The course aims to provide students with (1) principles in developmental psychobiology, integrating notions and processes that pertains to infant research, psychoneuroendocrinology, applied behavioral genetics and epigenetics, and (2) insights into the implications of these concepts and processes for clinical practice and interventions.
Course Prerequisites
Adequate knowledge of basic general and developmental psychology.
Teaching Methods
Frontal lessons, interactive lessons, production of documents even in small groups, critical case discussion
Assessment Methods
Oral exam
Texts
L. Provenzi (2021) Psicobiologia dello sviluppo. Carocci.
Contents
The course is organized in 12 lessons (3 hours each) grouped into 4 sections: Section 1 – Principles • Lesson 1 – Messiness and order (introducing Infant research) • Lesson 2 – Born to be wired (introducing dynamic systems view on development) • Lesson 3 – Principles of psychoneuroendocrinology Section 2 – Systems • Lesson 4 – Autonomic nervous system and polyvagal theory • Lesson 5 – The HPA axis and cortisol response to stress • Lesson 6 – Behavioral genetics • Lesson 7 – Beyond the genome: behavioral epigenetics) Section 3 – Observatories • Lesson 8 – The preterm baby as a psychobiological model • Lesson 9 – Anatomy and endocrinology of parental love • Lesson 10 – Developmental psychobiology in psychiatric contexts Section 4 – Implications • Lessons 11 and 12 – Applications to research and clinical practice in developmental psychobiology
