Biopsychological Aspects of the Person
Code: 105047 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500260 Social Education | FB | 1 | 2 |
| 2500261 Education Studies | FB | 1 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- F. Xavier Borras Hernandez
- Email:
- xavier.borras@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Other comments on languages
The first part of the course is taught in Catalan.Teachers
- Nair Elizabeth Zárate Alva
Prerequisites
As a subject of the first year, the course does not have formal prerequisites. However, it is recommended that students should revise their basic knowledge about biology (brain, nervous system, genetics, hominization, evolution, and other related issues). It is also desirable to revise psychological issues such as sensation, attention, perception, learning, memory, motivation, emotion, thinking, intelligence.
In addition, high motivation, ability to organize information, strategies for synthesis, analysis and critical reflection are desirable.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course aims to bring students closer to the study of human reality, both from a phylogenetic and ontogenetic point of view (life, development, mental processes, gender, culture, society, etc.). Students are expected to understand and critically reflect on the psychological and biological basis for describing and explaining human behaviour and mental processes.
Competences
- Social Education
- Contextualize educational action based on the different theoretical paradigms that have developed in science and education in accordance with the socio-historical context of individuals, groups and institutions.
- Master the theoretical and applied knowledge of Educational Sciences to develop the capacity for analysis and observation of the social and educational reality.
- Recognize and evaluate the social reality and the interrelation between factors involved as necessary anticipation of action.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Education Studies
- Analyse and understand the theoretical, historical, cultural, political, environmental and legal references and situations involved in education and training proposals.
- Recognize and evaluate the social reality and the interrelation between factors involved as necessary anticipation of action.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Understand the processes that occur in educational and training activities and their impact on learning.
Learning Outcomes
- Consider how gender stereotypes and roles impinge on the exercise of the profession.
- Know and identify the main developmental and personality disorders, their impact on development and educational implications.
- Understand and analyse the biological basis of psychological processes.
- Understand and analyse the educational implications of learning theories and models.
- Understand how biological and psychological aspects affect development throughout the life cycle.
Content
1. Basic psychological processes applied to education (2 ECTS) (Block 1) / Basic Psychology Unit
1.1. Access to knowledge: the nature of sensation, perception and conscious experience.
1.2. The elaboration of knowledge: learning and memory.
1.3. Behaviour activation: motivation and emotion.
2. The nervous system and psychological processes (2 ECTS) (Block 2) / Department of Theories of Education and Social Pedagogy
2.1. Structural and functional aspects of the human brain.
2.2. Communication between neurons. Neural networks.
2.3. Characteristics of the human brain (plasticity, functional asymmetry, closure, self- organization, emergency, asynchronous maturation, etc.)
2.4. Brain and mental processes.
2.5. Cognition, language and communication. The states of consciousness.
3. Genetic and socio-biological factors conditioning development and learning (2 ECTS) (Block 2) / Department of Theories of Education and Social Pedagogy
3.1. Life and evolution. The complexity of living beings.
3.2. Genetic and evolution. Neo-Darwinism. The hominization process.
3.3. Phylogenetic aspects of human behaviour (motor activities, key stimuli, primary motivations and emotions, impregnation, etc.)
3.4. Perceive, know and feel.
3.5. Ethics and evolution. Bioethics.
Methodology
The teaching strategies in this course will be based on:
- Master classes (30 hours): teachers presentations, presentations by groups of students, viewing videos or films of interest, discussions with experts, among others.
- Seminars (15 hours): students teamwork, texts analysis and discussions, papers revision, extension and commentary of the notes taken in class, conceptual maps, organization and development of practices, searching information and oral discussion presentations.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Magistral lessons | 15 | 0.6 | |
| Practices | 30 | 1.2 | |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Supervised tasks | 30 | 1.2 | |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Autonomus tasks | 75 | 3 |
Assessment
This course has three sections of contents (see Contents) which are distributed in two thematic blocks. It is required that students acquire a minimum basic training in each and every one of them. Therefore, students will have to show evidence of those minimums in the various thematic blocks, structured as follows:
Block 1 (33,3%): section 1.
Block 2 (66,6%): section 2 and 3.
Assessment will be based on written exams and some practical group or individual tasks. In BLOCK 1 there will be an individual test at the end of the block.
BLOCK 2 will have a written group work (20%), which is presented in class and the presentation of which gives rise to an individual note (30%). In addition, an individual test at the end of the block (50%). Thus, in general, the evaluation of the subject is the product of individual effort.
In addition, the relative weight of the thematic blocks in the global qualification of the subject corresponds to their percentage weight in ECTS. Thus, thematic block 1 has an equivalent weight to 2 ECTS (33,3%), and block 2 to 4 ECTS (66,6%).
Attendance to practical sessions (seminars) is mandatory; in any case, a few absences may be assessed as long as the total attendance is at least 80%.
In order to pass the subject, evidence of minimum achievements must be shown in each of the two blocks (mentioned above). If the student does not pass any of the blocks, his/her final score will correspond to the grade or average mark of the suspended block/s, and he/she will have to do the assessment scheduled as a recovery of the block. If finally any block is not passed, it will mean that the expected minimums are not achieved and he/she will fail the course with the grade corresponding to the failed block/s. Plagiarism will be reason for Suspension of the subject. In the subsequent enrollments of the subject, the assessment may consist of a single synthesis test that allows the demonstration of the achievement of the expected learning outcomes.
Students who neither do not take part of any assessment of one of the blocks throughout the academic year, nor the reexamination, they will obtain a grade of Not assessable. When one of the evaluations is taken within a block, the student will be considered presented to the corresponding block. Therefore, the student must conduct the rest of the evaluations obligatorily; otherwise, the average will be made with the grade of the assessment attended and the "zeros" corresponding to the remaining of the assessments not taken within that block.
The results of each evaluation evidences will be published on the virtual campus withn a maximum period of one month after their completion, and a review date will be offered within 10 days of their publication. However, the reexamination tests will have an immediate period of revision. The final qualification will be obtained from the pondered average of the achievements of the two thematic blocks (33,3% and 66,6% respectively).
The treatment of particular cases, doubts, suggestions, etc. will be propounded to the corresponding professors of each block. The coordinator of the course will ensure that the final evaluation criteria may be adopted with consensus by the teaching team regarding the global score of the subject.
This and other additional information will be posted at the beginning of the academic year on the virtual campus, which we will use as a communication tool.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment: Cognitive processess | 33,3% | 0 | 0 | 4, 3, 2 |
| Biology assesment | 33,3% | 0 | 0 | 5, 3, 2 |
| Group Work-Biology | 33,3% | 0 | 0 | 5, 3, 1 |
Bibliography
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Cotrufo. T. and Ureña, J.M. (2018). El cerebro y las emociones. Sentir, pensar, decidir. Madrid: EMSE EDAPP.
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Feldman, L. (2018). La vida secreta del cerebro. Cómo se construyen las emociones. Barcelona: Paidós.
Ferré, J. and Ferré, M. (2013). Neuropsicopedagogía infantil. Bases neurofuncionales del aprendizaje cognitivo y emocional. Barcelona: Lebón.
Godfrey-Smith, P. (2017). Otras mentes. El pulpo, el mar y los orígenes profundos de la consciencia. Barcelona:Taurus.
Gutiérrez Martínez, F. (2005). Teorías del desarrollo cognitivo. Madrid: McGraw Hill.
LeDoux, J. (1999). El cerebro emocional. Barcelona: Ariel/Planeta.
Martínez-Fernández, J. R. and Borràs, X. (comp., 2016). Aspectos Biopsicológicos de la Persona: procesos psicológicos básicos, desarrollo y educación. Madrid: Pearson Educación.
Morgado, I. (2012). Cómo percibimos el mundo. Una exploración de la mente y los sentidos. Barcelona: Ariel.
Morgado, I. (2014). Aprender, recordar y olvidar: Claves cerebrales de la memoria y la educación. Barcelona: Ariel.
Mora, F. (2018). Mitos y verdades del cerebro. Barcelona: Paidós.
Morris, C. G. and Maisto, A. A. (2009). Psicología (13a. ed.). Mèxic: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Pascual-Leone, A., Fernández, A. and Bartrés-Faz, D. (2019). El cerebro que cura. Barcelona: Plataforma.
Perry. B. and Szalavitz (2016). El chico a quien criaron como perro. Madrid: Capitán Swing Libros.
Porges, S. (2018). Guía de bolsillo de la Teoría Polivagal. El poder transformador de sentirse seguro. Barcelona: Eleftheria.
Ramachandran, V. S. and Blakeslee, S. (1999). Fantasmas en el cerebro. Madrid: Debate.
Schacter, D. L. (2003). Los siete pecados capitales de la memoria. Barcelona: Ariel.
Williams, M. and Penman, D. (2013). Mindfulness. Barcelona: Paidós.
Software
None program.