Research Domains

Relevant disciplines, study topics, methodologies

Psychology is the study of human behaviour and the cognitive, affective, social and cultural processes that underlie it and can make it develop, as well as their relationship with institutions and systems.

Psychology studies human behaviour per se and does so using methods that favour the individual level. However, whether cognitive or affective, individual or collective, normal or pathological, behaviour takes place within the framework of social relationships, organizational and institutional structures contributing to shaping it and giving it meaning and which are studied as such.

Research in psychology therefore interacts with a variety of disciplines such as biology, physiology, logic, linguistics, neuroscience and cognitive science in general, but also with philosophy, sociology, anthropology, organisation theory or economics. It specifically aims to integrate these different inputs and levels of description to describe, model, explain, predict or modify behaviour.

The Psychological Sciences Research Institute is positioned within the Social Sciences and Humanities Sector, where its members find it necessary to collaborate with different approaches, more essentially collective, comprehensive or interpretative.

The Institute's activities cover four areas of research:

Clinical and health psychology

 

Clinical and health psychology refers to the application of psychological theories and methods to the promotion and maintenance of health and mental health. Clinical psychology is more interested in research, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of mental health issues. Health psychology is concerned with the promotion and maintenance of health, the prevention and treatment of health, the identification of etiological and diagnostic correlations of health, the treatment of diseases, and the improvement of the health care system and health policies.


    Cognition and neurosciences

  The research projects carried out aim to understand the links between the structure and functioning of the brain and cognitive behaviour and processes, using cognitive neuroscience methods: mental chronometry, case and group studies in neuropsychology, functional neuroimaging (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Positron Emission Tomography, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Evoked Potentials, etc.).

Developmental and educational psychology

 

The research projects carried out aim to analyse the learning and development processes of people throughout their lives from an ecological and socio-cognitive perspective, which highlights the interactions between individuals and their environment and the perception they have of them. The projects aim in particular to understand how people's experiences are constructed in a given context (family, school, education, professional, etc.) by analysing the interactions between the different levels of systems.
This work studies in particular the effects of intervention or training mechanisms and pedagogical and didactic practices which may, under certain conditions, encourage motivation, the commitment of learners and thus the quality of their learning and development. Work is conducted in various fields: families, schools, PMS centres, psycho-educational services, associations, higher education, adult education, and socio-professional integration.


 Social behaviour, work and society

  The research projects carried out aim to understand social behaviours, their background and consequences, particularly in relationships between individuals and groups, and in professional contexts.