Orientation
Basic Research
The Program is designed under a tutorial model. In this model, the student will learn to investigate by direct insertion into a research project of one of the members of the program’s academic staff. With another supervisor, the student will critically review basic conceptual literature in Experimental Psychology,Experimental Analysis of Behavior and Behavior Theory.
Justification
We propose three justifications: an epistemological, an institutional and a social one.
Epistemologically, rather than a profession oriented to the application of knowledge, psychology has been developed since its inception as a scientific discipline interested in understanding processes that are not exhausted by a physical, biological or a sociological approach. Some examples are the way organisms learn, the development of language and thought, dyadic social interactions, among many others. The scientific discipline responsible for studying these aspects, we call Behavioral Science.
The Ph.D. in Behavioral Science is justified above all because it constitutes the privileged scenario for training future scientists responsible for conducting research in those areas. The knowledge developed by this discipline is the foundation of psychology and others interested in what individuals do.
In Mexico there are only three doctoral programs oriented towards behavioral science, and in the Southeast Region, we stand alone. Therefore, our presence means the possibility of impacting the training of psychologists first in the Region and then in further regions of the Republic and Latin America.
Finally, the Program is justified because it can provide foundations for the development of projects and public policies that would gain from an approach based on human behavior. Behavior is in some way involved in practically all public decisions, despite these not always being based on scientific knowledge. The Doctorate offers the possibility of influencing the development of relevant social projects, especially in the educational field.
Mission
The Ph.D. program in Behavior Science is responsible for the training of human behavior scientists in the context of the development of current and productive lines of generation and / or application of knowledge, and their consequent insertion in national and international disciplinary communities.
Vision
The Ph.D. will be consolidated as a program of excellence in 2020, characterized by being the first reference in Mexico and Latin America for training high-quality human behavior scientists.
Objectives
The Ph.D. in Behavioral Science pursues the following general objectives:
1. Train original and competent researchers in the basic processes of animal and, especially, human behavior.
2. Strengthen the teaching and research staff of Higher Education Institutions and research centers in the Southeast region of Mexico;
3. Contribute to the decentralization of scientific research and the training of high-level academic and research staff;
4. Promote multidisciplinary research with those linked to the areas of social knowledge, health, education and others.
Based on the above, the particular objectives proposed by the Ph.D. in Behavioral Science are:
1.1. Develop students’ theoretical skills related to criticism and argumentative construction.
1.2. Develop methodological skills that support a rigorous research practice.
1.3. Promote values, attitudes and scientific customs such as curiosity, doubt, discipline, perseverance, honesty and rigor.
2.1. Impact the training of experimental psychologists at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, through the training of future teachers.
2.2. Stimulate the formation of research groups, laboratories and lines of work on the basic processes of human behavior in Higher Education Institutions.
3.1. Contribute to the progress of scientific research on behavior in the country, in Latin America and in the world, through an academic practice of high standards.
3.2. Establish links and alliances with national and international academic peers that drive the development of behavioral science.
4.1. Advance in the development of evaluation and intervention strategies in social fields based on scientific knowledge about human behavior.
4.2. Develop ways of investigating behavioral processes linked to teaching and learning in different domains of knowledge.
