SUBJECT

Title

Health Psychophysiology: Behavioral Physiology

Code

DPSY16-SHP-102:1

Type of instruction

practice

Level

Doctoral

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Psychology

Part of degree program

Doctoral School of Psychology

Credits

Recommended in

Semester 1-4

Typically offered in

Autumn/Spring semester

Course description

The first part of the course discusses mechanisms of the behaviour from a psychophysiological point of view. It deals with the process of information uptake, with biological forms of communication, with the relationship of activity and reactivity, with the internal organization (e.g. drives, emotions, motivations) of the behaviour, with a new interpretation of homeostasis, with the alternative representations of behaviour, and with the psycho-visceral relationships.

Topics of the second part of the course are pain and its mechanisms, psychophysiology of aging and death, non-specific health problems and their background, and the relationship between life-style and health, respectively.

Dominant approach of this course is based on the systems theory and on the principles of psychophysiology, whereas its frame is given by the bio-psycho-social theory. The whole course has a holistic approach which deals with mental and somatic functions in their unity.

Readings

Ádám, G., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1998). Visceral perception: understanding internal cognition. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Gallon, R. L. (1982) The psychosomatic approach to illness, Elsevier
Kübler-Ross, E. (2011).Questions and Answers on Death and Dying: a companion volume to On death and dying. Simon and Schuster.
Price, D. D. (1988) Psychological and neural mechanisms of pain, Raven
Wolman, B. B. (1988) Psychosomatic disorders, Plenum. ISBN-10: 1468455222