Research Areas

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The Center features three major research areas, in addition to overarching projects that span and interconnect them.

Mind, Brain, and Body
Researchers in this area analyze brain neurophysiology in order to understand the neural mechanisms regulating attention and decision-making, the growth and development of self-consciousness, display and control of emotion, and impediments to psychological development. We also study developmental disorders using psychotherapeutic perspectives, to better understand relations of mind, brain, and body.

Emotion, Communication, and Interaction
To clarify the processes of social and intellectual maturation, researchers in this area use approaches from behavioral and cognitive sciences, focusing on nonverbal aspects of facial expression, voice, gestures, and interpersonal behaviors. Our aim is to better understand the mental processes regulating the expression and control of higher-level social feelings such as self-esteem, altruism, morality, and cooperative interaction. In addition, this unit supports multidisciplinary projects involving developmental psychology, cultural psychology, and clinical psychology.

Consciousness, Values, and Life
Researchers in this area analyze ethics and morality, world-views, life-and-death, self-and-other, primarily from cultural and historical perspectives, with an eye to the vision they may provide for contemporary society and the future of humankind. Specific research projects include studies of patients’ and families’ Sense of Coherence, coping styles, burnout, and of classroom influence on criminal and suicidal behaviors.

 

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