Layman's description

In the research program 'Understanding Human Change in a Dynamic, Digital Era', our researchers focus on the question of whether commonly occurring mechanisms and tendencies can be found in the various application areas. One question one can ask, for example, is whether people use heuristics in determining their behavior, and of which people are unaware. Other questions we ask are about how evolutionarily acquired strategies and culturally acquired strategies for behavior relate and interact with each other. "We are our brain," some neurologists say. It is not disputed that we have a brain, but it is the question whether that provides enough of an explanation of behavior. After all, we have a body, but we are more than that. We have a role in a social network, but we are more than that. In short: we learn a lot from reduction, we learn nothing from reductionism.

In the Faculty of Psychology, researchers in the field of General Psychology focus on these kinds of questions, especially to strengthen the research program, to maintain unity and not lose sight of the connection with the past and with other disciplines.

The Section General Psychology formulates its research goals within the Research Line of General Psychology (part of UHC program).