Institute of Psychology (Szeged) - The Restitution of Psychology

The Restitution of Psychology

The Department of Psychology became independent from other disciplines in 1970, under the leadership of Lajos Dúró, until 1990. During that period, research and tuition was mainly focused on Educational and Developmental Psychology.

In the early 1990s, the Faculty of Arts of the József Attila University of Sciences called for the reorganization of its departments as institutes. As a result, the Department of Education and the Department of Psychology were merged as the Institute of Education and Psychology.

Under Vajda Zsuzsanna's leadership, Psychology was made available as a major from the academic year 1996/1997; initially under the aegis of the Institute of Psychology (director: Zoltán Kovács) of the Kossuth Lajos University of Sciences (now University of Debrecen).

The founding father of the independent Psychology major, available from the turn of the millennium, is Professor Csaba Pléh, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, who organized the Cognitive Science Group at the Department of Psychology, and in 1999, started the Cognitive Science and Neuropsychology Program of Szeged, or in short, the Cognitive Program. He laid the foundation for a professional psychology training course at the University of Szeged. The university's Medical Faculty and the Cognitive Science Group, led by Csaba Pléh, organized the VIII. Conference of the Hungarian Cognitive Science Association (MAKOG), titled The Development and Disorders of Cognitive Functions for 4–6 February 2000 in Szeged.

From 1 September 1999, the independent Department of Psychology functioned as an independent department at the József Attila University of Sciences (now University of Szeged).

As possibly a final chapter in the long and strife-filled history of Psychology tuition and research in Szeged, Psychology training is again in operation within the Institute of Psychology. The Head of the Institute – and formerly Head of the Department of Psychology – is Associate Professor Ágnes Szokolszky.

In the summer of 2008, the Institute was moved to a new location, into a recently renovated wing of the Faculty of Arts. Currently there are three research laboratories on the premises:

• The Kardos Lajos Laboratory of Cognitive Sciences
• The Grastyán Endre EEG Laboratory
• Mérei Ferenc Behavior Analysis Laboratory (a reference laboratory of Noldus Information Technology)

At the time of writing, the above mentioned EEG and behavior laboratories are among the most modern laboratories of their kind in the country, and provide the opportunity for extensive scientific research of the highest standards, for lecturers and students as well.

Their achievements are marked by awards and grants from National Scientific Conferences for University Students and the Fellowship of the Hungarian Republic, a large number of Pro Scientia awardees, extensive ERASMUS relations, and a long list of well-known foreign guest-lecturers.

The history of Psychology training at the University of Szeged contains periods of glory as well as hardship. We mean to honor these memories and the work of our predecessors, and strive to live up to the example they set before us.