models of scientific explanation of behavior and psychological processes, from the earliest naturalized conceptualizations of mind and behavior to experimental psychology and contemporary neuroscience. The evolution of the sciences of behavior, mind, and neuroscience will be discussed in its relationship to the history of philosophical ideas and other human sciences such as sociology and anthropology, in its close intertwining with the natural and biological sciences, and situated in the context of concrete historical transformations of material, economic, and technological kinds.
The course will also examine the history of the cultural and moral impact of developments in the behavioral sciences and neurosciences with special emphasis on the applications of neuroscience in the social and economic spheres, and neuropsychopharmacological and neurotechnological applications in the 20th century.
Within the framework of this course, teaching aims to provide:
An organic knowledge of the main research programs, concepts, and issues in behavioral sciences, experimental psychology, and neuroscience;
The ability to contextualize, analyze, and critically interpret ideas and explanatory models in behavioral sciences and neuroscience, also in relation to other research disciplines, material history, culture, ethics, and technological evolution;
The lexical and conceptual tools necessary for studying the history of behavioral sciences and neuroscience, useful for acquiring good analytical and argumentative skills in both written and oral form.
Program
Institutional Part on the General History of Behavioral Sciences and Neurosciences:
I) History of Science and History of Psychology
Why Study the History of the Sciences of the Mind
Historiography of Science: Continuity and Scientific Revolutions
Normal Science and Paradigms
Historiography of Psychology and Neuroscience
II) Prehistory of Behavioral Sciences:
Mind and Behavior in Ancient Philosophy
The First Scientific Conceptions of Behavior during the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution
From Descartes to the "Idéologues"
Theories of Mind and Behavior in Empiricism
The Advent of the Biological Perspective in Behavioral Theories: Evolutionism
III) The Birth of Experimental Psychology: From Helmholtz to Wundt
The Birth of Experimental Psychology
Helmholtz: Specific Nerve Energy and Unconscious Inference
The Phenomenological Innatism of Ewald Hering
Wilhelm Wundt and Physiological Psychology
Titchener and North American Structuralism
IV) American Functionalism, Between Evolutionism and Pragmatism
V) The Psychodynamic Perspective and Psychoanalysis
Introduction
From Organic to Psychodynamic Conceptions of Mental Illness
Janet's Theory
Psychoanalysis from Freud to the 1950s
Jung's Theory
Adler's Theory
Themes in Late 20th Century Psychoanalysis and New Topics
Phenomenological Psychiatry
Theories of Personality
Integrated Models of Mental Health and Pathology
VI) The Behaviorist Perspective
Introduction
American Psychology at the Beginning of the Century: Structuralism and Functionalism
Behaviorism from Watson to the 1950s
Skinner and the Behaviorist Utopia
Operationalism in Psychology
Personality, Psychopathology, and Social Learning in the Behaviorist Perspective
VII) The Cognitive Perspective
Introduction
The Study of Cognitive Processes: From the Würzburg School to Bartlett
Theories of Intelligence
Theories of Psychological Development
Piaget's Theory
Probabilistic and Ecological Theories of Mental Processes
Cognitivism
Cognitive Science
VIII) The Historical-Cultural Perspective
Introduction
The Historical-Cultural Theory of Mind from Vygotsky to the 1960s
Activity Theory
Social Constructionism: Cultural Psychology
IX) The Biological and Neuroscientific Perspective
Introduction
Animal and Comparative Psychology: Ethology
Early 20th Century Research on Brain Functions
Bechterev's Reflexology
Pavlov's Theory of Higher Nervous Activity
Holistic Theories of Mind and Brain Function in the Early 20th Century
Hebb's Neuroconnectionism
Research on Brain Functions and Behavior: 1950-1970
Luria's Theory of Functional Brain Systems
Cognitive, Affective, and Social Neurosciences
X) The Contemporary Debate
Crisis of Theories or Crisis of Psychology?
Empirical Verification in Psychology
Common-Sense Psychology and Alternative Psychologies
The Primacy of Neuroscience
The Discomfort of Psychotherapy
Psychology and Contemporary Society
Monographic Part:
Mind, Nature, and Emotions. History of Philosophical and Scientific Thought on Emotions
The Concept of Passion from Ancient Philosophy to Empiricism
The Invention of the Modern Psychological Category of Emotion
The First Biological Conceptions of Emotions: Evolutionists and Darwin
Somatic Theories of Emotions
Emotions and Language: Constructionist Theories of Emotions
The Neurobiology of Emotions
Emotions and Illness: The History of Psychosomatics
Modulating Emotions: The History of Psychopharmacology and Neurotechnologies for Intervening in Disturbing Emotions
For the monographic part
Professor's handouts
Programme
Objectives:The course aims to provide a critical understanding of the historical development of the main themes, problems and models of scientific explanation of behavior and psychological processes, from the earliest naturalized conceptualizations of mind and behavior to experimental psychology and contemporary neuroscience. The evolution of the sciences of behavior, mind, and neuroscience will be discussed in its relationship to the history of philosophical ideas and other human sciences such as sociology and anthropology, in its close intertwining with the natural and biological sciences, and situated in the context of concrete historical transformations of material, economic, and technological kinds.
The course will also examine the history of the cultural and moral impact of developments in the behavioral sciences and neurosciences with special emphasis on the applications of neuroscience in the social and economic spheres, and neuropsychopharmacological and neurotechnological applications in the 20th century.
Within the framework of this course, teaching aims to provide:
An organic knowledge of the main research programs, concepts, and issues in behavioral sciences, experimental psychology, and neuroscience;
The ability to contextualize, analyze, and critically interpret ideas and explanatory models in behavioral sciences and neuroscience, also in relation to other research disciplines, material history, culture, ethics, and technological evolution;
The lexical and conceptual tools necessary for studying the history of behavioral sciences and neuroscience, useful for acquiring good analytical and argumentative skills in both written and oral form.
Program
Institutional Part on the General History of Behavioral Sciences and Neurosciences:
I) History of Science and History of Psychology
Why Study the History of the Sciences of the Mind
Historiography of Science: Continuity and Scientific Revolutions
Normal Science and Paradigms
Historiography of Psychology and Neuroscience
II) Prehistory of Behavioral Sciences:
Mind and Behavior in Ancient Philosophy
The First Scientific Conceptions of Behavior during the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution
From Descartes to the "Idéologues"
Theories of Mind and Behavior in Empiricism
The Advent of the Biological Perspective in Behavioral Theories: Evolutionism
III) The Birth of Experimental Psychology: From Helmholtz to Wundt
The Birth of Experimental Psychology
Helmholtz: Specific Nerve Energy and Unconscious Inference
The Phenomenological Innatism of Ewald Hering
Wilhelm Wundt and Physiological Psychology
Titchener and North American Structuralism
IV) American Functionalism, Between Evolutionism and Pragmatism
V) The Psychodynamic Perspective and Psychoanalysis
Introduction
From Organic to Psychodynamic Conceptions of Mental Illness
Janet's Theory
Psychoanalysis from Freud to the 1950s
Jung's Theory
Adler's Theory
Themes in Late 20th Century Psychoanalysis and New Topics
Phenomenological Psychiatry
Theories of Personality
Integrated Models of Mental Health and Pathology
VI) The Behaviorist Perspective
Introduction
American Psychology at the Beginning of the Century: Structuralism and Functionalism
Behaviorism from Watson to the 1950s
Skinner and the Behaviorist Utopia
Operationalism in Psychology
Personality, Psychopathology, and Social Learning in the Behaviorist Perspective
VII) The Cognitive Perspective
Introduction
The Study of Cognitive Processes: From the Würzburg School to Bartlett
Theories of Intelligence
Theories of Psychological Development
Piaget's Theory
Probabilistic and Ecological Theories of Mental Processes
Cognitivism
Cognitive Science
VIII) The Historical-Cultural Perspective
Introduction
The Historical-Cultural Theory of Mind from Vygotsky to the 1960s
Activity Theory
Social Constructionism: Cultural Psychology
IX) The Biological and Neuroscientific Perspective
Introduction
Animal and Comparative Psychology: Ethology
Early 20th Century Research on Brain Functions
Bechterev's Reflexology
Pavlov's Theory of Higher Nervous Activity
Holistic Theories of Mind and Brain Function in the Early 20th Century
Hebb's Neuroconnectionism
Research on Brain Functions and Behavior: 1950-1970
Luria's Theory of Functional Brain Systems
Cognitive, Affective, and Social Neurosciences
X) The Contemporary Debate
Crisis of Theories or Crisis of Psychology?
Empirical Verification in Psychology
Common-Sense Psychology and Alternative Psychologies
The Primacy of Neuroscience
The Discomfort of Psychotherapy
Psychology and Contemporary Society
Monographic Part:
Mind, Nature, and Emotions. History of Philosophical and Scientific Thought on Emotions
The Concept of Passion from Ancient Philosophy to Empiricism
The Invention of the Modern Psychological Category of Emotion
The First Biological Conceptions of Emotions: Evolutionists and Darwin
Somatic Theories of Emotions
Emotions and Language: Constructionist Theories of Emotions
The Neurobiology of Emotions
Emotions and Illness: The History of Psychosomatics
Modulating Emotions: The History of Psychopharmacology and Neurotechnologies for Intervening in Disturbing Emotions
Core Documentation
Mecacci L. (2019). Storia della psicologia dal Novecento a oggi. Roma- Bari: Laterza (capitoli: 4; 5; 7; 8).For the monographic part
Professor's handouts
Reference Bibliography
Paolo Legrenzi (a cura di) Storia della psicologia, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2019 Riccardo Luccio, Dall'anima alla mente. Breve storia della psicologia, Laterza, Bari-Roma, 2014 Keith Oatley, Breve storia delle emozioni, Il mulino, Bologna, 2015 (chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7); Stefano Canali, Regolare le emozioni. Teorie e metodi per lo sviluppo e il potenziamento dell'autocontrollo, Carocci, Roma, 2021 Stefano Canali e Luca Pani, Emozioni e malattia. Dall'evoluzione biologica al tramonto del pensiero psicosomatico. Bruno Mondadori, 2003 (chapters: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7).Attendance
Attendance to the lectures is strongly recommended. Participating in the lectures will significantly enhance the learning experience and foster learning how to learn. Active participation requires attendance throughout the entire course, engaging in the discussions that accompany each lecture, and creating some original materials. Attending lectures and discussions, preparing presentations, and written materials to be discussed online on the course website not only promotes the assimilation of course content but also more generally develops critical analysis skills, learning abilities, and effective communication. Participation in the course and the production of written materials will contribute to the final grade.Type of evaluation
Questionnaire with Structured and Open-Ended Questions A written paper can be arranged with the instructor, which may contribute to the determination of the exam grade.